The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1890-05-17
ALEpER ISLAND OF The SEA.
Facts not Hitherto Published about
the Afflicted Of Molokai.

rate impression has been spread
abroad regarding the condition Of
the lepers on the island of Molokai, .
said gentleman yesterday who has
spent fourteen years of official life
in the Hawaiian group to Star re-
porter, that it is high time pop
ular misinformation concerning
them was corrected. The civilized
world at large seems to entertain a
notion that this afflicted colony,
lodged upon bleak and solitary
rock in the midst of the South Sea,
is stretching out it's hands with a
despairing appeal to the charity of
other lands for help in it's lonely
and uncaredfor misery. Within
the last few months advertisement
has been made all over two CONT
nents of the intention of an Eng
lish nun called Sister Rose Ger
trude to go out and devote her life
to these hapless outcasts of the Pa
cific. She did go, but is employed
at the receiving station for lepers
on Hawaii. She has not been sent
to Molokai, and in all probability
will never go there, simply for the
reason that there is no necessity
whatever for doing so, inasmuch as
there are already at the leper set
tlement six Sisters of the Order of
st. Francis, from Syracuse, N. Y,
who have been taking care Of the
people for half dozen years past. +"
LIFE OF THE AFFLICTED.
GLOW do the lepers live?"
"They dwell in one of the most
beautiful and fertile valleys of the
world, where the entire year is one
Of perpetual summer, the tempera-
ture varying not perceptibly from
one season to another. Their vii
lage is of pretty houses built ex-
pressly for them by the Government,
and the meanest pauper leper is
provided there with a comfortable
home, good food, medicines, medi-
cal attendance and all necessaries.
Resident in the colony are special
physician, a member of the Haw-
allan Board of Health, and super
intendent to see that the settlement
is as we'll taken care of as any hos
pital. Few of the lepers are with
out relatives and friends outside,
who send them whatever they like
best, and vessels are constantly
making tri ps to Molokai with whole
cargoes of all sorts Of delicacies
and luxuries. The village of the
stricken is on the shore of the sea,
encircled at the back by cliff 5000
feet in height and So precipitous as
to be only passable in one narrow
gorge, which is always guarded by
soldiers. Save for the mortal illness
of the inhabitants one might almost
compare the place to the happy val
ley of Rasselas, out of which there
was no escape, save by one hidden
path reserved for Imlac to discover.
The lepers cannot get away from
Molokai, the sea hemming them in
on one side and the mountain on
the other. Of liberty they are de-
prived, but you can perceive that
their condition is very much 9th
erwise than has been represented,
in so far as the material comforts
of life are concerned. The civil
lied world at large need not be con-
cerned in their behalf; they have
all the care that is necessary or
useful"
''Do the lepers suffer pain very
greatly?'
Hardly at all. At the beginning
of their disease they have severe
aches in their arms and legs, SINH
lar to rheumatic pains, but these
disappear after awhile, and from
that point on until death they suf-
fer not at all. In many cases this
physical insensibility is the first
symptom of the complaint that
shows itself. One instance | re-
member of a Honolulu boy who
discovered one day, to his surprise,
that he could approach his wrist so
close to the flame Of candle that
his flesh was scorched, and vet with
out feeling the heat a particle. Gu
rious to know the reason, he kept
on with the experiment until a
frightful burn had been made. and
yet there was no sensation. His
mother took him to doctor, who
at once perceived that leprosy was
indicated, and the boy was soon
after sent to Molokai, where he now
is. The sickness exhibits itself first
ordinarily in a swelling of the face,
the lines of which become drawn
and hard; the expression becomes
fixed and the eyes watery, the eye
lids and eyebrows dropping out.
Swellings appear on various parts
of the body, turning into sores; it
is death by inches, in fact, but pain
less to the last. Seven years is the
average time from the first appear
ance of the disease to the burial of
the patient; there is no such thing
as cure. This is tubercular leprosy,