The sun., 1891-05-24

| no harm was seen. He died. and still there
was no harm. IL would bs interesting, II ie
probably impossible. to learn how soon the
plague appeared. BY the midst OF 1890. ai
least the island was dott I'd with lepers. and
the Janet Nicoll hal not long gone before
the islanders awoke to nm apprehension n OF their
peril. l have mentioned already traits which
they share with their Paumotuan kindred
their conduct In this hour OF awakening lie
another. There were certain familes-twenty,
] was told: we may imply a corrective and
guess ten entirely contaminate1; the clean
waited on these sick and budo them leave the
settlement. Some six veirs before they had
opened sir doors to q stranger: now they
must close them on tn cir next OF kin.
1t chance that among the tainted families
were some OF chief Importance. some that
owned tho s)iu,n OF the village. 1t was their
first impulse to resent the measure Of expul-
sion. The land Is ours" they argued. II
any are to leave. lot It he YOU" and they were
thought to have answered we'll: "let them
stay" was the reconsidered verdict: and tho
clean pc opls began instead % prepare the cir
own secess on. The coming Of the missionary
ship decided otherwise: the leners were per-
suaded; motu OF some size. hard by the south
entrance. was now named Molokai. after its
sad original; and thith,r. leaving their lands
and the familiar village sei'-doomed. SALTS
rinced. tho infected families won't forth into
perpetual exile.
Tho palms Of their lost village are easily In
view from Molokai. The seluestsred may be.
hold tho smoke risc from their old homo. they
Gun soc tho company OF bouts skim forth with
daylight to the place OF diving. And they have
yet nearer sights. A pier has been built in tho
lagoon: n bont comes Mt intervals. leaves food
upon its seaward end. AMI goes aga n. the
lepors not entering on the pier till it he gone.
Tho 70 on the beach. those In the boat. old
friends and kins'ok thus behold each other
for q moment silently. The girl who bid Mr..
Herd fee from the settlement opened her heart
to him on his last visit. She would never again
set eyes. she told him on her loved ones. and
when he reminded hcr that she might 60 with
the boat and ses them from n distance on the
beach. Never! she cried. II she went II she
saw them. her heart would pluck her from tho
bont: she must leap on tho pier. she must run
to the beach. she must speak again with tho
lost; aud with the act the doors Of tho prison
isle would close upon herself So sternly Is the
question OF leprosy now viewed. under ma
tive rule. in Penrhyn.
Long may 1t so continued and I would I
could infect with like severity every isle OF
the Pacific. But selfindulgence aud senti-
ment menace instead the nero existence OF
the island race: perhaps threaten our own
with q new struggle against an enemy re-
freshed. Nothing is loss proved than this peril
to ourselves; vet Is 1t possible. To our own
syphilis we are Injured. but the syphilis of
eastern Asia slnys us: and a new variety OF
leprosy. cultivated in the virgin soil OF Poly
nesian races. might prove more fatal than wo
dream.
So that ourselves It may be. are no strangers
to the case: 1t may be 1t was for US the men
Of Penrhvn resigned their acres. and when the
defaced chimRra sailed from Molokai. bring
ing sorrow and death to isles Of singing We.
also. and our babes may have been the target
OF his invisible arrows. But 1t needs not this.
Tho thought OF that hobRoblin boatman alone
upon the sea, OF the perils he escaped. OF the
evil he lavished on the world. may we'll strike
terror in the minds even OF the distant and
the unconcerned. In mine at the memory of
my termagant minstrel hatred Rlowa
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.