The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1894-02-23
kANAkA IECULIARiIlES.
Strange Expressions of Insanity in
tas Hawaiian Luuatic Asylum.

| Strange Expressions of Insanity in
tas Iavyd dIian Lunatic Asylum.
Every visitor To- Honolulu hears II
the icPer settlement on grim MuIolsai.
and some ardent students OF the pItiful
sud rcpui:Ive venture across the short
| irial sea - the abode of the living
.!cath- Very few visitors, however,
near OF the receiving hos Iital. or corral,
where the icpsr roundup ls BROUGHT IN
before shipments are mad; and fewer
.iiiI hear of or visit the insane asylum.
near Honolulu, where the true South
Sea madness j. To bc seen.
/ have called it an asylum, but this
term Is hardly correct one-that is, il
ls not correct if it conveys u the reader
the idea Of imposing administration
buildings and constant expert medical
attendance. The place Is a mile Z two
outside the city. past the coral prison
on the reef, and, Judging by what one
secs from the road, might be Il farm OF
plantation with the modest mansion of
the proprietor and several extensive
outbuiidiugs set down at the foot of IA
steep Lit OF volcanic hill land, and with
Its confines outlined by more or less
walls. not even "A stoc!lade-o- SO ii was
when | recently visited IL The male
patients were scattered all over the
grounds, white the few keepers were
still more scattered The women, who
were quite numerous. were confined in
a low. compactly built house, and were
closely looked after, but neither of
these. nor OF the methods of treatment.
nor Of the system OF care do intend to
write, but only of the peculiar forms Cf
insanity which | saw that August after
aeon, when the air felt like u kitchen
with days heavy washing in full
swing.
Here" said DIR. Webb, the visiting
physician, who at one time had been
oa the staff of Blackwell's island
here Is Marqursa. islander VIII.
speaks Eng. ish very nearly a. well Al:
ynu or /: now ask him any questions
yuu like abunt his history"
50 began ia the usual catechism of
the police station:
What l. your name?"
John TaurcI,l,a, SIR
How old are you?''
II shall be fifty-four on the 29tn of
next October"
What has been your occupatiou?'
Cook on board a Pacific whaIer for
nearly twenty years. sir
We'll" ! said, turning To the doctor,
''of course there il no doubt as 10 his
having sancly answered my questions.
What's the jnlle?''
Ills answers To my questions" said
the doctor. Listen. Who made that
tree, John?"
- did, sir; made it last night. and
that one" (pointing to big guavaD. Il
made the day before yesterday about
half-past three
Yes aSsented the doctor, '-and who
made that sun?''-that boiling, broiling
sun, he might have added.
II did" said Taurekka, .'and il was
the hottest days work l ever had
burned my fingers SO / couldn't make
ANYTHING else"
And SO il was with the answer to
every question asked; he had made
everything. his replies being as simple
in their faith as though he had said: Il
stand" where ne stood
That's fine ease of mcgalomania,"
said the doctor why, no, of course
not; he's not here because he thinks he
has made everything, but because he
carved up the mate of his ship when
the mate said there was too much salt
iu the soup
All through this talk a booming
sound had made itself heard like the
bourbon note of the choir organ
through priests prayer.
is that a noise of the country?' |
asked at last, wearied at its persist
ency.
No" said the doctor, that noise be
longs really to Borneo. That's our
Dvall orator-a head-hunter, by the
way. Do you want to see him? l
needn't ask if you want TO hear him "
| certainly did, and there at the
porch of the barracoon we saw him,
standing with the score hing August
sun euvelOping his nearly naked body
in a glow through which his giistcning
sl,in shone and CLEANED like polished
kettle. His throat outside was col
umn Of tense cords and swollen veins,
while inside it must have been made of
triple brass
''San-n- n-ku lirang koti natuna!" he
shout ed in a deep cultural below.
san -n-noku lirang bulangan." with
both hands nipping hard at the big
pectoral muscles and with a long deep
inspiration ON the n.
Yokohama. llollokamar' the whole
body brought rigidly around on the
heels
'.BuIangan kodakalar' the hands
slidden down with quick whip to the
hips. and the head thrown back un-
til the skin frightened on the big
Adams apple like a black drum head.
With another mans neck in that posi-
ton. and a good, heavy, chopping
llriss in his own hand, he could have
sliced off the trophy with the same
neat expedition and dispatch with
which you would slice a crisp radish
What his oration meant no one had
ever found out 1t sounded to me like
an Invocation At any rate there was
nothing denunciatory about IT, and 1T
might have been To dread silva herself
for aught | know. He had so ha-
ranrucd ever since he had been an IN
mate OF the asylum; so declaiming for
an hour or two when the sun came hot
" spying out the porch; taxing up the
story when the sun was afar off, fierce
and unwinEing eye in the meridian;
thirdly and lastly, repeating his shout
in" apostrophe when the coppery orb
dropped quickly behind the volcanic
hills of the west
No onc-with an eXceptiou-seemed
TO heed the brazen-t -tongued orator of
Sarawall. and. although there were a
dozen men near by, they paid no more
attention to his trumpeting than they
did To the breeze from the Pail, so
wrapped up was each in the eXaggeT.
ated self-absorption of insanity. The
exception was a Japanese, an athlete