Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1895-09-21
TALK FROM A DOCTOR.
FISHING IN THE HARROR SHOULD
NEVER BE ALLOWED.
Let the Dredgc Go TO Work but Guard
the Dump-'Twas GOOD water
Saved the Town.

clan OF a BULLETIN representative
on the street.
"Well, they say the dredgings
caused some of the sickness among
the natives" was the reply.
"Oh, there's no danger from
the dredgings, only people must
be kept away from the dump, and
not allowed to root in it like hogs.
Somebody asked the Board
of Health the other day when it
would be safe to take fish in the
harbor again. l say it will never
be safe, and should not be per-
mitted under any circumstances,
especially when fish are eaten
raw by the natives. The harbor
is one great water closet and cess
pool for both shore and ship"
But might not some fish escape
from the harbor to the deep sea
and there be caught"
There is little danger from
that. The fish would not be long
in the deep sea until they would
be purified. 1t is not so much
what the fish eat in the harbor
that renders them liable to be un-
wholesome, but the habits of
some species in lying at the foul
bottom and burrowing in the ooze.
at is astonishing to hear some
people still give their opinion
that this is not Asiatic cholera.
1 have been asked why white peo-
pie have not been taken with it
right and left if it was the real
cholera. Nothing but the com.
paratively good water saved us.
Cholera is not such a rapidly
spreading disease as some think
except when it infects the COM
mon water supply Of a commu.
nifty.
"The whole matter is Just as
clear as it could be. There were
three deaths on the Belgic with
choleraic symptoms and then three
more among her steerage passeng-
ers after they were landed at our
quarantine station. There is a
low wash of water close up to the
station, and it is most natural
that it should have taken up the
pollution discharged into it. Then
the natives gathered crabs on the
mud flats of Quarantine island,
and the water on the IwIlei flats
became infected.
"Yes, the luau about which so
much has been said, happened
after the death of the first native
victim, as you say. 1t is absurd,
then, to talk about this disease
having originated with the eating
Of poisoned fish at that luau.
ut is significant that the doc
tor of the Belgic resigned after
the steamer reached San Francis
cor. l do not say that he made a
false report to the port ply
sician here, as he might have
had some faint doubt that
it was cholera that caused
the deaths on the passage. But
he was evidently scared and very
anxious to get rid of the five hun
dred passengers for Honolulu. If
the ship had been put in quaran-
tine here, or sent of to S,n Fran
cisco without being allowed to
land those immigrants, there is
no saying what a serious out
break might have happened on
board.
Il have been asked why the
Belgic did not have cholera
when she reached San Fran
cisco. Why, she left all
her cholera here, and was tho.
roughly purified by the strong
trades as she steamed on her
northeastern course. Besides
they have means of segregating
cases of sickness and facilities
for purifying the ship, better
than We have in Honolulu. The
Belgic should never have been
allowed to land any passengers OF