The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1895-10-03

| grteUdpce. Correspondence mud not Oe tOet-
louS or indecent and must be accompanied Iy
! The name fthe Writer, not necessarily tor pu6-
tfcdtion, but as Il guarantee Cf good fdith)
Ed. The INDEPENDENT
During the late epidemic an article
appeared in regard to poisoned
crabs from the pen of Mrs Emma
Nakuina, a most skilful authority
on the subject. At the time l did
not consider it proper to enter into
a newspaper controversy or to criti
else her undoubtedly wellmeant
theories. Now, when the epidemic
is at least checked, th'uk 1t orly
! Just 10 show the errors into which
that estimable writer to the Adver-
tisrr has falleu.
Mrs. Nakuina, states in the first
para graphs that she Offers the theory
in addition to the different specula
tions INDUCED in by many as to how
or why cholera has been spread so
rapidly among the native popula-
tion. | take as a starting p lint that
the Chinaman, who died at the
quarantin station, died OF cholera
If the practice of former times in
regard to the burial Of b dies of
quarantined parsons was carried
out in their cases, that is, the bodies
were buried without collins, those
bodies at once he ,ame an attraction
for all the crabs and sand cells With
in radius OF half mile or IN ore, etc.
The first time that Mauliola (the
present quarantine station) was used
for that purpose was 1868 when the
steamer Idaho arrived from San
Francisco with a case Of bla k
smallpox on board. | superinten
ded the building of small house
on the island and had a prominent
part in all of the epide mics up the
1892, and | know that all persons
buried there were buried in cofiins,
aud L have no doubt, but the pres
ent Board of Health has continued
to.bury their dead in cot1ins, there
fore, Mrs. Nskuus's theory hat tie
crabs and sand eels fed ON the dead
bodies of the Chinese from the s. S.
Belgic, and deceased, OF our people
must fall TO the ground, but be.
lieve that, crabs, cells, musses and
all other fish taken ia the harbor
and at Iwilei are unfit for food for
the following reasons, VIZ: First, thu
Nuusnu stream is 6ltoy from Wal
kahalulu bridge to the SEA, for here
were duck ranches, water closets,
wash houses, aud th' fi,h from hem
went iutn tn, h4rbor aud remained
there
Before the railway was bull cut
into he harbor, most of the water
AID filth from Nuuauu creek passed
outside OF. Koholaloa aud finally out
to sea, DOW that the water from the
Nuuanu stream has been divert. d
there is no current 30 carry off the
filth from Iwilei fishery, therefore
the fish aud crabs caught there
must be nuf FOR use. We must
bear ia MUD thai the tides here
do not come directly in from the
sea, but it comes down the coast.
The late Capt. Smith stated to me
that it was high tide at waikiki one.
hour before it was high tide in
Honolulu. Formerly when the It'd.
was ebbing there was strong cur
rent outside OF the slaughter houses
at Koholaloa, which carried off the
( fllh from the ponds, hog pens, duck
ranches, etc, at Iwilei.
The same argument will apply to
the harbor, and the outlet Of the
Nunanu stream, for he railway en-
barkment and dock diverts the cur
rent of Nuuanu stream directly into
the harbor, and naturally makes an
eddy at Iwilei fiat.