Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-30
PHILIPPINE LEPERS
There Are Fifty Thousand of Them
in Our Islands.
SOLDIERS ARE IN GOOD HEALTH
Smallpox and Black Plague Prevail
Among the Natives.
,DERS ARE IN GOOD HEALTH
FILIPINO SUPERSr 1TION
Copyrighted. 1900, by Frank G. Carpenter.

Copyrighted. 1900, by Frank G. Carpenter.
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
MANILA, March IA, 1900.
- One of the serious problems which con-
front the government here is the selection
Of leper island and the segregation of the
lepers There are Iepers scattered through
out the archipelago In many places they
mix with the rest of the people. They may
be seen begging at the doors of the
churches, and it is hard to tell whether
they are not in the markets handling the
vegetables and meats which we eat on our
tables. There are, it is said. 10000 lepers
in the Visayan Islands, and the number in
the whole country must be upward of 5O,-
0OO Leprosy exists to an alarming extent
in several of the provinces of LuZon, and
Captain Lynch, one of the doctors of the
health department, tells me that he saw
several hundred cases during his stay in
Negroes The Spaniards paid but little at
tentlon to the prevention Of the disease.
They had only two hospitals, one in Cebu
and one In Manila. In Cebu the disease is
known to be spreading and in Manila there
are undoubtedly many lepers at large.
A Visit to Leper Hospital.
I took carriage this afternoon and drove
out into the country to the leper hospital.
| 1t Is about three miles from the center Of
the city. You go by thousands of the
matched huts of the laboring classes, each
nut sWarming with people, and al last come
TO big White building which looks not I'M
lke penitentiary. 1t is surrounded by
| large grounds. and shut off from the road
| by thick wall of stone.
| entering the gate is like going into
| prison You are in a long passage between
| high walls of stone, and far down, at the
and of this you see the barred doors of the
| hospital itself.
! Come with me and let us take a trip
| through it. There is native at the en-
| trance VINO looks ugly enough to be a
patient himself. We ask for the lepers.
| He points across the court and tells us to
| enter We do So and within a few seconds
are in the presence of two score horrid-
| locking objects, who have run to the doors
| 10 meet US. some are young some old-al
| are lepers Here is a boy, brown-faced
| bright-eyed. and as quick in his actions and
| joyful in his laugh as your own bows Mt
| home. But look! His hands and his breast
are covered with white spots, and one Of
| his ears has already begun to decay. Next
to him is man whose nose has been eaten
| away and whose eyes are beared with the
! disease. Others have foreheads which arc
| falling in. toes almost gone and their bodies
| covered with sores. 1t is SO horrible in
| deed, that words can hardly express it,
| Leaving the mems word, we next go to
| the women's ward. There are eighty-one
| men and fifty-five women and girls now in
the hospital The females are of all ages
| from niue tots OF -FOUR up to gray-haired
| horrible looking hays of sixty. The most
| OF them are idle, sitting about talking
| smoking and chewing the betel One wo-
| man has her mouth eaten away that
| neither teeth nor lips are left to hold her
| cigarette. Her nose is almost gone but
| she has put the cigarette in one of her
| nostrils and is putting out the smoke
| through the hole where her mouth should
| have been.
! 1 can imagine nothing more horrible than
| the condition of these people here. They
| have no amusements and no work. They
| are just waiting to die and watching them
| selves. knowing that they must die inch
| by inch.
| I understand that the health officers are
considering the matter of a leper island,
| and that at the earliest possible moment
| the lepers will be gathered together and
| carried there.
The Lepcrs of Asia.
| This part of the world seems to breed
| lepers. There said to be more than a
| million in India, China and Japan, and in
| this estimate half million is assigned to
| Hindoostan No accurate statistics have
been taken for China, for lepers are to be
| found in al the cities in the southern mart
| of that empire. They mix about with the
| rest OF the people, and you see Ieper beg
gars everywhere On many of the rivers
| they go about in boats asking for aims
thrustfng out bags attached to long poles
at every boat and ship which goes BY They
blackmail the funeral professions and levy
tribute on the mourners threatening to
touch them If they do not give aims There
IS ieper asylum in Canton which has 800
| inmates. There both sexes live together
and many Of them marry and have children
l saw no Chinese lepers in the Manila
hospital but there Is a large Chinese popu-
| latlon here, and without doubt some Of the
Chinese are lepers. Leprosy was known
IN China several hundred years be-
fore the days Of Confucius, and it is said
that :, one of the disciples of that sage died
| Leprosy is usually caused by contact but
| 1t is the more prevalent wherever the peo-
pie are overcrowded, dirty and poorly fed
A hot, moist climate, such as we have here
| Is conducive to It, and the government is
using every effort to put the town in a
better sanitary condition
The Health of Manila.
So far our soldiers have been very
healthy here in Manila, and also in all
parts of the Philippines 1 have no doubt
but that these islands are among the most
healthful Of all tropical countries. and for
people who live well and take care of
themselves there is but little danger The
heat Is no greater than that Of the United
States in the summer.
The natives, however, have no health
regulations and house-to- house visitation
which the sanitary officials are now max
Ing shows that the city is in a very bad
condition.
The death rate for the last six months of
population at 100000, or, if estimated at
100000, about 81 per 1000 These figures
are exceedingly high. Hong Kong, which
is in the same latitude as Manila, and
which has about the same climate, has a
death rate only half as large, and 1t is next
door to China, with all the plaques that
that country so regularly produces Here
we had practically no plaques during the
time above mentioned.
The Black Plague.
Within the past few weeks, however,
there have been a number Of cases of the
black death or bubonic plague. This
plague has broken out at several of the
ports Of Japan and China, and there have
been a number Of deaths from it here,
found it at Kobe, Japan, when 1 passed
through on my way to the Philippines All
the passengers taken on there were ex-
amined for evidences of the plague before
they were permitted to come on board the
ship, the captain of the steamer requiring
a Doctors certificate from each.
The black plague has, in the past been
very prevalent inLChina, especially in Cam
ton and Hong Kong. 1t also exists in
India, and there are now a large number
Of cases in Bombay and Calcutta
So far nearly every one who has caught
L ~ I,1~ ..u- Ole n MI