The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-11-15
RELIGIOUS
MOLOKA|
Priests and Nuns
Who Labor In
Love.

my seat. 1 saw him looking about the
upper deck for a place, and shifting to
the rail of the steamer. l forced him in.
to the space had vacated. We were al
ready Off for Molokai and it was nearly
midnight. The "Alikahala" is tiny
inter-1sland steam schooner, more
freighter than a passenger carrier. and
what with the board of health. the few
white guests of that body, a half-dozen
newspaper men and women. priests and
Sisters. the after part reserved for them
was insufferably crowded.
There was much laughing and lighting
of cigars, and the blinking of glasses in
the stuffy cabin below was audible. 1t
had been intended that the "Mikahala'
should sail ut 10 o'clock but there was
delay. The four Sisters. in black and
white, were huddled on the lee side
away from the smoke of the burning to-
bacco, waiting for the steward to lead
them to their cabins. They told their
beads, with faces hidden behind their
wells and only their slender hands NOV
ing to the rythm of the rosary.
Forward, n hundred Hawaiians were
packed in the narrow deck between the
wheelhouse and the after structure.
There were three times as many women
as men. and most of them lay on the
deck. with their bundles for pillows, and
their holokus tucked about their feet
Others who had drunk KIM or sw!pes and
felt the devil of dancing in them. we!e
doing a hula to the music of several
ukuleles. and the cries of their fellows,
and some OF the cabin passengers who
shouted at them in English and Hawaii
an.
Hot stuff! wiki-wiki! Weia ka hao
Good girl!'
The shouts and music were waited
back by the frcshening wind. ana the
Sisters grasped their rosarieS more
tightly. The priest beside me was read
ing his breviary by the bright moonlight
Doubtless he knew it by rote, for his
eyes wandered from the page often and
now and again closed In rapt devotion.
A little later the steward showed US
our berths. Mine was an upper one just
opposite the priests. In each were two
hunks and ne was roomed with news
paper man. The latter was with merry
group at the cabin table. which was lad
on with food and to which a servant con-
stantly brought the drinks called for by
those who were making night or II.
The priest crawled into his narrow bed.
choosing the lower shelf. The doors Of
all the rooms were open, as the heat was
suffocating.
For an hour lay. filled with the dumb
anguish of the nausea which cursed me.
The little steamer was in the throes of
the NMolOkai channel with Il head sea
on. She threw herself into the waves as
does a drunken man a-swimming, and 1t
was frmly-anchored gall that did not
rise.
When the lurch to port hurled me to
the floor, l went on deck, escaping from
my friends about the table by leaving
my linen coat in their clutches. as Jo-
n.r tlA Of
aeon ago. The hula was done. and the
kanakas and wahines snored as they lay
prone. Men and women were mixed up
Unfortunately in the contracted space
and heads were lost under the kerchtefs
which shielded them from the maddening
moon.
Tribute / paid to the god of the sea,
and at O'Clock crawled back to my
berth. The wassail had died, men slept
in chairs or on the floor. One hailed me
the journalist. He was going to smash
I'LL Sleep" he said. He planted one I'M
steady foot in the middle of the uncon-
scous priest and pumped himself aloft
to his upper berth. The patient black
robe thought perhaps they We're ship
wrecked. for he rolled onto the floor and
asked what had happened. 1 pointed to
his roommate, who was peering shame
faced from above.
And so We went on to the Colony of
the Dead.
l got up again at half-past four, just
rs we came in sight of the leper settle
ment. 1t Is a narrow shelf. green ,and
picturesque, and back of it rise, rugged
and romantic. solid and straight walls
of rock nearly half n mile high. If ever
place was cut out by nature for tho
isolation of the accursed, it is this Molo-
kai acreage. The tiny island Is divided
unevenly by this marvellous granite cur
tain seeming to hang from the blue, and
who crosses to where the people of the
Other Side dwell must be Clean. Death,
If missed on the escarpment waits in the
hands of those who will suffer none of
the Unclean to come among them.
Landing from our steamer was not
easy. There is no wharf, and the break
ers dash roughly on the shore at Kalau-
papa. Sometimes vessels wait several
days to send a boat to the beach. The
"Mikahala" put down her clumsy long
boats and, in each, fifteen or more OF us
jumped from the gangway as ii rose on
the wave We were all mixed up--whites
and others. doctors, officials. writer's,
Sisters. and the relatives OF lepers.
I went in the first load, anxious to see,
dreading the sight. We landed at pair
of stone steps sheltered by small
breakwater. i marked first u great sign,
ALOHA" which in Hawaiian means all
things of good import-welcome. good
bye, love, friendship.
Then l saw what, pray God. will new
er see again. There were several hun
dred lepers at the brow of the hill We
climbed. They waited like stones for our
coming. Some stood in little groups, and
others sat on the ground. A hundred feet
away one looked at them as one would
at any throng.
And then. when approach brought out
the horrid work of the leprosy which az
hicted them, tears came unbidden
could not tell what ! saw. Dream the
widest and most h!deous nightmare of
disfiguration and of fearful havoc in
flesh. and you have not guessed at the
terrors of Nolokai. Faces which were
mere intagiios were all about Naked
feet and hands on which no toe or finger
grew. Eyes which looked blindy from