The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-09-27
A LEPER'S
SELF-TORTURE
By Rev. W. D. Westervelt in Paradise Of
the Pacific.

Anything bearing upon the remedia
aspect Of leprosy at once attracts at
tentlon. Victories over the dread dis
ease are seldom noted. The hopeless
ness Of the stricken sufferer appeals t.
everyone. A leper is ON the losing side
of all the battles of life 1t is interest
ing to note an account of heroic treat.
ment and resulting cure as recorded
about forty years ago, occurring il
Fiji. Let US remember that Fiji is ever
now urging the Tuatua plant as rem
edy which has been used very success
fully among the Fijians.
1t is barely possible that the disease
known as leprosy in Fiji may be more
susceptible to treatment than the
scourge among Hawaiians. Neverthe-
less, it seems to a layman who claims
no right to speak authoritatively on
medical subjects, that the leper should
receive more and more scientific study.
Experiments must continue and new
remedies must be faithfully tried. Ha-
wall in the past has published several
very full reports on leprosy and has
tried experiment upon experiment, and
yet We must not give up before the
leper bacillus is found and the enemy
that kills it discovered.
In 1860 Mr. Berthold Seeman was APP
pointed to represent the British gov
eminent in accepting the -cession of
Fiji Mr.. Seeman was an enthusiastic
botanist and searched diligently for all
kinds of F'ijian plants and their uses.
A medical student once defined a weed
as "a plant whose medicinal qualities
had not been discovered" Mr.. Seeman
tried very faithfully to find out the use
the natives made of the various plants
he collected. He reports concerning
one of the peculiar poison trees of that
group of islands, and relates very in
teresting cures of leprosy secured by
proper use of the poisonous qualities
specifying one case of a young man
which came directly to his notice. He
states that the treatment had proved
effective in other cases also. The FL
jams have tree which they named
Sinu-gaga (Excoecaria Agallocha),
growing In swamps or just above high
water mark, and attaining height of
about sixty feet cit is difficult to ex-
terminate, for innumerable young
shoots spring UP around stumps when
trees are cut down." 1t is evidently
hydra-headed. It's poisonous sap is
white and milky and burns severely
when coming in contact with the skin.
The smoke from the burning wood
causes intolerable agony to the eyes
of anyone exposed to it. Provided that
the diagnosis of the disease was cor
rect. and the Fijians were really af-
flicted with leprosy, this singing, poi
sonous smoke was unquestionably a
kill or cure" remedy, resorted to by
desperate victims of the dread disease.
Mr.. Seeman's testimony is that no one
who has not felt the intense suffering
resulting from contact with the poisons
Of the Sinu-gaga tree, can form any
adequate conception of the agonies
endured and the courage displayed by
a Fijian who voluntarily submits him
self to being cured of the leprosy by
the smoke of the Sinu-gaga wood"
Probably the fact that an over-treat-
ment results in death, and that it is
exceedingly difficult to estimate the
proper amount of wood to burn and
the time of exposure, combine to make
the experiment too hazardous for ordi-
nary cases. Still it may be that the
poison of the Sinugaga will be found
adequate to battle with the germs OF
leprosy. The story of heroic voluntary
treatment is thus told by Mr.. Seeman
Rev. w. Moore of Rewa was well ac'
quainted with a young man by the
name of Wiliami Lawaleou. He wa:
surprised to find him one day very
much changed by the effects of leprosy
Some time after he met him full o.
health. and on inquiring learned the
treatment usually adopted to bring
about this change
Taken to a small empty house, thu
1eper Is stripped of every article o
clothing, his body rubbed all over will
green leaves and then buried in them
A small fire is then kindled and few
pieces of the Sfnu-gaga wood laid oil
it. As soon as the thick black smok
begins to ascend the leper is bount
hand and foot, a rope fastened to hi
heels. by means of which he is draw
up over the fire, 50 that his head i
some fifteen inches from the grount
in the midst of the poisonous smoke
the door is then closed and his friend
retire to a little distance, whilst tn
poor sufferer is left to cry and shou
and plead in the midst of the suffocat
ing stream; but he is often allowed t
remain for hours, and finally faint
away.
When he is thought to be sufficient
ly smoked. the fire is removed, tn
slime scraped from the body, and dee
sashes cut into the skin until the bloc,
runs freely. The leper is now take
down and laid on mats to await tn
result; in some cases, death; in many
life and health.
Wiliami had undergone this fearful
process. He had taken some of tn
youth of the place, and on the way t
the smoking-house, told them his pitt
able condition; his shame as an outcast
and his willingness to suffer anything t
OBTAIN cure. and that much woul
depend upon their firmness. They wer
not to be moved by his groans an
cries. and for the love they bore hir