The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-05-13
CASE OF THE LEpER COLONY.

CASE OF THE LEPER COLONY.
Among the heaviest of these publ,
expenses which II is impossible great,
to abridge is that of maintaining i'm dut
comfort the leper ooiony on Mololsai
| The site of their settlement r. on ths
island nearest to this one, and Is fairly
In sight from the eastern end of thc
electric road not over fifty miles away.
II occupies Il low peninsula OF about
eight square miles area, at the foot OF
nearly impossible precipice of 1.5Ut
feet, which wholly isolates Ii from the
rest of the island. 1t is lovely spot,
swept by the bracing trade Winds a
| copious supply of water for gardens
and taro culture is led by pipes from
a neighborng valley. Here dwell In
great comfort nearly 300 victims of lep-
rosy. the great majority of whom are
nearly or quite free from serious suffer.
ing. The disease of leprosy is not at
tended with pain, except In it's later
stages, when the vital organs bcgin to
be seriously invaded. 1t is sthetic.
or painless, in its disfiguring ravages.
Among its earlier manifestations are
portions of the skin becoming insensible
to pain. Swellings appear on the face
ears, hands and feet, parts exposed to
the light, These are followed in time
by numerous alterations. Joints of the
fingers and toes ultimately separate.
But at all the time there is no pain
and the MANNED hands and feet cicatrize
and heal. Death usually comes from
disease of lungs or bowels. which the
malady has impaired in their action.
A LIFE OF EASE AND COMFORT.
Thus colony of lepers is not char
acterized by any general distress. They
i've in great ease and comfort. Per-
maps one-tenth of their number are
weak or i'll enough to be in hospital,
where they are We'll cared for. The rest
lead lives of comfort greater than that
of majority OF their fellow Hawaians.
Rations are abundant. All necessaries
and housing are amply supplied There
are few score of well persons among
them who have been permitted to live
there as kokuas, or helpers of feeble
relatives. These kokuas often try to
pass as lepers in order to remain after
the death of their relatives and enjoy
the easy life The villages are very at
tractive with nice cottages and pretty
gardens a liberal and judicious eX-
pendture by the government for forty
years has developed a very perfect sys-
TEN of management. The present very
capable head of the settlement, Jack
McNeigh, reports great interest of late
in athletic exercises. race track is
much in vogue. Numbers practice
forming pyramids, climbing on each
others shoulders.
OF THE NATIVES.
Most of the lepers are native Hawai- |
ans. Not five per cent belong to other
races, although Hawaians form only
of the inhabitants of this 1,
group This is doubtless due in part
to less tendency in Europeans and !
Asatics to contract the malady which
has for ages existed among those races,
so that they are comparatively Immune. |
But 1t is much more the effect Of the
utter absence among Hawaiians of any .
orecaution against communicable dis
Eases. A Hawaiian always mingles
With infected persons of any sort with
absolute carelessness. They Seem in
capable of grasping the idea that con-
act with diseased person can impair
'ne's safety. | have personally wit
lessed the strangest carelessness in the
natter of leprosy. | have seen at "A
eceiving station visiting friends pass
ng pipes from mouth to mouth through
he palings between the well outside
md the hideously disfigured faces with
n. | have seen in their homes lepers
md we'll persons eating with their
lands from the same dishes. | have
cen children in remote country school
With arms entwined with a leprous
MD, whom neither parents nor teacher
ad thought to segregate.
THE ONLY SALVATION.
The only salvation from leprosy is
igorous segregation of the afflicted
mes. Yet we find to this day apparent
y learned writer's maintaining that it
5 not a contagious or communicable
isease, although its peculiar bacillus is
yell known, and its presence is a com
lon test for incipient leprosy, whose
ymptoms are often simulated by other
laladies. To one like myself who has
'atched the development of a large ,
lumber of cases it seems strange that
s communicableness should-be thought
pen to the slightest doubt. Between
lirty and fifty years ago the writer
as located at Lahaina, which was the {
hief center from which the infection $
bread. Lahaina was the home of the
alive chief who contracted the malady @
China about sixty years ago and
rought it home with him. In that
lace l could trace its transmission
ON person to person, and its often n
ipid spread in individual households. {
was not until about 1858 that the
anne of the strange malady became C
lown through the visit of n physician a
} China, although before that time IL n