Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-26

pear on the race, ears, hands ana 1eet,
parts exposed to the light. These are fol-
lowed in time by numerous alterations.
Joints of the fingers and toes ultimately
separate. But all the time there is no pain,
and the manned hands and feet cicatrtze
and heal Death usually comes from dis
ease of lungs or bowels, which the malady
has impaired in their action.
A Life Of Ease and Comfort.
Thus a colony of lepers is not character
lied by any general distress. They live in
great ease and comfort. Perhaps one-tenth
of their number are weak or Ill enough to
be in hospital where they are well cared
for The rest lead lives of comfort greater
than that of majority of their fellow Ha-
waiians. Rations are abundant. All neces-
saries and housing are amply suppHeo.
There are a few score OF well persons
among them who have been permitted TO
live there as kakuas. or helpers OF feeble
relatives. These kakuas often try to pass
as lepers in order to remain after the death
of their relatives and enjoy the easy IRE.
The villages are very attractive with nice
cottages and pretty gardens A liberal ana
judicious expenditure by the government
for forty years has developed a very perfect
system of management The present very
capable head of the settlement, Jack" Nc
Weigh, reports great interest of late in atm
letic exercises. A race track Is much In
vogue Numbers practice forming pyramids.
climbing on each others shoulders
Carel0SSnNSS OF the NaClVeS.
Most of the lepers are native Hawaiians
Not s per cent belong to other races. al
though Hawaiians form only one-fourth OF
the Inhabitants of this group. This Is
doubtless due in part to less tendency IN
Europeans and Asiatics to contract the
maIady which has for ages existed among
those races so that they are comparatively
immune. But 1t Is much more the enect OF
the utter absence among Hawaitans OF any
precaution against communicable diseases.
Hawaiian always mingies with inIeclea
persons of any sort with absolute careless
ness. They seem incapable of grasping the
idea that contact with diseased person
can impair ones safety. have personally
witnessed the strangest careleSsneSs In the
matter of leprosy. I have seen at a receiv-
ing station visiting friends passing pipes
frcm mouth to mouth through the palings
between the well outside and the hideousiy
diShgured faces within. i have seen IN
their homes lepers and well persons eating
with their hands from the same dishes. 1
have seen children In a remote country
school with arms entwined with a leprous
child. whom neither parents nor teacher
had thought to segregate.
The Only Salvation.
The only salvation from leprosy is rig
orous segregation of the afflicted ones.
Yet we find to this day apparently learned
writer's maintaining that it is not a conta-
its peculiar bacillus is well known, and its
presence Is a common test for fncipient
leprosy, whose symptoms are often simu-
lated by other maladies. To one like my
self who has watched the development of
a large number of cases it seems strange
that it's communicableness should be
thought open to the slightest doubt Be
tween thirty and fifty years ago the writer
was located at Lahaina, which was the
chief center from which the infection
spread. Lahaina was the home of the ma
tive chief who contracted the malady In
China about sixty years ago and brought
1t home with him. In that place could
trace it's transmission from person to per-
son. and its often rapid spread in individ
ual households. 1t was not until about
1858 that the name of the strange maiady
became known through the visit of ply
stefan to China, although before that time
1t had attracted attention, and had mo-
ticed the peculiar tubercles on the faces
and ears of pupils in school which
taught
Communicated by Kissing.
am well satisfied that the chief method
of communicating leprosy among natives
is by kissing, which they are fond of prac-
ticfng. Hence the frequent infection Of
young children. The saliva of a leper
abounds in the bacillus leprae more than
any other secretion of the body. There
have been notorious cases where white In
fants have thus been infected by native
nurses. Apparently the danger Is small Of
being injected by ordinary contact with