Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1907-11-08
A Weekly Letter From the Orient
FURNISHED BY THE REooRDER'sSpHo
IAL CORRESPONDENT, WHO is
MAKING A Tour OF THE EAST
ERIN COUNTRIES.
Especial to Recorder.)

Especial to Recorder.)
Honolulu, II. | July 27--To
morrow | sail for Toxic and my
next letter and those following
will delve deeper into the queer
things across the Pacific. There
is so much in these islands how
ever, that ore could remain here
for weeks, constantly finding some
thing new to write about. Through
my medical connections | Was able
10 visit the lsper settlement on the
island of Molokai, and haye- been
waking up with shoulders ever
since. 1t is a place SO horrible that
it would take o pen stronger and
more subtle than mine to adequate
" describe it. | can tell how it
impressed ME but | do not believe
it possible to make anyone under
stand " hat it really looks like un.
less they see it.
Laprosy is believed by majority
of the medical world to be both
contagious and infectious, but |
have my doubts about the latter
part of the theory. That it is con
tagions is proven oyer and over
again on these ISLANDS; and nine
out OF ten Of these poor uufortu-
mates who are dragging out their
loathsome lives on Molukai rreeiy-
ed the disease by contact with
some one who it. or by using cloth
ing that had been worn by Ieper.
The settlement on MolOkai is a
natural prison, walled in on the
the land side by high cliffs, while
the ocean forms aud effect ual bar
rier to escape on that side. 1t is
not necessary to guard these pris-
oners for they cannot get away.
They have little village with a
form Of local government, and are
directly under regulation of the
Board of Health of the islands
They are cared for BY the govern
ment, and lien man, woman Or
child shows signs of leprosy there
is no help for the victim They are
hurried away to living death and
r main there until death relieves
them Of the suffering. Many tales
are told of natives who have fought
against this Imprisonment and
have become outlaws, holding the
authorities at bay for months be.
fore they gave up. All the natives
except the educated ones are on
the side of the victim who has con-
tracted the disease, and do all in
their power to prevent the officers
from taking him to Molokai. One
man who was touched with leprosy
took his wife and little child to the
mountains where they lived in a
cave, defying the offers for more
than a year. He was finally cap
tured through his child who wan
dered away and was found by off
:ers. Rather than be separated
from bis child the father and moth.
IF gave up and the entire family
went to the settlement.
There is q theory here that lep-
rosy which is so prevalent is caused
by eating raw fish. Natives eat
great deal Of raw fish, aud this with
poi, a peculiar custard made of taro
root, forms the staple article OF
diet. Poi is the national dish and
its marks class divisions among the
people. According to the consis.
tency of the poi it is known as
zone finger POI" ''two finger poi,
and three finger poi" 1t is much
more elegant to eat it with one
finger. consequently the more fng-
ers one uses when eating poi the
lower he is in the social scale.
Taro from which poi is made is a
peculiar plant which grows in
swampy land, and in its cultivation
natives utilize the water buffalo
which they imported from the
Philippines. This animal takes
kindly to any one with dark skin
but woe to the person who is white
who gets within reach of it. There
seems to be something especially
distas, eful in the odor of white
person to this buffalo. but | have
seen native children BY the dozen
playing about the feet of the ami.
N, IN 10