Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-11-06
A COLONY OF LEPERS.
HOW THE HAWAIIAN TAKE CARE OF
THESE UNFORTUNATES.
Mr.. Edwords Describes Vividly the Leper
Settlement on the Island Of MoIakai,
the Eating Of Poi. and Riding
Surf Boat at Haikiki.

the Eating Of Poi. and Riding
Surf Boat at Haikiki :
/ [Dr. Clarence +. Edwords. q veteran news
paper man and correspondent is making q
two years tour of the Philippines. Borneo,
Japan for number Of American newspapers,
Public Opinion being one of them. His
weekly letters appear exclusively in this
much interest, we are sure.-Edtorl
Honolulu. H. l., Oct 29.-Tomor-
row 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, however, that one could re-
main here for weeks. constantly find
ing something new to write about.
Through my medical connection I
was able to visit the Ieper settlement
on the island of Molokai, and have
been waking up with shudders ever
since. 1t is place so horrible that
it would take a pen stronger and
more subtle than mine to adequately
describe it. 1 can tell how it i'm
pressed me but l do not believe it
possible to make anyone undt rstood
what it really looks like unless they
see it.
Leprosy is believed by majority of
the medical world to be both con-
tagious and infectious, but have my
doubts about the latter part
of the theory. That it is
contagious is proven over and over
again on these islands, and nine out
of ten of these poor unfortunates who
are dragging out their loathsome
lives on Molokai received the disease
by contact with some one who had it,
or by using clothing that had been
worn by leper.
The settlement on Molokai is a
natural prison, walled in on the land
side by high cliffs. while the ocean
forms an effectual barrier to escape
on that side. 1t is not necessary to
guard these prisoners for they cannot
get away. They have little village
with form of local government, and
are directly under regulation of the
Board of Health of the islands. They
are cared for by the government, and
when man. woman or child shows
signs 0f leprosy there Is no help for
the victim They are hurried away
to living death and remain there un-
til death relieves them of the suffer-
ing. Many tales are told of natives
who have fought against this inn
prisonment and have become outlaws,
holding the authorities at bay for
many months before they gave up.
All the natives except the educated
ones are on the side of the victim who
has contracted 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 cave,
defying the officers for more than
year. He was finally captured through
his child who wandered away and
was found by officers. Rather than
be separated from his child the father
and mother gave up and the entire
family went to the settlement.
There is theory here that leprosy
which is so prevalent is caused by eat
ing raw fish. Natives eat great
deal of raw fish. and this with poi, a
peculiar custard made of taro root,
forms the staple article of diet. Poi
is the national dish and its use marks
class divisions among the people. Ac-
cording to the consistency of the poi
it is known as lone finger poi. -
"two finger poi" and ''three finger
poi" 1t is much more elegant to eat
it with one finger, consequently the
more fingers one uses when eating poi
the lower he is in the social SCALE
Taro from which poi is made is
peculiar plant which grows in swampy
land, and in its cultivation natives
utilize the water buffalo, which they
have 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 distasteful in the odor of a
white person to this buffalo, but l
have seen native children by the
dozen playing about the feet of the
animals
If one went to Honolulu and missed
taking a ride on q surf boat he would
miss one of the greatest sports of the
islands. Out at Waikiki. one of the
most beautiful beaches in the world,
the natives take their heavy surf boats
far out on the ocean. and, watching
for some especially big roller, start
home with it, riding on it's comb. If
the boatman is expert all goes well.
and they go racing in at express
train speed. but il there be the slight
L