The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-05-17

Pearl City will become the city Q
Hawaii, although it is probable tn
capital will remain at Honolulu.
Kauai is called the Garden Isle an,
lis regarded as the Oldest Of the Ha
waiian group,
Miihau is one of the smallest isl
ands, containing only 10000 acres 0
Hand, which all belongs to one firm o
sheep raisers, The whole island i
one extensive sheep ranch.
Molokai, 40 miles long and sever
wide, is the first land sighted by yes
sells from San Francisco to Honolulu
A small peninsula on the north side
fenced off from the rest OF the islant
by lofty and almost vertical preci
pice is the leper settlement OF l20C
persons. Five Catholic sisters min,
lister to the wants OF the lepers, some
OF these having been on the island
since 1885 None OF them are al
ficted for they take care to be cleanly
which is the best protection.
No divorce is necessary ii either
husband or wife has leprosy. When
man or woman is sent to Molokai,
he or she is permitted to marry again
without applying to the courts, so is
the man or woman who is not
afflicted. Priests perform the cere-
monies in the leper colony and,
strange to say, more children are born
in proportion to the population, than
in any other spot on the globe. Even
stranger is the fact that not one in
500 of these children are born with
leprosy. The girls who do not have
the disease, are taken to an institute
in Honolulu, where they are educated
and cared for by the Catholic Sisters
No provision has been made for the
boys and nearly all OF them sooner or
later, contract the disease. The meth
ods adopted in Hawaii for the sup
preston of leprosy will doubtless
eradicate the scourage from those
islands within the next generation or
two. A tribute must be paid to the
memory of Father Damien, who free
ly sacrificed his life for the benefit of
the lepers on Molokai. He was a
moral hero such as the world rarely
sees.
To go back to our islands-Lanai is
ten by nineteen miles in extent, lit
tie gem of an island, devoted until
recently to sheep raising. But the
sugar interest has extended there
also.
Last on the list comes Kahoolowe
six by fourteen miles and devoted
principally to cattle raising.
The climate Of the Hawaiian Is
lands is ideal. They may be called
a summer resort or winter resort,
for the seasons vary so little that
the changes are scarcely perceptible
and this naturally leads up to the
subject of products.
The business and resources Of the
islands are purely agricultural and
the fertile valleys are covered with
sugar, cotton and rice plantations.
Oranges, lines, grape fruit, bananas,
pine-apples, guayas, mangoes, peaches
the mammee apple, cassava, alligator
pear, (Which by the way is a great
flesh producer), bread fruit and yack
which resembles bread fruit but two
or three times larger, also poha,
whose berry makes excellent jelly
and jam, sweet potatoes, yams which,
| will remark for the benefit Of the
fiorculturists, is a climbing plant
cultivated in tropical climates for the
sake OF its large tubers or roots) all
these grow on the islands, but there
are two products native to the islands
Of such peculiar interest that ! must
tell you about them.
First is the papaya which has num-
erous uses-the fruit may be eaten
raw with pepper and sugar, but is
generally cooked with lemon juice
and sugar. 1t is fattening food for
pigs and chickens. The juice is used
as a cosmetic and will readily remove
frecklc5. The leaves are used by the
natives as a substitute for soap and
a few drops of the juice mixed with
water will in a few moments render
meat tender.
But most interesting of all is the
taro, a plant indigenous to these is
lands. The tubers contain more
nutrilnent for a given weight than any
other vegetable food. The young
tops when cooked are hard to distinl
gush from spinach. The tubers must
be cooked before they can be used
as food, in order to dissipate very
acrid principle that exixts in both