That a leper is unclean, however, should be insisted upon; and the segregation of lepers, from what little is known of the disease, should be rigidly maintained.On the other hand, the awful horror with which the leper has been regarded in the past, and the frightful treatment he has received, have been unnecessary and cruel.In order to dispel some of the popular misapprehensions of leprosy, I want to tell something of the relations between the lepers and non-lepers as I observed them at Molokai.On the morning after our arrival Charmian and I attended a shoot of the Kalaupapa Rifle Club, and caught our first glimpse of the democracy of affliction and alleviation that obtains.The club was just beginning a prize shoot for a cup put up by Mr.McVeigh, who is also a member of the club, as also are Dr.Goodhue and Dr.Hollmann, the resident physicians (who, by the way, live in the Settlement with their wives).All about us, in the shooting booth, were the lepers.
Lepers and non-lepers were using the same guns, and all were rubbing shoulders in the confined space.The majority of the lepers were Hawaiians.Sitting beside me on a bench was a Norwegian.Directly in front of me, in the stand, was an American, a veteran of the Civil War, who had fought on the Confederate side.He was sixty-five years of age, but that did not prevent him from running up a good score.Strapping Hawaiian policemen, lepers, khaki-clad, were also shooting, as were Portuguese, Chinese, and kokuas--the latter are native helpers in the Settlement who are non-lepers.And on the afternoon that Charmian and I climbed the two-thousand-foot pali and looked our last upon the Settlement, the superintendent, the doctors, and the mixture of nationalities and of diseased and non-diseased were all engaged in an exciting baseball game.
Not so was the leper and his greatly misunderstood and feared disease treated during the middle ages in Europe.At that time the leper was considered legally and politically dead.He was placed in a funeral procession and led to the church, where the burial service was read over him by the officiating clergyman.Then a spadeful of earth was dropped upon his chest and he was dead-living dead.While this rigorous treatment was largely unnecessary, nevertheless, one thing was learned by it.Leprosy was unknown in Europe until it was introduced by the returning Crusaders, whereupon it spread slowly until it had seized upon large numbers of the people.Obviously, it was a disease that could be contracted by contact.It was a contagion, and it was equally obvious that it could be eradicated by segregation.Terrible and monstrous as was the treatment of the leper in those days, the great lesson of segregation was learned.
By its means leprosy was stamped out.
And by the same means leprosy is even now decreasing in the Hawaiian Islands.But the segregation of the lepers on Molokai is not the horrible nightmare that has been so often exploited by YELLOWwriters.In the first place, the leper is not torn ruthlessly from his family.When a suspect is discovered, he is invited by the Board of Health to come to the Kalihi receiving station at Honolulu.
His fare and all expenses are paid for him.He is first passed upon by microscopical examination by the bacteriologist of the Board of Health.If the bacillus leprae is found, the patient is examined by the Board of Examining Physicians, five in number.If found by them to be a leper, he is so declared, which finding is later officially confirmed by the Board of Health, and the leper is ordered straight to Molokai.Furthermore, during the thorough trial that is given his case, the patient has the right to be represented by a physician whom he can select and employ for himself.Nor, after having been declared a leper, is the patient immediately rushed off to Molokai.
He is given ample time, weeks, and even months, sometimes, during which he stays at Kalihi and winds up or arranges all his business affairs.At Molokai, in turn, he may be visited by his relatives, business agents, etc., though they are not permitted to eat and sleep in his house.Visitors' houses, kept "clean," are maintained for this purpose.
I saw an illustration of the thorough trial given the suspect, when I visited Kalihi with Mr.Pinkham, president of the Board of Health.
The suspect was an Hawaiian, seventy years of age, who for thirty-four years had worked in Honolulu as a pressman in a printing office.The bacteriologist had decided that he was a leper, the Examining Board had been unable to make up its mind, and that day all had come out to Kalihi to make another examination.
When at Molokai, the declared leper has the privilege of re-examination, and patients are continually coming back to Honolulu for that purpose.The steamer that took me to Molokai had on board two returning lepers, both young women, one of whom had come to Honolulu to settle up some property she owned, and the other had come to Honolulu to see her sick mother.Both had remained at Kalihi for a month.
The Settlement of Molokai enjoys a far more delightful climate than even Honolulu, being situated on the windward side of the island in the path of the fresh north-east trades.The scenery is magnificent; on one side is the blue sea, on the other the wonderful wall of the pali, receding here and there into beautiful mountain valleys.Everywhere are grassy pastures over which roam the hundreds of horses which are owned by the lepers.Some of them have their own carts, rigs, and traps.In the little harbour of Kalaupapa lie fishing boats and a steam launch, all of which are privately owned and operated by lepers.Their bounds upon the sea are, of course, determined: otherwise no restriction is put upon their sea-faring.Their fish they sell to the Board of Health, and the money they receive is their own.While I was there, one night's catch was four thousand pounds.
