one should believe every fish-story he hears, yet stranger things happen in Hawaii than are dreamed of in our philosophy. Just as the first streaks of dawn began to tinge the east, we came up in the roadstead (it can't be called bay) of Kalaupapa. There was a jingling of heavy chains, the running off of a reel, a plunge and we were at anchor. Glancing off to leeward, I saw great banks of mist rolling up on a shore along which the light of lanterns gleamed, with high mountains in the background. Tho the rain had ceased falling, the dark clouds and mist swept before us at times, shutting out the desolate shore of Molokai, the home of the lepers. CHAPTER VIII THE LEPERS THE Hawaiian Islands have been termed by some of their enthusiastic admirers "The Paradise of the Pacific," and in many respects they seem to warrant the appellation. There one finds many of the conditions spoken of in the songs and stories of paradise. "Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood, It is a home of endless summer, where there grow but few poisonous herbs or trees, while there is not a serpent or reptile whose bite is dangerous on all the islands. If another Adam and Eve in their original simplicity were placed on some of those islands, abundant food could be found to supply their wants fresh from the hand of nature, as was found in the original Eden. "Sick But the Hawaiian Islands are not Paradise. ness, sorrow, pain, and death" are felt there just the same as in all lands on this earth, where men are born to die. One of the most dreadful diseases known to man haunts that land of beauty. Some time during the year 1853 the first case of leprosy was discovered on the islands, and treated by Dr. Baldwin. The natives called it the Mai Pake or Chinese sickness, from which it is supposed that the dread disease was brought from China. The native blood having been impoverished by excesses and diseases contracted from the sailors, was a fertile field for this frightful epidemic. In 1864 leprosy had spread to an alarming extent. Accordingly, an act was passed by the legislature, January 3, 1865, to isolate the lepers, and provide separate establishments and hospitals for them. A hospital was established at Kalihi in October, 1865, and about the same time Mr. Hutchinson selected the present site of the leper settlement, and purchased lands for it on the north side of Molokai. It is a peninsula, comprising some five thousand acres, surrounded on three sides by the ocean, and on the south shut in by a steep pali, or precipice, from two to three thousand feet in height. It includes the fertile valley of Waikolu, besides the villages of Kalawao on the east side and Kalaupapa on the west. From a description of Molokai, one must not suppose that the Hawaiian Islands abound with lepers. If you do not go to Molokai, the chances are that you might pass a lifetime in the Hawaiian Islands and never see a leper. Men and women have been born on the islands, lived to a good old age, and died without meeting a person afflicted with that dread disease. As a rule the lepers do not object to segregation, and some of the natives, I have been told, are anxious to be declared lepers and sent to Molokai, where they will be supported at the expense of the Government. On the other hand there are some who conceal their afflicted relatives and friends to prevent their being sent, thus propagating the disease and endangering their own homes. are very vigilant, especially since the republic was formed, and the lepers are usually found, and after being thoroughly examined are sent to Molokai. The Board of Health, however, There is one leper on the island of Kauai still at large. Any one who enjoys blood-curdling adventures and hairbreadth escapes is at liberty to go, and take him to the island of lepers if he can. Koolau, a bold Hawaiian, was declared a leper and ordered to Molokai, but refused to go. His home was at the foot of the mountains not far from Waimea, where he had lived in happiness and peace with his wife, children, and aged mother until this dread disease seized upon him. When it was known that he was a leper and refused to go to Molokai, Sheriff Stoltz went to arrest him, but Koolau had armed himself with a Winchester and revolvers, and retiring into the strongholds of the mountain, warned the sheriff not to follow. The sheriff pushed on after him. There came a puff of 1 smoke from behind a clump of ferns screening a boulder, the sharp crack of a rifle, and the sheriff fell. He was taken mortally wounded to Waimea, and died in the parsonage of the foreign church in that village. Koolau was declared an outlaw, and a posse sent to capture him. In his mountain pass, aided by his wife, children, and mother, he drove them back with bullets and stones. Next a company of National Guards was despatched to seize him. It is said that while. they slept on the mountain-side at the dead of night, the outlaw leper passed through their camp to the vil lage, secured some necessary supplies, and returned to his mountain fastness. Next day he was attacked by the National Guard in his pass, and after a terrible fight, he drove them down with a loss of three of their number. Koolau was still on the mountain at the time of my visit, and no one dared attempt his capture. The wild fruits, mountain taro, and wild cattle supply him with food, while the many caves in the mountains are his home. I was told that the dis ease is making frightful ravages on him. His fingers are falling off one by one, until he will soon have none left to pull the trigger on his enemies. He is gradually growing weaker and weaker, and eventually he will be too helpless to resist, or will die alone in some of his mountain caves. One of the most pathetic stories told of the islands |