12 THE ETHNO(iKAPHY OF LEPROSY, ETC. 



•ence to Directories will show that in many places they equal, 

 .and in some outnumber the native inhabitants. They are the 

 first immigrants to introduce trade, and may be found living 

 where no white man's life is safe ; they are the advance guard 

 -of coming civilisation. When the European opens new land, he 

 looks to China for labour, and it is not far from exact to say 

 that over the whole of this vast area there is not a spot where a 

 foreigner can earn a living without a Chinaman in it. 



All the direct, and much indirect evidence, goes to show 

 that Leprosy was not knoAvn in the Archipelago until it was 

 brought by the Chinese. The same is true of the Pacific Islands; 

 they certainly introduced it into Hawaii, as we will show. 



This suggestion gathers force when we consider the relative 

 intensity of the disease among the various races. The case may 

 be thus stated : — 'Hie intoisitu of Jjcjirasi/ in the ared under <<ni- 

 ■si<le)-(iti<ni is inverselji as tJie (iiitiquiti/ of the race in (Oiij //iren sjiot. 

 The black races, the oldest, practically enjoy immunity ; and 

 this holds good in a slightly less degree with the succeeding 

 Indonesians. The Malays who followed are tainted in many 

 j)laces ; the Chinese, the last to arrive, are the most leprous, and 

 we know Leprosy to be endemic in China. Europeans can be 

 left out of the question for their habits prevent them from 

 becoming lepers, save in a few isolated cases. 



In the Archipelago the Negroid races have for the most part 

 been driven inland by the Indonesian incursions ; and these 

 latter have in many cases been similarly affected by the INIalay 

 invasions. None of these island tribes are leprous, as they must 

 be if Leprosy were endemic among them. Leprosy is in fact 

 practically confined to the coasts, and to the cultivated parts of 

 the interior, or just to those places where the Chinese are most 

 "thickly settled. The Malays are in closer contact with the 

 Chinese than the other races', being confined to the coast for 

 the most part ; hence they suffer more than the older races. 

 Yet ten Chinese lepers can be found for one Malay. Every 

 Leper Hospital, save in Hawaii, tells the same story ; it is the 

 ■Chinaman who suffers most. 0\'er and over again the report 

 came to us, " seems to have been unknown till introduced by 

 the Chinese." 



