BY SYDNEY ]1. J. SKERTCHLY. 13 



The test of language tells in the same direction. Un- 

 fortunately, we were at the outset of our inquiry so under the 

 impression that Leprosy was endemic over the region treated of^ 

 that we omitted to make special enquiries on this point, and only 

 chance statements and personal observation, are to hand. It is 

 not sufficient to find a name for Leprosy given in a vocahulary ; 

 such a name may be a loan word. What is required is a know- 

 ledge of native usage. For example, the Malays of the Straits 

 havethe word /.n-s-^^, but in North Borneo, the name was unknown to 

 the native Malays, and when Leprosy was brought by the Chinese,. 

 they simply termed it sdh-it, sickness, accompanying the term 

 with a gesture of disgust, or called it by the English term, xdhit 

 lepra. So too in Hawaii, there was no native name for the 

 disease, though they have a copious nomenclature for other 

 diseases. The Hawaians call it Mai Pahe, the Chinese disease. 



The necessity for thus getting hold of local usage is vividly 

 illustrated in the case of China itself. In the north, where we 

 have shown it is only present in a mild form the natives call it 

 hiii hii, or great itch; thus showing they do not recognise it as 

 a separate disease, but only as a form of a well known and little 

 heeded complaint. Li the leprous south the case is very 

 diflerent. The general term for Leprsoy is Ma Fun;/ : and 

 they recognise the following varieties, Hidi;/ ll'^n/, red patches; 

 Hak Wan, black patches; Hitmj 'inn, red rings; I'dh- "J'uii, 

 white rings ; T.sz Wan, darker than Hung Wan ; Lmi I'ni, 

 contraction of the sineAvs of the feet ; I'lDt c/mi, contraction of 

 the sinews of the fingers ; and Kni ( '/uiii Tiotij (probably), tuber- 

 cular Leprosy. This wealth of ternainology shows an intimate 

 accpiaintance with the disease, for no Cantonese would dream of 

 calling Leprosy by so mild a term as "great itch." It also goes 

 far towards establishing the point that Kwantung is one of the 

 principal centres of the disease. 



The conclusion we draw is that L''jin»si/ .s/iuh-.s u .sti-ni!,/li/ 

 tihirh-fd etinuxini [iliictil ilisfn'lnition : anil it /•'; must iiiarl,-('(l in tJic 

 inrcrsf order of the date of iitti-oiluctio)/ of the diffi/i-i'n^ rar,'s. The 

 order is as follows : — 



Original Black races ... Free in the Archipelago. 



Indonesian race ... Free in the Archipelago. 



