14 THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF LEPROSY, ETC. 



Malay race ... ... Somewhat affected. 



Chinese ... ... Strongly Leprous. 



The only common factor we can discover is the presence of 

 •Chinese in all leprous centres. 



The Distributing Centre. — The centre from which Leprosy 

 has chiefly spread over the area under consideration, is the two 

 adjoining southern Chinese provinces of Kwantung and Fokien. 

 From their shores Leprosy spreads outwards in all directions, 

 diminishing in intensity as the distance increases, but coming 

 to a new focus in Hawaii. 



The exceptions to this rule are significant. The disease 

 does not go northwards, nor does it spread much in China west- 

 wards ; that is, it neither goes up the coast nor inland. But it 

 does spread in every other direction. Li other words it fulloir.s 

 ■tilt' liru'i^ (if ('Jiincsi- riiiii/iyiti'Oi. 



In North Borneo we saw with our own eyes the introduction 

 •of Leprosy by the Chinese, and happily its extinction also. 

 From Sumatra and -Java the news came that the disease was 

 unknoAvn until the introduction of Chinese coolie labour ; in New 

 Caledonia and Fiji the disease has also followed the opening up 

 of the country, and the coming in of the same class ; in South 

 Moluccas there is no aboriginal race to nurture the disease ; 

 •Celebes is full of plantations where Chinese abound, and so we 

 might go on, giving case after case. 



The two islands of Hainan and Formosa are striking ex- 

 amples of our theme. Hainan is inhabited by a tribe that, 

 keeping to the interior, give but partial submission to the 

 •Chinese, and hold scarcely any communication with them. The 

 •Chinese proper on the island, are mostly descendants of emi- 

 grants from Fokien, and they are leprous, while the natives are 

 free. 



Formosa was early settled by an Indonesian race, and the 

 island did not become Chinese till IGGl. Even now they are 

 confined to the west of the dividing range, and the natives 

 successfully hold the rest. The Chinese are leprous, the For- 

 mosans are not. 



