BY SYDNEY B. J. SKERTCHLY. 15 



Hawaii is a terrible illustration of the point we are contend- 

 ing for. It is the niost leprous place on earth, and the native 

 race seems doomed. Their Board of Health in 1H94, spent over 

 $300,000, the greater part of which was for their lepers. The 

 Government have issued many reports, extending over hundreds 

 of pages, so that the history of the disease can be readily 

 followed It will be well to devote a little space to the con- 

 sideration of this interesting country. 



Discovered in 1777 by Captain Cook, it speedily became a 

 resort for whaling ships, and the growth of vegetables for the 

 use of ships was the first settled industry. Early in this century, 

 missionaries settled in the islands, and we have searched in vain 

 their reports and those of all the early voyagers for any notice 

 of Leprosy, ^^'e state confidently that it was unknown. 



By the middle of this century California had attracted large 

 numbers of American settlers, and a regular trade was kept up 

 with Hawaii. Contemporary writings show that about this 

 time the Chinese were attracted to the islands for sandal wood, 

 trepang, &c., and many settled down and took to planting and 

 growing vegetables for the American market. Then came the 

 great gold discovery in California, with its unparalleled influx 

 of population, and Hawaii became of great importance as a 

 food-producing country, its chief mart being San Francisco. 

 Chinese now flocked to Hawaii and California, and the erstwhile 

 savage islands became the seat of an enlightened and civilised 

 native government. 



In 1850, King Kamehameha III organised a Board of Health, 

 and his royal mandate decrees " that everything . . . ought 

 to be done or undone, removed or procured, for the preservation 

 or cure of contagious, epidemic, and other diseases, and more 

 especially of Cholera." No mention is made of Leprosy. 



In April 1H6H, Dr. Hillebrand, Surgeon to the Queen's 

 Hospital, called attention to " the rapid spread of that new 

 disease, called by the natives ' Pai Make '." 



In February 1864, the President of the Board reports the 

 disease as spreading to other islands in the group. In 1805, an 

 Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy was passed, which com- 

 mences with the statement that " Leprosy has spread to a 



