'''' AROUND THE WORLD VIA INDIA. 



SEGREGATION. 



When it was found necessary to enforce segregation 

 a commission was appointed to select the most favor- 

 able location, climatic and otherwise, for the unfor- 

 tunate exiles. This commission acted wisely in select- 

 ing a tongue-like projection of the island of Molokai. 

 isolated on t.wo sides by the ocean and from the re- 

 maining part of the island by an almost perpendicular 

 cliff, the Pali, 2,000 feet in height, which is crossed 

 by those who are permitted to visit the settlement over 

 a shelf-like path hewn out of the solid rock. A trip 

 over such a mountain path demands much physical ex- 

 ertion, and more than an ordinary interest in making 

 the visit. The laws regulating and enforcing segrega- 

 tion are more stringent here than anywhere else. They 

 include a divorce of married people if the man or wife 

 so desire, and exclusion from society for the remainder 

 of the leper's life. If the healthy husband or wife is 

 willing to share the fate of the doomed consort she or 

 he is permitted to share the banishment, with the un- 

 derstanding that the exile is for life, and with no ex- 

 pectation of ever coming in touch with remaining rela- 

 tives again, this side of eternity. On the other hand, 

 the exiled man or woman is free to marry again, an 

 inmate of the leper settlement. The government recog- 

 nized that what certainly appear as hard, and even 

 cruel, measures, were intended for the benefit and pro- 

 tection of the mass of the population. That these se- 

 vere laws met first with violent opposition on the part 

 of the lepers and their devoted relatives and friends 

 is very natural, among a people who are very unselfish 

 and affectionate. The officers were intrusted with car- 

 rying the laws into effect. The physicians who made 

 the diagnosis and the police who had to apprehend the 

 suspects and attend to their transportation to the settle- 

 ment met with many difficulties, and in some instances 

 sustained personal violence. 



