36 AROUND TILE WORLD VIA INDIA. 



membering that I was placed under the pall on the 

 day of my religious profession, thereby to learn that 

 voluntary death is the beginning of a new life, here I 

 am, ready to bury myself alive among these unfor- 

 tunate people, several of whom are personally known 

 to me." Such language could not fail in securing 

 for him the cherished position. He sailed directly for 

 the settlement, where he landed May 10, 1873, penni- 

 less, and even without a change of linen. The only 

 available shelter he found to protect him from rain and 

 the burning rays of the sun was a hospitable pandanus 

 tree, in the shadow of which he lived for some time. 

 The very presence of this saintly priest had of itself 

 a marvelous effect on the morals of the exiled. In a 

 letter to his provincial two days after reaching the set- 

 tlement he writes: "You know my disposition. I 

 want to sacrifice myself for the poor lepers. The har- 

 vest is ripe." The heroism of this humble priest made 

 a deep impression not only on the lepers, but the en- 

 tire population of the islands. He commenced work 

 with a will. The time left between his priestly offices 

 was occupied in improving the worldly condition of his 

 charges. Beside his clerical duties, he did the work of 

 a carpenter, mason, gardener, etc. It is said that he 

 made more than 1,500 coffins for his dead out of the 

 rouffh boards furnished by the srovemment. On an 

 average he officiated at 200 funerals a year, where he 

 often was priest and sexton at the same time. 



He built little frame houses among them — one for 

 himself, with only two small rooms. I found here a 

 wooden bathtub made by himself which gave testimony 

 to his skill as a carpenter. Ko leper ever entered this, 

 the plainest of all houses in the village. A chair, table, 

 bed and a few plain pictures representing Bible scenes 

 and the life of saints, his saddle and bridle, well worn,, 

 and a few religious books were about everything he left 

 behind him at the time of his death. He built an- 

 other church (Fig. 2), doing most of the work himself, 



