HAWAIIAN ISl.AMi-. ■" 



and took great pleasure in rendering its interior at- 

 tractive by the simplest but tasty decorations. He 

 erected schoolhouses and orphan asylums, established 

 a choir and organized a music band, and placed them 

 under the direction of his faithful helper, Brother Dut- 

 ton. I listened to the music of this band playing na- 

 tional and sacred songs. Every member of the band 

 was a leper; some had lost a number of their fingers, 

 others played the cornet with lips half destroyed, ulcer- 

 ated and distorted. It was a scene it would be impossi- 

 ble to forget. Father Damien became a physician and 

 a druggist, and his place in these functions is now 

 filled by Brother Button. Although the settlement had 

 a resident physician at the time of my visit, the little 

 but well-stocked dispensary was crowded with patients, 

 and Brother Dutton was busy in washing and dress- 

 ing wounds and dealing out simple remedies. 



In describing leprosy. Father Damien writes to his 

 brother: "Leprosy, so far as is known, is incurable. 

 It seems to begin by a corruption of the blood. Dis- 

 colored patches appear on the skin, especially on the 

 cheeks, and the parts affected lose their, feeling. After 

 a time this discoloration covers the whole body; these 

 ulcers begin to open chiefly at the extremities. The 

 flesh is eaten away and gives out a fetid odor; even the 

 breath of the leper becomes so foul that the air around 

 is poisoned with it. I have had great difficulty in get- 

 ting accustomed to such an atmosphere. One day at 

 the Sunday mass I found myself so stifled that I 

 thought I must leave the altar to breathe a little of the 

 outer air, but I restrained myself, thinking of our 

 Lord when He commanded them to open the grave 

 of Lazarus, notwithstanding Martha's word, 'Jam 

 foetet.' Now my sense of smell does not cause me so 

 much inconvenience, and I enter the huts of lepers 

 without difficulty. Sometimes, indeed, I feel some re- 

 pugnance when I have to hear the confessions of those 

 near the end, whose wounds are full of maggots. Often. 



