HAWAIIAN [SLANDS. 



41 



THE LEPER PRIEST DIES OF LEPROSY. 



When Father Damien left his native country he bade 

 his relatives and friends good-bye with the firm con- 

 viction that he would never meet them again on earth. 

 When he consecrated himself to the cause of the lepers 

 he did so with the expectation that he would sooner or 

 later share the fate of his flock. It was his desire and 

 hope that he might be spared for a long time for the 

 benefit of the cause he had made his lifework. He took 



Fig. 8. — Father Damien's grave. 



every precaution to escape contagion by excluding the 

 lepers from his house and by observing the utmost 

 cleanliness of his person, and by inculcating the same 

 as far as he could on the inhabitants of his leper vil- 

 lages. With all care, however, he could not escape the 

 unusually prolific sources of contagion in performing 

 his priestly functions, more especially in administering 

 the sacrament and extreme unction. The manual labor 

 of the roughest kind which he did for the lepers, to 

 make them more comfortable, could not fail to produce 



