3oo 



HA WAIL 



"In one room we saw a sight that will ever remain fixed 

 indelibly on the tablets of memory. A little blue-eyed, flaxen- 

 haired child, apparently three or four years old, a half-caste, 

 that looked up at us with an expression of timorous longing to 

 be caressed and loved ; but alas, in its glassy eyes and trans- 

 parent cheeks were the unmistakable signs of the curse— the 

 sin of the parents visited upon the child ! 



" In another room was one — a mass of rotting flesh, with 

 but little semblance of humanity remaining — who was dying, and 

 whose breath came hurried and obstructed. A few hours at 

 most, and his troubles would be over, and his happy release 

 arrive. There had been fourteen deaths in the settlement 

 during the previous fortnight. On the day of our visit there 

 were fifty-eight inmates of the hospital." 



Though the lifting of the veil of mystery which hangs over 

 the death valley of Molokai discloses some of the most woeful 

 features of the curse, it is a relief to know the worst, and that 

 the poor leprous outcasts in their "living grave" are not out- 

 side the pale of humanity and a judicious philanthropy. All 

 that can be done for them is to encourage their remaining 

 capacities for industry, and to smooth, as far as is possible, the 

 journey of death. The Hawaiian Government is doing its 

 best to " stamp out" the disease, and to provide for the com- 

 fort of those who are isolated ; and, with the limited means at • 

 its disposal, has acted with an efficiency and humanity worthy 

 of the foremost of civilised countries. 



