THE LEPER COLONY.

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 58, 9 March 1889, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE LEPER COLONY.

FATHER BAR2IEN BYING. Interesting Letter from Father Comardy. (From Our Special Correspondent.)

London, January 26. As interesting and deeply-pathetic letter has been received by a Birmingham gentleman from Father Comardy, the young Belgian priest who went out recently to assist Father Damien in his.heroic work amongst the lepers of Molokai. Below are extracts. I may add that during the last few months alaige sum (nearly £1,500) has been collected in Birmingham and Liverpool and sent out to Molokai, together with all sorts oil comforts, for the poor exile?. They are now, therefore, in all probability better off than they have been for some time. Assistance will, however, have to be rendered a^ain shortly. Surely New Zealand might j lend a helping hand. Haw tlie Lepers Live. The writer having described tho climate and the natural features of that part of the island occupied by the lepers, says that the colony consists of 1,250 persons.

Materially, the lepers are nob very badly off, for the Government allows to each one of them lib ot meat and 31 bs of peas (which are very much like potatoes) per clay. Other things are provided for the short time that remains of their life, which is ten years at the most, the greater number hardly surviving more than five years. Father Datnien has seen his population renew itself three times. How often will it be given to me to see this ? Am I going to become a leper? Very probably. Precautions are more easily received than observed. Too much precaution is no good, as we saw at the time of the cholera in Belgium in 1886. What a great number perished who then fled from all danger ! A Victim of Charity. Father Damien, we are to!d, will soon bo no more, .as he is falling a victim to his charity. In England and America they call him the Hero Martyr. It is my privilege to be near him, to live with him. Leprosy has done its work—in turns, at his ears, his eyes, nose, throat, his hands, and his lungs. The poor Father has suffered dreadfully. He is completely disfigured ; his voice is almost extinct. If you could only sco him as he lies, in his little room, en the floor, upon his bed of suffering,; tears would come into your eyes at the sight of that man, who has done go much for thousands of lepers, now himself reduced to so terrible | a condition, and so very little can be done for hini. People call it a sacrifice to live with lepers; but, only on seeing oneself a leper, and nothing but lepers around, then only does the extent of the sacrifice become apparent. Fortunately for Father Damien, he has yet the use of his hands, which a great number of our people have lost; and also his feet are not yet falling to pieces, as happens to so many here. The Horrors of Leprosy. Some of the horrors of the different kinds of leprosy and the suffering of the victims are briefly described. Some . . . wither away and dry up completely. There are those who are completely covered with thick scales. . . . How people would become frightened if one of these women, or even one of these children, with such horrible 'faces, was seen in Belgium ! People would really take them for witches. The Building of a Church. Mr Comardy says it would be a sad thing for him if Father Damien were to leave him now. The Father has under his charge over one hundred leper orphans, and is increasing every week. But these are nob his only responsibilities : — The Father has also begun (about a month after my arrival) to build a new church (30it by'7oft), 40fb of which is of stone and the rest of wood. We have only one mason, a white leper, an Irishman. The poor man has already one foot very bad. His assist ants, who make up the mortar, bring up thu stone, etc., are all young lepers. Father Damien is the head carpenter, and his helpers are two or three loper boys. They have now, happily, come as far as the ropf. Everything was ready to have the iron roofing put up, bub on unloading this in a small boat the latter capsized. The iron is now at the bottom of the sea. It took five months to bring it from England. May Heaven preserve the good Father Damien at least one year longer, no matter how; for, after all," it is better to be together than alone. I live with him ; we have our meals together, for 1 have entirely overcome my repugnance. lam now in the hands of God. Sometimes when I am kneeling by the side of a poor leper, from whom exhales an odour that would pub the most courageous to flight, I often think that I am doing a little of my purgatory.

The New Arrivals. Regularly every week a small steamer makes its appearance in the island, and very early in the morning announces, by the loud blowing of its whistle, that the lepers have been landed. Then, those who can, hurry to the shore. Often we find our new-comers soaked wet through. Now, again, begin the cries and fcears.'for one sees here the meeting again of a husband and his wife, or a wife seeing her husband amongst them, sometimes a child seeing its father and mofchar. They take the names of the new arrivals, and everyone sets out to find a lodging. Although I am not a leper, I could not leave here to go to any other of these islands without a proper certificate from the Board of Health. But I- have no wish to go anywhere. My mission is here, and here I'll remain.