their silvery-rosy tassels, and once more stood upon the black lava-coast of Maalea Bay, where we awaited the coming of the Like Like. She has many passengers this trip, amongst others a German with a lovely voice, who has assembled an impromptu choir, chiefly of half-castes. They really have been singing beautifully.

Now we have anchored off Lahaina, which is the capital of Maui. It appears to be a very pretty little town, stretching along a white shore, with the Eka mountains rising immediately behind the settlement. I am sorry we did not arrive here earlier in the day, as it is a place of considerable interest, and of note, as one of the principal early mission stations. There is still a large seminary here, and a considerable number of foreign residents, who have made for themselves pleasant gardens and flower-bedecked homes.

A good many of the passengers have gone ashore, and I was asked to do likewise, but the inducement held out was only an indifferent travelling circus; and as it was too dark to see much of the town, I did not think it worth while.

On our way here we sighted that dreary abode of hopeless misery, the island of Molokai, to which all the lepers found in Hawaii-nei are banished for life, in the hope that by thus separating these poor afflicted ones from their fellow

creatures, this appalling disease may in time be stamped out.

For many years the leper settlement was looked upon as a sort of incurable hospital, and those who entered it were looked upon as hopelessly lost-already dead to their kindred. It is now, however, found that for some the door of hope is not altogether closed; and I learn that in the present year the Hawaiian Government has paid a sum of 20,000 dollars for the cure of lepers, at the rate of 200 dollars (i.e., £40) for each cured. So these poor sufferers have the consolation of feeling that their paternal Government watches over them with yearning pity. Indeed the King himself and Queen Kapiolani went to visit them not long ago, to prove how deeply their sympathies were touched by the sufferings of these their afflicted subjects.

Indescribably sad as is the existence of such a colony of living death, there can be no manner of doubt of the wisdom shown, first in passing, and now year by year in enforcing, a measure so necessary for the safety of this little communitynot for the Hawaiian race alone, but for all who should dwell in the isles, for the disease is as infectious as it is loathsome.

Yet the people, in their kindly carelessness, could not be induced to observe the simplest precautions. They would lie on the same mat, smoke from the

same pipe, drink from the same vessel, wear the same clothes, as their friends, in all stages of the fell disease; and when at length Government interfered, and, like a wise nurse in charge of sick children, enforced a quarantine which must almost inevitably last until life's end, then they strove by every means in their power to evade this most unpopular law, and tried to hide their friends, whenever those appointed to separate the clean from the unclean were going round on their sad mission.

Nevertheless, since the commencement of the leper settlement in 1866, about fifteen hundred sufferers have been brought there year by year. Many of these, in the last stage of disease, came only to end their weary days; but some were apparently well and hearty, and their taint might have remained undiscovered for years, had they not nobly voluntarily given themselves up, for the sake of example, that others in worse plight might be the less unwilling to obey the law.

From time to time a Government mandate is issued, requiring all lepers to report themselves to the health officer of their district, and appear before him for inspection. Should he consider their symptoms to be indeed those of leprosy, he must report the case to the sheriff, who thereupon is bound to have the sufferer removed to the Isle of

Woe. To this law there is no exception. It is binding on all alike-rich and poor, gentle and simple, native and foreigner. That it is not fully carried out, is admitted on all hands, for some can always contrive to evade it; but such cases must necessarily be exceptional, and as the people are beginning to understand that the isolation of the few is the only hope of safety for the many, they now occasionally aid the Government officers in tracing out hidden cases.

The place selected for the leper settlement seems to have been very wisely chosen. It is a wide grassy plain stretching along the windward shore of Molokai, and so perfectly separated from the rest of the island by a precipitous face of crags 2000 feet in height, that there is small temptation to scale the barrier. Even communication from the sea is not easy; but thus only can provisions be obtained. So in very stormy weather, when freight and cattle cannot be landed, the community are entirely dependent for food on the Government stores, and have to do without fresh meat. The village lies at some distance from the shore, on a breezy, sunny site.

At the present time there are upwards of 800 lepers on Molokai.

These are not "lepers as white as snow." The form of the disease here prevalent is known as

MOLOKAI, LEPER SETTLEMENT.

7

Chinese leprosy, and, from the descriptions I hear (for the Hawaiian lepers are now so well separated or concealed, that I have never seen one), the symptoms are apparently the same as in the loathsome objects I have occasionally beheld in the streets of Chinese cities. Face and limbs are alike red and swollen, the features distorted, the skin shining, the eyes glassy. In advanced cases the leprosy eats away both flesh and bones; fingers and toes, hands and feet, finally whole limbs, drop off in the last stage of rottenness, and the wretched being literally dies piecemeal-truly a pitiful sight.

But terrible as is this form of the foul disease, I am told that the most fatal and infectious cases are those in which a few hard black spots appearing on the skin are the sole external symptom of the dread malady within.

While, as in duty bound, carrying out the sad law of isolation, the paternal Government and its officers have endeavoured as far as possible to lighten its woe, by making the leper village of Kalawao as much as possible like other villages, in that it has churches, schools, stores, even Government offices. There, as elsewhere, all live more or less according to their means; the poor in grass-huts such as they are accustomed to-the rich in wooden houses, with verandahs and gardens. All alike receive necessary clothing, and daily rations of good solid food; but