The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
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Another And Sadder "Mickle" Has Been The Departure Of Ten Lepers For
Molokai.
The Kilauea, with the Marshal, and Mr. Wilder who embodies
the Board of Health, has just left the bay, taking away forty lepers
on this cruise; and the relations of those who have been taken from
Hilo are still howling on the beach.
When one hears the wailing,
and sees the temporary agony of the separated relatives, one longs
for "the days of the Son of Man," and that his healing touch, as of
old in Galilee, might cleanse these unfortunates. Nine of the
lepers were sent on board from the temporary pest-house, but their
case, though deeply commiserated, has been overshadowed by that of
the talented half-white, "Bill Ragsdale," whom I mentioned in one of
my earlier letters, and who is certainly the most "notorious" man in
Hilo. He has a remarkable gift of eloquence, both in English and
Hawaiian: a combination of pathos, invective, and sarcasm; and his
manner, though theatrical, is considered perfect by his native
admirers. His moral character, however, has been very low, which
makes the outburst of feeling at his fate the more remarkable.
Yesterday, he wrote a letter to Sheriff Severance, giving himself up
as a leper to be dealt with by the law, expressing himself as ready
to be expatriated to-day, but requesting that he might not be put
into the leper-house, and that he might go on board the steamer
alone. The fact of his giving himself up excited much sympathy, as,
in his case, the signs of the malady are hardly apparent, and he
might have escaped suspicion for some time.
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