I am going to take a short break from posting new articles while i work on a project slightly related to the Hawaiian-Language Newspapers (and that i actually get paid for!). Will be back at least by the beginning of next week. Meanwhile, maybe scan over the past year and four months worth of articles, and maybe you will come across some that interest you!
Kaleiwahea has been a kamaaina of the uplands of Kalihi for many years. He has some blemishes by his eyes and mouth. While he was living this way, he was made an adversary by some people and they went to the Board of Health as witnesses saying he had leprosy. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was captured and taken to the quarantine station of Kalihi. He told some people that he was confined there for six weeks without being examined, along with some other patients. One day some people told him that he was going to be taken to Molokai without being examined.
Therefore, one day a thought grew within him without considering the power of the Board of Health, and thinking of his own accord that he did not have leprosy, he escaped and ran away to free himself and went to the mountains, until the valley of Waimea. Later it was heard that he fled, and the order was given to the Deputy Sheriffs in response to his escape, to capture him if found. He was constantly hunted like a wild animal. He said that he didn’t want to be taken alive. Previously, he did not carry weapons, but after he heard that he was being hunted by the officers, he ran and swam in the ocean, while being chased by officers aboard a canoe, and when the officers were close behind, he grabbed on to the outrigger float [ama] and flipped the canoe, and the officers were thrown into the ocean. The two officers returned to shore without the object of their chase. When it became dark, Kaleiwahea came to shore at Waialua.
From that time, Kaleiwahea was seen carrying a rifle and other weapons, and when the officers came to arrest him once more, he was prepared. The officers told him that they’d come at night to capture him, so he fled to live in the mountains. He said that as long as he was hunted like an animal, he’d not give up. According to some news received, he was living in a very good area in the mountains of Kahuku, where it was better than where Koolau¹ was living, and he could toy with all who appeared before him.
When he heard that he was to be captured again, he fled to the mountains, even if just a few months ago he was living by the sea and working at the dock of Waimea. He was very skilled at that kind of work. But he surmised that the order was given to the District Sheriffs of Waialua and Koolau, not to arrest him, but to let him be until the time was right, then maybe he could be assuaged and his appearance could be looked at. Because according to the people who knew, there were no signs of that disease that separates families [leprosy] upon him.
This below is the letter he wrote to one of his friends, and let it be read with great relish [? onoi nui]:
Camping Place in the Mountains
Kahuku, July 29,
To _______
I received your letter of aloha, and it gave me much hope and happiness, and for the first time, I’ve have an appetite here in my mountain home. I’ve received a lot of news that I’m being hunted after, and last week I was greatly saddened upon hearing that the haole police were coming along with the government troops to go against me, and that they’d shoot me if they can; what is the wrong I have committed that I should be treated that way like an animal? When I heard this, aloha welled up within me for my wife and our newborn baby of two weeks, as well as for my family. I attempted to go once again and escape my mountain home and give my wife and family my last aloha; and to my wife i said, “The time has come for me to go like a wild animal and return to my mountain home, until i meet with those of which I hear, and it will be then that I fight for life or death, until the very last puffs of smoke from my rifle.” With these words above, I left my home depressed, but when I received your letter to me, it gave me good hope that there will be end to the years of persecution. I shall rest like a man, and my deed done as a man, and not like a beast running through the forest.
With much aloha, me, your humble servant,
Jack Kaleiwahea.
¹The famous one written of in “Ka Moolelo Oiaio o Kaluaikoolau” or “The True Story of Kaluaikoolau,” which is available from the Kauai Historical Society, or a bookstore near you!
[I wish the digital images of this paper were better. This article is even cut off on the left, so I had to guess at many of the words… It is definitely time to rescan the Hawaiian-Language Newspapers!]
(Lei Momi, 8/5/1893, p. 5)
Ka Lei Momi Oili Pule, Buke I, Helu 1, Aoao 5. Augate 5, 1893.
We have heard that the two leprosy patients, Manuela and Aikolani are in the uplands of Waiawa valley in Ewa, and that they are stocked with guns and bullets. The have enough fish and poi, and they have no difficulties with their living situation. They can just get on horses in the fields with their guns and go down to the sea. They have nothing to worry about. Manuel’s wife and child died long ago. We also hear that Kaleiwahea was seen in Halawa valley. How sad for these people living in the forests like wild animals.
[Here is yet another unclear digital image from a Hawaiian-Language Newspaper!]
(Lei Momi, 8/5/1893, p. 5)
Ka Lei Momi (Oili Pule), Buke I, Helu 1, Aoao 5. Augate 5, 1893.
Click here for the Awaiaulu page with the following announcement:
All 16,000 pages have been uploaded to the internet at
Its not perfect yet as they are still working out the kinks and a streamlined method to allow volunteers to continue online editing and we will update the site when new announcements are available. Mahalo nui!
[I am not quite sure how they think it can be made “perfect” when much of the newspaper images as they stand are at least partially illegible, but do go check it out and judge for yourself. Please get back here with your thoughts and comments!]
THE QUEENS OF THE ISLANDS FROM THE LEFT—MISS MUNDON OF OAHU; MRS. MORTON OF MAUI; MISS WILHELMINA OF HAWAII; MISS MAHOE OF MOLOKAI; AND MISS SILVA OF KAUAI.
KAMEHAMEHA AND HIS KAUKAUALII AND THE IDOL GOD [AKUA KII].
[Yes, this was all done on George Washington’s birthday: the pāʻū riding and the reenactment of Kamehameha’s landing at Waikiki.]
(Kuokoa, 2/28/1913, p. 1)
Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke LI, Helu 9, Aoao 1. Feberuari 28, 1913.
Harry C. Chang to Hattie Kuulei, Feb. 8.
Douglas R. Mossman to Elizabeth Hugo, Feb. 8.
Ah Hoon to Lucy Paliuli Kapono, Feb. 14.
To Charles Kahawai and Emma Rose, a daughter, Feb. 2.
To James Kalaiwahea and Lucy Kamaka, a son, Feb. 9.
To Moses L. Needham and Emma Kapua, a daughter, Feb. 10.
Lilia Bray, on Kunawai Lane, Feb. 12.
J. Kaapuiki, Jr., on Desha Lane, Feb. 12.
Keahi (m) on Smith Lane, Feb. 13.
Charles Kailihiwa, on Auld Lane, Feb. 14.
Keoni Kalua at the Queen’s Hospital, Feb. 14.
R. F. Keliimoekolohe, on School Street, Feb. 16.
George Wainee on Waiakamilo Street, Feb. 17.
Punohu Kealoha, on Pauoa Street, Feb. 18.
(Kuokoa, 2/21/1913, p. 8)
Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke L, Helu 8, Aoao 8. Feberuari 21, 1913.
Some people of Hawaii of these new generations have committed to memory the arrival of Kamehameha the Great to Oahu and his landing in Waikiki, without however having witnessed it; today, at ten in the morning, it will be seen in Waikiki a scene very similar to that arrival of the war canoes of Kamehameha with the greatly distinguished King Kamehameha the Great sitting aboard his double-hulled canoes [waa kaulua] along with his war leaders, the chiefs, and warriors supplied with war implements of all sorts; King Kamehameha is adorned with a feather helmet [mahiole] and feather cloak [ahuula] along with a barbed spear [ihe laumeki] in his hand.
This is the first show of this type done here on Oahu; there was not one from the beginning; therefore, it is something new worth going to. The preparations for and supervising of this great work is under John Wise, one of the people of this time that has memorized the history of Hawaii and the way of life of the people of old.
From amongst the waa that are being brought to show this day, is one of the huge, old waa; it is said that it belonged to Kamehameha the Great and is being brought from Kailua, Hawaii, from the estate of Prince Kalanianaole. It is said that this a huge and deep canoe, and the depth reaches the waste, and it is something new to see a huge waa of the old times being used these days.
(Kuokoa, 2/21/1913, p. 5)
Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke L, Helu 8, Aoao 5. Feberuari 21, 1913.
While the entire report should be read because it is all so telling, I think many will find “Report of Her Majesty Queen Kapiolani’s visit to Molokai, by H. R. H. Princess Liliuokalani, July, 1884.” found in the Appendix to the Report on Leprosy of the President of the Board of Health to the Legislative Assembly of 1886, pp. iii–xvii, very interesting for many reasons.
After reading the previous article in the Kuokoa signed D. Baldwin, read this statement from the same man dated just seven days after the article appeared, which is quoted on pp. 16–17 of “LEPROSY IN HAWAII: A Supplement to the Report of the President of the Board of Health,” 1886. Also, I just noticed that the original English of the Kuokoa article is shown, along with the places where portions were edited out (marked by asterisks) on pp. 15–16.
“We have a foul and dangerous disease among us, and must, therefore, not quiet the fears of the public beyond what the truth will bear. The native population are not too much alarmed. In this region the healthy are often seen mingling with the leprous, which thing ought not so to be. In some of the extracts (of my letter in the Kuokoa) which you made, I have expressed myself strongly in favor of the curability of our Hawaiian leprosy, because I wished to turn the attention of natives from their ignorant and dangerous practitioners to foreign physicians. By extracting the paragraphs which utter this opinion, and omitting others, you make me seem to speak more confidently of future success in curing this disease than I intended to do; and therefore, I wish to add a few remarks by way of explanation; and,
“1. * * * The cases I was able to report are sufficient, I think, to encourage us to persevere in efforts to cure the frightful malady, and to banish it from the land. They should lead natives to look to those for help who alone can be supposed to have any means of combating so fearful a disease. They may be permanent cures, or the disease may break out more unmanageable than ever. Similar cures reported in other countries should encourage us.
“2. While I write thus hopefully, I am aware that men of the highest medical talent have studied the disease of leprosy, and they have sought for remedies, and many of them have pronounced it utterly incurable. It is certainly not a little staggering to our hopes in this matter, that while eminent physicians have bestowed so much attention, for many hundred years, and while the very remedies I have now been using have been used for ages in Asia and elsewhere, still there is a widespread belief that leprosy is an incurable disease. But there are authorities on the other side. An English medical dictionary has the finest descrip- I have ever met with of leprosy of the middle ages, which spread over Europe. The author says, recent cases may be cured. An eminent French physician says he has seen a multitude of cases of this disease treated without a single failure to cure. There is no way of accounting for such opposite opinions of great men, only by supposing that they are speaking of different species of the disease. * * * *
“As your China correspondent well observes (Feb. 25), we have now only a mild form of leprosy. But, it will, doubtless, in time assume more terrible features. Indeed, we have already had, in this place, some horrible cases. The disease has been considered in all countries, contagious. It has been so in Lahaina, though it does not appear in a new subject till a long time after exposure to its infection; and we have the proof of it in several families. We are beginning to have a crop of leprous young children.”
[It is important to read the information read by Hawaiians in the Hawaiian-Language Newspapers, but it is also important to read the English documents for a wider perspective on what happened historically.]
[For the Kuokoa]
To you Doctor Gulick [Kauka Kulika]; Aloha oe:—
In the Mar. 30th issue of the Kuokoa, on page 2, there is a statement, “I have been told that Doctor Baldwin [Kauka Baluina] has cured some patients of this type. Is this true? If this is true, he should tell us.” It is to this question that I am responding to. It is indeed true, some people were cured with the medicine I am administering to those with the “Chinese disease.” Five are the number of those who ingested the medicine here in Lahaina. Three of them were totally cured; two, did not follow the instructions for the medicine and followed after this medicine and that medicine Hawaiians are taking for the “mai Pake.” Therefore, I’ve given up on that medicine [for those two]. I’ve given the medicine to a woman in Koolau, Oahu and I’ve heard that her “mai Pake” is somewhat better.
I did not consider prescribing this medicine to a great number of patients from the beginning; but instead to wait, and to see the affects of the medicine and if it was effective or not. Therefore, I watched carefully the people I cared after here in Lahaina; and I am hopeful that all the leprosy patients will be cured with this medicine. Let us not boast, for medicine like this has been given in other countries, and it is said that some have been cured while the illness of other has been persistent. The “Chinese disease” is referred to amongst enlightened Doctors [Kahuna lapaau] as leprosy [lepera]; leprosy is its name; however this is not the exact same thing as the leprosy of the Israelites. Some Doctors from Europe say that if this is a new leprosy, it is curable; if it is an ancient leprosy, it cannot be cured. A skilled Doctor from France, he says, all of the leprosy patients he has seen, both the new and ancient types, are curable only with this medicine.
If we are talking about ancient leprosy, I will mention one of these maii Pake cured in Lahaina. It is a man who is over fifty years of age; he was afflicted with mai Pake for fourteen years; his eyes were swollen, and his ears were knobby, lumpy, swollen, shiny, and thick; his feet and fingers were swollen, and he could do no work. He was treated by the Doctors of Lahaina; I gave him a lot of medicine, without his illness lessening. And I came upon this medicine I am working with, and gave him a pill in the morning and one at night. That is how he took this medicine every day, and three months and a half went by. He was careful in what he ate. His illness lessened; and after those months were over, his disease was entirely cured. This is now a year that he’s been cured, and the disease has not reappeared.
This is ancient leprosy.
I will not say what the name of this medicine is, for it is a poison if an unskilled one uses it. It would not be good if a Hawaiian prescribed this medicine. It is only for educated Doctors and just for them.
I am not the only one with this medicine for leprosy. All of the Haole Doctors in Hawaii have it, and they know well how to prescribe it for leprosy patients. This medicine is made into a liquid sometimes; it is the same medicine. The doctors of Honolulu have prescribed this medicine and other medicines to some leprosy patients, and they were cured. The medicine Book speaks of this medicine as good for leprosy. Dr. Good of London, a haole that is brilliant in doctoring says, “There is no other medicine that is as powerful and good for curing leprosy in all lands.” I spoke with the doctors of Honolulu about this illness, and Dr. Judd made some medicine for me. Doctor Smith [Mika] of Koloa prescribed this drug, and told me that it is a good medicine. Doctor Wetmore [Wetemore] of Hilo assisted me greatly in this effort, and said, “Try this medicine for the leprosy patients in Lahaina.”
If this is how prepared the Haole Doctors are for this disease, where does the problem lie with leprosy amongst us? Here is the problem; most of the leprosy patients are terribly simpleminded. They want to get cured quickly and follow after this or that foolishness called a medicine that works. There are many Hawaiians, uneducated people, who are treating leprosy, prescribing this medicine and that, haole medicine as well as Hawaiian medicine. One person says, “You will be cured with awa.” There are many who are fond of pain killers [penikila]; some cut their flesh with a piece of glass; and some here in Lahaina persist in eating cat, because some Chinese said, if they eat cat meat, they will be cured. In the year 1863, there were 50 leprosy patients in Lahaina—ten of them died that year. The illness of some of them was not that severe, but they died. In my opinion, they died because of bad medical treatment. These days, some of us who have this disease, they are strong and fine; they have an appetite, and go around here and there, but while they are strong, they die all of a sudden. What is tha about? His doctor is blind. It would be good to punish them for murder.
This land will be blessed by the good law for the leprosy patients that was passed this year. Those people must be segregated, or the land will be full of that horrible thing. I do not believe that it is right to put the patients on a ship and send them to another island, or the islands will become infested. It would be better that there be some small buildings where they are to live—two on Hawaii, two on Maui, and one on Oahu, and so forth. If it is done correctly, and if it is the Haole Doctor that does the treating, I am hopeful that in less than five years’ time, leprosy will be gone from the land.
With aloha,
D. Baldwin.
[Read this article, and then read the following post…]
(Kuokoa, 4/13/1865, p. 1)
Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke IV, Helu 15, Aoao 1. Aperila 13, 1865.
nupepa 