Nuhou, Volume I, Number 21, 6 Mei 1873 — Leprosy in Timor. [ARTICLE]

Leprosy in Timor.

We &ecrit etatcd in Eui>p' m t!jot ILlislanc. is most horril)ly deipolated by k-propy īl 'is.an.isla.pdof the Oean, with a popubition 0 about ninety thojiisarid ; and its peopl. more elosely resemble the lldwai»ans ihan ni.y other racc of the East ln(!lian v 3«. In M<x>re'-; Indian Archipclngo we rekd that tbe Tiraore-< more nearly rcwmble th'e South Sea Islatid<'rL 1 than any of the Malay tribes. Thcy have rievr inYeī|ted any alphabetie |writiDg like the other races| of the great Archivielogo. The eare of thc hog and the bufialo is thc, chief pursuit. and t!>e ehief) agricultural implen|ent is a sharp&ned hard stick like the ancient Hawaiian *(>o, Their ehief metliod for obtaoqng fish is by building succ4ssive walls of tae reach of (lie tide |in plaees where th«f eoast is flat e»ough tu< j admjfc it, eo as to prevenij the return <>f the |wheji the water ebbs.'j Just like our I " Tijeir deities are represented bv particul | and trece, and although the samc ston«;"are ienerally worsbiped tysueceSsivo genci'otiōos f inst;epcee are said to occur of their changin/. them,* 1 arc eommon of bc»gs and fowls, bnt eometimes of a bumanbeirjg/ An annual sacriuce of a vir ?:tn used to be made tu a shai|k-god elose to the town Koepaug 5 unii] thc intejL'ference of the T)ate i Government put a jto ijt about tbirty (now 47) years ThL« | aceount is quoted by Cra wfurd in bis Deserlptiv« I Dictionaiy of the isla;ids; and we conver^eu wh4n in those seas, with naH>e C3e-wi(nesses of one|of tbcse virgiu sacri( ; « 1 - 11 was eousidejred important by the priebtb, that sbe ehou!d be beautifal and ,prixed by pareub an(J friends, and that she should add to the valu,ol the saerifiee by her own slirieks and liorror a* herj doom, llere we h|ive abundant evidenee oi' resemblance to the bloot|y and borrible religiori* ritqs of aneient llawaiians; and tliere is a reī seu}blanee iu language, ehown by Wallaee aud j Their ie ealled the Manakok ,• ; j anil their name Timor, Hgnifving i> givfn to ! them by their more eivilized Javanese neight>^ jßujb their sadde§t rese|nbknee to o«r Ilawaiiau |people is in the prevalenee of the samekind of jleprosy. It is eating out the Timorese v*# : . "L'ile sauvage de Timor irest «|U\m fbyer kW ( hideuses. La lepre y ronge litteralejmqnfc les indigene*?." Timor on!y a hot bed I liideous diseases. Iyeprosy is literally eating up j th<f natives. Ko eflbrn is made to save theni. | Tlijey. rot and pass avyay witliout efibi:t to eutv hni how inueli pia able medieol man» who 1 hatf studicd the llawaijan leper might le irn by ; st\Hiy of the kindred Tiiuurese—and a!so ■ ieyers of oiher part* A] Malay*>ia aud of A-:a