1/16 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON {0} In our long voyage on the yacht _Casco_, we visited many islands; I believe on every one we found the scourge of leprosy. In the Marquesas there was a regular leper settlement, though the persons living there seemed free to wander where they wished, fishing on the beach, or visiting friends in the villages. I remember one afternoon, at Anaho, when my husband and I, tired after a long quest for shells, sat down on the sand to rest awhile, a native man stepped out from under some cocoanut trees, regarding us hesitatingly as though fearful of intruding. The cigarette was accepted and, after a puff or two, courteously passed back again according to native etiquette. |