p. 795 | RANGOON LEPERS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 23, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 50.

RANGOON LEPERS.

IN an appeal for funds sent out by the mission to lepers in India, 17 Glengyle Terrace, Edinburgh, the following description by Henry C. Moore, late of Rangoon, is given by this terribly afflicted and unfortunate people in that city. It shows that Buddhists will do little or nothing to relieve them:—

"Forty years of beneficent English rule have changed Rangoon from a collection of bamboo and mat huts, built over a malarial swamp, into a large and wealthy city. Pilgrims as of yore flock from all parts of the country, to kneel on the platform of the golden pagoda, and repeat the pala sentences which they committed to memory while children in the Buddhist schools. They gaze in admiration at the wonders of the famous building—the tall gilded and jeweled spire glittering in the fierce sun, with a brilliancy that is perfectly dazzling, the huge images of Gautama Buddha, the hideous dragons, the horrible frescoes and enormous bells.

"Truly the place is magnificent in its barbaric splendor, but there is one sight which fills every visitor, be he pilgrim, tourist, or European exile, with pity. On the steps of the main staircase which leads to the pagoda platform sit, from morning till night, a number of poor Burmese lepers, who hold up their maimed hands and beg with husky voices from the passers-by. The condition of the lepers there and in other parts of Rangoon is something terrible. Most of them have their faces disfigured by the fearful disease, many are blind, and some that I saw were so mutilated about the hands and feet that they were compelled to crawl about on their elbows and knees.

"Unfortunately, the number of lepers in Rangoon increases yearly and will continue to do so, for as the railways open up the country, the lepers will quit their native villages, where they are burdens to their friends, and go down to Rangoon to beg at the golden pagoda. The pilgrims as they hurry by respond generously to their afflicted countrymen's appeals; but nevertheless leprosy is a subject which a Burman will not readily discuss with anyone, for he dislikes the very mention of it, preferring to forget, if possible, that the fearful disease exists. If by chance he should talk about it, he declares that lepers are being punished for their sins in a previous existence, and that if they lead meritorious lives they will be born again and live free from the terrible taint."