Page:Pearl of Asia (Child JT, 1892).pdf/337

Rh dom by an American missionary in 1840, and now the King has instructed the native doctors to vaccinate the people at his expense.

One of the worst diseases in Siam and the Asiatic coast is leprosy. Hundreds of these miserable diseased wretches can be seen begging by the wayside for alms in all stages of the dread disease. Some with fingers and toes gone, others with noses and lips off, their blackened gums protruding in the most hideous manner, while many are a mass of hideous ulcers, barely able to crawl into the shade of a tree and point to the cocoanut shell that holds the few coppers tossed to them by the charitable. The native doctors never undertake to do anything for a leper; they say it is useless, and so far science has been unable to cure or alleviate the ravages of this worst of all human ills. It is impossible to tell the number of the lepers in Bangkok, but I have seen at least one hundred at Wat Kok soliciting alms, and to the credit of the Siamese they contribute liberally to these unfortunates whom they think the spirits have persecuted for some misdemeanor committed in another period of their existence. While it is asserted that the disease is not contagious, it would be well if these unfortunates were housed and cared for, as their appearance is horribly repulsive. It is generally supposed that there is a large number in the city that no one sees but their relatives, those at the wats being paupers whose only chance for subsistence is what is given to them. Outside of the lepers there are but few beggars in Siam, only these who are deformed, crippled or otherwise objects of charity, and they are generally found around the temples.