Captain J. E. E. Craster described his experience of leprosy in Pemba, in his book Pemba: The Spice Island of Zanzibar. “The interpreter and I landed one day at a place called Mdoni, in the north of the island, and were making our way inland when we came to a village. As we were about to enter it the interpreter stopped me. “There are sick people here,” he said; “we must go some other way.”
I went forward a little, and saw coming down the path towards us a ragged, hobbling figure, clumsily clutching a staff in both hands. As the man came closer I noticed that his feet were toeless and his hands without thumbs. He was a leper.
We skirted round the village, and as we passed we saw several more sufferers sitting, of lying, in their verandas. Some of them called to us, and laughed and chattered …
I discovered afterwards that all the lepers in the island – I think some fifty in number- were segregated in this village, where the Government provided them with free quarters and food.” (pp. 72)
He adds “Whenever a suspected case of leprosy is discovered the headman of the village in which it is found reports the matter to the doctor at Chake-chake. The patient’s blood is then examined, and if the germ of leprosy is found to be present he is removed to Mdoni. The first signs of leprosy are said to be the appearance of a blue patch on each cheek under the eye. Unfortunately, the natives know of medicines which will remove, or conceal, the symptoms of leprosy, though they do not cure the disease, so that a leper sometimes contrives to keep his disease secret for months. A missionary whom I met in Pemba had considerable faith in the native remedies, and told me that he believed they held the disease in check, even if they did not effect a cure.”
Captain J. E. E. Craster, Pemba: The Spice Island of ZanzibarT. Fisher Unwin, London: Adelphi Terrace, Leipsic: Inselstrasse