the discharges of past generations of lepers; the atmosphere stifling and offensive; complete absence of articles of furniture or decoration, even of china for washing purposes.

"There is no regular system of nursing, patients who are able to be about if they be so well-disposed, attending on those in whom the disease has run to a further stage. There are no forms of amusement, or even of systematic work, for those who are as yet able to be up. The patients lie during the long hours of the day on the ground, clad in shabby, filthy rags, under what shelter they can find from the blazing southern sun. The only forms of existence which appear at all at home are the myriads of flies, which sometimes cover the exposed parts of the diseased creatures' bodies.

"Sights such as these are revolting even to the minds of those well-steeled to the ordinary spectacles of poverty and disease concomitant with modern human existence. No wonder, then, that the reflections of any one visiting Robben Island, with even a vague notion of hospital arrangement and sanitary details, should be enough to stir such a one to attempt something on behalf of its unfortunate inhabitants, the majority of whom are doomed to a life of slow decay through no fault of their own; whose only shadow of hope-however vague that may be-is in the complete death of what remains of their mortal frame, to close for ever from their view that awful molecular death which has for years encroached upon their members.

"Some will say, But after all, these creatures are for the most part blacks; and as experience teaches us that they, through the process of modern civilisation, must die off before the civilising force, why should we do more to prolong their existence? As members of a profession whose aim and object is to preserve the life of all living beings under all circumstances, absolutely impartial as to the exact form or species with which we are brought into contact, our duty is, primarily, to see to the wellbeing of the individual, and, secondarily, to that of the community at large; and this being so, we cannot for one moment accept such a short-sighted though possibly patriotic philanthropy. Let us trust that this outcry may arouse some sympathy from the Government, for we must charitably conclude that it has been an oversight and not wanton indifference on the part of those responsible."

"An Old Cape Reporter" writes to South Africa' of September 7:

"SIR,-I read with more than ordinary interest the article on the above subject which you last week extracted from 'Blackwood's Magazine.' The editor of the famous magazine is, and no wonder, all but incredulous as to the possibility of so 'inhuman and disgraceful a state of things' being permitted to exist in any British colony.' I can assure him and your readers that the writer in 'Blackwood' has in no way overdrawn the picture of the actual state of things that exists at Robben Island, and I speak from knowledge gained in 1883, when I visited the island as shorthand writer to a Select Committee appointed by the Cape Government to inquire into the origin and spread of leprosy in the colony. The state of things then existent is exactly as it is described in the article from which you quote. For years the Cape Government has contemplated the removal of these wretched beings to the mainland, and even purchased an estate, Tokay, on which to locate them. The Committee, in their report, so far as I can recollect, strongly

recommended the removal of the lepers to some spot other than the bleak and barren one at which they were then located, and their complete segregation and separation from others. This report has never been acted upon, although Dr Biccard, then Medical Superintendent of the island, a recognised authority on leprosy, strongly favoured the views of the Committee. Why has the report never been acted upon? Simply because year after year successive Colonial Treasurers-General have declared themselves unable to find the funds necessary to carry out an improvement that in humanity's name is loudly called for. Now, when the colony is described on all hands as prosperous, and when, too, public attention has been so forcibly drawn to the matter, may we hope something will be done to put a stop to what is a crying disgrace to the humanity and the civilisation of the rulers of the Cape Colony }

"One word, however, as to the writer's sub-heading,. 'Wanted, a second Father Damien.' All honour that can be paid should be paid to that noble and devoted man, who fell a martyr to his devotion to duty; but the selfdenying labours for many years of the Rev. Canon Baker, of Kalk Bay, late chaplain at Robben Island, should not be forgotten; and he has, I am sure from personal observation and the manner in which the poor wretches whose lot he does his utmost to mitigate, a worthy successor in the Rev. H. M. Wilsher, the present chaplain at that 'speck in the ocean' where is congregated so much of human misery and suffering.-Faithfully yours,

LONDON, 2d September 1889.

"AN OLD CAPE REPORTER."

Similar testimony is offered by Dr J. W. Mathew, a former member of the Cape Parliament, who gives the following description of the Leper settlement, as quoted in the Evening News and Post,' September 2:

"Leaving Dr Biccard with the ladies, I walked on to inspect the lepers and the buildings in which they were housed. Here I saw human beings kennelled worse than dogs. In a long, low, thatched shed some forty poor creatures were stowed away. Both varieties of the disease, the tubercular and anaesthetic, could there be studied. Some I saw with their faces shiny, discoloured, and swollen; others with both hands and feet dropping off joint by joint. One man especially attracted my attention, whose nose, eyes, tongue, and cheeks had all rotted away, and who, with a voice piping shrill and cracked, could barely make himself understood. He was a horrid loathsome mass of putrid humanity. One fact, however, struck me at the time-that neither this man nor any of the other inmates complained of bodily pain. The building in which they were housed was such that I could not help picturing in my mind how, a spark igniting the thatch and a fire taking place in this hovel, the poor wretches, sixty per cent of whom were unable to leave their beds, would in their helplessness be burned alive, possibly only too glad to find surcease of sorrow, at least in this world. . .

"On making inquiries I learned more horrible facts. Among others, I found the bathroom and the kitchen to be identical, one place only being provided for them in which to live, eat, drink, and sleep-the 'wash' or refuse, and almost certainly contaminated food, actually being used to feed the pigs and poultry-and, 'horror on horror's head!' the miserable sufferers themselves would be seen rolling about in squalid filth, their clothes soaked and besmeared

with the discharges from their festering sores. No one seemed to have power or inclination to manage them; neglected and forsaken, they were left to the charge of fellow-lepers as helpless as themselves.".

The following extracts from a few of the numberless articles which have appeared on the subject will sufficiently indicate the state of feeling which has been aroused.

"Well may the editor of 'Blackwood' preface the article with a note to the effect that 'but for the unquestionable reliability of the writer of this article, we could not have believed that so inhuman and disgraceful a state of things could have been permitted to exist in any British colony.' . . . We can only hope that the effect of this very remarkable article will be to quicken public sympathy into bringing some moral pressure to bear on the Government of the Cape to do something more than the bare minimum of official duty by the outcasts of Robben Island. English charity will also, we think, be stirred by this recital of the woes of these poor wretches to do what it can to assist in the work of relieving them."

"Wanted, a second Father Damien,' are the concluding words of a remarkable article in the September number of 'Blackwood.' . . . It is anonymous, but a short head-note contains an editorial assurance as to the writer's perfect good faith. Such an assurance is wanted, for the things related of this colony pass belief in the callousness of men and of Governments.

"Governments can do something, and the Colonial Office will surely use its influence with the authorities at the Cape to find a remedy for the worst horrors which the writer in 'Blackwood' recites. The lives of the island population need not be left without comfort, nor need they be left without hope. . . . All had something to say on the mitigation of suffering, and some even ventured to talk of cure. The article in 'Blackwood' will have the inspiriting effect of publicity upon their future labours, and in this, as in other ways, it will nobly serve to continue Father Damien's work."

The Glasgow Herald' says:

"The editor of 'Black wood's Magazine' answers for the 'unquestionable reliability' of the writer of the article. And with these facts before us, we do not need to go to the Sandwich Islands for an outlet for our humane sympathies and philanthropic efforts in 'the service of man.' Within the pale of the British flag, almost at our own doors-for a voyage to the Cape is a trifie in these days of rapid steaming-there is a field for half-a-dozen Father Damiens. But there is room for more, for an overwhelming weight of public opinion, which shall compel the demolition of these fetid dens, and the provision of all that sanitary science, medical care, and sympathetic attention can do for the unhappy outcasts from civilisation. As it is, the Leper Establishment at the Cape remains a blot not only upon the colony, but upon the fair fame of British philanthropy."

"The current number of 'Blackwood's Magazine' contains a description of an 'island of desolation' and of its leprous inhabitants, which surpasses in appalling interest anything that poet or novelist—and even a Stevensoncould summon from the fanciful world. We transferred it yesterday to our columns, with the permission of the editor of 'Blackwood,' as a most valuable contribution of news, particularly at a time when Father Damien's heroism, and when comment upon leprosy at home and abroad, had become impressive to philanthropists. The descriptions of the prevailing oppressive silence in the horrible wards of an hospital unfit for the lair of wolves; the references to the monotonous talk that on thresholds of death sometimes broke that silence 'like the sound of a funeral bell'; and the unanswerable indictment of foul neglect and inhuman management by Cape Town authorities, clearly demand instant attention from philanthropists in Parliament, or in that wider House of Commons, the great British commonwealth of souls."

In answer to private communications which have reached the editor on the subject, he thinks it well to state that the Literature Distribution Board, Kyrle Society (Miss Emma Busk, Hon. Secretary), would receive and consider any applications for books, &c., for the Lepers, if addressed- to 14 Nottingham Place, London, W.

CHAPTER V.-THE REMARKABLE CASE OF LADY MARY FANE.