2o6 sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



. . . This is perhaps the most unique spot on the face of the 

 earth, about eight miles from Cape Town and six from the 

 nearest land. The island itself is only about six or seven miles 

 round, simply a dot in the ocean. Nobody is allowed on it 

 except by Government permit. The population is made up of 

 long-lived convicts (coloured), lunatics, lepers ; and all the 

 criminal cases come here, together with the various warders, 

 attendant nurses, workmen and Governmicnt officials necessary 

 to look after them. I am one of the latter." 



Writing evidently in answer to a question from his step- 

 mother : 



" No, I am not a missioner yet, but I may be some day. 

 You know, you can't go on a Mission just as you can walk 

 into a shop and buy a penny bun ; a long course of training is 

 necessary before you are fit for such work. 



" You must not think we are in a desert, or anything of that 

 kind. We have not much in the way of trees and shrubs, it 

 is mostly rock and sand, but there are good substantial buildings 

 for the higher officers and the patients. The rest of us live in 

 houses made mostly of corrugated iron and wood, very complete, 

 but a proper harbour for bugs and fleas ; that, however, is 

 merely a detail. 



" We have cricket here, dances and concerts. All drink is 

 well guarded. I have given up all intoxicants, though not a 

 teetotaler. I find I am better without it, and besides, I cannot 

 afford it. We need to keep our wits about us. The patients 

 are sometimes dangerous and the convicts have to be watched 

 carefully, so all things considered I think it is better to do 

 without. 



" Some of the lepers are in an awful state, and yet they are 

 wonderfully patient under their trials. I was working in the 

 leper compound as a house-painter when first I came here, and 

 so got to know a lot of them very well. I now go in my spare 

 time to visit them and try to cheer them up a bit. There is one 

 I go especially to see. He is an Englishman of good family 

 and was at one time leading a fast life. A good-hearted chap, 

 owned his own race-horses and was a most popular fellow. 

 Then this awful disease came out on him. He was in a great 

 state of despondency at first, and confessed he had thought of 



