Rev. W. Benton 211 



home and made it up with a cheque of his own, altogether out 

 of proportion to his means, declaring as he signed it he had never 

 been so^ngry in his life. 



So hard did he work in Walsall that after two years his 

 health broke down, and after a severe haemorrhage he was 

 ordered abroad and went to Switzerland ; after a nine months' 

 cure he was advised to try the climate of South Africa. While 

 there he went to a mission station in the high mountains, where 

 he met Miss Ida Wrentmore, to whom he became engaged. 

 After working two years in Namaqualand he went to St. 

 Andrew's Church, Newlands, near Cape Town, for a few months, 

 then as senior curate to St. Barnabas' Church, Klooprood, 

 Cape Town. 



Just at this time his old friend Father Engleheart, the 

 chaplain on Robben Island, wished to go home to England on 

 hearing of his mother's death, but was unable to find anybody 

 to take his place while away. Mr. Benton offered himself and 

 returned once more to work amongst the lepers. So little is 

 known of this island and its unhappy inhabitants with their 

 loathsome disease, that to many people the self-sacrifice of those 

 who willingly go to work amongst them cannot be realised. It 

 takes about one and a half hours from Cape Town to Robben 

 Island, and the journey is all by sea. The place was chosen as 

 a leper settlement because of its isolation. There are several 

 hospitals, one with a doctor for lepers alone, another for the 

 officials and lunatics. The nurses are mostly men, and called 

 warders. The disease is most unpleasant and repulsive ; the 

 face is the part generally affected ; the hair falls off and the 

 voice becomes hoarse and nasal, or lost altogether. Dusky red 

 and livid tubercles of various sizes, varying from a pea to an 

 olive, appear on the face, ears, and extremities, often causing 

 ulceration of the whole surface, accompanied by extreme foetor. 

 In some forms the fingers and toes fall off ; other poor victims 

 become quite blind and mad. Sometimes their poor lips are 

 all eaten away, and Mr. Benton had to feed the sufferers with a 

 spoon, even giving the Sacraments by spoon. Nothing certain 

 is known of the cause of the disease. It is carried in many 

 ways. The germs have been found on vermin, flies, and once 

 on the wing of a partridge. No cure has yet been found, but 

 corrosive sublimate and arsenious acid in minute doses are the 



