| British Columbia has a leper colony. Its existence
is not widely known, for those who compose it are of a race whose affairs
rarely reach the public ear. But for years to come students of this strange
disease may find in Canada's most western province, material of the most
interesting and instructive nature to aid them in their researches. About
a league off the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, and separated from
it by the waters of the Gulf of Georgia, lies the pretty little island
of D'Arcy. Viewed from the opposite shore
or from the deck of a vessel as she ploughs her way seaward, it presents
a delightfiul picture to the eye, for unlike surrounding
islands it exhibits neither a dull face of shifting sand nor a forbidding
reef of granite. Almost its entire surface is covered with a dense growth
of pine, cedar and spruce, among which the great ferns toss their green
arms in a vain upward struggle to the smile of the sun. This bank of
verdure extends to the edge of the pebbly beach, where at high
tide the waters of the Pacific kiss and caress the feet of the forest monarchs,
whose verdant crowns stand out in bold relief against the milder tints
of sea and sky. Although the gem of the East Coast Islands, the shores
of D'Arcy Island are rarely pressed by the feet of the
white man, and few indeed are the prows which grate upon its beach.
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