On the Island, there were no beggars, invalids or brigands. Those who, from the age of sixteen, were incapable of earning a living took their own lives. They knew that, otherwise, they would be smeared with pitch and burnt ; there was no escape. The crippled were drowned at birth ; thieves – the last had been caught more than ten years previously – had their arms amputated ; whoever was found offering them a drop of water or a morsel of food underwent the same.

• Sigma / Sigma

• Alexandru Ecovoiu