ng the absence of the permanent incumbent, had
been appointed by the Government to officiate as medical officer of the
jail. After his inspection of the invalids in the convalescent gang, he
looked at the eyes of the "blind man"; and, having some suspicion in his
mind, he decided that he should be put aside for closer examination.
When the inspection was over, the "blind man" was taken, and carefully
led by the peon in charge of the gang to one of the long wards, when he
was told to walk up and down in the presence of the doctor. After he had
made two or three trips, the doctor directed two men to hold a long pole
about a foot off the ground on the track he had to pass. When he came to
the pole he fell over it flat on his face, and to the bystanders it
seemed rather an inhuman proceeding on the part of the doctor, but he
had observed an ominous pause before the convict had struck the pole
with his legs.

He sent for his case of instruments, and, withdrawing a probe, he with
little difficulty removed the film off both of the man's eyes, which
proved to be nothing more nor less than the thin membrane found inside
an egg, which the convict had artfully introduced, and renewed from time
to time. Of course he was reduced to the fifth class, and to the
hardest labour.

We have often thought it strange that none of his fellow-convicts
appeared to suspect him, or if they did, they kept it back from the jail
authorities; and certainly to any casual observer the deception was
complete, and it was the best case of feigned blindness we have ever
known or heard of.

Upon the whole, however, cases of malingering were few and far between,
as most of the convicts became after a time interested in the works upon
which they were engaged, and those in irons were ever on the look-out
for promotion to a higher class. Sometimes there was a case of feigned
rheumatism or paralysis, but the application of the galvanic battery
invariably cured them of that after a few powerful shocks.

Chapter XIII

CONCLUSION

We have now given a full, and, as far as we could, a succinct account of
the system pursued in the old Singapore jail. We have traced the history
of the convict establishments in all the penal settlements in those
seas, and have shown the progressive improvements in the convict prisons
up to the time when, as was acknowledged by many competent authorities,
a system of organization and discipline had been satisfactorily atta