FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   342   343   344   345   346   347   348   349   350   351   352   353   354   355   356   357   358   359   360   361   362   363   364   365   366  
367   368   369   370   371   372   373   374   375   376   377   378   379   380   381   382   383   384   385   386   387   388   389   390   391   >>   >|  
to keep order, but of course he never attempts to do so; indeed, as he is locked up in the ward every night from six o'clock in the evening until sunrise, without light, it is possible that he might get maltreated did he make himself obnoxious. The barracks look upon the Barrack Square, which is filled with lounging prisoners. The windows of the hospital-ward also look upon Barrack Square, and the prisoners are in constant communication with the patients. The hospital is a low stone building, capable of containing about twenty men, and faces the beach. I placed my hands on the wall, and found it damp. An ulcerous prisoner said the dampness was owing to the heavy surf constantly rolling so close beneath the building. There are two gaols, the old and the new. The old gaol stands near the sea, close to the landing-place. Outside it, at the door, is the Gallows. I touched it as I passed in. This engine is the first thing which greets the eyes of a newly-arrived prisoner. The new gaol is barely completed, is of pentagonal shape, and has eighteen radiating cells of a pattern approved by some wiseacre in England, who thinks that to prevent a man from seeing his fellowmen is not the way to drive him mad. In the old gaol are twenty-four prisoners, all heavily ironed, awaiting trial by the visiting Commission, from Hobart Town. Some of these poor ruffians, having committed their offences just after the last sitting of the Commission, have already been in gaol upwards of eleven months! At six o'clock we saw the men mustered. I read prayers before the muster, and was surprised to find that some of the prisoners attended, while some strolled about the yard, whistling, singing, and joking. The muster is a farce. The prisoners are not mustered outside and then marched to their wards, but they rush into the barracks indiscriminately, and place themselves dressed or undressed in their hammocks. A convict sub-overseer then calls out the names, and somebody replies. If an answer is returned to each name, all is considered right. The lights are taken away, and save for a few minutes at eight o'clock, when the good-conduct men are let in, the ruffians are left to their own devices until morning. Knowing what I know of the customs of the convicts, my heart sickens when I in imagination put myself in the place of a newly-transported man, plunged from six at night until daybreak into that foetid den of worse than wild beasts. May 15t
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   342   343   344   345   346   347   348   349   350   351   352   353   354   355   356   357   358   359   360   361   362   363   364   365   366  
367   368   369   370   371   372   373   374   375   376   377   378   379   380   381   382   383   384   385   386   387   388   389   390   391   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

prisoners

 

twenty

 

building

 
mustered
 

muster

 
hospital
 

Commission

 
prisoner
 

ruffians

 

barracks


Barrack

 

Square

 

marched

 

joking

 
singing
 
strolled
 
whistling
 

undressed

 

hammocks

 

convict


dressed
 

attended

 

indiscriminately

 
surprised
 

sitting

 

upwards

 

committed

 

attempts

 
offences
 
eleven

months
 

prayers

 
overseer
 

customs

 
convicts
 

Knowing

 

morning

 

devices

 

sickens

 

imagination


foetid

 

daybreak

 

transported

 

plunged

 

conduct

 

answer

 

returned

 
replies
 

considered

 

minutes