stories high, and
built of stone, with massive doors and strongly-grated windows, the floors
being of stone or cement, and perfectly fire-proof. Each floor formed one
entire room, except being divided by five rows of posts running the whole
length of the building, by which the prisoners slung their hammocks. The
prisoners were divided off in 'messes' or families of six or eight, each
occupying room sufficient to sit around one of their chests, which usually
served as a mess-table. One row or tier of these messes were ranged next
to the walls on each side, and two rows down the centre, back to back, as
it were, leaving two avenues, or thoroughfares, the whole length of the
building. The entire arrangement resembled the stalls in a stable, more
than any thing else I can compare it to.

There were seven of these prisons, all of about the same size and
construction, one of which was not occupied. The whole was enclosed in a
circular wall of about twenty feet high, and covering a space of from
eight to ten acres of ground. This was divided in three parts by a wall
similar to the outside one. The centre yard was occupied by No. 7,
allotted to the colored prisoners, and the other two yards had three
prisons in each. On the outside wall were platforms and sentry-boxes at
short distances, for the guards. About fifteen feet within that wall was a
high iron railing. In front of the main entrance was a large square, used
for drilling soldiers and other purposes, and twice a week as a market for
the country people; and on each side of this were the barracks and
hospital, and in front of these were the officers' quarters. This depot
was situated upon a hill, surrounded by a vast common of many miles in
extent, without a bush or tree to relieve the dreary waste; and from its
elevated position it was generally shrouded by clouds, rendering it chilly
and uncomfortable the greater part of the year.

The daily allowance of food consisted of a pound of beef, a pint of soup,
and a pound of bread to each man; that is to say, at the rate of one
hundred pounds of raw beef to an hundred men. The meat was cut up and put
into large boilers, with sufficient barley to thicken it for soup. This
was boiled until the meat would leave the bone, and the barley was well
cooked; and when ready, was served up to the different messes. By the time
each person got his beef it was almost too small to be seen, being shrunk
up by long boiling; and the bone bein