even eating the candles, and one man died
lately who had twenty or thirty wicks in his stomach when the _post
mortem_ took place. In the docks I have seen fellows pick up the
dirtiest muck you ever saw, and swallow it! There are lots of fellows
there who eat all the snails and frogs they can get hold of. I have
seen one man several times swallow a live frog as easily as you could
bolt an oyster. Frogs and snails are considered delicacies at Chatham."

"How did you get on with the food yourself?"

"Well, I was never much of an eater, and I could get on middling well
with it; but then the food was better there than it is here. This is
the worst station out for 'grub.' The cook and steward must be d----
villains to rob a lot of prisoners of their food."

"Do they all get eight marks a day at Chatham?"

"No, not nearly all; many only get seven, and some not more than six.
The 'screws' there are ---- tyrants, and if they don't mind what they
are about some of them will get murdered. There are a few fellows there
would rather be 'topt' than be messed about in such a way, and have to
die in prison at last. What sort of 'screws' have you here?"

"Well, the majority of them are very civil fellows; there are a few,
perhaps, inclined to exceed their duty, but on the whole they are not
bad, and you will have yourself to blame if you get into trouble. Bad
masters make bad servants, and I have no doubt the Chatham officers are
merely carrying out the directors' orders when they tyrannise over the
men."

"What sort of a doctor is this you have got here? he gets a very bad
name."

"Well, he is blamed for not giving prisoners treatment until they are
just dying, but I do not pretend to be a judge of such matters myself.
My advice to you is to be civil and grateful, and do not bother him
about food. Do not ask him for anything, just tell him exactly how you
feel, and you may do very well here."

The prediction as to the murdering of some of the officers made above
by the prisoner was shortly after verified, and the culprit was hanged
at Maidstone quite recently. At the Yorkshire prison they had what
appeared to me a more sensible method of apportioning the diet. The
prisoners were weighed once a month, and if any of them lost weight
they were allowed an additional quantity of dry bread to make it up. In
the Surrey prison the practice of exchanging and trafficking in food
amongst the prisoners counteracted the evils that would ot