MANUAL OP THE NILAQIRI DISTRICT. 



405 



jail and its precincts a number of the convicts are employed CHAP. XIX. 

 on the sanitary duties of the jail and in raggi-grinding, tailoring, PR^g. 



cooking, and as dhobies ; a little carpentry and smith's work is 



also done, and vegetable gardening. There are no manufactures. 

 The jail garden supplies excellent vegetables sufficient for the 

 prisoners' consumption ; the surplus is sold and by this means a 

 trifling sum is realized monthly and remitted to the treasury. 



The cost of rations during 1877 for a daily average strength —diet, &o. 

 of 155-33 convicts was Rupees 11,625. The diet is ample and 

 good, and in accordance with scale : 5 ounces of meat are supplied 

 thrice weekly ; no fish is used ; also no tyre, as it is not obtainable 

 in sufficient quantities ; the vegetable ration is therefore increased 

 to 71 ounces in lieu of the tyre. There have been no scorbutic 

 ailments, and the prisoners, as a rule, gain weight during their 

 confinement. The wat^r for drinking is obtained from the 

 Mdlemand Lake ; it is received into a reservoir, and pumped up 

 into a covered masonry filter. It is sometimes very muddy even 

 after filtration. The cost of clothing for 1877 was Eupees 737. 



The nature of the clothing and bedding is thus : — 1 cap, 2 cum- 

 bly jackets, 2 cotton breeches, 2 cumblies, 1 cumbly hood, and 

 1 coir mat for each male convict. 



The following rules are enforced regarding ablution of the 

 whole body for 



(a.) LIales— Bathe twice a week within the jail. A large cistern 

 is used as a bath. Cheakai is issued on each occaaion, and 

 oil every alternate week. 



(h.) Females— Bathe similarly, but in the compound of the 

 debtors' jail. 



The general health of the prisoners during 1877 as contrasted —health, 

 with former years was very unsatisfactory. Numbers were 

 admitted in a state of starvation. Of 173 total admissions into 

 hospital, 21 were for simple starvation, and of those admitted 

 under the heads of general dropsy, debility, diarrhoea, and 

 dysentery, the primary cause of disease in most instances was star- 

 vation, and twenty-four invalids were transferred to Coimbatore 

 on medical grounds, being too emaciated to stand this cold climate. 

 Almost all the deaths were due to privation. Ordinarily the 

 ailments are such as are incidental to the nature of the climate, 

 e.g., dysentery, diarrhoea, and chest affections. 



Subsidiary Jails. 



There is a lock-up for under- trial and short-term prisoners, Subsidiary 

 i.e., convicted persons whose sentence does not exceed one or two *'^^' 



