100 
LETTERS FROM 
ment, and almost all the prisoners are em¬ 
ployed, principally in making mats and 
straw-hats, in sweeping the streets, and in 
other public work. Their present number is 
between two and three hundred, forty-eight 
of whom are condemned for life. Refractory 
prisoners are confined in “ a black hole,” on 
an allowance of bread and water, and the 
industrious are rewarded by small weekly 
wages, a certain part of which they are 
allowed to spend in wine and other articles, 
and the remainder is laid by for them until 
their liberation. The daily allowance of 
food for each man is twenty-six ounces of 
good bread, thirty ounces of soup, made 
thick with macaroni, and two ounces and a 
half of cheese. Their drink is water. Fe¬ 
male prisoners are confined in another part 
of the town. We bought some very good 
strong straw-hats at the gaol for two shillings 
