The corporal of marines, who was seriously ill of the dysentery, was lying on his back in the bottom of his cage, whilst his legs were raised up in the air, and his heels resting on the upper ledge, the lid being thrown back. He had entirely lost his senses, and was evidently dying fast; the maggots were crawling about him, and the smell that came from him was dreadful. Fettered as we were, we could afford him no assistance, and the Chinese merely looked at him, and then walked off, holding their noses.
The strange Englishman at this moment came by, and seeing his horrible situation, spoke to the interpreter who was with him, and he to the Chinese; upon which two of them, though with great reluctance, lifted the marine into a clean cage, and placed him in an easier posture. The stranger now told us that he was an artillery officer, and had been taken some days before at Chusan; but he was hurried away before we could learn his name, or anything more from him.
It was now late in the afternoon, and dusk coming on, we were again put into our cages, and carried through the town, till we arrived at the jail. We were taken across a yard into a long room, which was divided into four parts, by gratings run across. In this miserable place we found eight more prisoners, (Lascars,) some of whom had been for two months in the same sort of cages that we were in.[7] We were placed in the small divisions, the coops being ranged round three sides of each compartment, the fourth side being the entrance. A chain was passed through each cage, and between our legs, over the chain of our irons; the two ends being padlocked together, we were thus all fastened one to another, and also to our cages. In this most uncomfortable manner we passed the night.
During the night the corporal I have mentioned died. He never recovered the use of his senses.
In the morning the jailer came in, an old man, with a loud voice, cross look, and a piece of thyme, or some other herb, always stuck on his upper lip. He opened the lids of the cages of the eight Lascars, and took the irons off their wrists, thus enabling them to stand upright, and shake themselves; we had no such indulgence, but were kept fast. At eight o'clock our breakfast was brought in; it was jail allowance, two small basins full of rice, and one of vegetables: the cages were opened, and the irons taken off our hands, whilst we ate our scanty meal, which we had no sooner finished than we were fastened down again. We remained in this state all day, and after our evening allowance, were again secured for the night.
A little before dark, the watch was set, and a large gong, at a short distance, was struck once; upon which a number of smaller gongs struck up, and when they had finished, a boy outside the room began to strike a piece of bamboo with a stick, which noise was continued without intermission the whole night. This horrid noise most effectually prevented my sleeping. The large gong was only struck when the time changed, striking first one, then two, and so on, till it struck five; thus regulating the watches of the night, which, in China, I imagine, is divided into five; at any rate I always found it so.
The following morning the jailer unlocked the lids of our cages, and took the irons off our hands; so that we were at liberty to stand upright, and stretch our limbs; which, from our cramped position, much needed this relaxation. The large place we were in, was, as I have said before, divided into four smaller apartments, three of which were occupied by us in our cages; whilst in the fourth were some Chinese prisoners, who lived in it by day, but slept in another part of the jail. Outside was a covered passage, in which were several stoves; and here the greater part of the Chinese prisoners cooked their rice and other victuals. They had all chains on their legs, but were otherwise free; and they gave us to understand that they were imprisoned for smuggling opium, or for using it. Some were of the better class, being well dressed, and eating their meals with the mandarin of the place.
Two of the commoner sort had lost their tails,[8] and one was minus his nose, which gave anything but a prepossessing appearance to his countenance.