FRENCH PRISONERS AT CAYENNE.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1162, 6 December 1879, Page 1 (Supplement)

FRENCH PRISONERS AT CAYENNE.

A visitor to the prison a m Cayenne thus writes of them : — There are some twelve hundred convicts confined ia these small islands, and they are from drawn France and her colonies, Algeria, and Pondicherry. From tha moment he sets foot m Guiana the individuality of each man is lost ; and he becomes a machine subject to the strictest discipline, suspicion, and the strictest penalties. If he is unruly he is chained like a dog ; if violent he is shot. He is known by his number, which is painted over his sleeping hammock and stamped on his clothes. A coarse sack huDg on k nail over his bed contains all his worldly goods. He rises at five each morning, and after a morsel of bread and soup attends muster m the prison yard at 530 a;m. From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m, he labors-making boots, clothes, furniture, if he is a tradesman, or navvy ing, or filling water-kegs, loading ships with patent fuol if he is unskilled, for the Salut Islands are a kind of a depot for ships, and for the other, convict establishments of Cayenne. At 10.30 am he eats a dinner of soup, bread, and a bit of salt beef, or fresh meat, when it has besn brought from Para m Brazil. Till 2 p.m., during the heat of noon, he is free to take his 'siesta* m doors, or earn a little pocket money to help sweeten his hard, lot, by fabricating little curiosities, such as carved oocoanuts bracelets, seeds and shells, or straw nuts. From 2 p.m. uo 6 p.m. he labors at the Government works again, and then dines as he did m the morning After dinner he is free till 8 p.m., when he is called into the prison, which ie brightly Ut up nside foksafety, or if it ba a clear mosnlight night he is allowed to chat or sing with his companions till 10 or 11 o'clock. A little wine hot beer is allowed him daily, but no tobacco. In this way, day after day, the monotonous years pass by. If the sentence has been eight years atid under, and he _hould outlive it, the convict is* free to leave the countiy or to settle m Cayenne, provided he can show the autJ&*rit?£S that he possesses 600 francs him ,to sta&t an hones t means of livelihood. When he dies his body is given to the sharks which swarm round the islands. Evasions are frequently made by the most daring of the convfcts, but it is an almost hopeless enterprise. To try to swim to the neighbouring coast is to fall a ready prey to the sharks, and even if by means of a boat, the Kouron is reached, death by starvation, fever, and wild beasts await him m the impenetrable forests. Sharks literally beseige the islands. All tho refuse is thrown to them, and the remains of convicts and also the oommon soldiers are buried m the sea. It is said that when the funeral boat bears the corpse to its grave, the sharks can be seen flocking after it like famished wolves . Every day they may be seen ciroled round the Hoopar, preserving always the same cat-like pace, keeping up their horrid vigils. While we stayed at Satob Islands, a newly- arrived French vessel anchored close to us, and the Bhip's boy, innocent of the presence of thege monsters, was sitting on the gangway, dangling his bare feet m the tepid ~ea, when a shark seized him by the leg, the boy shrieked and clung to the gangway so desperately that the shark was frightened off ; but the mutilated limb had to be amputated below the knee-