* * * Some, and indeed many of them, had not the means
of procuring a razor, or an ounce of soap.
"Their beards were occasionally reduced by each other with a pair of
shears or scissors. * * * Their skins were discoloured by continual
washing in salt water, added to the circumstance that it was
impossible for them to wash their linen in any other manner than by
laying it on the deck and stamping on it with their feet, after it had
been immersed in salt water, their bodies remaining naked during the
process.
"To men in this situation everything like ordinary cleanliness was
impossible. Much that was disgusting in their appearance undoubtedly
originated from neglect, which long confinement had rendered habitual,
until it created a confirmed indifference to personal appearance.
"As soon as the gratings had been fastened over the hatchways for the
night, we usually went to our sleeping places. It was, of course,
always desirable to obtain a station as near as possible to the side
of the ship, and, if practicable, in the immediate vicinity of one of
the air-ports, as this not only afforded us a better air, but also
rendered us less liable to be trodden upon by those who were moving
about the decks during the night.
"But silence was a stranger to our dark abode. There were continual
noises during the night. The groans of the sick and the dying; the
curses poured out by the weary and exhausted upon our inhuman keepers;
the restlessness caused by the suffocating heat, and the confined and
poisonous air, mingled with the wild and incoherent ravings of
delirium, were the sounds which every night were raised around us in
every direction.
Pages:
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384