This I know; but I am quite certain that the twenty-two of us washed in the same water.
I did no more than make a show of splashing some of this dubious liquid at myself, while I hastily brushed it off with a towel wet from the bodies of other men.My equanimity was not restored by seeing the back of one poor wretch a mass of blood from attacks of vermin and retaliatory scratching.
A shirt was handed me- which I could not help but wonder how many other men had worn; and with a couple of blankets under my arm Itrudged off to the sleeping apartment.This was a long, narrow room, traversed by two low iron rails.Between these rails were stretched, not hammocks, but pieces of canvas, six feet long and less than two feet wide.These were the beds, and they were six inches apart and about eight inches above the floor.The chief difficulty was that the head was somewhat higher than the feet, which caused the body constantly to slip down.Being slung to the same rails, when one man moved, no matter how slightly, the rest were set rocking; and whenever I dozed somebody was sure to struggle back to the position from which he had slipped, and arouse me again.