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A JOURNEY THROUGH A PRISON. 279
Inquiring of the keeper, Mr. Rai was told that the
prisoners were fed twice daily, at nine A.M. and four
P.M. Their diet was boiled rice, radishes, pickles,
beans, and soup. They were not allowed tea, but
drank hot water instead. This was fairly good diet
for a Japanese prisoner, and hot water is even yet
drunk by the lower classes in Japan. The food was
passed into the cells through a small opening faced
with copper. The prisoners were not allowed to
leave their cells for exercise ; but the enjoyment of
a hot bath was permitted at regular intervals, as a
sanitary precaution rather than as an indulgence,
which they eagerly availed themselves of. No lights
were allowed at night, nor fire in winter. The cells,
from their structure, were very well ventilated, and
very different from some of the daimio's prisons,
which were like the Black Hole of Calcutta.
No instances were known of jail-breaking in the
Yedo prison, as the floors were of heavy plank
boards of hard wood, and nothing made of metal
could get into the hands of the prisoners ;
and even
their food was taken with wood that is, chopsticks.
The prisoners were not allowed to shave their scalps,
as all Japanese did and liked to do.
In the sick-ward the floor of the space outside the
cell was of smooth plank, and the inmates were
allowed to be outside their cells in this place until
four P.M. daily. There were five doctors attached to
the prison, and medicine was dealt out twice a day.
In all there were about two hundred prisoners in
the jail at the time of Mr. Rai's visit, which was