“The Cachots Noirs were never opened except at stated intervals,—once every morning for inspection, and once every thirty days for exercise and a medical examination of the prisoner.” I am glad to be able to state on the authority of the Minister of Colonies that this terrible punishment has now been made much less severe. Every seventh day the prisoner is placed for a day in a light cell; he is also given an hour’s exercise every day; and the maximum sentence has been reduced to two years, subject to the medical veto. In the text I have described what I saw; but this atrocity is now, happily, a thing of the past.—G. G. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Portrait of the Author _Frontispiece._ Two Snapshots up and down the Rio Sacramento, taken as the train was crossing the bridge _Page_ 30 Diamond Head, Honolulu ” 54 Sanford B. Dole. First Governor of the Territory of Hawaii ” 62 A Lake in the interior of New Caledonia ” 86 The Plague Area at Noumea. Offices of the Messageries Maritimes, with Sentries in front ” 100 The Convict Band playing in the Kiosk in the Place des Cocotiers, Noumea ” 116 The Town and Harbour of Noumea ” 120 In the Harbour, Noumea ” 122 The Inner Court of the Central Prison, Ile Nou ” 136 The Central Prison, Ile Nou ” 142 The Bureau of Anthropometry, Ile Nou ” 146 An Arab Type of Convict. A combination of Ideality and Homicidal Mania ” 148 The Courtyard of a Disciplinary Camp, Ile Nou ” 150 The Avenue of Palms, leading to the Hospital, Ile Nou ” 154 Part of the Hospital Buildings, Ile Nou ” 156 The Island of “Le Sphinx,” one of the tying-up places on the south-west coast of New Caledonia ” 162 A Native Temple, New Caledonia ” 168 Permit to visit a Prison or Penitentiary Camp _en détail_ ” 176 The Kiosk in which the Convict Courtships were conducted at Bourail ” 180 Berezowski, the Polish Anarchist who attempted to murder Napoleon III. and the Tsar Alexander II. in the Champs Elysées ” 184 One of the Lowest Types of Criminal Faces ” 190 The Peninsula of Ducos ” 194 The remains of Henri Rochefort’s House ” 200