The jail is a sombre-looking building, with every mark of antiquity standing boldly outlined upon its exterior. It is surrounded by a high brick wall, and its windows are grated with double rows of bars, sufficiently strong for a modern penitentiary. Altogether, its dark, gloomy appearance strikes those who approach it, with the thought and association of some ancient cruelty. You enter through an iron-barred door, and on both sides of a narrow portal leading to the right are four small cells and a filthy-looking kitchen, resembling an old-fashioned smoke-house. These cells are the debtors'; and as we were passing out, after visiting a friend, a lame “molatto-fellow” with scarcely rags to cover his nakedness, and filthy beyond description, stood at what was called the kitchen door. “That poor dejected object,” said our friend, “is the cook. He is in for misdemeanor-one of the peculiar shades of it, for which a nigger is honored with the jail.” “It seems, then, that cooking is a punishment in Charleston, and the negro is undergoing the penalty,” said we. “Yes!” said our friend; “but the poor fellow has a sovereign consolation, which few niggers in Charleston can boast of-and none of the prisoners here have-he can get enough to eat.” The poor fellow held out his hand as we passed him, and said, “Massa, gin poor Abe a piece o' 'bacca'?” We freely gave him all in our possession. On the left side, after passing the main iron door, are the jailer's apartments. Passing through another iron door, you ascend a narrow, crooked stairs and reach the second story; here are some eight or nine miserable cells-some large and some small-badly ventilated, and entirely destitute of any kind of furniture: and if they are badly ventilated for summer, they are equally badly provided with means to warm them in winter. In one of these rooms were nine or ten persons, when we visited it; and such was the morbid stench escaping from it, that we were compelled to put our handkerchiefs to our faces. This floor is appropriated for such crimes as assault and battery; assault and battery, with intent to kill; refractory seamen; deserters; violating the statutes; suspicion of arson and murder; witnesses; all sorts of crimes, varying from the debtor to the positive murderer, burglar, and felon. We should have enumerated, among the rest, all stewards, (colored,) whether foreign or domestic, who are committed on that singular charge, “contrary to law.” And it should have been added, even though cast away upon our “hospitable shores.” Among all these different shades of criminals, there must be some very bad men. And we could recount three who were pointed out to us, as very dangerous men, yet were allowed the favor of this floor and its associations. One was an Irish sailor, who was sentenced to three years and nine months' imprisonment by the United States court, for revolt and a desperate attempt to murder the captain of a ship; the next was a German, a