Before concluding this chapter, which has dealt with the conduct of the prisoners, two other facts may be mentioned. Shortly after the opening of the prison a disturbance among a batch of prisoners from Chatham led to the construction of the Black Hole and the requisition for two dozen handcuffs. In October of the following year the Depot narrowly escaped destruction by fire—whether accidental or the work of an incendiary is not known; two thatched huts adjoining the wooden buildings were in flames, but the exertions of the Military were sufficient to prevent the spread of the conflagration which would so easily, in unfavourable conditions as to wind, etc., have consumed the whole building. It was after this fire that an application was made for a fire-engine. CHAPTER VIII THE SICK AND THE HOSPITAL Dangers stand thick through all the ground, To push us to the tomb; And fierce diseases wait around, To hurry mortals home. DR. WATTS. THE general health of the prisoners was good, but occasional epidemics led to a temporary very heavy mortality, the miserable men who had sold their rations and clothes to provide money for gambling dying off so rapidly, and in such numbers, that no room could be found for them in the well-equipped hospital. In November 1800 there broke out an appalling epidemic, which raged for five months and then began to abate; the daily average of deaths of the prisoners at this Depot during the four worst months of the pestilence was over eight. In this epidemic, 1800–01, during the six months with the heaviest mortality, 1,020 died. In the corresponding six months, 1801–02, when the mortality had been almost restored to what was normal, the deaths were only twenty. The staff could evidently not keep abreast of their work, the hospital was full to overflowing, and many of “Les Misérables” died in their hammocks in the caserns.