End of March

We were able to convince Mr. Bell, the headquarters’ clerk-stenographer, to teach us English, with each one agreeing to pay him eight Mexican pesos monthly. We are eight students taking lessons from him in the morning and in the afternoon.

11th of March 1901

This afternoon we transferred to the room specifically built for our lodging.

The building measures 80 feet long by 18 feet wide. Its only floor stands about two or three palms above the ground. It is made of pine wood and iron roofings. Its two separate sections is divided by a partition. The first, overlooking the sea, comprises more than three fourths of the building and is intended as the prisoners’ room. The other, located at the extreme end of the building, occupies a little less than one fourth and serves as the dining room. A small sulambe adjoining the western side of the dining room is the kitchen. The building has three big doors facing the east and two doors at the back, one of which leads to the kitchen. The police and the civil guards in front us block our view of the road. We can not leave through the front doors, because a permanent guard prevents us from doing so.

A few days ago, they gave each one of us a plate, a saucer and a cup for our coffee. Some have received even a small basin, but we were not given glasses for drinking water. We are given bottles instead which we cut by first rubbing them with a hot wire and then dousing them with cold water. I forgot to say that each one was given a cot on our first day here.