one temporary change for the better in the matter of hospital
 
supplies. The Philippine Red Cross in Manila had quinine avail-
 
able and was willing to supply it to us. The Japs were in no
 
hurry about accepting this medicine, however.
 
          When the quinine finally did arrive it was allowed to 
 
remain unpacked for days, the Japanese giving the excuse that the
 
supplies had to be inventorled before they could be used. A small
 
amount was given to us in late September.
 
          Nevertheless, the death rate among the American prisoners
 
dropped from 30 per day in July to 21 per day in August, principally
 
due to the fact that many of the weaker ones had already died.
 
September showed an all-time low of 14 per day, but this rose to
 
19 per day in October. By the middle of October the small supply
 
of quinine had been used up, and deaths from malaria were on the
 
increase. On one red-letter day in October, however, there were
 
only three deaths in the camp. A notice to this effect was
 
published, and there was much optimism. The next day, however,
 
the death rate was up again, with nearly a score of bodies being
 
dragged out of the barracks the following morning.
 
               On one other occasion the Japs themselves voluntarily
 
supplied us with medicine. That was in August, when an epidemic
 
of diphtheria broke out in the prison. Obviously to protect
                     
themselves, the Japs gave us some anti-toxin. Fortunately the
 
disease was not in a virulent form, and deaths from this cause
 
were few.
 
     Almost no prisoner in the camps escaped from a skin dis-
 
order in one form or another, and nearly all of us experienced
 
 
                                         - 48 -