autobiography. As well as claims that not all events and jails which Charrière describes correspond to the time frame of events in the book, there are also similarities between sections of Papillon, and sections of a book written 30 years earlier; La Guillotine Sèche (Dry Guillotine). Dry Guillotine, written by René Belbenoît, was published in 1938, and was also an autobiographical account of Belbenoît's incarceration on, and escape from, the French penal colony in French Guiana. The most notable similarities between these books were: Both authors described similar encounters with Goajira Indians. Belbenoît and Charrière both stated that they had, whilst escaping from the French penal colony, met and lived with tribes of Goajira Indians who lived on the Guajira Peninsula. Both also stated they had taken Indian wives during these periods. Both authors also related a story about a group of escapers who had turned to cannibalism to survive. Whilst not necessarily unusual in itself, both authors also told how one member of the group of escapers had had a wooden leg, and that he had been killed and eaten by the group of escapers, and that his wooden leg has been used as a spit, or as kindling, for the cooking fire. Whilst Belbenoît stated in his book that he had been part of the group of escapers that had turned to cannibalism, Charrière related the story as having happened to a group of other inmates who were incarcerated in the French penal colony at the time of his stay. However, some aspects of Charrière's novel are undoubtedly true: That French Guiana operated as a penal colony from 1852 until 1946. Those transported there ranged from political detainees to those convicted of crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and smaller petty crimes. Anyone receiving a sentence of more than eight years was exiled from France for life. That conditions at the penal colony were extremely severe – "Forty per cent of new arrivals to the colony perished within the first year. Of the 80,000 or so who were transported during the colony's 94-year existence, few made it back to France. Most were killed by the merciless nature of the forced labour, the poor diet, and lack of protection from the myriad diseases rampant in the unfamiliar tropical environment. Many died during escape attempts, savaged by wild animals, ravaged by scurvy, or picked off by professional escaper hunters –