A man's feet are tied to a pole held by two Persians as the soles of his feet are whipped. Wood engraving by F. Regamey, 1872.

"The bastinado in Persia.,The cruel punishment of beating the upturned soles of the bare feet with switches, called the bastinado in the language of Portuguese and Italian travellers, has been practised in Asia from time immemorial. It is frequently mentioned in the Persian and Arabian tales which amused our boyhood; and the reader who chances to go to Persia, a country not in every man's road, may learn that it is the fear of this painful infliction which must be invoked for the safety of his person and luggage against native roguery, where the local magistrates are disposed to do their duty. One would scarcely believe that the most hardened rascal in the Shah's dominions would, after once suffering this dreadful mode of chastisement, ever be guilty of a second offence. The British cat-o'-nine-tails, which is sufficiently disagreeable to a tender skin, has proved effectual, we are told, in its judicious administration at Newgate, to convince our ruffianly garotters of the error of their ways; but that is a mere surface torment, compared with the frightful shock to the nervous system from a prolonged fustigation of the nether extremities. Criminals have much to be thankful for, we should imagine, in that their lot has been cast in a realm of merciful Christendom, under the mild reign of Queen Victoria, instead of Haroun-al-Raschid, or his successors at Bagdad and Ispahan."--Illustrated London news, loc. cit.