INFLICTION OF THE BASTINADO. 
717 
On this intimation, Dr. Sharpe had received his commission. 
The day being fixed for the infliction of the punishment, which 
must always be performed in the presence of the royal go¬ 
vernor, I availed myself of the circumstance to be a spectator 
of so ancient an Asiatic mode of correction. The time ap¬ 
pointed by the prince being about an hour after sunset, Dr. 
Sharpe and myself repaired to the palace; and were received by 
his Royal Highness with a good humour I hardly anticipated on 
an occasion which might have been galling to the feelings of a 
prince and a master. 
We were to look from the open side of the saloon upon the 
scene of punishment, which the gloom of the evening threw 
rather into shade. The saloon itself was lit by half a dozen 
most uncourtly tallow-candles, set on the carpet under glass 
protectors, which shielded the flame from the outward air. 
But the usual veils for this purpose are upright octagon frames 
of stained wood, covered with white, or prettily painted muslin, 
the transparency of which, dispensing, yet softening the rays it 
diffuses, gives a moonlight, or varied picturesque hue to all the 
objects around. 
After a short conversation with Hassan Ali Mirza, we saw the 
delinquents make their appearance below ; and being ceremoni¬ 
ously identified as the real objects of justice, they were ordered to 
retire some paces to the left, in view of the prince, and there re¬ 
ceive the meed of their crime. The word and the action seemed 
almost one, for in a few moments the court re-echoed with the 
sound of the flail-like sticks of the ferroches, the lictors of this 
part of the world. The process is simple, and the natives are so 
accustomed to the sight or the sufferance, they make the neces¬ 
sary preparations with unaffected sang froid. Having stripped 
