Torture is not unfrequently made use of; but as all punishments of that kind are confined to the dungeons of the castle, no one can or dares give any description of the nature of it. Theft (as presented by the Koran) is punished by cutting off a hand, and, if to a very great extent, a foot also; but repeated offences of this kind extend sometimes to an amputation of the other hand or foot, and I once saw a man, who, for a capital crime, had been mutilated in this manner. The operation is performed with a razor. The limb is first tied tight above the joint with a piece of cord, and the hand or foot is taken out of the socket of the wrist or ankle joint. The stump is then dipped into hot pitch, and the sufferer is permitted to go away with his friends; and it is astonishing how soon he recovers without any other dressing than the one which I have mentioned. Beating with a stick on the posteriors or soles of the feet is the general punishment for minor offences; although in some cases it is so severe as to occasion death. Four or five hundred lashes are frequently given; but fifty is about the general allowance. Some culprits, who, by bribery, or other means, are able to influence the persons employed to see the sentence executed, contrive to stuff their trowsers so as to escape without much suffering. This punishment is inflicted equally on all ranks, at the pleasure of the Bashaw; and should even his own sons, his Minister, or the Sheikh of the town, displease him, they would be obliged to submit to it, as well as the lowest of his subjects; nor would they consider themselves at all degraded, or their dignity in any degree lessened by it. [Illustration: _Drawn from Life by G. F. Lyon._ _On Stone by M. Gauci._ TRIPOLI COSTUME. _London. Published by J. Murray Albemarle St. Feb.1.1821._ _C. Hullmandel’s Lithography._]