Fourteen male prisoners in Persia sitting on the ground in a group bound together at the neck by chains, with an armed guard. Wood engraving, 1873, after Evelyn H. Ellis.

"For our illustration representing a group of these highwaymen "in durance vile" at Shiraz we are indebted to a photograph by the Hon. Evelyn H. Ellis, who has been travelling for some months passed in Persia. Twelve of the prisoners curiously enough formed part of a gang which had attacked his party on its way from Bushire to Shiraz. Concerning the present pleasures of Persian travel, Mr Ellis writes, "Although five regiments have been sent to Shiraz to secure the tranquillity of Fars, no caravan reaches its destination without being either attacked or plundered. Posting has become impossible for the solitary traveller, while the unhappy villagers, unless in considerable numbers, are waylaid and ill-treated merely for the sake of theor clothes by the Eelyots or wandering tribes. These ruffians, now quite unchecked, in large organised bands, attack villages, and even small towns, stripping them of everything. Indeed, it is expected that Shiraz itself, in another month, will be very insecure. Europeans, who formerly travelled about this country in perfect safety, are now robbed, ill-treated, and in one case brutally murdered. The photograph represents a number of highway robbers and murderers, who had the ill-luck to fall into the hands of the Governor of Shiraz. The fate of the friendless among them is certain. The prison gate opens into the public square where they will shortly either have their hands and feet chopped off, or be crucified, blown from guns, or have their throats cut like sheep, or be left to fester in the sun. But, unfortunately, the greater number of them after a few weeks imprisonment and a possible bastinado, will be allowed to return to their former occupations, on the King's highway.."-- The graphic, op. cit., p. 27