This seems to be the name of a tool used for flogging that fits the descriptions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellation: Flagellation took place either with a single whip or, more notoriously, with the cat o' nine tails. Typically, the offender's upper half was bared and he was suspended by the wrists beneath a tripod of wooden beams (known as 'the triangle'), while either one or two floggers administered the prescribed number of strokes, or "lashes" to the victim's back. During the flogging, a doctor or other medical worker was consulted at regular intervals as to the condition of the prisoner - if the offender had fainted from blood loss or suffered extreme skin and flesh loss from the back, the punishment was usually suspended until such time that the offender had sufficiently healed. Once healed, the remainder of the required lashes were administered. Punishment was usually limited to 20, 50 or 100 lashes at one flogging, though records exist of prisoners in Australian penal colonies such as Norfolk Island or Port Arthur receiving more than 3,000 lashes over a number of months or years.



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Note added at 15 mins (2009-07-14 17:14:35 GMT)
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this is a picture of it
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Cat-o'-ni...

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Note added at 42 mins (2009-07-14 17:41:39 GMT)
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http://www.alertanet.org/F2b-VCabedo.htm
description of device: El fuete es una pena corporal típica de las comunidades paez y embero- chamí, y consiste en la flagelación de una persona con “perrero de arriar ganado”. “El “perrero” consta de un palo de rama de madera fina al cual se amarra una tira de entre 3-5 mm. de ancho, 1mm. de espesor y hasta 1,5 metros de largo, que no va trenzada”