3-082-926 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches in Formosa: the General of the "Black Flags" inspecting the fortifications at Takow, 1895. Sketch by Lieutenant A. W. Wylde, H.M.S. "Leander." 'Takow is a place of considerable interest just now, on account of its being possibly a point of attack of the Japanese, Formosa being excluded from the armistice, and also on account of the threatening attitude of the garrison towards the European residents, entailing the presence of English men-of-war for their protection...The General conducts his inspection seated in a chair, carried by four coolies. His bodyguard consists of about a dozen "Braves," armed with a strange assortment of ancient and modern weapons. Their uniform is the ordinary loose blue coat, trimmed with red, with a large white disc on the chest and back, forming a first-class bull's-eye for the enemy's rifle fire. In addition, they wear enormous straw hats, about the most cumbrous and unpractical head-gear for a soldier that could possibly be devised, and quite unnecessary, for the lower orders of Chinese usually go bareheaded in the hottest sun. As the General passes, the soldiers salute by kneeling down and touching the ground with their foreheads, a subjection which is more simulated than real'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.