2-982-437 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches at Canton - Demolishing Houses, 1858. British forces cause havoc in China. Engraving from '...drawings which we received by the last Overland Mail from our Special Artist and Correspondent in China, indicative of the leading events in Canton during the previous fortnight...[View of] the "Bamboo Rifles" pushing down the remains of burnt houses. An orderly is saying "Fig-tee, figtee! " (make haste!), and they are singing out " Ly, ly, ly ; ly, ly, ly!" by way of keeping time. The dust of the falling wall, the smoke of the yet smouldering rafters, the glare of the white-hot sun, and the unpleasant footing of loose brick render this task rather an unpleasant one'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.