THE CHINO-JAPANESE WAR, 1894—95. 588 though of short duration, and the TableMountain wasin the hands of the Japanese. But this was only effected with considerable loss for the shortperiod during the rush,the Japaneselosing thirty-five by casualties. Among those placed hors de combat were two officers."

The Chinese really made no stand once they saw the longlines of the Japanese attack closing on them. They abandoned all three forts one after another, on an average giving up a fort every five minutes. Some of the Japanesewho tableland beingrushed byat least 6,000, with as many more threatening their right ;moreover shut up ina seriesof separateforts, small detachments of less than 500 had to face therush. Of course,if they had stuck to their works, fired low andsteadily, andbrought a cross fire ofrifles and machine guns to bear on the attack, they might very well have repulsed the foe. But they wereChinese troops,with very scant ideas ofmutual support,andlittle trust either intheir officers or their weapons, soit is no wonder they SINGLE COMHAT. (By a Japanese artist.)

fell in the attack were not hit by shots from the I-tzu forts, but by bursting shells fired over the town from the fort on Golden Hill,in order to cover the hurried retreat of the fugitives. It was afterwards ascertained that the Chinese had about 1,600 men in the three forts on the tableland and thefort on Pine Tree Hill, an average of about 400 in each work. Another 1,600 held tlae TwoDragons and the Cock's Comb on the northridge;2,000more, fugitives fromKin-chow and Ta-lien-wan,prolonged tlae line of defence along the ridge to the sea, and a reserve of 1,200 men, belonging to tlae same unfortunate force, lay behind Pine Tree Hill,near the parade ground. Thus the Chinese were hopelessly outnumbered, the 1,200 men who held the I-tzu went. Although the correspondent calls the Japanese loss serious, the capture of the tableland was surely cheaply bought with only two officers and thirty-three menkilledand wounded out of a whole division. With any real defence the capture of the forts would have meant the fall of somehundreds of men and officers in the columns of assault.

For the wounded, not only those brought down from the hill,but those also whohad been hit by the shells from the Chinese forts during the cannonade, prompt and ample provision had been made by the Japanese medical corps. To quoteagainfrom Mr. Villiers' letter: "During thefight Iwas watching a hamlet of about half a dozenhouses at the end of the neck