MILITIAMAN OF GRAND CANARY
The uniform of this militiaman, needs little description, being nothing more than a shirt and white linen drawers of great width, with a Montero instead of a hat or helmet, in other words it is the common dress of the countrymen with the addition of a soldier's belt.
The Militia throughout the Island is of the worst description, badly disciplined, and worse accoutred. In the year 1811, when the Duke del Parque, then Captain General of the Province, was forcibly deprived of his command, several companies of militia from Realexo, Rambla, and other places on the north side of Tenerife, turned out and marched to Laguna, with scarcely any other arms than their long Garotes or poles, used for travelling, which in their hands would probably have proved far more formidable weapons than the ill conditioned muskets a very few of their comrades were provided with.
