CHAPTER VII.

Macao-Description of Macao-Its churches and public buildings— Government of the city-Jesuit cathedral-The half-caste beauties of Macao-Their toilette-Camöens' Cave-English burial-ground and tombs-Roman Catholic procession of saints, angels, and devils.

THE view of Macao from the sea is most exquisitely beautiful; the semicircular appearance of the shore, which is unencumbered, and unbroken by wharfs or piers, and upon which the surge is continually breaking, and receding in waves of foam, whereon the sun glitters in thousands of sparkling beams, presents a scene of incomparable and unsurpassable beauty. The Praya Grande, or grand Parade, which is faced with an embankment of stone, fronts the sea, and is fully half a mile in length; a row of houses of large and imposing exterior, extend the whole distance, from one end to the other of this delightful promenade; some of these dwellings are coloured externally, pink, pale yellow, and white.

These houses with their large windows, extending to the ground, without verandahs, and with curtains arranged in the continental fashion, convey the idea to a visitor, that he has entered a European rather than Asiatic sea-port; and this belief is strengthened,

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by the continual ringing of the church bells, the passing and repassing of Roman Catholic priests clad in cassocks and three-cornered hats, and occasionally a procession in honour of some of the manifold saints belonging to the Romish calendar, pass along the Praya Grande.

But the pleasing illusion is speedily dispelled, that the traveller is in Europe, as the eye turning towards the sea, beholds the numerous san-pans and matsail boats which fill the harbour, or, glancing shoreward, rests upon figures clad in the Chinese costume.

Macao stands upon a promontory belonging to the island of Sheang-shin, a narrow isthmus separating them; at one period the Chinese had a fort, most carefully guarded, at this spot, to prevent foreigners from visiting the interior. The town is built upon two hills, which meet at right angles; and the houses and dwellings of the Portuguese and Chinese inhabitants, with the places for public worship, belonging to the two nations, are curiously intermingled in the town, forming a most heterogeneous inass. At the rear of the town is an inner harbour, where there is very secure anchorage for small vessels; but as this harbour is fast filling up with sand, vessels of greater tonnage are compelled to anchor in the roadstead, at a considerable distance from the shore. In the sixteenth century, Macao was given up to the Portuguese by the Emperor of China, as a reward for services performed by them, when they joined their forces with those of the Chinese, against some daring pirates, who then, as now, infested the neighbouring islands.

For a lengthened period, the Portuguese carried on a most extensive and prosperous trade with the empire, but this trade has gradually diminished, until at the present period, little business is transacted at Macao. Until the termination of the war, Macao was the only place at which the families of the British merchants were permitted to reside, as the Chinese authorities would not allow a lady to live at Canton : they tolerated the merchants for a short period, during the business season as it was termed; immediately this was terminated, or from caprice, a chop or notice would be issued by the mandarin, ordering all foreigners to leave Canton within a certain number of hours; this mandate used to be quietly obeyed by our merchants, the China boatmen reaping an abundant harvest by the large sums paid for the fast boats as they are termed, which were engaged by the British merchants to transport them to Macao.

The tyrannical sway exercised by the Chinese over the Portuguese inhabitants of Macao, for many years, was intolerable, for although Macao was governed nominally by a Portuguese governor appointed by the king of Portugal, bishops and judges, assisted by a senate, the power which the local Chinese authorities usurped was unbearable. If a Chinaman felt aggrieved he immediately laid his complaint before the mandarin, who never scrupled to inflict summary punishment upon a Portuguese subject, or to make some insolent demand; if any resistance was made to his will, he immediately cut off the supplies from the main land, and issued an order, directing all Chinese servants to leave their barbarian masters: prompt

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compliance with the latter edict, used to cause the most serious inconvenience to the Portuguese and other European inhabitants of Macao; and constantly, delicately-nurtured women, who had followed their husband in their search after wealth, were compelled to perform the most menial offices in their households; the local mandarin used not to revoke these arbitrary edicts, until his demands had been complied with. The local government of Macao, it must be presumed, originally submitted to these tyrannical proceedings, and to the interference on the part of the Chinese authorities, in the vain hope that this pusillanimous conduct on their part would secure to their nation an exclusive trade with, and settlement in China. This mistaken line of conduct, or policy, both betrayed weakness, and evinced ignorance of the Chinese character, as the national foible is to tyrannize, and extort, the more their exactions are complied with, or submitted to; but the Chinese will become suppliants, and submissively, servilely subservient, when met with a firm, unflinching resistance.

Senhor Amaral, the present Governor of Macao (unless recalled while this is passing through the press), has determined to resist the interference of the Chinese authorities, and severely punished some native boatmen, who attacked Portuguese soldiers: in the skirmish several Chinese were killed, and the local mandarin demanded redress for the lives lost in the fray, and an apology for presuming to punish the subjects of the Celestial Empire. Senhor Amaral declared that the government of Macao was independent of that of China, as it was a settlement

belonging to the King of Portugal, who had vested in him the power of life and death over all the inhabitants of Macao; and that if the Chinese chose to reside there, they must abide by the laws of Portugal; that being Governor of Macao he would not permit the Chinese, more than any other foreign power, to interfere with his actions or conduct. This decided and firm course subdued the Chinese authorities, who parted amicably from the Governor of Macao; and should this gentleman persist in, or be permitted by his government to follow up, this most judicious line of conduct, Macao may again rise like a phoenix from the wreck of former grandeur. At the commencement of this year we were informed that the supplies had been cut off for a short period by the Chinese, but our informant did not particularize, or state the result.

The climate of Macao, although in the same latitude as Hong-Kong, is comparatively healthy, and house-rent and provisions are materially lower in price.

The population of Macao is variously estimated, unfortunately the statistical returns cannot be relied upon, but we believe the most correct estimate is, that the Portuguese inhabitants are under seven thousand, whilst the Chinese nearly double that number. Amongst the whole Portuguese population there were not two hundred that had been born in Europe.

The military force is weak, and inefficient, as the Portuguese garrison consists only of four hundred soldiers and eighteen officers, the pay, both of officers