"The city of Macao is interesting in various ways"

Duas fotografias, uma da Praia Grande e outra da Gruta de Camões, ilustram este artigo que seleccionei para assinalar o "Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas". 

Foi publicado em Janeiro de 1918 num jornal dos EUA. Numa altura em que a Europa ainda estava em guerra, os turistas norte-americanos viajavam sobretudo para o Oriente e muitas das vezes passavam por Macau.

In these years of war when Europe is closed to the tourist, thousands of American travelers are turning to the Orient, and most of those who reach the coast of Asia get a glimpse at least of the oldest foreign colony In China. This is the Portuguese colony of Macao, at the western entrance of the Canton river and only 40 miles from Hongkong, the great British base. Macao is perched on a peninsula which Is itself a part of the Island of Hlangshan, separated from the mainland by a narrow arm of water. It was occupied by the Portuguese In 1557 and has been held ever since by that once great maritime nation. For nearly three hundred years the Portuguese paid ground rent to China for the colony, and in 1887 the sovereignty of Portugal was recognized by China. But the extent of the territory has never been settled, for China has always disputed the right of the Portuguese to the Islands of Taipa and Kolowan and to the coastal waters. Commissioners were named in 1909 for the dellmlnatlon of the boundaries, but they could not reach an agreement. 

The city of Macao is interesting in various ways and, despite its age, much of it is well built and not unhandsome. Along its curving water front, known as the Praya Grande, is a long row of fine residences and other buildings. Among the most imposing of these is the three-story house of Ah Fong, the Chinese millionaire, who lived in Honolulu for so many years and, after marrying his beautiful daughters to naval officers, departed with all his wealth to his mother country. Several miles inland is Ah Fong’s birthplace, the village of Wong-rao-sl, and there he has created a magnificent estate which Is his favorite place of abode In his old age. 

San Paulo and Camoens’ Grotto. 

In the most ancient part of the city are the ruins of San Paulo church. This was the collegiate church of the Jesuits and dates from the sixteenth century. In 1835 It was destroyed by fire, but Its great front wall still stands. There Is also an old castle that Is worth seeing, and several Portuguese forts that are garrisoned In ordinary times by 500 soldiers, and visitors of a commercial bent will wish to Inspect the cotton, canning and oil factories and the brick and cement works that, aside from fishing, comprise the chief industries of the place. 

To the literary tourist the place of most Interest In Macao Is the grotto of Camoens. The author of the Lusiad, the epic poem of Portugal, when he was banished from Lisbon In 1547 because of a love affair, first fought against the Moorish pirates on the Barbary coast and then, after being pardoned and again banished, betook himself to Macao and took up his residence In a house with a beautiful garden. There, In a rocky grotto, he composed the latter part of his great epic, and In the same recess now stands a bust of the poet who did so much for the literature and language of his country. 

Its Gambling Houses. 

If you say Macao to the ordinary globe trotter or the sailor whose voyages take him to the Orient, the name means chiefly a place where he can gamble, for the city Is one of the few places where the goddess of chance may still be wooed with the sanction of the law. 

Gambling licenses and opium supply the greater part of the colony’s revenues, and such a sign as “FirstClass Gambling House” is frequent on the main street. Naturally, one result of this Is that Macao swarms with lawless characters from all parts of the world and deeds of violence are rather frequent. The gambling dens are conducted by Chinamen, and fan-tan is the game usually played. It is apparently the simplest of all games, and one at which It should be Impossible to cheat. A sheet is spread on a table or on the floor, and the banker sits with a bowl full of copper coins in front of him. These he counts out by fours, and the gamblers stake their money on there being three, two, one or none remaining at the end In the bowl. Chinamen with a practised eye can tell while there are still a great heap of the coins In the bowl how this final counting will result, and the banker has probably a keener eye than any of the Chinese gamblers, and has seen before them what the count will be.

Some of the copper coins are really three coins Joined together, and a blow from the stick with which the banker counts out the coins will turn one coin into fwo or three if required. To counteract the possibility of the banker not being too honest, Europeans who gamble in large sums put their notes into envelopes before they throw them down on the divisions of the sheet. A man can back all four numbers if he will, one envelope containing notes for hundreds of dollars, while the others may each contain a note for a small sum. The banker, however very often guesses In which envelope is the big sum of money, and the division on which It Is laid Is not very likely to be the one to win.

Newcastle News (EUA), 16.1.1918