While the Commodore and some of his staff were proceeding to Canton in the gun-boat, the naturalists made an excursion to the Portuguese settlement of Macao, about 35 miles distant from Hong-kong, with which there is biweekly communication by an English steamer. Usually this voyage occupies from four to five hours, but the Sir Charles Forbes was a small slow-going tub, and as our departure was delayed several hours in consequence of a large shipment of chests of opium, for which it was hoped a better price would be obtained at Macao, and as we had on our way thither to contend with rain, squalls, and contrary winds, it was dark ere we reached Macao. (...)
Already, before the houses of Macao could be very easily made out, we passed the merchant ships lying in the roads, which cannot approach within from six to eight nautical miles. The small thoroughly land-locked "inner harbour," as it is called, lying on the other side of the narrow tongue of land on which Macao is situate, is only accessible for small vessels and Chinese junks, which visit it in large numbers.
The first view of the city of Macao is not less charming than that of Victoria. The long ranges of houses are picturesquely grouped around the numerous little hills surmounted by forts, which form the greater part of the isthmus while the beautiful Praya Grande, where palaces and imposing mansions are disposed in long array close along the shore, in order to get the benefit of the refreshing sea-breezes, makes a deep and lasting impression upon the stranger. Churches with lofty double towers shooting into the air, and the vast dome of the Jesuit College, at once single the city out as Catholic, and impart to its external aspect a strong contrast with the adjoining English colony.
Macao is a favourite resort of the foreigners settled in Hong-kong for change of air, which in these latitudes seems to be even more necessary than in Europe. So long as Canton was the chief seat of the European traders, the Portuguese settlement was used by them as a summer residence for their families, whither they could themselves occasionally retire from the bustle of Canton, and the attendant insecurity of life, to spend a few days of calm enjoyment with their families. On account of the alarms of war of the previous year, most of the Canton merchants had come down to Hong-kong and Macao to settle, in consequence of which the latter town has an unusually lively appearance, while its trade, which had previously been in a rather languishing condition, has materially improved. When the steamer makes its appearance in the roads of Macao, it is immediately surrounded by an innumerable swarm of what are called Tanka-boats, mostly propelled by women, who with yells and shrieks bid for the privilege of conveying the passengers to shore. As there is no suitable landing-place on the eastern side of the roads, the traveller is conveyed to the shore through the lash of the waves in a small cockle-shaped boat, just as at Madeira or Madras, and equally uncomfortably; but although the boat and the mode in which it is navigated are anything but calculated to inspire confidence, such a thing as an accident is of rare occurrence.
The naturalists of the Novara found an exceedingly friendly and hearty reception at the beautiful residence of the Russian Consul, M. Von Carlowitz, who shortly before had come from Canton to settle in Macao, with his excellent wife, a very beautiful lady of Altenburg in Germany, there to await the upshot of the war. Our first visit the following morning - a bright and beautiful Sabbath morning - was to the renowned Camoens Grotto, situated in a large well-wooded park, partly covered with primeval forest, the property of a Portuguese family of the name of Marquez. All around there reigned utter, almost sacred silence. Here it was that Camoens, banished from his native land, wrote his Lusiad. The park with its fragrant shady aisles, its majestic leafy domes, impervious even to the rays of the tropical sun, its huge piles of rock round which clamber the immense roots of gigantic fig-trees, its deliciously cool atmosphere, its soft green velvet paths, its heaps of ruined walls, and its death-like quietness, seems as though destined for the asylum of an exiled poet, who, instead of lamenting his destiny like common men in sullen silence, felt his spirit roused amid this wonderful tropical beauty to fresh sublime efforts,—" Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme!"
In an ill-contrived niche in the substructure of the grotto is a bust, in terra-cotta, of the great poet, with the inscription, "Louis de Camoens, born 1524, died 1579." On the broad marble pedestal whereon stands this bust, which savours but little of artistic taste, various verses from the Lusiad have been engraved with an iron stylus. Formerly this grotto must have had a much more agreeable appearance, but the present proprietor thought to beautify it by making an addition to it, which has resulted in its having almost, entirely lost its original character. From one point within the grotto, called the observatory, and traditionally used as such by Camoens, there is a beautiful peep over the inner harbour, with its throng of busyr human ants. Quite close to this singular abode for a poet, is the meetinghouse of an evangelical Christian community, numbering about 200 souls, with a cemetery attached, which, with its handsome stone monuments and beautifully laid-out gardens, constitutes one of the most interesting places of outdoor resort in the colony.
The most extensive and important edifice in the settlement of Macao, founded in 1563 by the Portuguese, on a peninsula of the same name, about five square miles in extent, is the Pagoda of Makok and its different temples, situate on the slope of a hill between picturesque groups of granite rocks, studded with gigantic Chinese inscriptions and splendid clumps of trees. At the entrance of this retreat for the gods, is a large fantastically-adorned Buddhist temple, surrounded by a large number of apartments, in which reside the priests, and where they can y on their household duties, and prepare tapers and sycee-paper for the worship of their deities, and where are also a few private altars to divinities, whose influence and protection the Chinese ladies of doubtful reputation do not, it seems, venture publicly to invoke. Steps cut in the granite rock conduct to the highest point, about 200 feet above sea-level, on which there is likewise a temple. At the time of our visit, a number of Buddhist priests in long yellow plaited garments were ascending to the summit, preceded by flute-players, there to perform their devotions. On their return they distributed among the poor Chinese congregated in the chief apartment of the temple, a large quantity of fruit and other eatables. While at Macao we visited one of the most respected of the foreigners settled there, Dr. Kane, an English physician, who has for years resided in the colony. (...)
The number of inhabitants at present in Macao amounts to about 97,000, of whom 90,000 are Chinese and 7000 Portuguese and Mestizoes. Of other foreign nations there are but a very few in the peninsula.
The chief article of commerce in the colony is opium, which finds its way hence into the interior in large quantities. Hong-kong is in too close proximity, is too favourably situated, and is inhabited by too energetic a race, to admit of Macao, especially so long as it remains in the hands of the Portuguese, recovering its former commercial importance. Portugal derives but little profit from her colonies, and it is only national pride that will not hear of this possession, which is more a burden than a source of aid to the mother country, being disposed of by way of sale to either the English or the North Americans. However, the maintenance of this colony costs the Portuguese home Government but little, as the colonists support the chief expenses themselves. Thus the pay of the Governor, who receives £1260 per annum, as also that of the military force of about 400 men, and of a small ship stationed in the harbour, are all defrayed by the colonists. Macao is at present the chief point for the shipment of Chinese labourers or coolies to the West Indies.
There are above 10,000 Chinese annually whom hunger and want drive to sell themselves virtually as slaves to the traders in human flesh, to drag out a miserable existence far from home. They] are chiefly sent from Macao to the Havanna. We visited the house in which these pitiable objects are confined till the departure of the ship; we saw the haggard, reckless look of these wretched beings, who, despite the dreadful fate that awaits them, hire themselves out to Portuguese and Spanish kidnappers. (...)
M. de Carlowitz was so kind as to accompany us in our various rambles to the more interesting sights and points of view, and more especially when we were busied "doing" the "lines " of the city. On an eminence in the suburbs, about 200 feet high, is what is known as Monte fort, garrisoned by 150 men, whence there is a charming panorama, and the eye catches sight of the Chinese village of Whang-hia, at the period of our visit most hostilely disposed, and where on July 3rd, 1844, the first treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce, was drawn up and signed between China and the United States. Another hill, about 300 feet high, at the outer extremity of the peninsula, on which many years ago the Portuguese had erected a fort, of which only the foundations can now be traced, commands the tongue of land on which stands the city, as well as all the eastern portion of the island, and amply repays the trouble of ascent. On the road thither, by which the communication with the mainland of China is mainly carried on, we came upon the corpse of a coolie, which had apparently lain for several days in the very middle of the road. (...)
The Praya Grande, or rather the shady promenade, at its eastern extremity serves as a rendezvous for the gay world, and on Sundays, when a band of music plays here, one can scarcely pass through the crowd. The Portuguese, who even in their native country are not a handsome race, lose still more in their physical qualities by the unscrupulous manner in which they cross with the native races. This circumstance makes the contrast still more apparent of simple, graceful, pale ladies of the Anglo-Saxon race, who now and then appear between the ugly dark natives. In the evening, towards sunset, these lovely creatures make their appearance in their sedan or other chairs in the Campo San Francisco, there to enjoy the cool evening sea-breezes. A great number of sedan porters halt here with their precious burdens, and elegantly-attired cavaliers saunter about, striving by amiable phrases and flattering remarks to elicit a smile. While these vehicles form the commonest mode of conveyance, we also saw there but few saddle-horses, and only one single carriage, the property of a rich brownish native, baronized for the amount of 40,000 dollars, and who thought by this means to display his taste, his luxury, and his nobility!
