"A Town in China"

Macao, a town in China situated at the southern extremity of the estuary of the Choo Kiang or Canton river 22 13 N lat and about 113 E long ,about 80 miles from Canton by sea. It is built on a low sandy promontory stretching southward from the island of Macao, which is separated by a narrow channel from the larger island Kiang shanhien.

The town extends across the central part of the peninsula from the roadstead of Macao on the east to the interior harbour on the west and is somewhat more than half a mile wide in this direction whilst from north east to south west it occupies about two miles.

The streets are regular but mostly narrow. A considerable number houses have been built by the Portuguese and other European inhabitants in the European style, but the greater part are Chinese buildings. There are some churches and convents in the town and also three small fortresses in the neighbourhood. A wall built by the Chinese across the isthmus is carefully guarded by them and the Europeans are not permitted to pass it.

The roadstead of Macao is much exposed to the prevalent gales during the monsoons. The interior harbour is spacious well sheltered and has excellent anchoring ground but being situated out of the route to Canton and open only to the south west it cannot well be used during the south western monsoons. For that reason it is rarely entered by vessels which commonly lie in the harbour called Typa Cabrado which is formed by four small rocky islands lying south of the southern extremity of the peninsula on which Macao is built.

Mapa final séc. 18 (não incluído na obra referida)

This harbour is not large but as these islands are high and enclose it almost completely on all sides it is perfectly safe even during the heaviest gales. The entrance for vessels is from the cast but boats may pass through the northern channel direct to the town which is only about two miles distant.

About 30 miles north cast of Macao farther up the estuary is the rocky island of Lintin on the western side of which is excellent anchor ground where the larger vessels lie to before they proceed to Canton and where an extensive smuggling trade is carried on smuggling trade.

It is commonly supposed that the Portuguese possess the Sovereignty of Macao but that is so far from being the case that they pay a ground rent amounting to 500 taëls per annum and Chinese mandarins inspect periodically the Portuguese forts as well as levy a duty on the Macao shipping.

A civil mandarin called Tso tang resides within the town as governor in the name of the emperor of China he keeps a watchful eye on the inhabitants and communicates information to his superiors. The only privilege which the Portuguese possess is to govern themselves while the Chinese population of the town are entirely under the control of the mandarins. The former including slaves does not exceed 5000 while the Chinese are calculated to be above 30,000. Besides the Portuguese, individuals of other European nations reside in the town especially Englishmen who pass the summer months there and go to Canton in autumn when the vessels arrive.

The trade of Macao was formerly considerable but it has been continually decreasing. The Portuguese are permitted to employ twenty five vessels in this trade but they actually do not possess much more than half that number. The most lucrative branch was the smuggling trade in opium which has almost entirely passed to the island of Lintin.

in The Penny Cyclopaedia, EUA, 1839