Evening star., 1901-01-05
A PORTUGUESE CITY
Macao is the Oldest Colony in the Far
East.
WORN OUT With VICE And OLD AGE
Revenues Come From Opium and
Gambling Houses.
PEOPLE AND INDUSTRIES
Copyrighted, 1900, by Frank G. Carpenter.)

| copyrighted, 1900, by Frank G. Carpenter,
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
MACAO. December 1. 1900.
| Macao is the smallest and oldest of all
| the European colonies Of the far east
| There were Portuguese traders here sixty
| FIVE years after Columbus discovered Amer
| lea. and from then until now this little
peninsula. lying off the coast Of South
| China. has practically belonged to Portu-
gal 1t is the father of the colonial Pa
cific, and. although worn out with vice and
| old age, it is one of the interesting spots
of east Asia. The Portuguese possessions
| altogether are not more than four square
miles. You could crowd them into sixteen
| 160- acre farms. They consist Of some small
| islands and Macao. Macao does not cover
| mere than thousand acres. 1t is rocky
point of land jutting out from the mouth
| of the Pearl river, within forty Giles OF
Hong Kong and lightweight miles of Can
| ton. There are steamers from Macao to
| these places every day except Sunday. The
| boats are about as good as those of the
| Ohio river. and they do excellent business
| Every boat has guard of Portuguese sol
| diers to defend the vessel If it Is attacked
| by pirates. and to prevent the third-class
| passengers from taking possession of 1t In
| case they should be pirates In disguise
| The decks are so arranged that the third
| class passengers can be cut of from the
first and second class by network OF
| iron bars.
On the Macao Steamers.
| I came from Hong Kong on the steamer
travelling first-class. During the voyage
I went below to have a look at the third
| class and found myself in the midst of as
| rough people as I have seen on this side
| of the world. Some were gambling. others
! were showing one another this way and
| that, and the faces of all were those or
rowdies. Macao is the most vicious city OF
the far east. 1t has three great speciaitles-
its opium factory. its lotteries and Its gam
| bling hells
Many Of our passengers were Chinese on
their way to buck the tiger in the fan-tan
| houses and to indulge in the other vices
which are forbidden by law in the English
| settlement of Hong Kong There were
rich gamblers as we'll as poor ones. Among
the Europeans on the upper deck were
many Chinese In gorgeous silks ana with
them f1ashily dressed Chinese girls.
In the Portugal of Asia.
A ride of four hours brought us into the
bay of Macao. one of the most beautiful
Of the world 1t makes you think of the
bay of Naples The harbor is a crescent
| walled with houses which might have been
| lifted up from the streets of Lisbon and
| dropped out here in China They are built
| in Portuguese style and painted IN all the
coors of the rainbow. The walls are bright
| red sky blue rose pink gray, yellow or
| glaring white. The roofs are of red tiles.
| The buildings are constructed with arcadeS
or cloisters separating their walls from the
| roadway. so that you can walk almost any
| where and avoid the tropical sun. Many OF
the houses have bars over their windows
and doors. They look like jails and were
originally so arranged to keep the girls in,
| after the idea of Portuguese seclusion.
/ have seen similar windows in the cities OF
| Portuguese South America. They are to
| be found in Pernambuco, Bahia and Rio
! de Janeiro. Macao is as old as any Of the
| Brazilian cities, and 1t has all the Portu-
| guese customs Of centuries ago. 1t has
| communicated these to the Chinese parts of
| the town, so that even the celestials bar
| their doors, the most ordinary door being
made of a poled ladder which moves back
| and forth into the walls and is locked there
| by pins at night. These ladder doors are
black and so are the bars to the windows.
Soldiers. FOrtifications and Pirates.
| Macao is built upon hills The whole
peninsula is a mass of rocks with thin
| coating of earth, a part of which is covered
with houses. The houses run up hill and
down. and the tops of the hills are guarded
by forts. Macao has as many hills as Rome
and more forts. The forts were built to
keep off the pirates. Piracy is common in
China today. There are pirates operating
near here now and one of the wealthiest of
| the Portuguese residents told me the other
day that he hoped I would ask the officials
Of Canton to send soldiers and drive them
diers themselves. but nothing like they had
| in the past, and they have to call In the
! Chinese to assist them. They have. been
fighting the pirates here for 300 years
When they first settled at Macao the pi-
rates had blockaded Canton They had
held up the merchants and were levying
| tribute on the people until the Portuguese
war vessels came in and cleaned them out
At that time Macao was the commercial
center of eastern Asia. The English were
afraid to settle at Canton and the British
East India Company and the Dutch COM
pany had houses here. Hong Kong was a
mass of barren rocks inhabited by a few
hshermen, and no one thought of it's being
a city. The Portuguese did most of the
commerce. They owned this peninsula,
paying nominal rent to the Chinese gov
ernment of about $500 a year. They kent
up this rent until fifty years ago, when one
OF the governors refused to pay it, The
Macao. They watched for the governor.
and When he came outside the city they as
sasslnated him. My guide showed me the
place where they killed him, and put INV
hand on the stone where he was laid when
MS mead was cut off. The head was taken
to Canton. but that act stopped ali navment
or rent and since then China has recognjzed
the portuguese rights to this territory.
The City of Macao
sun the Macao of today is largely
Chinese. The colony has $4,000 peonle and
of these about 1900 are Chinese. 40o0 are
Portuguese and in addition there are 1eO
europeans, not including the Portuguese
of1clals. There are sixty English and as
1ar as l can find no Americans. The Por-
tuguese run The colony. They have a gov
ernor appointed by the King of Portugal q
little army and one or two boats The gov-
ernor has cabinet, and there are so many
omclals that you would not dare to run AZ,
automobile through the town for fear of
knocking one down. The place has a GOOD
revenue, and 1t spends 1t right royalty.
Everything in the town is taxed. The land
covered with houses pays 3 cents a square
yard. Every trade pays it's license and
goods coming into ha oil. f.o.. ~