Vernon Parish Democrat., 1922-02-02

| tnat is not why most folk board the
daily boat from Hongkong to go there
It Is a summer resort for the Canton
ese because of its exposure to the
cooling monsOOns in midsummer.
Opium smugglers and gamblers, in re-
cent years, have loOmed large among
it's transients. Formerly the Chinese
coolie traffic also had a headquarters
here. Within century it's waters may
have warranted the characterization
| of one traveller who called them "the
most dangerous waters Of the world
from police standpoint" and added
"a river trip is spiced with the risk
of piratical attack"
Revenues From Gambling.
The ideas Of Henry George and 9th
er tax theorists have found niggard
soil in Macao, whose fiscal policy is
simplicity itself. POO-chee and fan
| tan provide the revenues of the city.
1t has been said that half the minted
pieces of the Far East find their way
sooner or later to the gambling boards
of Macao, and the old Rix dollar, the
Mexican peso, and the American dime
are clinked upon the tables of the
| jeunesse dOree, or of the 'rickshaw
| coolies and harbor riff-raff of the town.
while a daily flow of men, women and
! dollars crosses the estuary from Hong
kong to Macao and pours into the
hells of the Roa do JOgo, or gambling
street
Fan-tan is the favorltesgame, but it
is nothing like the card game of that
name known to Americans The Chi
nese crOupiers sit enthroned before a
square marked at the corners with
the numbers l, 2, 3 and 4. The banker
reclines behind a grating, smoking a
long pipe. Overhead is a gallery run
ming all around the room and forming
sort of ceiling, pierced only by a
hole the size of the table. From this
gallery the bets are made, and the
stakes are alternately let down and
drawn up, accompanied by the sound
of drawing minstrelsy.
The croupier takes a handful of
small coins and covers them with
reversed bowl while money is laid
on one of the four numbers. When
the betting has ceased he lifts the
bowl and separates the coins with his
wand. Then he counts them by fours,
and the remainder, or the last four
If there be no remainder, represents
the winning number. EACH hazard is
a One-to-three wager, and the banks
pay on that basis, after deducting the
house percentage. A number of these
licensed gambling dens, graded accord !
ing to the limit of wager allowed, pay
the revenues of the city of Macao.
Attractive to Travellers.
Present Hay Macao is not marred |
for the casual traveller by either it's i
flair for fan-tan or its thriving trade |
in opium. The latter is shipped away |
to wreak it's havoc; the former brings |
the bizarre and the adventurous. The |
city of today is one of the few Far |
Eastern coast towns which have not !
been caught in the resistless current !
of commercial progress, and for that }
reason it presents some interesting
studies to lovers of the picturesque.
He who lands from a steamer is |
captivated by its blend of Portuguese
and Chinese people, by pagoda and |
western church, and when the sum-
mons of hunger leads him to hotel |
that has been called the cleanest and |
most beautifully situated in the Or |
lent, the contrast persists He may |
order the famous Portuguese colares
with his yellow water chestnut pasties, |
and choose either ultra-occidental |
game dinners or pudding of cGagulated |
ducks blood and sugar-preserved bam-
boo shoots. There are but 1000 POr-
tuguese resident there, but they rep
resent a four4century impress that
their nationality has made upon the |
total population of about $4,000.
After dinner the visitor may stroll |
along the Praya Grande, both the |
Broadway and the Riverside drive of
Macao Having shopped and Summed,
he finally viii be led to catch the
deeper romance of the city in the
grotto where the poets have carved
lines of praise to the one-eyed soldier
poet who wrote the glory of farthest
West Europe on an island of nearly
farthest East China.