1062
MACAO
Cacilha, is a fort, enclosing the hermitage of Na. Sra. de Guia, and westward is Lilla on the top of which stands the hermitage of Na. Sra. da Penha; entering a wide sen eircular bay, which faces the east, on the right hand stands the fort San Francisco; an on the left, that of N. Sra. de Boin Parto. Seen from the roads or from any of the fort crowning the several low hills, Macao is extremely picturesque. The public and priva buildings are gaily painted and the streets kept very clean.
In the town there are several places of interest. The Gardens and Grotto J Camões, once the resort of the celebrated Portuguese poet Camões, are worth seein as, also, are the noble façade of the ancient Jesuit church of San Paulo, burnt in 1835, ar the Avenida. Vasco da Gama. The Cathedral is a large plain structure having n architectural pretensions, and the various parish churches are stucco edifices, ug without and tawdry within. Pleasant excursions ean be made to the Hot Springs Yô-mak, about 16 miles from Macao, accessible by steam launch. In winter, snip are to be found in the neighbourhood and afford good sport.
Owing to its being open to the south-west breezes and to the quietude alway prevailing, Macao has become a frequent retreat of invalids and business men from Hongkong and other neighbouring ports.
After the cession of Hongkong to the British, the trade of Macao declined rapidlþi and the coolie traffic subsequently developed there gave it a certain notoriety. Thi traffic, pregnant with abuses, was abolished in 1874. Tea continues to be a article of export, as well as fire-crackers, tobacco and preserves. Essential oils ar also exported to some extent. There is likewise some trade in opium. Silk filatures brick and cement works, and other factories have been established. The commercia activity of the place, however, so far as the Portuguese are concerned, is a thing of thị past. The net total of the trade for 1924, as given in the Chinese Customs return from Lappa, was Hk. Tls. 27,398,467, as compared with Hk. Tls. 22,218,573 in 1923, HE Tls. 26,316,415 in 1922, and Hk. Tls. 30,854,147 in 1921.
As the harbour has long shown signs of silting up, various projects have been prepared for its improvement, but until recently little has been done. A detailed plan of a very big scheme was prepared 30 years ago by Senhor Adolpho Loureiro, but was pigeon-holed by the home Government. The matter was raised again, however, some 10 or 12 years later, and another expert engineer, Senhor Costello Branco, was sent to Macao to make investigations. He made a few emendations to the original plan, but his report suffered the same fate as its predecessor. Then came the great constitutional change in Portugal with the promise of a greater measure of autonomy for the Colonies, and the need of harbour improvement was pressed again, with the result that Admiral Hugo de Lacerda, who had planned and superintended the important harbour works at Lourenço Marques, was sent out to make a report. He has introduced important modifications in the original scheme. Whereas the earlier schemes contemplated only the improvement of the inner harbour, Adıniral Lacerda's scheme, while embracing this, provides, as its main feature, for the creation of a harbour for large vessels in front of the city. The work for making the inner harbour better fitted for the accommoda- tion of the considerable fleet of junks which trade between Macao and neighbouring ports and engage in the important fishing industry is now in a very advanced state of progress. There have been extensive reclamations, and some substantial sea-walls are now in posi- tion. By means of a Deauville railway running across the neck of the peninsula, the mud excavated from the inner harbour is dumped on the other side near the Barrier. main feature of the outer harbour works is a protected anchorage to accommodate vessels drawing up to 23 feet, and a long deep-water channel of approach, giving a depth of 14 ft. at low tides and 23 ft. at high tides. The mud dredged in the making of the harbour and the channel will be used to create an artificial island, surrounded by stone walls, just south of the channel leading to the inner harbour. It looks, therefore, as though at last the handicap to trade from which Maeao has suffered for many years is about to be removed. In June, 1922, the tender of the Netherlands Harbour Works Co. for a part of the work was accepted at roughly $6,500,000. The scheme now to be earried out com- prises a reclamation extending approximately from the corner of the Praya Grande, known as the San Francisco Battery, to a point known as Macao Siak. On this reclama- tion, ultimately, offices and godowns will be built. Projecting from the reclamation, the contractors are required to build two sea-walls and a breakwater enclosing a water area partly dredged to 21 feet l.w.s. (low water at spring tides). It will also be possible to build out piers from the inner side of the walls and so give further facilities for hand- ling cargo. From this "artificial port," as it is called, the contraet provides that a chan- nel is to be dredged to the deep-water channel-a distance of approximately three miles. This channel will be about 100 feet wide at the bottom, and 21 feet deep.
The
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