succession of those able administrators who have made the name of Portugal honoured and respected.
VOICES OF SUNNY PORTUGAL
No mere summary can do justice to the history of Macao all through the years. It is the history of a comTM munity that has represented the East and the West, during a most diffleult period of human relationships. In Macao, at the gateway to China, the men of two continents met and had discourse, in peace, even when no other spot could be found for the purpose in the Farthest East. And the people of Macao have not forgotten that the founders of their city were the first to sail "beyond the sunset, and the bath of all the Western stars," in those little ships which opened the sea-route from the ends of Europe to the little port of A-Ma.
Visitors have extolled the beauties and charm of the old-world city of, Macao, and there are many of these, In the centre of the city, Monte Hill is crowned with its old fort, standing guard over the ruins of the Church of St. Paul, a great and glorious link be- tween the old and the new. The many churches proclaim that it is the Holy City, and even to the casual visitor there is an attractiveness about the voices of the old church bells.
Some
of the tones are very sweet to the ear, but they are sweeter to the Portuguese who hear in their peal the voice of far- away, sunny Portugal.
Writers have referred to Macao as a sleeply, old-world town, which would convey the idea that there is little activity about the place. Yet there is a volume of trade passing through its ports which is by no means small. This means work for many and the employ- ment of much capital.
COMMERCIAL LIFE
One has only to look at the big hotels, always full and throbbing with
activity. There are three big build- ings of this kind, one of them the tallest building in the Portuguese Empire, and a host of smaller ones. They pro- vide conventences and amenities which are distinctly ahead of the old-type and compare favourably with those of their class in Europe and America.
Shipping at Macao, too, has improved during recent years, and effective dredging work has Improved the port very greatly, so much so that ships drawing up to seventeen feet have entered to discharge their cargoes. Arrangements are being made for the acquisition of new dredging craft to Improve the port yet further, to re- place the dredgers which were removed by the Japanese during the last War, Meanwhile, shipping between Маспо and Hongkong and other places has improved considerably, and the heavy passenger traffic shows that there is a need for a number of ships to ply between Macao and ports in South China.
Of late greater interest is being taken In the Islands of Talpa and -Colowan, as the insular dependencies of Macao are called, and the recent in- auguration of half-hourly ferry ser- vices between Macao and these places shows that commercially these places ure becoming of Increasing Importance. All this is part of the commercial life of the colony of Macao, which Is serving, just as Hongkong serves the vastly greater area of South China. generally, the Chinese people of a large and Important rural part of South China lying to the north and west of the Portuguese colony.
CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
Macao is also a repository of old customs and usuages, Chinese no less than Western, and wandering among the streets of the old town there is much to catch the eye. It was the headquarters of an evangelical service which extended, over the whole of the Far East. Eventually the Jesuit col-
lege of St. Paul expanded into an 'im portant university, only the ruins of whose church testify to its existence. More should be known of this work, for little credit has been given for the way in which the priests from Macao wore down the conservatism of the scholar-class in China and other coun- trier.
We may be permitted to quote from Professor Goodrich's recent book;
now
"The advent in the sixteenth cen tury of the Europeans, particularly men of culture, was bound to affect literary China. Chinese thought and civilization were not static, but the empire's boundaries were limited, no great arteries of communication ran through its domain, and its people were forbidden to go abroad. Notwithstand- ing such barriers as these, the learning in Europe managed to pene- trate China, largely through the work of a few scholarly and devoted mission- arles, most of whom belonged to the Society of Jesus. Not content. with expounding the Gospel, these Jesults brought the European Renaissance to China, through translation, personal Instruction, and original work. Broad- minded and well trained as they were, there were few better suited for the purpose. Despite some hostility at court, these Europeans profoundly stirred. some of the most intellectual Chinese by their teachings on ethics, mathe- matics, astronomy, geography, psycho- logy, logic, and applied science."
The many schools and other evidences of cultural activity at Macao testify to the Interest taken by the community in these matters. There have been times when interest has slackened, due to a variety of circumstances, but of late there has been evidence of a ro- vival, and as a centre of learning and cultural activity. Macao bids fair to regain something at least of the great prestige which was enjoyed by this Portuguese colony in the past.
"Major - E. J. Watts,
R.A., with a party of soldiers on a visit to
Macao's Barrier Gate..
Hong Kong Police Hockey Team o
recent visit to Macao.
Kitchee Footbaft · Team, of Hong Kong, and a team representing: Macao,
not long ago.
tu