Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 66

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British Burial Ground in Muav

JAN

ART. V. British_burial ground in Macao; notices of the first interment there, and of the recent erection of monuments; Par- sce graves on the seashore.

Our attention has been recently called to this abode of the dead,' by the erection of a monument over the remains of lieut. Fitzgerald, which will be particularly noticed in the sequel. Previously to 1821, there was no burial place within the walls of Macao for foreigners. The remains of those who died here, were either carried from the settlement, or interred outside of the walls. On the hill-side, between the Campo gate and the Monte fort, several tombstones are still to be seen, some erect, and some thrown down and half buried in the earth; others are visible on Meesenburg hill, directly north of Ca- silha's bay, and likewise in the Caza, or garden, enclosing the Cave of Camoens. The inscriptions on these sepulchral stones still tell the stranger, who visits them, from what different and distant countries men came hither to traffic-from India, Persia, Arabia, and many of the states of Europe and America.

The English burial ground is situated just beyond the church of St. Antonio, eastward from the entrance to the Caza. The circum- stances which led to its selection are detailed in a letter describing the first interment. The letter is dated Macao, June 12th, 1821, and was addressed to the parents of Mrs. Morrison by the bereaved husband, their son-in-law. After describing the particulars of their child's death, Dr. Morrison thus proceeds:

"On Monday I wished to inter Mary out at the hills, where our James was buried; but the Chinese would not let me even open the same grave. I disliked burying under the town walls, but was obliged to resolve on doing so, as the Papists refuse their burying-ground to Protestants. The want of a Pro- testant burying-ground has long been felt in Macao, and the present case brought it strongly before the committee of the English Factory, who im- mediately resolved to vote a sum sufficient to purchase a piece of ground, worth between three and four thousand dollars; and personally exerted them- selves to remove the legal impediments and local difficulties; in which they finally succeeded. This enabled me to lay the remains of my beloved wife in a place appropriated to the sepulture of Protestant Christians, being denied a place of interment by the Romanists. Mr. Livingstone, Mr. Pearson, the president and committee of the English factory, Mr., Urinston, sir W. Fraser, &c., bore the pall. All the gentleinen of the factory, also counsellor Percira, sir A. Lyungstedt, the Russian consul, and other foreigners in Mação. attended the funeral. Mr. Harding, chaplain to