HISTORICAL SKETCH.
359
barrier is a door of communication, called porta do cerco, guarded by a few Chinese soldiers and an officer, that no stranger may pass this boundary. In the beginning the door was, according to Dominio Navarette,* opened but twice a month, then, every 5th day for selling provisions to the secluded; at present it opens at daylight.
Topographical Description.
Macao is situated 22 deg. 11 min. 30 sec. north latitude, and 11 deg. 32 min. 20 sec. east of Greenwich, on a rocky peninsula, renowned long before the Portuguese settled on it for its safe harbour; then by foreign writers denominated Ama-ngao, port of Aina, in reference to an idol temple near the Bar Fort, the goddess of which is called Aina. In 1583 the Portuguese gave it the name "Porto de nome de Deos," and " Porto de Amacao," the etymology of Macao: later it was also called "Cidade do none de Deos do porto de Macao," at present it is "Cidade do Santo nome de Deos de Macas.” The Mandarins, I am told, designated the use of the port by the character Gaou-mun, and that of the city by Gaon-king; Aou-mun is a provincial pronunciation of Gaou-mun.† This hilly settlement is dependent on the Keang-shan-keen, city of the third class, in the province of Kwang- tung, but separated from the large island Heang-shan by a wall drawn across the neck of land from shore to shore. Two principal ranges of hills, one running from south to north, the other from east to west, may be considered as forming an angle, the base of which leans upon the river or anchoring place. Its level ground, with the exception of a few habitations of European architecture, is filled by the Bazaar, and a great many Chinese shops for tradesmen and mechanics: the traveller's attention is roused by a variety of public and private buildings, raised on the declivities, skirts, and heights of hillocks. On the lofty monut eastward, called Charil, is a fort enclosing the hermitage of Na. Sra. de Guia; westward is Nillau, on the top of which stands the hermitage of Na. Sra. de Penha; entering a wide semi-circular bay, which faces the east; on the right hand we have the fort S. Francisco; on the left, that of Na. Sra. de Bom Parto; and before us, on landing, a broad, airy, spacious quay--“ Praya Grande,” and many pretty houses, among which is the residence of the Governor, and that of the Minister. To the east of the town is a field “Campo," which stretches itself out to the very boundary wall, that closes the prison of Macao. "The territory is scarcely eight miles in circuit. Its greatest length from north- east to southwest, being under three miles, and its breadth less than a mile. The Portuguese estimate the r'eninsula at a little more than a league in length; its mid-breadth at less than a mile. The first geometrical delineation of Macao was undertaken and executed by Manoel de Agote, chief factor of the royal Spanish Phillipine company in China, and Mr. De Guignes the younger. You will find Agote's map inserted in the collection of drawings appertaining to the “ Account of the embassy of Lord Macartney to China," and that of De Guignes in his "Voyage á Peking." In 1808, by command of the Supreme Government, a map was made by Joaquim Bento de Fonceca. The peninsula is nearly surrounded by sheets of water, subject to the influence of ebb and flood from the gulf of China. The regular monsoon-winds, the streams of salubrious water, bursting out at the foot of Charil and Niilau, and the benefit of a well stocked Bazaar, render Macao wholesome and comfortable, though now and then-but seldom-it is shaken by the convuls ve motions of earthquakes; it is oftener visited by dreadful typhoons, a species of hurricanes. That the reader may get an accurate knowledge of the climate, we beg leave to refer him to the appendix, the description is borrowed from Mr. J. R. Morrison's Anglo-Chinese Calender for 1834.
* Tratados de la monarchia de China. Madrid, 1676.
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✦ In books and manuscripts, we have found it designated by the expressions Gan-kan, Ghao-kim, Gaumin ‡ Chief Judge.
Embassy of Lord Macarsney, by Sir G. Staunton.
No. III.
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