CHINA.
DESCRIPTION OF MACAO--ITS MONGREL POPULATION--
FREQUENCY OF ROBBERIES--PIRACIES--COMPRADORE
SYSTEM--PAPUAN SLAVE-TRADE--MARKET OF MACAO--
NUISANCES--SIR HENRY POTTINGER's REGULATION
DEFENDED--ILLIBERAL POLICY OF THE PORTUGUESE,
AND ITS RESULT--BOAT-GIRLS--BEGGARS--PICTURESQUE
SCENERY.
I have referred, in a former chapter, to the occasion of my first visit
to the Celestial Empire. My last visit took place shortly after Sir
Henry Pottinger had brought the Chinese to terms, off the city of
Nankin, and before the treaty had been ratified by the Sovereigns of
both countries. My stay there was protracted till the ratification took
place, the supplementary treaty published, and Her Majesty's Consuls
stationed at each of the five ports, with the exception of Foo Chow. I
had thus an opportunity of witnessing the first start of the free trade;
of which I shall have a few words to say hereafter. I shall now begin
with Macao. This once celebrated Portuguese settlement is built on two
small hills of a peninsula about thirty-five miles below the Bocca
Tigris, or mouth of the Canton river: it is irregularly built, the
streets being very narrow and crooked, and, until very recently, badly
paved with rough granite stones of all shapes, the corners generally
pointing upwards, as if to teach the inhabitants to walk with caution.
It possesses a healthy climate, though the summer is very hot, the
thermometer ranging in the shade from 85° to 90°. Many of the houses
occupied by the wealthier portion of the inhabitants, are large, airy,
and convenient residences. Since the war with China broke out, Macao,
which had greatly declined from its ancient importance, has thriven, and
many of its citizens have become wealthy in consequence of the British
trade to China being thrown by circumstances into its harbour. The local
Government have taken advantage of the times, to improve the town, to
re-pave the streets, to build a new and handsome Custom-house, and to
make other improvements at John Bull's expense. The Portuguese
inhabitants of Macao amount to about five thousand, not two hundred of
whom are of pure European blood. The general population are, with few
exceptions, of a mongrel breed; a mixture of Chinese, Portuguese, and
Negroes, which it is difficult to describe. Nine-tenths of them are very
poor, but all of them are very proud, and fond of show and dress.
It is quite amusing to see the pompous strut of the men on a Sunday, as
they walk to mass in their ill-made silk coats, with gold-headed sticks
in hand. Both men and women are the worst-favoured race I ever saw:
their flat, unmeaning countenances, small, lacklustre eyes, strong,
upright, black hair, resembling hogs' bristles more than aught else, and
yellow skins, form a _tout ensemble_ any thing but pleasing. The men
adopt the European fashions. The ladies wear the mantilla; and the women
of the poorer classes wear a petticoat and small jacket, generally of
British chintz, with a mantilla of coarser material. The very poorest of
them may be seen, on Sunday morning, going to mass in silk stockings.
The wealthier Portuguese reside in large and comfortable houses, but the
lower orders inhabit wretched hovels, and suffer very severely from
sickness, particularly the small-pox; a scourge that carried off, during
the winter and spring of 1842-3, one thousand people,--just a fifth of
the whole Portuguese population. Their habits are idle and dirty. I am
not aware, indeed, of ever having seen a more filthy town than Macao. No
one seems to think that the streets were made for any other purpose than
to serve as reservoirs for all the filth of the houses that line them.
Heaps of abominable rubbish are seen here and there, which would be
still more numerous, were it not for the occasional heavy rains, which
wash down the steep streets, and carry off the accumulated masses to the
sea. A few days before Christmas 1842, the town underwent a general
sweeping; an event that did not take place again till that time
twelvemonth. The other inhabitants of Macao are, Chinese, Negroes, and a
few English and Americans. The Chinese here are nearly all of the lower
orders, and, for the most part, are not over-scrupulous how they get
their living: in proof of which I may mention, that four highway
robberies, accompanied with violent assault, took place in the immediate
neighbourhood, in open day, during the stay of six weeks which I made
there in the autumn of 1842. The shopkeepers and boatmen are all
Chinese; and among them may be found some as thorough-bred scoundrels as
ever disgraced humanity. During the year 1843, the following crimes were
perpetrated by Chinese in and about Macao: they were clearly brought
home to them, and, in all probability, do not form a tenth of what might
with justice be laid to their charge:--
1. Mr. Sharpe's _lorcha_ (trading-boat), on her voyage from
Macao to Canton, was piratically attacked within ten miles of
the former place, and plundered of her cargo of opium; Mr.
Sharpe was murdered, and five of his crew; the rest, being
Chinese, were taken off by the pirates, (they subsequently
proved to be their associates,) and the _lorcha_ was burned.
2. A _lorcha_ bound from Hong Kong to Macao, manned by Macao
Chinese, and loaded with spice and other valuable property, was
carried off by her crew, (who murdered an English doctor on
board,) the cargo plundered, and the vessel burned.
3. Another _lorcha_, bound from Macao to Hong Kong, with a
general cargo and two passengers, was carried off in the same
way, plundered, and then burned: the unfortunate passengers
(two respectable young men; one an Irishman, named Clark, the
other from Shetland, a Mr. Clunis) were in like manner
murdered.
4. A boat was sent off from Macao with a box of treasure
containing some 12,000 dollars, under the charge of a Parsee
clerk of the firm to whom the money belonged. They left the
shore at two P. M., and the ship they were bound to was at
anchor only five miles off. The non-appearance of the treasure
which was expected on board, caused the captain to go on shore
to make inquiries about five in the afternoon: his questions
alarmed the Parsee merchant, who had sent off the money and his
clerk at two. Strict inquiry was instituted, and the result
was, the certainty that the poor man had been murdered and
thrown overboard by the boat's crew, who made off with the
money.
5. A boat was sent from a ship in the harbour called the
_Typa_, to one in the outer roads, to transship fourteen
chests of opium: the crew consisted of four Chinese and one
Lascar, with the second mate in charge. The opium was taken in,
and the boat started on her return to the _Typa_ about two P. M.
When about half way between the two harbours, the four Chinese
suddenly dropped their oars, seized the mate and Lascar,
stunned them with the boat's tiller, and threw them overboard:
their bodies were picked up next day, and gave the first
intimation of their fate. Two of the pirates were subsequently
caught and executed; but the property, worth 10,000 dollars,
was irretrievably lost.
6. A British merchant in Macao sent an order off to his ship in
the _Typa_, to bring on shore, in the course of the day, a box
containing 6000 dollars: the money was put into a boat
belonging to the vessel at ten in the forenoon, and started for
the inner harbour, about an hour's pull. She was attacked by a
fast-pulling Chinese boat, when about half way between the ship
and the shore, and robbed of the dollars; but no violence was
offered to the crew, who were China-men. When this money was
being packed and put into the boat, some Chinese sailors on
board the ship were observed making signs as if to some one at
a distance: no notice was taken of this circumstance at the
time, though it was remarked upon when too late.
I could enumerate other cases of a similar nature; but these six are
sufficient for my present purpose.
The Chinese servants in the employ of Europeans at Macao, Canton, and
Hong Kong, are, without exception, the most consummate set of scamps it
has ever been my fortune to encounter. Their whole study from morning to
night and from night to morning, is, how to cheat their masters. There
is not an article put upon the table, that is not charged at four times
its value. If you keep a cow, or even a dozen cows, not one drop of milk
can you obtain, more than barely enough for daily use; and should any
attempts be made to punish either the cowkeeper or the head servant for
their villany, ten to one that your cows are poisoned before another
week passes over your head. This state of things might be, in a great
measure, put a stop to, were masters to pay more attention to their
domestic affairs; but most of the European merchants of China, being men
of wealth, and engaged in mercantile transactions of great importance,
deem such matters beneath their notice; and thus, the system goes on to
the serious loss and inconvenience of less wealthy men. I knew one
instance in which a housekeeper by perseverance reduced his market-bill
from 150 dollars per month to 45 dollars; but the consequence was, that
his servants to a man left him: he could obtain no good ones in their
place, and was ultimately obliged to give in. As a set-off against this
crying evil, I may mention the practice which prevails, of the
_compradore_ (or head servant) becoming security for those under him,
and finding security on his own part to a certain amount, varying
according to circumstances; so that, if any of the under-servants steal
the plate or any other property of their master's, the _compradore_, as
a matter of course, makes good its value. The Negroes here, as in most
other parts of the world where they are met with, are slaves, poorly
fed, hard worked, and occasionally very severely flogged. Every house in
Macao occupied by a man of any substance, has its slaves; and the
Government is a large slave-holder. All the porters at the Custom-house
and other public offices are slaves. These unfortunate creatures are
brought from Papua by Portuguese vessels, which pay an annual visit to
the settlements of their countrymen on the Island of Timor. How they are
obtained from Papua, I am not aware; but that some hundreds of them are
carried to Macao every season, and sold there, is a fact beyond
contradiction. This abominable traffic received a check last season
(1843) from the Java Government. It appears that a Portuguese barque
called the _Margaretta_, the owner of which was a wealthy inhabitant of
Macao, sailed from Timor for Macao in the month of September, with some
fifty slaves on board, _all children under ten years of age_. Some
accident compelled her to call at Batavia for repairs, where her master
reported the children as having been sent by the authorities at Timor to
Macao, to be brought up in the Roman-Catholic faith. The suspicions of
the Dutch Authorities were, however, awakened, and the proceedings of
the Portuguese ship-master were narrowly watched. A few days only had
elapsed, when he was detected in endeavouring to sell two of the
unfortunate infants to a Chinese for 500 guilders (42l.) each. This led
to the examination of his bills of lading and other papers, when it was
found, that the children had been regularly shipped and _manifested_ as
slaves. The result was, the confiscation of ship and cargo, and the
liberation of the young captives, who, I presume, (though I am not sure
on the point,) were, as usual, apprenticed out as domestic servants to
families in want of them. I gave the admiral on the China station full
particulars of this event; and hope that he will cause a sharp look-out
to be kept on the Portuguese vessels returning from Timor next autumn.
The market of Macao is well supplied with game, butchers' meat, pork,
poultry, fruit, and vegetables: all these might be had on very
reasonable terms, if the Chinese seller were allowed his own way; but,
before he reaches the market from his home, he is taxed and re-taxed by
every petty rogue of a Mandarin whose station he may happen to pass on
his way. On reaching the market, he is taxed again, and is compelled to
sell to the general dealer, who squeezes him to the last _cash_, and
re-sells at an exorbitant profit to the Englishman's _compradore_, who
charges his master, on a moderate calculation, four times what he gave;
so that, by the time the Englishman's dinner is on his table, it costs
him no trifle. Game is plentiful only in winter, which sets in in
November. Wild ducks, teal, pheasants, partridges, snipe, with an
occasional deer, are to be had, all fat and in prime order, at this
season. The Chinese bullock is a compact little animal, and, when
fattened, yields remarkably good beef.
Macao, like all Portuguese towns, is well stocked with priests; and were
we to judge from the number of them who are seen parading the streets,
as, also, from that of women constantly bending their steps church-ward,
the inhabitants must be a very devout race. From seven in the morning
till dusk, the streets are rarely free from church-going ladies; many of
them followed by Negro slaves carrying their kneeling-rugs and
prayer-books. One of the greatest nuisances in Macao is the perpetual
ringing or tolling of church-bells, day and night: as soon as one stops,
another begins; and the sleep-killing ding-dong is kept up at a rate
that, in the warm nights of summer, is enough to drive a stranger
frantic.
Every house has a watchman, who goes his rounds from eight in the
evening till daylight next morning, and, every half hour, beats a hollow
bamboo with a heavy stick, making noise enough to disturb the soundest
sleeper. This keeping a watchman is neither more nor less than paying
black-mail. Any housekeeper who should seek to evade the imposition by
doing without a guardian of the night, would infallibly be plundered in
a week or two, the thieves being, most probably, conducted to his
premises by some neighbour's watchman.
The streets of Macao being narrow, rough, crooked, and, in general, very
steep, wheel-carriages of any description are entirely unknown. Their
place is supplied by sedan-chairs of Chinese make, carried by Chinese
porters: these may be hired for a dollar per day, and are very
convenient, either in wet or in extremely hot weather. The bearers, like
those of their profession in England, are apt to impose upon strangers,
who must be on their guard till they become acquainted with the ways of
the place.
Macao is infested with loathsome beggars, who scruple not to expose
their ulcerated legs, arms, &c. for the purpose of exciting the
charitable feelings of the passer-by. They make a point of stopping at
the door of any shop in which they see a European, whose ears they
immediately assail with the most discordant noise, by beating a hollow
bamboo with a stick; a mode of annoyance which the law of China allows,
and which is carried on in Macao; but, in the neighbouring British
settlement, an entire stop has been put to it. This, they well know,
will soon cause the shopkeeper to give them a _cash_[21] or two, or his
customer to leave the premises. In China, no native can turn a beggar
from his door, till he has given him something in the shape of charity:
the merest trifle, however, is sufficient to authorize the forcible
expulsion of the applicant. I have seen as little as a tea-spoonful of
rice given on such occasions, when the sulky and grumbling mendicant
took his reluctant departure towards the next door, where he would,
perhaps, meet similar treatment with a repetition of "curses not loud,
but deep."
[Footnote 21: One thousand of these make a dollar, so that the
value of one is less than a quarter of a farthing.]
The Portuguese of Macao made a great ado on Sir Henry Pottinger's
declaring their settlement, in as far as British subjects were
concerned, part of the dominions of the Emperor of China: this, at first
sight, appeared strange to many people besides the Macao citizens, but,
when the subject received due consideration, Sir Henry was found to be
quite correct in the view he had taken of it. Macao is _not_ a
Portuguese settlement, in the proper sense of that word, but only a
territory leased to that Power on certain terms, for which an annual
tribute or rent is paid to this day. The Chinese laws are in force
here; their Mandarins levy duties, and tax every article sold in its
markets; its porters, boatmen, _compradores_, &c. require Chinese
licenses, but not Portuguese: in short, the Chinese are lords of the
manor, and the Portuguese are mere tenants, with leave to build forts,
and to levy certain duties on the commerce of the place. Looking at the
matter in this light, every unprejudiced person must admit, that Sir
Henry Pottinger, in exercising the power vested in him by Her Majesty's
Government, and in framing regulations for the wholesome restraint of
Her Majesty's subjects visiting China, (some of whom, it may be
remarked, are troublesome and very unruly characters,) was perfectly
right in including the peninsula of Macao in the dominions of His
Celestial Majesty. The Portuguese were very indignant; at least, they
pretended to be so; but it never would have done, to allow British
subjects, fleeing from their creditors or from justice, to have an
asylum where they could safely evade the laws of their own country, at a
foreign station scarcely forty miles from the new British settlement of
Hong Kong.[22]
[Footnote 22: The present Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John
Davis, has gone even further than Sir Henry Pottinger, and has
given notice to the Authorities at Macao, that British subjects
are no longer amenable to their laws. This is as it should be,
and as it ought to have been a hundred years ago.]
The trade of Macao was of very little importance, and its revenues never
paid its expenses, till the late Chinese war broke out. Circumstances
then drove the British merchants from Canton, and nearly the whole of
them took up their abode in Macao, where they continued till the
Portuguese Government was called upon by the Chinese to refuse them
further protection. They were then compelled to seek shelter on board
the shipping of their country, where many of them remained for nearly
twelvemonths, till the course of events allowed of their returning to
Macao. Their presence soon attracted hundreds of wealthy and respectable
Chinese dealers, and quadrupled the trade of the place, as well as its
revenue; which enabled the Portuguese Governor to make a handsome
remittance to Lisbon, in place of drawing upon that city for some 40,000
dollars annually, as he had hitherto been in the constant practice of
doing, to rebuild many of the public edifices, and to improve the town
generally, while it added much to the wealth and comfort of almost every
woman and child in the place. This was a piece of good fortune the
Portuguese of Macao most certainly did not deserve, their system, as
regards foreign commerce, being as illiberal as can well be imagined.
During the time they were reaping this rich harvest from British trade,
British subjects were not permitted to land or ship a single package of
goods nor to have their names entered in the Custom-house books. On the
arrival of a ship with goods suited to the Macao market, the English
consignee was obliged to employ a Portuguese citizen to enter and pass
them through the Custom-house, before a package could be landed. The
duties, also, were exorbitant; and, strange as it may appear, they even
taxed money, which could not be imported without paying one per cent.
duty. I have elsewhere seen an _export_ duty put on treasure; but the
Macao Government is the only one I ever knew to impose any restrictions
on the importation of a commodity which most Governments, as well as
individuals, are generally anxious to receive, in unlimited quantity,
without taxing those who bring it to them. No English vessel was allowed
to enter their inner harbour: this privilege was reserved for Spaniards
and Portuguese. On one occasion, a small British schooner of war was
proceeding into this haven, her commander never imagining that the
restriction put on the merchant vessels of his country could possibly
extend to Her Britannic Majesty's pennant: he was mistaken, however, and
the first battery he came near, threatened to fire into him. The threat
was of course disregarded, and the little schooner, in defiance of
Portuguese batteries, quietly pursued her way.
How this state of things could be so long put up with by the British
Government, it is hard to understand. When one considers that Portugal
owes its very existence as a nation to England; that Macao, on more than
one occasion, was saved from the fury of a Chinese army and rabble,
during the late war, by British ships and men; that nine-tenths of the
money that passes through its coffers, is English money; that Portuguese
citizens visiting the different ports of British India, are free to come
and go, land and ship their goods in their own names, hold houses and
other fixed property, and act in all respects as British subjects, and
as seemeth most for their own interest; when, I say, these facts are
considered, one is utterly at a loss to conceive why Great Britain
should suffer her subjects to be cramped in their mercantile pursuits by
so very insignificant a power as Portugal. Now that it is too late, the
Authorities of Macao have discovered their error, and mended their
manners, by opening the inner harbour to British shipping, by allowing
British merchants to land and ship goods in their own names, and by
lowering the duties on several articles of British manufacture. These
changes, which would have been accepted as boons two years before, were
adopted only when the Portuguese found nearly every British merchant
building warehouses and private dwellings in Hong Kong. Had they been
made prior to the commencement of those buildings, I have good reasons
for supposing, that many of them never would have been begun, their
proprietors having a great dislike to the new British settlement on
account of its reputed unhealthiness,--a reputation, I am sorry to say,
it has too well sustained. Dozens of houses in Macao are already vacant;
dozens more will be so before another six months shall elapse; hundreds
of families who have depended on their house-rent and on money earned in
other ways from British subjects for their daily bread, will be reduced
to want; many of them will and must emigrate to Hong Kong; and Macao,
with its streets of new houses, built in anticipation of the continued
residence of foreign merchants, will sink into utter insignificance, and
become as a place that has been, but is no more. Its Governor will again
have to draw, for the means of paying the expenses of the place, on his
Royal Mistress at Lisbon, who will then reap the well-merited reward of
an illiberal and short-sighted policy.
If a passenger, on his arrival at Macao, lands in the inner harbour, he
has to pass his baggage through the Portuguese Custom-house, where it
will be not only thoroughly examined, but also, very probably,
plundered. A trunk of my own, which _I saw_ carried into this building
along with several others, never came out again: its contents were
valuable, and were much missed by my family. What became of them, I
know not; but certain I am, that the Custom-house authorities of Macao
made away with them. If the passenger chooses to land at the outer
harbour, he encounters the _Chinese_ Custom-house, where he is charged
so much for each package, in the shape of duty, and is allowed to pass
on without bare-faced robbery. Some sixteen years ago, this Chinese
Custom-house was in the practice of levying a dollar per package on a
passenger's luggage, a similar sum on his wife, and on every female
child, while the boys passed free. This does not tell to the credit of
Chinese gallantry. Things are altered now, however; and ladies with
their daughters are permitted to land without let or hinderance.
When a foreign vessel anchors in Macao Roads, (a very exposed anchorage
by the way,) she is speedily visited by three or four _compradores'_
boats, which come out in search of employment, and with offers to supply
the ship with fresh provisions, &c., during her stay. The _compradore_
is a very useful fellow, but, in nine cases out of ten, a great rogue,
who scruples not to swell out his bill against the ship by various means
the reverse of fair. They all speak broken English. In moderate weather,
they go twenty or thirty miles out to sea in quest of inward-bound
vessels. The first time I went to China, we were boarded by a
_compradore's_ boat previously to making the land. A fresh breeze was
blowing at the time, before which the ship was going eight knots an
hour: this, however, did not prevent the Chinese boatmen from dashing
alongside in very smart style, hooking on by the fore-chains with their
own rope, and disdaining the aid of a line thrown from the vessel to
hang on by. Mr. _Compradore_ appeared on the poop, "_chin-chinning_,"
while we strangers were looking with admiration at the activity of his
men in the boat. The captain engaged him to attend the ship, on which he
immediately started for Macao, and was alongside again by daylight next
morning, with a most welcome supply of fresh beef, vegetables, &c. In
the _compradore's_ boat, passengers can generally get a passage on
shore, or, rather, to within a few hundred yards of the beach. The
boatmen are afraid to approach nearer, on account of the Mandarins, who
are apt to _squeeze_ them, if they are seen landing foreigners. The
remaining distance is usually got over in small _tancea_, or
ferry-boats, numbers of which ply about Macao in all directions,
invariably guided by women, called, from their mode of life,
"_Tancea-girls_." Poor things! They work hard for their daily bread,
being constantly exposed to the sun in summer, and to cold in winter.
They live in their boats, which, at night, are snugly covered up with a
roof made of a bamboo frame, the interstices filled up with thick
matting, and, in the whole course of their lives, never pass a night on
shore. They are said to be of a peculiar race, and never intermarry
with the real Chinese, who look down upon them with contempt.
The scenery round Macao is striking, and some of the views are
particularly so: that from the hill immediately behind the town, is
perhaps the best. From this spot you have a bird's-eye view of the whole
town, the beach, with its hundreds of large and small Chinese boats, on
your left; further on, in the same direction, Macao Roads with the
foreign shipping; while, beyond these, the islands of Lingting, Lantow,
and numerous others of smaller size, are seen in the distance: to the
right, you catch an occasional glimpse of the numerous rivers and arms
of the sea, with numbers of picturesque Chinese boats gliding about,
literally among the hills and dales; and, here and there, a Chinese
village is seen, with its little patch of cultivation, its herds of
buffaloes and pigs, and countless groupes of little Celestials. Casting
your eye along this view from north to south, you come to the harbour
called "_Typa_" in which there are generally some thirty or forty
vessels at anchor, and which, though an arm of the sea, looks here like
an inland lake. This view, on a clear day, would delight the painter,
though it has one great deficiency, namely, the entire absence of trees.
The hills in the neighbourhood, far and near, are completely bare. Such
is Macao, a miserable, dirty, crowded town, rendered important for a
while by its locality, but now fast sinking back into its native
insignificance, owing to the gross stupidity of the Portuguese
Authorities, more than to any other cause. Proceed we now to the new
British settlement of Hong Kong.