CAMOENS' CAVE. 



143 



Camoens' visit to Macao was during his banishment from Portugal^ in consequence of his 

 pertinacious courtship of a hxdy of rank, whose parents did not affect an alliance with the poet, 

 who, although of a respectable family, was poor, and looked upon as an uncertain adventurer. 

 In 1551, he proceeded to Goa^ in India, where he again involved himself in trouble by writing 



Camoens' Cave, Macao — Rear View. 



his "Absurdities of India," and was banished to the Moluccas, and in the course of his exile 

 he resorted frequently to Macao, which was a favorite residence of the poet. The cave was his 

 chosen spot of retirement, where, in its "sweet retired solitude," he meditated his great work^ 

 the Lusiad. Camoens returned to Portugal, but only to live in misery and die in an hospital. 

 The interior of the island of Macao, which is exclusively cultivated by the Chinese, yields a 

 variety of vegetable productions, with which the town is supplied. Tlie wliole population is 

 about 20,000, and of these 13,000 belong to the peninsula and town, whereof more than one-half 

 the inhabitants are Chinese, and in the interior of the island this race compose the whole. The 



