10 Defeription 
it cannot be compared to that of the north 
of Europe. Neverthelefs it is fometimes 
almoft infupportable to the Portuguefe. 
In 1759, Van Braam faw ice at Canton an 
inch and a half thick, but fuch an event 
has never happened fince. The city is 
confiderably large; it is eftimated to con- 
tain twelve hundred houfes, without in- 
cluding the public edifices. The houfes 
are in general very old and much out of 
repair, but there are ftill remaining fome 
vefliges of ancient grandeur, fuch as large 
and beautiful ftone ftair-cafes, vaft faloons, 
and large apartments, but without any re- 
gular order of architecture. ‘The walls 
of the houfes are built of an equal mixture 
of fand and earth, and one feventh part of 
lime ; there are very few of brick, becaufe 
that article is too dear at Macao. 
The inhabitants are compofed of Por- 
tuguele, of Chinefe, and a great number 
of flaves of both fexes, and of different 
‘ Indian nations, fo that a particular name 
is wanting to {pecify this corrupt and de- 
generated race; for the number of real 
Portuguefe is but fmall; the major part 
of thoie who call themfelves fo, having pro- 
ceeded from a mixture of Portuguete, of 
Chinefe, of Malays, or inhabitants of 
Caffraria, &c. From the firft mongrel breed 
there have been produced creoles and other 
combinations, which in their turn have 
alfo produced other mixtures, fo that it 
is impoffible to find in any other place in 
the world, a fimilar amalgamation of all 
nations, of figures fo fantattical, and of 
fuch variegated fhades from white to the 
. deepeft black, pafhing through all the 
tranfitions of yellow and brown. 
Among the female fex, which compofe 
more than two-thirds of the population, 
beauties are as fcarce as white feathers 
among crows. When it is confidered that 
_ the women are fo much more numerous 
than the men, and that very few of the 
latter undertake any thing to gain their 
fubfittence, becaufe they regard mendicity 
as lefs fhameful than labour, it will not 
appear altonifhing that the great<f{t mifery 
reigns throughout: Macao; and that the 
little which the men do gain becomes the 
Jot of the Chinefe, who do every thing, 
and are the only merchants, fhopkeepers, 
and workmen, even in the timber yards. 
. Muilery increafes to fucha height, that 
not only is the weekly diftribution of 
alms attended every Saturday by a 
thoufand or twelve hundred -women 
and children, but it often happens that 
charity is petitioned for in the pub- 
lic ftreets and ways, by perfons very 
well dreflid, having {words by their 
of Macae. (Auguft I, 
fides, by officers of the garrifon, and, what 
is ftill more, by a knight of Chrift, deco- 
rated with the crofs of his erder. Thefe 
perfons implore the liberality of ftrangers, 
becaufe they know that it would be ufelefs 
to fatigue their countrymen with lamenta- 
tions and fighs, which would never affect 
their feelings. 
This allsdevouring mifery is the caufe 
of that afflicting facility with which the 
women arrive at the abandonment of all 
decency and virtue, The thametul traffic 
of all which nature created for the purpofe 
of being embellifhed by myftery and con- 
cealment, is as mucl: praétifed at Macao 
as in any place in the world. Mothers 
not only nurfe and rear their female chil- 
dren, from an age when they muft beinno- 
cent, for the purpofes of infamy, and 
particularly fo when they obferye traits in 
them which feem deftined to pleafe, but 
they come to offer, to fell, and to deliver 
thefe victims, while they are ftill under the 
refpectable guard of infancy ; and they find 
beings vile and corrupt enough to buy that 
which gold can never repay. 
The poverty and the decay of the city 
of Macao ought to be attributed to the 
pride and idlenefs of the firft Portuguefe 
who inhabited it. Even at prefent they 
are fo much prejudiced againft becoming 
either artizans or fhopkeepers, that thote 
employments are principally filled by Chi- 
nefe, who, though they are not permitted 
to be the proprietors of any houfes within 
the city, compofe that clafs of inhabitants 
which are the molt effentially neceffary to 
Macao, which would certainly come to 
ruin without their induftry. 
This mongrel race of Portuguefe have 
adopted many of the Chinefe cuftoms, par- 
ticularly in their treatment of the womens 
who live feparately from their hufbands, 
and in retired places, the conftruction of 
which recals Chinefe ideas; for their 
apartments are fo clofely barricadoed that 
light is hardly permitted to enter through 
the windows. Their women never appearin 
the prefence of other men, and the huf- 
bands become offended ifany one inquires 
after the health of their wives, becaufe, 
according to them, their health ought to 
be an indifferent thing to all but to them- 
felves. A ftranger very feldom fees a 
woman of the firft clafS; for when they go 
out they are carried in a fpecies of palan- 
quin entirely fhut up ; and when they walk 
in the ftreets, their heads are covered in 
fuch a manner that the colour of their fkin 
can hardly be difcerned. Therefore all 
manner of acquaintance or converfation 
with an hone{t woman is refufed to ftran- 
gers, 
