1513 AD: Alvares touched the coast of China at the countrys great southern mouth, the Pearl River. In appearance it was much as it is today. Although fishermen and pirates had for centuries used its island anchorages, few of the islands themselves were inhabited. Such villages as existed, where the land was flat enough for a few fields of rice, were places of no consequence, grimly surrounded by granite hills. Neglected, remote, the outermost edge of Chinese civilisation, the villages were some of them fortified, all with houses grouped close together facing the sea. Behind some were rugged groves of trees, maintained for good luck, and in sheltered valleys a few other hardy trees arose among rocks and small ravines. On hillsides catching the summer winds was nothing but coarse grass. In rain it would be hard to imagine a less inviting place. But under a blue sky, and despite the sea being brown with river silt, the gloomy islands became pale grass green tinged with subtle shades of purple, and the scene assumed an aspect of majesty and peace. The newcomers anchored in what was then the most populous harbour, between the district town of Namtao and the island of Lintin, situated within within the estuary. South of them, where the river meets the sea, rose the 3,000-foot peaks of Lantao Island, with somewhere among the islands east of it, not visible from the river, the island one day to be known as Hongkong. Far across on the west and less mountainous side of the estuary was a low, rocky penninsula, its only sign of habitation two small temples surrounded by trees. This was the future Macao. -Austin Coates, A Macao Narrative, 1978 youtube/watch?v=2fOWr42UUMc
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 06:01:07 +0000
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