Macadam

“ There was silence for a while, and then the giant spoke softly: ‘It is good, O Makóma!’ he said. ‘For I too have grown weary. There is no man so great as I, therefore I am all alone. Guard thyself!’ And bending suddenly he seized the hero in his hands and dashed him upon the ground. And lo! instead of death, Makóma had found life, for he sprang to his feet mightier in strength and stature than before, and rushing in he gripped the giant by the waist and wrestled with him. ”

“ Macao, though in, is not of China; instead of the low hut-like structures of unburnt blue brick and fantastic tile of the Celestial, the eye, as it takes in the fine sweep of the Praya, rests on large mansions whose verandahs exclude the sun, whose portals are spacious and stylish, and whose stucco little discolored by time, only appears all the more impressive, and sees rising on the eminence behind venerable cathedrals; while garrisons, crown batteries, and old-looking forts on either side, with the ensign of Portugal, define its ownership, and make the picture more imposing. ”

“ There I saw a large idol, called Makambi, shaped like a man, and by his side stood a female figure, Abiala his wife. Poor Makambi is a powerless god, his wife having usurped the power. She holds a pistol in her hand, with which, it is supposed, she can kill anyone she pleases; hence the natives are much afraid of her; and she receives from them a constant supply of food, and many presents (I wonder who takes the presents away) . When they fall sick, they dance around her, and implore her to make them well; for these poor heathen never pray to the true God. ”

“ Death at night and sleep in the day time are the characteristics of Macao. No one seems to work, play, sing, dance or even read unless the latter indeed may be done in what Alphonse Daudet calls la Bibliotheque des cigales.
As Robert Adams stepped from the chair, the Portuguese came forward with outstretched hand saying: "What is the news Dom Robert in Hong Kong?" "Oh, Dom Pedro, you came out so suddenly I thought I was attacked. No news, unless it is that the rector of St. John's is to join me to the loveliest girl in Macao or the world, in just three weeks." ”

“ Doubtless on the traversed roads and large centres, where they are brought into contact with traders and would-be civilisers of the race, these people become thieves and vagabonds; but in their primitive state the Makalangas are naturally honest, exceedingly courteous in manner, and cowardice appears to be their only vice, arising doubtless from the fact that for generations they have had to flee to their fastnesses before the raids of more powerful races. The Makalanga is above the ordinary Kaffir in intelligence. ”

“ The 22nd of May will be long remembered in Macao and never forgotten by the family of de Amaral. Early in the morning Robert Adams was up and impatiently waiting for Dom Pedro, who appeared a little before eight o'clock and the two, after a hurried breakfast, went to the Praca de Luiz de Camoens where a Chinese sailor met them. They followed him to the shore where a sampan was waiting in which they seated themselves and were soon gliding rapidly toward a huge junk of fine build which lay at anchor some distance beyond the Portuguese man-of-war, in the direction of Taipa. ”

“ Mapanda’s is, indeed, a sorry place: not a tree to give one shade, only a store or two, built of that unsightly corrugated iron so much beloved by the early colonists of South Africa, and a few daub huts. It is a paradise only for those who arrive weary and worn from the interior, and for the sportsman, affording him a pied-à-terre in the very midst of the land where ‘the deer and the antelope roam.’ It has, however, certain points on which it justly prides itself. ”

“ Here is where Macao derives the revenue to carry on its fine improvements, and, as in Bangkok, there is no intimation of a desire to reform the evil.
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The Chinese have also invaded Burma, and intermarriage with the Burmese maidens is becoming general. Java is not exempt from their presence; in Siam they are very numerous; in Singapore they permeate everywhere; and in Macao they are possessors of the field. Truly their colonizing power is tremendous, and, unlike the British, they commence downward and work upward, the coolie ever being the advance guard. ”

“ Being so constant a visitor, Robert Adams had his own rooms at Dom Amaral's, where he found his bags unpacked and the clothes laid out by those deftest of servants, the Chinese. According to custom the dinner of Macao was served at the late hour of nine.
Dom Luiz Diego de Amaral was one of the wealthiest Portuguese in the city, having, unlike most of his fellow citizens, investments abroad which brought [Pg 13] him a considerable income after the birth of Hong Kong killed Macao and left it a city of the past, of poverty and pride. ”

“ Makóma was so delighted with the little meadow [Pg 7] that he sat down under a large tree, and removing the sack from his shoulder, took out all the giants and set them before him. ‘My friends,’ said he, ‘I have travelled far and am weary. Is not this such a place as would suit a hero for his home? Let us then go, to-morrow, to bring in timber to make a kraal.’
So the next day Makóma and the giants set out to get poles to build the kraal, leaving only Chi-éswa-mapíri to look after the place and cook some venison which they had killed. ”

“ Bareback, the chief, now harangued the three Indians, and they stepped forth warily. They had determined on strategic wrestling, and not on the instant activity of fists. But their wiliness was useless, for Macavoy's double-and-twist came near to lessening the Indian population of Fort O'Angel. It only broke a leg and an arm, however. The Irishman came out of the tangle of battle with a wild kind of light in his eye, his beard all torn, and face battered. ”

“ You will not go hungry from this battle to tell the white people that the Amawombe are cowards whom you could not flog into the fight. No, no, Macumazahn, my Spirit looks towards me this morning, and I who am old and who thought that I should die at length like a cow, shall see one more great fight—my twentieth, Macumazahn; for I fought with this same Amawombe in all the Black One’s big battles, and for Panda against Dingaan also. ”

“ The King was generally kind to Mackay, for he was proud to have so clever a white man in his country. But he could not make up his mind to become a Christian. M'tesa's heart had not really changed. His slave-raiding of other tribes might still go on. The horrible butcherings of his people to turn away the dreaded anger of the gods would continue. Mackay felt he must press on with his work. He was slowly opening a road through the jungle of cruelty and the marshes of dread of the gods that made the life of the Baganda people dark and dreadful. ”

“ They imagine that all white people inhabit secluded corners of the earth in the midst of the sea, and often ask if there are any women in our country. When and how I can return to Cambodia and Siam I am ignorant, and I dare not think of the difficulty I shall experience among the rude and stupid Cambodians in transporting my treasures. What heartbreaking jolts my boxes of insects will receive! What palpitations I shall feel each time some rough fellow takes them to place on the oxen, elephants, or his own back! ”

“ The Makooa, or Makooana, as they are often called, comprise a people consisting of a number of very powerful tribes, lying behind Mosambique, which extend northward as far as Melinda, and southward to the mouth of the river Zambezi, while hordes of the same nation are to be found in a south-west direction, perhaps almost to the neighbourhood of the Kaffers, bordering on the Cape of Good Hope. A late traveller in that settlement, mentions them as a tribe of Kaffers, and says the name is derived from the Arabic language, signifying "workers in iron." ”

“ The number of inhabitants at present in Macao amounts to about 97,000, of whom 90,000 are Chinese and 7000 Portuguese and Mestizoes. Of other foreign nations there are but a very few in the peninsula. The chief article of commerce in the colony is opium, which finds its way hence into the interior in large quantities. Hong-kong is in too close proximity, is too favourably situated, and is inhabited by too energetic a race, to admit of Macao, especially so long as it remains in the hands of the Portuguese, recovering its former commercial importance. ”

“ For his name is blasphemed by the people of that kingdom of China because of that town of Macao—such are the deeds of its inhabitants; for they live as a people without any master, and are not under the control of his Majesty, for the dwellers in that town are not his vassals, but those of the king of China. They pay tribute to him, and are subject to his mandarins, but not to others. Consequently his Majesty does not derive one maravedi’s profit from it, while he incurs considerable expense ”

“ So saying, the genius Macoma waved her wand, and instantly the air was darkened, and a confused noise was heard above the armies of Misnar and Hobaddan.
For some hours the Sultan's troops knew not the cause of the darkness that overshadowed them; but in a little time the light returned by degrees, and they looked toward the army of Hobaddan, and saw them overwhelmed with innumerable locusts.
"Thine enemies," said Macoma, "O Sultan, are no more, save the enchantress Hapacuson, who personates the rebel Ourodi." ”

“ The Chinese junks, for years past, have ceased touching here, from the numberless piratical depredations committed upon them; and the Portuguese from Macao have attempted to renew the trade from time to time, but at length, in 1808, their agent withdrew to Macao, a large ship having been cut off and the crew murdered the year preceding. They now have no other resource but piracy; and the produce, such as it is, finds its way in prows to Tringan, Sambas, Pontiana, Lingin, and Malacca. Very large quantities of the finest camphor in the world are procurable here ”

“ Most people knew very little about Cambodia; its very name was only familiar to us in that of its product, gamboge, which word was nothing else than a corruption of Cambodia. It was one of five or six states lying between India and China, whose inhabitants had lived under a second or third-rate civilisation at all times—never equal, whether physically, morally, or intellectually, to the Chinese, or even the Hindoos. At the present time Cambodia was a poor little state, having been encroached upon by the Siamese to the north, and by Cochin China to the south. ”

“ Then when I had satisfied myself that these were indeed men and camels I descended from the ant-heap.
“You will admit, Macumazana,” said Harût politely, “that if we had meant you any ill, with such a force it would have been easy for us to take a sleeping camp at night. But these men come here to be your escort, not to kill or enslave you or yours. And, Macumazana, we have sworn to you the oath that may not be broken. Now we go to our people. In the morning, after you have eaten, we will return again unarmed and alone.” ”

“ In 1858 France first appeared in Indo-China, and in 1863 made a treaty with Norodom, king of Cambodia, by which Cambodia was placed under a French protectorate. Cambodia has now placed over it a resident-general under the governor-general of Indo-China. The most remarkable thing in Cambodia is the splendid ruins of the architecture of the Khmer kingdom. The temples, palaces and monuments scattered everywhere are wonderful for their size and artistic grandeur. ”

“ A pleasant spot, and one not often molested by visitors on account of the somewhat toilsome climb required to reach it, is the church of Our Lady of Pehna on the summit of Mt. Nillau. Built in 1622 on this high point to be more easily protected from any possible invasion of the Chinese from the main island of Heang Shang, the church serves now only as an addition to the picturesqueness of Macao, and though repaired in 1837 is again in ruin. ”

“ Presently I heard a noise as if some human being or beast was breaking through the underwood, and looking out I caught sight of a man running. I looked again and again. Could my eyes deceive me? If that was not Macco, it was a person wonderfully like him. And yet I felt sure I had seen Macco killed on the shore of Papua; but yet he was so unlike a Malay or a Dyak, or any of the inhabitants of New Guinea, that I could scarcely suppose he could be any other than Macco. ”

“ He was, however, a boy with no power—the mere feeble tool of the Katikiro (the Prime Minister) and of Mujasi, the Captain of the King's own bodyguard of soldiers. Both of these great men of the kingdom fiercely hated Mackay, for they were jealous of his power over the old King. So they whispered into the young M'wanga's ears stories like this: "You know that men say that Uganda will be eaten up by an enemy from the lands of the rising sun. Mackay and the other white men are making ready to bring thousands of white soldiers into your land to 'eat it up' and to kill you." ”

“ Quoth the Kaim-makam, "O sensible say! but we must seek and find for ourselves a man who shall be agreeable and trustworthy," presently adding, "O woman, we will not give the Coynte of thy mother in marriage to some stranger lest he trouble thee and trouble me also; so let us bestow this boon upon our own Syce." Replied the wife of her craft and cursedness, "Haply, O my lord, the horsekeeper will befit us not;", yet the while she had set her heart upon him. Rejoined the Kaim-makam her husband, "If so it be that he have shown thee want of respect we will surely relieve him of his lot." ”