CHAPTER IV
Services of the Jesuits to China.
Subordination of Portugal’s National Interests.
The program of carrying out, with patience and fortitude, the Divine mission, not infrequently at the cost of physical suffering and even death, in pursuance of their task to win adherents to the Christian faith, constitutes a glorious chapter in the annals of Portuguese Christian evangelisation in the East. Assailed as they often were by base ingratitude, the Christian pioneers went meekly and confidently on maintaining their good work in spite of discouragement and constant, cruel persecution.
To the genius and learning of the men of the Society of Jesus I have made some reference, but have not exhausted the topics covering the services rendered by them to China and the Chinese.
With no thought of worldly gain or national aggrandisement the Jesuit priests have given of their best to the countries of their adoption, while a selfish world looks on unmoved and forgets the immensity of all that service. Nay, the fiat, that went forth “to arrest, imprison and expel the priests from the Kingdom of China”, can be likened by analogy to the reference by Shakespeare when he put into the mouth of Marc Antony the words:
“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones”.
So it has been with mission labourers under Portuguese patronage. The properties gifted to the Portuguese by grateful monarchs have been made over to other peoples without so much as a “by your leave”, and their services to humanity have been ignored and allowed to sink into oblivion until some conscientious scholar like Dr. Prestage or Major Boxer unearths the neglected story and brings it to the notice of a world all too poor in the knowledge of the past and too unconcerned with the golden deeds of a nation that deserves better of an ungrateful world.
Of one thing the Portuguese can boast: At no time did they utilise the achievements of the priests to further their own national aims; they subordinated, rather, the national interests of Portugal to those of the Church. They found their destiny on the seas and placed their discoveries, their own resources of ships and men, and the very lives of their seagoing nationals at the disposal of the Church. In no country was this idealism more glowingly seen than in China, while Macao, as the fulcrum of the evangelical work of the whole of the Far East, provided unstintingly for the needs of the missions which to spread the story of Gospel among the peoples of the East.
In 1557, the Portuguese established themselves at Macao, and soon afterwards one of the early steps taken by the missionaries was to prosecute their intensive studies in preparation for carrying on their religious mission. To this end, printing was looked upon as a valuable aid. Printing was then still in its infancy in Europe, and many still thought that books were the work of the Evil One.
However, we can consider the dynamic force that created the demand for printing in the Far East.
As early as 1588 the Jesuits brought a printing press and fonts of movable type from Lisbon and set up a small printing establishment in Macao at the College of St. Paul and industriously began the printing of books from movable type. They recognised that the best method of widely disseminating knowledge of Christian doctrine would be by means of printed books. Gifted as they were with the facility of acquiring knowledge of foreign languages, they began by assiduously studying and mastering the Chinese language, both written and spoken.
It was to Japan, however, mainly that the Jesuits first directed their attention with the printing plant for the production of books, like catechisms and books on Christian doctrine. To the credit of Father João Rodrigues, S. J., belongs the distinction of being the first missionary to produce, in printed form, a dictionary of the Japanese and Portuguese languages. This book bears the historical imprint of “1591”. Like many of those that followed it was intended for the use of the Christian congregations of the promising new fields of Jesuit evangelising efforts. Other books were adaptations in Japanese of important books of Christian worship, and were based on their European originals.
In the year 1611, owing to persecution in Japan, the press was brought back to Macao. The last book printed in Japan to bear the title of the press was dated 1611 at Nagasaki. The next book of which we have any knowledge was dated 1620, printed at Macao, and after that nothing has been recorded of the press, but some scholars believe that it was used in Peking for the printing of books in the Chinese capital. It is known, for instance, that the Jesuits of the Portuguese mission in China wrote, in Chinese, at least one hundred and twenty-five books which were printed in China before the year 1640.
Then came the Manchu Dynasty and many documents and books were lost or destroyed, which possibly explains why no information is available to account for the date of the press. Some scholar may come across some information in the archives in Portugal to shed light on this subject.
We do know, however, that the best of the books written by the Jesuits were produced in the days of the new, i.e., the Ching, Dynasty, and it is more than likely that the priests were able to impress the Emperor of China with the fact that European printing hand press was superior to that used up to that time in China, for history records that the priests, then working in the Portuguese mission in Peking, were able to persuade Emperor K’ang Hsi to permit them to cut copper matrices of Chinese characters for the casting of metal types for the printing of books in Peking.
“As we glance over the imposing array of names, our hearts experience a thrill of pride at the wonderful feats of self-sacrifice and the accomplishments of the good fathers in those old days, and we realise how great was the Portuguese contribution to the noble cause. We notice, for instance, among many others, the names of Father João Rodrigues (dictionaries and grammars), Father Manuel Barreto, Father Luis Sequeira, (writer of important letters), Father Nicolao Pimenta, Father Luis Froes (who wrote many important letters and books), Father Gabriel de Mattos, Father Luis Pinheiro, and the names of martyrs, who suffered and died for their Faith, of heroes of every kind, of explorers and discoverers, and of men in every walk of life who wrote Portugal’s name in ineffaceable letters across the story of the Far Eastern world.” 18
The scientific treatises published by the Jesuits in Peking were of such interest that they impressed some of the greatest Chinese minds, and it is interesting to speculate what would have been the results for world civilisation generally and on Christian expansion in China in particular if the Ming Dynasty had not been subjugated by the Manchus; for, with the introduction of a new regime, the foreign rules, seeking some support, decided to throw the weight of their authority on the side of the Chinese literati of the old school, and Confucianism and the conservatism of the mandarin class came back to China. The doors which had seemed to be opening to science were again closed. Because of their profound learning, however, the Jesuits had obtained a high reputation and this began to make itself felt on the minds of the Chinese once more, and the book written by them on mathematics, astronomy, physics, geography and the renascent sciences of Europe once more soon began to get their due measure of attention.
The reform of the Calendar had secured the reputation of the Jesuits, and though Chinese scholars might have scoffed at the foreign scientists, Emperor K’ang Hsi gave them the fullest support, and had it not been for the tactlessness of Cardinal Tournon there is no telling to what heights the Jesuits in China might not have risen. The conciliatory K’ang Hsi, disgusted with the Europeans, turned from the Christian priests to the scholars of China once more, and Emperor Ch’ien Lung was even more lavish in his support of the literati of his own race, while the influence of the Church in China began to wane.
It is gratifying, however, to note that the scientific books of the Jesuits were not despised and were given an honoured place among the classics of China. Their scientific instruments were prized among the great “works of art” of the nation. All the famous collections of works printed by the emperors of the Manchu dynasty contain a large number of Jesuits books. For instance, Emperor Ch’ien Lung’s famous Ssu Ku Chuan Shu contains eleven Jesuit works in the Astronomical and Mathematical sections alone, and the Tsung Mu Ti Yao speaks of the stimulus which the Jesuits gave to scientific knowledge even though the Chinese neglected it. It was no fault of the priests that the Chinese did not take advantage of the opportunities which they held open to them.
Father Luis Pfister’s Notices Biographiques et Bibliographiques19 contains a large number of titles of books written in Chinese and published by the Jesuits who served in China in the Portuguese Missions all over the country. The subject of these books is an interesting chapter in the annals of the work of the Church and its missioners for the benefit of the Chinese people.
The compiled list reproduced hereunder of Jesuit scholarship furnishes abundant evidence of a part of the materials placed within Chinese reach by these indefatigable workers. It was in 1727 that, in response to a request by the Russian learned societies, Father André Pereira sent to the Academy of St. Petersburg a collection of books published in Peking on astronomy and the sciences. From the list of these books it is possible to form an idea of the books issued by the Imperial Astronomical Academy of China. It reads as follows: –
“1. – Four tomes or sets relating to Chinese Astronomy prepared under the patronage of Emperor K’ang Hsi. The first contains 16 books, which in addition to an introduction and a treatise on Spherical Trigonometry explains the theory of the Sun and the Moon and of eclipses, and other planets; the second contains 10 books explaining practical Astronomy in accordance with the older as well as the new processes of calculation by the Chinese method and the use of Astronomical tables; the third and fourth cover Astronomical Tables of various kinds distributed in 16 books.
“2. – One set, with the same title, consisting of Astronomical Appendix, including the two books of luni-solar Tables recently corrected.
“3. – Two sets containing 8 books covering Tables of Sines, Tangents and Cosines, as well as the Logarithms of Sines, Tangents, etc., and of natural numbers from 1 to 100,000.
“4. – Two sets, one of them containing 7 books, with various tables explaining the instruments of the Public Astronomical Observatory, the other containing 7 books also with the Tables of Longitude, Latitude, Lines of Direct Ascension and Declinations for all the fixed stars for the year 1673. In addition there are 2 other volumes, large folio in size, containing 117 illustrations, representing the instruments of the Observatory and their construction, and many other things concerning Mechanics.
“5. – One set of 8 books: The first 5 deal with the Artificial Sphere and its various uses; the 6th teaches the construction and use of Compasses of Proportion; the 7th explains the arithmetical problems of Napier’s rods; the 8th explains the nature and use of the telescopes.
“6. – One set containing 5 books comprising the compendium of the Chinese annals and their chronological cycles of 60 years.
“7. – 1 book regarding “Falcone”.
“8. – Folded maps representing the star map of China on the lines of the maps of Father Pardies.
“In addition two big general Maps of the stars or Astrolobes: one, the larger, in eight sheets and the smaller of one sheet.”
Casual readers of the present time, glancing over the history of China may feel inclined to accept as authoritative such books on China and the people of this great country as crowded the bookshelves of the middle and end of the XIXth century. These books furnish the views of writers who gave a wholly erroneous impression of the real China, for these latter-day Europeans were the foreign trading classes and their hangers-on who lived in the Treaty ports of the Middle Kingdom and who came in contact with only the classes of Chinese who were not at all representative of Chinese thought and culture.
It might not have seemed likely to the average reader of those days that another type of book – a better and more scholarly type, revealing the true China – was already known to Europeans and duly appreciated by scholars of the West two or three centuries earlier. Serious students, who have delved into the actions and reactions of Chinese history, know, however, that there had existed a period in European cultural history when the wave of ever-swelling interest in “things Chinese” was created by the books written by members of the Portuguese missions. Limited, at first, to Portugal and Italy, the interest spread later to Spain, France, Germany, and England, and by the middle of the XVIIth century had compelled the attention of the intellectuals of Europe, and extended to wider areas of society by the middle of the XVIIIth century.
All through the XVIth century, the Jesuits issued in Portugal and Italy book after book of collections of letters from their brethren in the East, containing first-hand accounts of the civilisations of the East and the progress being made in the establishing and developing of contacts with the West by the priests themselves. Father João de Lucena’s Life of St. Francis Xavier came a few years after Father Gaspar da Cruz’s book on China. Both these books were printed in Portugal and aroused great enthusiasm in ecclesiastical circles all over Europe, eliciting wonderful interest in further missionary enterprise. Then followed the series of Jesuit Annuals, or reports, of which those by Father Fernão Guerreiro are the most outstanding, containing detailed particulars of the manner in which the teaching of Christianity was progressing among the peoples of Asia, and giving many details of the life and customs of the Eastern races. In this class of work the Portuguese took first place among the Europeans, though the Italians, with the printing presses and resources of Rome and Venice at their disposal, were also very active. Learning had not yet become universal, however, and these books appealed most of all to the priestly class, and in consequence the stream of missionaries eager to do the work of evangelisation included some of the great intellectuals of Europe. They were among the leaders of the time, and the accounts written by them of China and other countries – but of China in particular – of all they saw and experienced, of the need for understanding the deep social observances of the people, of the fine culture, profound philosophy and deep reverence of the Chinese for learning, began to awaken a new interest in Europe, which spread in ever widening circle as education developed and more and more people learned to read and appreciate reading.
The new missionaries soon mastered the languages of the lands of their predilection and many were the dictionaries which they compiled. A few of these were published, but in most cases transcripts of many of them were made and, passing from hand to hand, served to help those who came after, but the very existence of those Mss. seems to have been ignored by modern writers. It was not long before the books written by the missionaries, treating of China with the utmost sympathy for Chinese views and the deepest appreciation of Chinese problems and difficulties, were printed in Europe.
Father Alvaro Semedo’s famous book on China was translated into many languages and became very popular, while Father Ignacio da Costa’s work on Chinese learning and philosophy appealed to the learned in Europe. Father Gabriel Magalhães’s Doze Excellencias da China became known to Europe through a French translation; it has been turned into many other languages. Father Thomas Pereira’s book on the music of the Chinese appealed to others. Father Jacinto de Deus, a Macao-born Portuguese, wrote among other works the celebrated Vergel de Plantas e Flores which was a popular book in its days and Father António Francisco Cardim, an historian of note, wrote several books about the work of the Jesuit Missions. These were a few of the works which attracted interest among the scholars of the West.
It soon became the fashion for writers in Europe to produce their own works, based on the first-hand accounts written by the missionaries in the East for the benefit of the people in Europe. Of these, Father Anastacio Kircher’s China Illustrata was one of the earliest and most popular, with its fine steel engraved plates and illustrations of the flora and fauna of Asia and particularly of China. The first edition was published in Rome in 1667. For originality and versatility the book is difficult to rival; it covers every aspect of Chinese life and customs; the illustrations include the costume of men and women in every province of China. The fact that it passed though five editions in a few years is eloquent testimony of the excellence of the book and the wide welcome accorded to it upon its appearance. Father Du Halde’s General History of China, in 4 volumes, was another very popular work, as evidenced by the large number of editions published in a very short period. Neither Father Kircher nor Father Du Halde ever visited China, but their works were based on the books written by and the annual letters from the missionaries in China.
Then followed a new period when the enthusiasm for mission work reached France, and the great Jesuits from France came out to join their colleagues in the Portuguese Missions. It was not long before the King of France secured a greater influence in the nomination of priests for the Portuguese Peking Mission than the King of Portugal. Among the French priests in this Mission were Father Jean de Fontaney, Father Joseph de Premare, Father Joachim Bouvet, Father Jean-Francois Gerbillon, Father Dominique Parrenin, Father Louis Porquet, Father Antoine Gaubil, and Father Jean-Joseph-Marie Amiot, to name a few. The French Court was sending only the best and most learned of the priests of France to China. Their advent and the subsequent work they performed in the field of research and science left a deep impression in China.20
The books of the learned Frenchmen contributed very greatly to the continuance of the good work which the Portuguese had so well begun. It was a great opportunity. Europe was then, as now, all attention for anything Chinese, and a profound admiration for Chinese literature, art, and culture prevailed not only in intellectual circles but in all circles of society. Much might have come out of this great meeting of the best of the East and the West. Chinese veneration for learning had had a corresponding interest among the Chinese for western thought and culture from which much might have resulted. But this was not to be. The traders of many nations were already knocking insistently at the doors of Canton, with their interest centred principally on that which the Chinese scholars despised most. It was a misfortune for the spiritual outlook in China that the Europeans began to take a larger interest in the other side of China’s activities, viz., the material, as interpreted by the merchants who were irritated and sometimes even humiliated by the restrictions to which they had to submit in their dealings with the Chinese.
If we turn from the intellectual pursuits of the Jesuits in the field of missionary labours to their activities in the spread of beneficent influences, such, for instance, as the popularising of fruits and vegetables and economic plants of one country in another, a wide gap presents itself to view. But Garcia da Orta’s Colloquios dos Simples e Drogas da India and articles on the subject of Mariano de Saldanha in the Oriente Português (Nova Goa, Vols. V and VI, 1908 and 1909) are two illuminating Portuguese works that cannot be ignored in any reference to this subject.
I borrow the opening sentence from Mr. J. J. Campos’s Addendum to his book The Portuguese in Bengal, p. 253; 1, when I quote that “the Portuguese not only brought to India new kinds of goods, a new language and new creeds, but also added very much to the flora of India”. In a talk, on the 24th March, 1942, in a series from the Broadcasting Station of the Macao Radio Club, Mr. Jack M. Braga, alluding to the food problem created by the large influx of Portuguese and other evacuees into Macao, said that “while the major problem continues to be that of the rice supply for Macao’s abnormal population, it is interesting to observe that to a certain extent the difficulties were mitigated by the large quantities of sweet potatoes and maize obtainable in the market”. Speaking of sweet potatoes, he said:
“There is an interesting passage in a book The Commercial Handbook of China (1919), by Julian Arnold, the well-known Commercial Attaché of the United States Legation in China. This passage reads:
“This is a passage to stir one’s curiosity. It is probably not known to most listeners of this radio talk, and yet when one looks around Macao at the present time and considers the very high cost of rice, it is brought home to the observer that the sweet potato occupies a much more important place as a food in China than is generally believed. And, curiously enough, the sweet potato, as distinct from the Irish potato, known among the Chinese as the Dutch tuber, was introduced into China only after the arrival of the Portuguese and it is, therefore, of comparatively recent origin in China.21
“In fact there is reason to believe that it is to the Portuguese that the Chinese owe this useful tuber-plant. As far as it has been possible to ascertain, we find that the tuber was first described in a book by a Spaniard about the middle of the XVIth century, and it was then recorded as growing in various parts of South America including the Portuguese possession of Brazil. Not unlikely, the sweet potato was included in the larder of every Portuguese ship, and it is reasonable to conclude that is was not long before the Portuguese were planting the sweet potato in their orchards and gardens at Macao. From Macao its value began to be diffused and it would not have been difficult for it to be introduced into China. To the present day, Ka-Tai, one of the villages just over the Macao border, is famous for its sweet potatoes.
“There is nothing surprising about this. The Portuguese were active carriers of economic plants from one part of the world to another. For example, Chinese oranges were spread by them in Brazil and Portugal, and from Brazil they were carried to California. The Portuguese started tea plantations in several places, and some of the early plantations, in the Azores Islands, still survive. Similarly, they carried various American products to India and other places in Asia, and China owes the cultivation not only of the sweet potato to the Portuguese but also the pineapple, the custard-apple, the pawpaw (or papaia, as the Portuguese call it) and maize. The introduction of peanuts might also be due to Portuguese influence, while the Chinese learned from a Portuguese priest, in the 16th century, how the bean sprout should be produced”.22
The tradition on which this statement is based is to the effect that once a junk was blown out of its course in a storm and lay becalmed for a number of days. When the food supply began to run low, a Portuguese priest who was among the passengers, taught the crew that they could make bean sprouts by soaking peas, and so serve an adequate supply of food for a few days. During the interval, a breeze sprang up and carried the ship along again.
The following is a brief list of some of the plants which Bengal owes to the Portuguese and is taken from Campos’s Addendum:
“Bengal lawyer” is a good example of a stout cane used as a walking stick, and the term has now this meaning.
The following is a brief list of some of the plants which Bengal owes to the Portuguese and is taken from Campos’s Addendum:
5. – Ananas Sativa (Bromeliaceae) – Eng. Pineapple. Beng. Ananas anarasi.
Introduced in Bengal by the Portuguese in 1594 from Brazil. This fruit was daily served at the table of Akbar each costing 4 dams (1/10 of a rupee).
6. – Anona Squamosa (anoneceae) – Eng. Custard-apple. Beng. Ata, luna.
The plant is well naturalized in Bengal. General Cunningham held that there is an exact representation of the plant in the Bharut Scriptures and also in the Scriptures of Ajanta caves, indicating that the plant was cultivated in India long before the Portuguese came. Watt, however, states that Botanical evidence is against Cunningham’s contention. For other details, vide Watt and Hobson-Jobson s. v. Custard apple.
7. – Anona Reliculata (Anoneceae) – Eng. The Bullock’s Heart. Beng. Nona.
What is said of the Custard Apple applies to this plant.
8. – Arachis Hypogaea (Leguminosae) – Eng. The Groundnut, Earth-nut or Pea-nut. Beng. Mat Kalai, chinar badam, bilati mung.
Introduced from Africa and America. Dymock thinks that the Ground-nut reached India through China. Its Konkani name Mosbimchim biknam shows that in Western India the Portuguese must have introduced it from Moçambique, Africa.
9. – Argemone Mexicana (Papaveraceae) – Eng. The Mexican or Prickly poppy, Beng. Baro-shial kanta, sial-kanta.
The plant is common in Bengal and in fact in the whole of India. Valued for its oil and medicinal properties. “Its use as an external application in conjunctivitis was probably introduced into this country with the plant by the Portuguese.” Dymock. Pharm. Ind.
12. – Averrhoa Carambola (Geramiaceae) – Eng. Carambola tree. Beng. Kamranga, kamarak.
In the Sunderbunds the wood of the plant is used for building purposes and for furniture. Its apples are very palatable when stewed.
13. – Capsicum frutescens (Solanaceae) – Eng. Spur pepper, Cayenne chillies. Beng. Lal or gach murisch, lal lanka murich.
Cultivated all over India and especially in Bengal, Orissa, and Madras. It is one of the chief condiments in the Indian dietary. The Portuguese brought the plant to India from Pernambuco according to Clusius (quoted from Dymock).
14. – Carica Papaya (Passiflorae) – English, the Papaya tree. Beng. Pappaya, papeya.
This common plant in India was not known before the Portuguese came and Atkinson (quoted by Watt) affirms it was introduced by the Portuguese.
16. – Citrus Aurantium (Rutaceae) – Eng. Sweet Orange. Portugal Orange. Beng. Kamla nembu narengi, narenga.
The controversy about the introduction of the orange-tree in India is a long one. It is admitted by most writers that were orange trees in India as well as in Portugal long before the Portuguese came to India. It is more likely that the Portuguese introduced the plant in Europe. Watt says that the names Portogalls (Ital.) Protokhal (Alb.) and Portogal (Kurdish) “indicate the intimate relation which the Portuguese bore to the diffusion of the plant”. There is no doubt the Portuguese spread the orange trees in India even though they were to be found before the arrival of the Portuguese.
19. – Engenia Malaccensis (Myrtaceae) – Eng. Malay apple, Beng. Malaca jamrul.
This tree was brought to India from Malacca by the Portuguese. G. D’Orta says he himself planted some in his own garden.
20. – Garcinia Mangostana (Guttiferae) – Eng. The Mangosteen. Beng. Mangustan.
Madras. The plant unknown to India before the arrival of the Portuguese came from Malacca and G. D’Orta says he had planted some of them which shows the Portuguese were the first to introduce them in India.
21. – Indigofera Anil (Leguminosae) – Eng. Indigo plant (not the commercial variety). Beng. Nil.
Of this variety of Indigo plant, Watt says, “It nowhere exists in a wild state in India and was probably introduced during the period of Portuguese ascendancy in the Western and Southern Presidencies”.
22. – Ipomeoea Batatas (Convolvulaceae) – Eng. Sweet Potato. Beng. Ranga-alu, lal-alu (the red form) Chine alu. (the white form).
All forms of sweet potato are not native to India but have been introduced from Africa or Brazil probably by the Portuguese. Watt remarks that Batatas mentioned by Linschoten were a form of Dioscorea (Yams).
27. – Nicotania Tabacum (Solanaceae) – Eng. Tobacco. Beng. Tamak.
From the Mausir-i-ralumi and the Darashikohi we learn that Tobacco was introduced into the Deccan by the Portuguese about A. H. 914 (A. D. 1508) and that it began to be smoked about 1605 towards the end of the reign of the Sultan Jalaleddeen Akbar”. (Dymock, Pharm. Ind.) Watt also admits that the Portuguese introduced the Tobacco plant in India.
31. – Psydium Guyava (Myrtaceae) – Eng. Guava. Beng. Peyara. piyara.
The guava-tree which is common in Bengal as everywhere in India was introduced by the Portuguese from America (Royle). Cf. Watt Dict. of Econ. Prod.
33. – Strychnos Ignatii (Loganiaceae) – Eng. Nux-vomica or Strychnine tree. Beng. Kuchila thalkesur.
This plant very valuable for preparation of strychnine was introduced in India by the Portuguese Jesuit Missionaries (Dymock Pharm. Ind.) The plant is rather rare in Bengal, but common in Madras and Tenassrim.
34. – Tagetes Erecta (Compositae) – Eng. The French and African marigolds. Beng. Genda.
Rojia the name current in Western India perhaps denotes the introduction of the plant by the Portuguese whom it appears to represent the Rosa do Ouro or golden rose, which the Pope usually blesses at Mass on Sunday in Lent”. Dymock Pharm. Ind.
35. – Zea Mays (Gramineae) – Eng. Maize, Indian Corn. Beng. Janar, bhutta. Jonar.
It is probable that this important plant was introduced in India by the Portuguese. Cf. Watt’s lengthy discussion (Dict. of Econ. Prod.)
I have been favoured by a friend with a list in Portuguese, of a consignment of fruits shipped from Hongkong a number of years ago. By whom, or to whom, the consignment was made; there is no means, at this distance of time, of establishing. I reproduce the list all the same in the hope that, prompted by curiosity, some searching mind may be exercised to trace the source and destination of the consignment is question. The translated list is given in three columns below:
“This is the list of fruits we are sending, stressing the fact that we do not guarantee the correctness of the scientific names given in each case:
| Names used in Macao | Scientific terms | English |
| Ata | Anona Squamosa | Custard apple |
| Amora | Morus nigra | Mulberry |
| Avelã | Corylus avellana | Hazel-nut |
| Ameixa | Prunus domestica | Plum |
| Bananas | Musa paradisiaca | Banana |
| Cydra | Citrus medica | Citron |
| Castanha | Fagus Castanea | Chestnut |
| Coquinho | Eleocharis tuberosa | Water-chestnut |
| Carambola | Averrhoa Carambola | Carambole |
| Figos de Portugal | Ficus carica | Fig |
| Figo kaki | (?) | Persimmon |
| Gamen | (?) | Nga-nim |
| Goiava | Psidium pomiderum | Guava |
| Gamute | (?) | Wild azalea fruit |
| Jacca | Artecarpus integrifolia | Jack fruit |
| Jambo | Eugenia Jambos | Rose-apple |
| Longan | Eupheria Longan | Lung-ngan |
| Lechia | Eupheria leitchi | Lichee |
| Laranja | Citrus Aurantium | Orange |
| Limão | Citrus limonum | Lemon |
| Limãosinho | Citrus minimum | Chinese lemon |
| Limo | Citrus specialium | Lime |
| Lam | (?) | Olive |
| Lencock | Trapa bicornis | Water caltrop |
| Mangas | Mangifera indica | Mango |
| Maçã | Pomus paradisiaca | Apple |
| Marmello bravo | (?) | Quince (Chinese) |
| Peras | Pyrus communis | Pears |
| Pecegos | Precisa | Peach |
| Papayas | Carica papaya | Papaw |
| Romã | Punica granatum | Pomegranate |
| Uvas | Vitis vinifera | Grape |
| Vompit | Cookis puntala | Wampee |
“We are sending therefore 33 kinds of fruits, the production of which can be greatly increased, if there should be good taste and knowledge of what this colony lacks in agriculture, to the point where it should be possible to take advantage of the land, which though limited in area, can be properly developed.
“DESCRIPTION OF THE MACAO PERSIMMON
“The plant which produces this fruit is capable of being greatly developed and is of great importance in China.
“Generally a tree of 7 years produces more than 2,000 fruits, the form and size of which vary. Some are round like oranges and others flat. The latter are larger, the smaller are longish.
“This fruit is generally from 1/2″ to 5” in diameter. It is green but after ripening it becomes red like a tomato, and always fetches a good price.
“By a simple process of drying the fruit can be converted into an excellent paste (Gelatinous pulp) which yields considerable profit.
“The value of the exports of this fruit from Hongkong exceeds $ 60,000 (a year); the fruit is obtained from neighbouring districts and from Japan.
“The tree is very strong and withstands severe typhoons. Its branches are flexible and easily bent, and the wood is useful for handles for tools and is much used in the building of boats and for cars. In spite of the hardness of the wood, the tree grows rapidly and reaches a height of 40 to 50 feet. The leaves are large and round, drying and falling off in winter, leaving golden coloured tufts on the bare branches, containing the beautiful fruit ready to grow in spring, the bright colours of which present an enchanting picture.
“Macao has existed for three and a half centuries and it is a pity to see so much land lying fallow and undeveloped, whereas somebody might embark upon the business of an orchard of this profitable and useful fruit”.
The foregoing remark, appended to the invoice, is very true and gives food for thought. This colony possesses neglected and unproductive land which for many reasons of public interest should be made use of.
“THE PAPAYA
“The tree of this fruit is a most useful one. It can grow to a height of from 30 to 35 feet, and produces about 200 fruits a year; it begins to bear fruit when only 7 or 8 months old.
“The leaves are very bitter and can be used as soap, they remove stains and can be used as an anti-vermicide and for various household remedies. The roots are used for curing worms in dogs. The fibres, after being dried, can be made into rope and woven into a king of cloth, like that of the Manilam called sinamai, a kind of nuno or linen of a cheap Chinese kind, yellow in colour.
“The fruit is green in colour when unripe, and is good for flavouring food; it contains lactative properties very useful for nursing mothers. It is also used for sour pickles and for preserves
“When ripe, the fruit is of a dark yellow and is then sweet and makes delicious eating. It is long in shape and is generally six inches in diameter. The proper season for it is May to July, but some trees yield fruit as late as winter, when the leaves dry up and fall off, the tree standing quite bare in December.
“The flowers differ according to the sex of the tree, and are used for flavouring shell-fish in dishes”.
The above description of the uses to which the Papaya can be put is but one example of many ways in which fruit and vegetables, first introduced by the Portuguese into the East, can be profitably used for cooking, thus creating for them a marketable value not ordinarily thought of. Adepts with an eye to business might be found to test the hint here given.
The older generation of Macao women, and quite a few of the younger, have shown remarkable aptitude in many household accomplishments: they specialise in the making of pickles, sweets, and the other branches of the culinary art. Many of the dishes they prepare contain ingredients from countries where the Portuguese had their previous establishments, and in many cases the flavours of India, Malacca, the East Indies and China may be detected in combination with that of far-off Portugal. This is particularly noticeable in some of the dishes prepared according to time-honoured recipes, some of which are jealously treasured in the family with as much pride as if they belonged to copyrighted recipes of great commercial value.
No one who has partaken of an old-time Macanese festive board can soon forget the attractive delicacies of such a meal. Sauces are a specialty. (Chile sauce, oyster sauce, shrimp and other sauces have been commercialised by enterprising Chinese servants, once in the service of some Macao household but the commercial products have suffered by the desire for larger profits. Hence the production of a cheaper article at the expense of the excellence of the real articles from the original Macanese recipes.) The original genuine sauces defy competition. Sweets, jellies, jams, syrups, puddings are delicious and have a merit all their own, and of cakes, pastries, large and small, of both the sweet and salty variety, there is a large assortment from which to pick and choose. A jelly made from the Chinese pear (perada) is widely and popularly known in almost every Portuguese home in the Far East. The same can be said of pumpkin jam (doce de camalenga), crystallised fruits and fruit-peels, like figs, plums, pumelo-peel, orange peel, and an almost endless variety of other things to add to the list. Pickles are made from a large variety of vegetables, fruits, etc. in various combinations with spices of different kinds any one of which would be gladly accepted by manufacturers in other countries, as great delicacies. They have only to be packed in attractive containers suitably labelled to command a ready sale.
There are seasonal sweetmeats and pastries which are closely associated with all the Church festivities through the year, from Christmas to All Souls’ Day. The traditional production of these delicacies is carried out with almost religious regularity in Macao. The tradition connected with these seasonal attractions is still preserved by the women-folk from Macao to Hongkong, Shanghai and other centres of the Portuguese in the Far East. It is well that ancient custom of associating delicacies with Church festivals has not been lost in the rush to adopt modern customs. May it long be preserved!
Let but one old-time sweet be mentioned to trace the earlier Portuguese associations with India and China. Those of us who have resided in India for any time, will recall how, at certain seasons of the year, a much-prized sweet from Persia finds its way into the bazaars of Calcutta. The sweet in question is called in Hindustani Allua. It is a sort of gelatinous pudding made of rice with ghee flavoured with pistasch and it is packed in a sealed circular container and among those who can pay the price it never fails to command a ready sale. The Macao equivalent of the Persian Allua is known by a very similar name, it is called Halua in the Macaense dialect. The ingredients do not differ vary materially. The difference consists in this; that the Macao article is made of fine butter instead of ghee and the flavouring nut is almond, with grated coconut, instead of pistasch. The Halua is in great vogue in Portuguese homes at Christmas time and is very popular. Wedding and Christmas cakes and decorations and christening and birthday favours form a branch of household art at which Macao women appear to excel; they delight in accepting orders for these and take great pleasure in producing “favours” of original design, appealing to the eye and acceptable at these social functions, as keepsakes by the guests who have been known to vie with one another in the effort to acquire them.
If only the Macao women would attempt to produce the various delicious preparations in commercial quantities for the export trade there can be no doubt that a profitable industry could be usefully developed. The idea is here put forward in the hope of seeing it taken up some day by an enterprising industrialist, and it is one of those things that should command Government support. Modesty has held back Macao women from venturing into the remunerative field of industry, but there is every reason to believe that given encouragement there is a promising future for Macao women in the preserved-foods industry. This recommendation should make an appeal to the Macao Government, which might help in the marketing of the output and thereby employ Macao labour to advantage and profit.
Macao women are known to be adepts also at needlework, like embroidery and lace-making. At knitting and crocheting they are very proficient, making lovely bed-spreads of wonderful design and in this they can take their place with the best trained in other countries. They have passed on this skill to women and girls, inmates of convents and other charitable institutions. Great industries in various places in China can trace their origin to Macao.
Macao women are known to be adepts also at needlework, like embroidery and lace-making. At knitting and crocheting they are very proficient, making lovely bed-spreads of wonderful design and in this they can take their place with the best trained in other countries. They have passed on this skill to women and girls, inmates of convents and other charitable institutions. Great industries in various places in China can trace their origin to Macao.
In the commodities exchanged between Europe and China is included a large variety of natural products from the East and of manufactured articles from the West. In earlier chapters, we have touched upon the wealth of spices and such like produce with which the early Portuguese voyagers filled the holds of their galleons and which they deposited at various stopping places on the homeward journey. How eagerly they were traded for the manufactures of the Occident. Woollen goods and other heavy cloths for garments, for the cold latitudes of Northern China found their way to the East, while cotton textiles and lighter materials, such as the celebrated gangas and nuno cloths and brightly coloured cotton material, in a variety of multi-coloured patterns, found their way into Macao and thence to Canton for use in South China. Through the latter channel, Canton, the chitas (as the variegated cotton prints for short jackets and skirts were called) were exported to Malacca and the East Indies. Mirrors and glassware, clocks at first (and watches, later), perfumes of every king, small tools and mechanical appliances, and such like, were very popular with the Chinese.
The Portuguese created markets which at a later period passed into other hands and for which, towards the end of the XIXth century, the Germans catered. In the second and third decades of the XXth century the Japanese stepped in as successful competitors. Their less expensive productions made possible through skilful industrial organisation and effective advertising were responsible for this.
A system of weights and measures, currency facilities and procedure, stores for ships’ supplies, and above all a lingua franca, which all others after them utilized for many years, were among the contributions made by the Portuguese to the trade of the East. We may pass over their educative work in other directions, e. g., in architecture, their plans and designs for houses, with broad roofed-in verandahs, eminently suited to tropical climates, with comfortable, spacious and lofty rooms, glass panes, shuttered windows; furniture, like tables and chairs; cutlery, lamps; new articles of vegetable foods, like bread, cocoa, coffee, etc.; new methods of agriculture resulting in new industries; new social customs and several domestic influences.
Of the Portuguese it can truly be said that “they looked to the sea and there they found their destiny!” Yet what a pathetic community, which once had so many ships! On account of the total absence of regular sea communication between Portugal and her colonies, both the Mother Country and her colonies have languished in an age when competitors have forged ahead by leaps and bounds to reap the advantage which the courage, foresight and determination of Portugal’s sons made possible to others with the ability not to lead her but to follow.
Under the guidance of the world-famous Salazar, however, Portugal may now be resurrected from her somnolence in trade and mercantile navigation, and be given courage and determination to revive her commercial intercourse with, on the one hand, her African dominions and, on the other, her Eastern Colonies. The vast territories of Angola and Portuguese East Africa have been lying fallow for years and may, if further neglected, in time, be lost on the commercial map of the world.a But let another Lusitanian arise, of the broad and confident outlook and spirit of a Henry the Navigator – never fearing, never faltering – and he will revivify the Portuguese once more into shipping activity. And we shall see what the progenitors of Portugal of the XVth and XVIth centuries may not do again the bustling XXth century! The world is on the very verge of a great transformation following this cataclysmic war, and every Portuguese looks up to a successor of Prince Henry to restore his country to “a place in the sun” before it is too late and the unique chance be lost once and for all!
It may be a pious hope, but, nevertheless, it is one, that Portugal and China may march along hand in hand as the two Nations which in 1554 first reached the spiritual understanding which Providence has shaped into the material growth of China. The prodigious wealth of this country, its illimitable resources and widespread influence have made the whole world pause and begin seriously to think that none can predict what is going to be China’s ultimate destiny! Let it be hoped that Macao will be permitted a generous share in the great future of the East!