Show monte carto carh of the line orient wit e 1 7 street scene in macao Pre prepared hy by national geria apolo society Soc toty washington D C Q service ACAO which has long been M MACAO one of the gambling centers of the east now with modern improvements Is earning the right to the sobriquet the monte carlo of the orient it Is the only place in the world where tantan tan fan tan houses opium factories and lottery tickets finance a colonial government macao is but the tip end of tile the island of Heung shan also known as macao island all of the island ex es capt the tip belongs to china the portuguese area which includes two small adjacent islands embraces less than a dozen square miles but there are few places in the orient where a dozen square miles contain so much of interest it Is the oldest european settlement in the far east and was for ion long the only haven of refuge ge for distressed mariners marinero ma in the china sea its modest lighthouse on fort gula was the first that ever flashed a beacon from the coast of the chinese empire and its little cemetery was tor for many year the only spot where a european might find an unmolested grave many wealthy chinese live here not merely because they find the climate more salubrious than that of kwang tune province but because their heads rest more securely on oil their shoulders here under the portuguese lag flag the praia grande Is a cool and restful avenue and leads appropriately to a plaza which is the vestibule of the grotto and garden of campens Ca the plaza Is to be seen at its best on sundays find and holidays when nhen the band from the portuguese garrison plays classical selections with the same ease and perfection that endear the constabulary band to the fill pinos on such occasions the plaza Is adorned with the elite of with chinese and eurasian children of the cunning type and with dark eyed portuguese girls who flirt discreetly but none done the less effectively with the young officers from the garrison scones scenes on the plaza this romantic plaza in macao serves the traveler like a page torn from a school geography here stalking grandly across the square one sees a swarthy oriental noncommissioned officer with his head draped in a striped turban and wonders what the hindu Is doing here some one explains that he belongs here that he belongs to the battalion sent here from goa the tiny portuguese tz colony in india then another apparition catches the eye the silhouette of a row of ivory black soldiers topped olt oft wl with h red fezzes festooned festoon ed over the rall rail fence in front of the barracks plainly they are not portuguese nor hindu nor chinese suddenly one of the dusky soldiers lays his head back and laughs laughs loudly and long lomg the identification to Is instantaneous and complete there Is no mistaking thae that laugh it Is the same that you hear on the levees of the ohio and the mississippi it was made in africa and these ar are e native troops from a portuguese colony somewhere along the hot steaming coast of the dark continent to those who have sojourned sojourn ed among the frontier forces of the french in 1 the senegal of the british in sierra leone of the Liber lans at monrovia or of the sudanese on the u upper nile the spectacle brings back old memories near the grotto of campens Is a hallowed garden one seldom visited save by the few who seek it it Is the little gods acre of the english r chapel the lonely burial ground of the pioneers who died in the china sea in those early years when there was no nappy happy valley at hongtong Hong kong where portugal and china meet but these details are not for tile speeding traveler tra celer lie he gleans the essential facts from a guidebook en route hla his all comprehending eye sweeps the landscape while the nong hung kong macao boat leisurely makes its way up to the dock where the jin coolie Is waiting to whirl him around the circuit and back to the gangplank A stroll past the grotto of the poet a snapshot snaps liot of the imps ing facade of ruined sao rau paulos ios a brief glance at a fan tan game a two minute detour at the opium factory ten minutes at tile the firecracker fire cracker erricker works a whirlwind finish at the barrier gate sad macao has been seen at least on the average tourist schedule the barrier gate designed like an arch of triumph and now wreathed by the branches of venerable trees makes an arresting silhouette especially when you pause to consider that this Is the only place in the world where portugal Is bounded by china the spot Is more historic than the average vl visitor realizes this little neck of the island Is the place where in 1537 1337 the western world secured its first foothold in the far east it Is true that magellan had landed in the philippines earlier but it was not until 1507 that legaspi established a permanent settlement at cebu in 1557 the unwelcome portuguese invaders were officially given permission to remain in macao and in 1573 the chinese government built a barrier wall across the neck of the island to fence thern them out six times a month the gate was opened to permit supplies to be imported by the isolated foreigners who held tenure by virtue of the payment of an annual rental this arrangement was abruptly terminated in when the portuguese governor general refused to pay rent any longer and ejected through the gate the chinese officials sent to collect it the present carrier barrier gate was then erected to commemorate the event with a guard of portuguese soldiers on one side of the gate and representatives of the chinese republic on the other the carrier barrier gate reminds you of the neutral strip at gibraltar with britain and spain on guard at each end making firecrackers returning along the beautiful driveway you find it convenient to stop at the outskirts of tile city and take a few lessons in the craftsmanship of firecrackers the process of manufacture is so simple that even the two hour tourist may learn to roll his own first you make the tiny paper tubes and paste red paper around them it is like lie hie traditional method of making doughnuts first make the dole hole ant and then mold the dough around I 1 it L next you take a double handful of the little tubes stand thern them on end and tie a string around the bundle then you paste white paper firmly across the top and the bottom so that the openings of the tubes are covered with a crude instrument that looks like a nail punch you perforate the top paper rapidly to admit to each tube first a layer of clay then the powder and the fuse and another layer of clay finally you string together the required number wrap them in a net package ami affix your fancy label and the work Is in done the chinese have been making firecrackers after this fashion tor for many centuries and have acquired amazing dexterity fan tan Is another monument to the patience of the chinese people it Is one form of gambling with which the western world Is not likely to become infected it la Is too slow for the occidental who knows many ways of arriving at the same results more speedily how fan tan Is I 1 played the paraphernalia of the game Is all downstairs but the aristocratic gambler prefers the second floor in the center of the large room Is a sort of light well surrounded by a railing over which a motley crowd Is always leaning since the gaming table Is directly beDea beneath tb every movement can be seen to advantage on the long table are charts bearing the numerals 1 2 3 and 4 and the game Is simpli simplicity elty itself you may bet on any one or all the numerals and you may wager any amount you choose your stake Is lowered to the table in a little basket and placed on the numeral you designate when the crucial moment has arrived the master of ceremonies who sits at the head of the table pours out a gallon or two of cash the familiar chinese coins with square holes in the center then with a little rake he begins rapidly to draw them th in four at a time the spectators on the mezzanine floor stop cracking watermelon seeds and eagerly wait tor for the last motion of the rake it I 1 takes about live five or ten minutes to reach the fateful termination and the issue depends upon the number of cash basli left tor for the last move I 1 if jou have placed your bet on number 3 and there are three cash left you have won twice the amount of your wager less 10 per cent commission if there are I 1 or 3 2 or 4 cash remaining you hane haie lost |