A Day in Macao [pp. 666-684]

1883.] A DAYINMAcAo. 68i
its services at this time, and as we approached the part of the
space in which it performed the tragedy was already in progress.
Tjiat is, I suppose it was a tragedy, for, as far as I was able to
see over the heads of the people, the actors were rushing hither
and thither over the stage as though something of moment was
taking place, and a white devil was constantly appearing and
disappearing. In all their plays there is a devil with chalked
face and hands; and but that he is gorgeously arrayed in flowing
robes of damask silks and satins, and wears a heavy curved sword
like Othello's, he would, for all the world, look like the clown
in a pantomime. But in this play there were two devils, and I,
not understanding a word that was said, concluded that it must
certainly be heavy tragedy to require so many.
We had not long taken our position in front of a station.house
before the line of the procession began to pass by. It was not
a military display, for the only weapons carried were curious
curved swords. Nor was it an exhibition of the various trades.
It is difficult to tell exactly what it was, save that to the Chinese
and to the native Portuguese, unacquainted with the military
displays of Europe and America, it was a gorgeous pageant, but
to the foreigner there was a wearisome sameness about it, accompanied with a horrible noise called music. It was merely a long
string of coolies, twenty thousand or more, all straggling along
the dusty streets to the music of hautboys and tom-toms, the
clashing of cymbals, and the noise of gongs, making no attempt
at marching, but each walking as it best suited him. What the
Chinese appear most to want in these displays is not symmetry and order, but noise; and in this they are certainly successful, for scarcely is one band past than another is approaching,
and to the foreign ear it seems as though there was a spirited
rivalry between them as to which could make the most of it.
Many of the coolies were barefoot and hatless, others were
resplendent in silks, while still others had thrown over their
shoulders the gaudy cloaks of mandarins, their legs dressed in
the tattered breeches of chair-coolies; and some, being fat and the
day warm, with the cloak thrown open, exposing the bare skin.
Since the Chinaman seems to be nothing without his lantern,
there were thousands of all styles and shapes in the line. Handsome embroideries were borne along, and curious cabinets, some
filled with rare carvings, others having pairs of stuffed storks or
roasted pigs garnished with fruits, others again with miniature
pagodas with tinkling bells, f~rmed a feature of the procession.
-There were sedan-chairs in which sat coolies acting as mandarins,