MACAO IN THE LIFE AND WORKS OF VENCESLAU DE MORAIS

During the sixteenth century China was described by Fernão Mendes Pinto and other chroniclers as a luxuriantly multifaceted utopian land. Venceslau de Morais's perspective of the Middle Kingdom during its period of decadence was quite the contrary.

First-lieutenant Venceslau de Morais arrived at Macao on board the Índia on the 7th of July 1888. "It was to be the first contact of Venceslau de Morais with that mysterious and exotic China which was enrapture his emotive temperament as an artist."1

On the 8th of July, Morais left his post at the India and started a new post as chief officer of the gunboat Rio Lima. The vessel departed almost immediately to Hong Kong to be serviced. On board were the governor of Macau, Lieutenat-Colonel Firmino José da Costa, returning to Portugal at the end of his mandate in the territory. The gunboat was back in Macao on the 28th of October of the same year. Its commander, lieutenant-captain José Ribeiro de Santa Bárbara, in one of his reports, stated that Morais was "[...] assiduous and untiringly on duty [...]." And he added: "He is quite bright officer, zealous and a model of good qualities, both civil and military."2

During the following months the Rio Lima made several duty trips, visiting Timor, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Xiamen· and Fuzhou. · In 1889, it dropped anchor in Shanghai. The Macanese colony then residing in this city numbered more than three hundred people. From Shanghai· the vessel departed to Dagu· (near Tianjin)· and Qufu.·

In 1889 Morais set foot for the first time in Japan. He was overwhelmed by what he experienced. He visited Nagasaki, Yokohama and Tokyo, returning to Macao on the 3rd of September. His next trip on board the Rio Lima took him again to Shanghai and Hong Kong.

On the 31st of December 1889 Morais was transferred to the gunboat Tejo, the commanding vessel of the Estação Naval de Macau (Macao Naval Station). Morais was appointed chief officer of the vessel. On the 3rd of March 1890 Morais was upgraded to commander of the Tejo.

On the 20th of April the Tejo left for Bangkok. The Macanese community in this town numbered approximately fifty residents: "This first experience as a commander [of the gunboat Tejo] and the Siam mission demonstrated the outstanding skills of Venceslau de Morais as diplomat and naval officer."3 He was then awarded a number of eulogies.

In 1890 Custódio Miguel Borja was nominated the new governor of Macao, disembarking at Praia Grande on the 16th of October of that same year.

On the 20th of January 1891, Morais was appointed interim commander of the Macao Naval Station. He was to keep this position only until the month of March, because having finished its commission of the China seas, the gunboat Tejo, under the command of Morais, returned to Portugal: "This voyage from Macao to Lisbon, in an old vessel riddled with problems confirmed the high expertise of Venceslau de Morais as a fine naval officer, a consumed diplomat and a good leader of seamen."4

Returning to Macao in 1891, Morais was promoted to Lieutenant-Captain and given the post of Chief Officer of the Captain in Chief of the Macao port authorities.

In June 1893 Morais was charged to purchase artillery from the Japanese imperial arsenals to supply the military needs of the territory. He was once again praised for the outcome of this mission "[...] for the intelligence and dedicated zeal shown in the accomplishment of this comission for which he had been appointed by the portaria (administrative rule) of the 3rd of June 1893."5

Following this event Morais was requested to again take over the post of delegate of the Superintendent for the Import and Export of Opium, in Macau. On the 3rd of February 1894 Morais was relieved of this post.

On the 30th of December 1893 he was again promoted, to captain.

On the 16th of April 1894, Morais became professor of Matemática Elementar (Elementary Mathematics) at the Liceu Nacional (National Secondary School) of Macao.

On the 4th of July 1897 Morais was a member of the retinue of the governor of Macao, Colonel Eduardo Galhardo, during his official visit to Japan. The diplomatic mission was welcomed in Kyoto by the Meiji emperor, returning to Macao on the 28th of August of that same year.

On the 22nd of September 1897 Morais was appointed as one of the examining jurors at the National Secondary School of Macao.

On the 8th of June 1898 Morais was relieved of his post of chief officer of the Macao port authorities and was appointed as the entity in charge of the administration of the Portuguese Consulate in Kobe and Osaka.6 This was to be the beginning of Morais' 'Japanese period'. He would never again return to China.

Morais's connection with Macao had lasted continuously for a period of about ten years, from 1888 to 1898. During those years he amply proved to be a brilliant naval officer: "As commander of the gunboat Tejo, and in the two trips during which this vessel was under his responsibilities, it shines forth the bright and distinguished professional who, with knowledge and expertise, correctly made the best of the vessel's vulnerabilities, and who, when ashore, was so extremely courteous in addressing local authorities."7

Before serving on the Tejo, Morais met, in Macao, a Chinese woman, Atchan, with whom he lived. Probably born in Guangdong province, she settled in Macao later in her life. Morais raved about the delicate smoothness of her hands and the black sparkle of her eyes.8 Atchan had two sons from Morais, later visiting the writer in Japan, in 1908 and 1927. In his will, drawn in Tokushima in 1919, Morais declared his heirs his two sons. 9

In a letter dated from Macao, the 20th of May 1895, Morais wrote: "The plague is upon us. It has already claimed hundreds of Chinese victims and quite a few Macanese. So far there are no casualities among the Europeans. The vast population of the bazaar is now leaving to a number of different regions in mainland China. Macao is becoming increasingly deserted. There is peace between China and Japan."10

In his first book Traços do Extremo Oriente (Sketches of the Orient), Morais frequently mentioned China. In it there are descriptions of the floating quarters in Guangzhou which he described as a floating metropolis. He also dedicated to Camões Grotto in Macao some anthology pages: "The garden of the Camões Grotto is one of the most fascinating places of this diminute land of ours in the Far East. The prestige of its old legend is reenacted in the charming site. Its summit position dominates vast horizons. The lush vegetation of the site is here safely sheltered against the rockeries from the inclement fury of the typhoons." And Morais continues describing the superb panorama seen from the garden: "Down below lies the Chinese city with its prodigious amalgamation of black houses and the meandering pattern of alleyways. The turbulent sounds of a thousand shouts from the bazaars' street vendors reaches this site together with the curious shrieking of the boys, the beating of drums and the noise of festive firecrackers."11

Also vivid and colourful is his description of Qingming, · the celebration of the day of the dead. On the 5th of April 1890 Morais went to the city's cemeteries and assisted at the ceremonies. In the chapter Na rua (On the Street) Morais described Rua da Felicidade (Street of Happiness), with its restaurants, fantan· gambling houses, the flower street sellers, and the pleasure dens. Sketchily, Morais describes the people's frenzy in the streets of Macao, everyday scenes and even the smells of foods. Other renderings such as his description of the half-caste and the lepers are more gloomy. Combate de feras (Beasts Fight) is a jolly and exotic vignette: the "beasts" are crickets. O encanto dos charcos (The Beauty of the Ponds) is soaked by the inherent beauty of the Chinese rural landscape. On a sunny Sunday, Morais strolled in the countryside accompanied by his dog Kowloon. He described the charms of this countryside with the delicate hues of a fervent watercolourist. Um eclipse total da lua (A Full Eclipse of the Moon) is about this spectacular phenomenon. Leaving Macao aside for a moment Morais pays attention to native China: "Not long ago, the footpaths flooded by the white shine of the moon and demarcated by the embroidered shadows of the vegetation, look extremely inviting for a stroll. But not now; now they are exhausted. The city stands still. It's well past ten o'clock tonight and in the Chinese land all field labour stops at sunset. Inside the houses with their tightly shut doors, some still work while others sip tea in intimate gatherings. In the pleasure dens, while the rich smoke opium or linger over prodigious meals, the girls with flowers in their hair and wrapped in silks sing tunes or throw kisses accompanied by the gentle fluttering of their fans."12 Far away the echoing of drums...

In Os Templos (The Temples) Venceslau speaks of sanctuaries in the vicinty of Macao: the one in Cat-tae, [sic], that of Zhuxiandong· in the island of Lapa and the "Eleven Tables" of the excursionists.

Other notes speak of reminiscences between Portuguese sailors and Chinese boatwomen. According to Morais, time passed swiftly in Macao, the life easygoing and the climate salubrious if compared with that of Africa. Disembarking from their vessels on board tanka boats, in land the sailors roamed about in peddy cabs, shopped around and played fantan. In a sketch from 1892, Tankás e marinheiros (Tanka women and mariners) Morais describes the love of the mariner José Ilhéu and tanka woman Atahú.

In another intimate short story entitled A minha casa (My House) Morais describes how he had settled in Macao. When he arrived he had only two suitcases with clothes and a crate of books. He tells of his excursions to the local tintins (antique shops) choosing items to furnish his house and their Chinese ambiances. In the inner courtyard he had some plants and fishes. He was happy in Macao: "Everything seems fine. These Japanese pictures constrasting with the white walls pleasantly remind me of that marvelous land of Nippon, where I traveled with much interest some years ago. On the bookshelves, stand neatly ordered my favourite books, my faithful companions. On the large table, a real working table, lays a Japanese porcelain vase with lush green leaves; in a corner, in a jar, is a branch of fresh and perfumed flowers; the paper, the plumes, the inkpot, the tobacco, the small nothings of everyday use lay in clusters or heaped up in my very personal manner, inviting to intellectual work in the quite serenity of solitude."13 But in that day of March 1892, a sudden anguish, a painful affliction assaulted Morais: the only thing that he really lacked was a perfect happiness explaining and fulfilling the reason of his existence... it was an excruciating malaise.

The last story of Traços do Extremo Oriente called Últimos apontamentos da China (Last notes on China) evokes the archetypal Chinese plants: rice and bamboo.

Although Traços do Oriente is a beautiful book it is certainly less inspired than Dai-Nippon, the author's following work.

For Morais, Japan was an enchanted land, while for him China was, in general, a land of "[...] desolation and anguish." This distinction most probably contributed towards the qualitative difference between the two works. Morais's gloomy description of contemporary China in Dai-Nippon is elucidative: "Oh, this China with its four hundred million inhabitants, its vast domain, its inexhaustible thirst for culture and industriousness is, despite all, the greatest land of desolation and anguish." And he proceeds sinisterly describing the cult of the dead, country villages, markets, houses and even landscapes. "Now Nature: the picture alternates, its either icy or prolonged inert hazes, or irradiations of burning and torrid sunshine that not even the exterminating typhoon gales manage to dissipate. It is a constant scenario of agony, of barren shores, of wide and muddy rivers, of pestilential pools, of windswept lanky vegetation to which contribute, destituted of grace, the green wash of the rice paddies, of those interminable rice paddies."14

Based on the correspondence of the writer with Francisco do Rosário - who had been under his orders at the Macao Naval Station - and in voluminous correspondence with rear-admiral João Moreira de Sá, Armando Martins Janeira brought to light some details of the relationship between Morais and Atchan. Janeira feels that "[...] until the last days of his life Venceslau kept a deep feeling of warm friendship for Atchan. This is plainly understood from his [Morais] intimate and unpublished correspondence with Moreira de Sá"15

During the time he lived in Macao, Morais saw Camilo Pessanha almost daily. Maria José Lencastre says: "When Camilo Pessanha arrives for the first time in Macao, in 1894, Venceslau de Morais was already teaching at the recently founded [National] Secondary School of Macao. Their fraternal bonds and links of intellectual friendship were to last throughout their entire lives, and after 1899, when Venceslau left China for Japan. Pessanha frequently mentions in many of his letters, having exchanged mail with Venceslau de Morais. Unfortunately, this correspondence no longer survives. The only fragment of these literary exchanges between Pessanha and Morais is the citation of a few lines in a letter from the Poet [Pessanha] to his cousin José Benedito, sent from Lamego, when he returned to metropolitan Portugal [back from Macao] for the first time. It reads: "Letter from Venceslau received: "On another hand, I feel my soul fleeting, I feel the burden of years, sad and irretrievably condenmed. I sense a Jewish-like fatality burdening myself, an incompatibility with all lands, a deathly stiffness. Should it come, death, it would be the greatest and most logic remedy for my state of mind." Pessanha's poetry entitled Viola Chinesa (Chinese Guitar), dated "Macao, July 1898", is dedicated to Venceslau de Morais. Also dedicated to Morais are Elegia Chinesa II (Chinese Elegy II) and Elegia Chinesa III (Chinese Elegy III), published in the weekly "O Progresso de Macau" ("Macao Progress"), in September 1914. Furthermore, Pessanha's correspondence contains a series of allusions to Morais, 16besides those already mentioned.

The Asia Library of the University of Foreign Studies in Kyoto, keeps three unpublished letters by Venceslau de Morais where he speaks of Macao and local people. He unfavourably alludes to his fellow teachers at the Secondary School. An excerpt says: "Pessanha says that he is surprised with my silence. But he must have received by now a satisfying letter of mine."17 In another letter he says: "Oh yes, according to what he tells me, our dear Pessanha was so villainously cheated that he was left with no option other than to request his resignation from the National Secondary School. I am deeply sorry for him because, despite all and his stubborness about remaining in Macao, the best post for him [in the territory] is to be a teacher. I am sending him an embrace."18

In these letters Morais makes reference to a number of other persons from Macao. One of the mentioned individuals is the governor Eduardo Galhardo (°1845-†1908), famous for his military deeds in the fight of Coolela against [the African tribe's chief] Gungunhana, in 1895.

After serving his time in Macao he was appointed governor of the Portuguese State of India. Morais does not seem to have been one of his sympathisers, the letters also mention Barjona de Freitas, Hintze Ribeiro (with depreciation) and Fialho de Almeida (with laudation). Also mentioned are Horta and Borja, two socialites of that time, in Macao. In 1900 rumours from Hong Kong reached Morais that one of them was a possible candidate for governor of the Portuguese colony.

There is also a passage about the Boxers' Uprising: "So I hear that the noble colony is at a loss with the Boxers! Speaking for myself, I must say that I am sorry if no opportunity will be found to give them all a deserving prize for their virtues."19 The Uprising (1899-1900) was the reaction against a conservationist national policy after the Chinese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War. In order to protect the Portuguese citizens, Portugal dispatched a gunboat stationed in Macao. The Boxer Uprising was one of the factors which led to the proclamation of the Republic of China, in 1911. 20

Included in Morais's posthumous book Cartas Íntimas (Intimate Letters) are a bundle of letters from the author to his eldest sister Emília, dated from 1888 to 1896. These letters express the extreme affection that the writer had for the family that he had in Lisbon. 21

From 1900 to 1914 Morais wrote sixteen letters and three postcards to José Godinho dos Santos, his old friend and classmate of the Escola Naval (Navy School). The first letters were first sent by sea-mail, the remainder of the correspondence following in the Transiberian. Campos, chief officer of the Adamastor when he received the first letter from Morais, then raised to rear-admiral, the position which he occupied when received the concluding postcards of this correspondence.22 In a letter from Kobe, dated 1905, Morais mentions Macao, saying: "I've been feeling anxious about leaving this perch. But, if I go, the alternatives are retirement and total lethargy, most probably not in the Kingdom, but in Macao, where 'fate' is calling. Well, I find it hard to decide for this premature sepulchre; I would rather be in company of the devil; but what bends does not break and despite being weak, I am far from dying. [...] If I retire [...] I intend to go to Macao. What an end to the 'Portuguese Loti'!"23

A certain bitterness about Macao and the colony's Portuguese civil service transpires from Morais's comments. Janeira comments: "During the first years in the Navy he was steadily promoted. At barely thirty-seven he dropped anchor in Lisbon as commander of a navy vessel. His departure to Macao came to jeopardise his career. He was disillusioned by not being placed in charge of the captain in chief of the Macao port authorities, the post being given to a younger officer. Probably, when he decided to accept an interim consular post he already had in mind to become a writer. It is therefore not surprising that the lack of dreamed of triumphs and successive disappointments gradually soaked with bitterness his exile."24

Osoroshi, another posthumous work, also mentions Macao. This work is a compilation of letters sent from Kobe and Tokushima, from 1905 to 1929, to the artillery officer Alfredo Dias Branco. Branco was the commander of the Grupo de Artilharia de Guamição (Garrison Artillery Group) of Macao, from 1905 to 1907.

In one of his letters to him Morais talks abouts China: "China and the Chinese are far worse than Japan and the Japanese; nonetheless China and the Chinese are also deserving of interest and sympathy. I recommend to you the leisurely excursions to Ribeira Grande (Great Brook), Onze Mesas (Eleven Tables), Águas Quentes (Hot Waters), Casa Branca (White House), etc., and above all to Guangzhou, which is certainly impressive! [...] Chinese art is also interesting, for example, painting, ceramics and ivories. Chinese literature and fables are treasures of elegance, but it is most difficult to start unravelling them." After deploring Western imperialism which, according to him oppressed China, Morais continues: "Please do go to Qianshan· where I frequently went unaccompanied in a tanka, returning by foot. You must go and see Hot Waters; they are quite curious. All the [Pearl] river is extremely interesting; half way up there is a little village. I can no longer remember its name but it is certainly worth a visit. Eleven Tables, Great Brook, Biashaling, · etc., and a walkway along the waterfront beyond the Portas do Cerco (Border Gates) must certainly be seen. And after visiting all these spots, and Lapa [island], and the leprosy [in Coloane] lot, and after giving due thought to all you have experienced, go to Guangzhou, you must see Guangzhou, the merchants' streets, the tanka flower boats, the river, Foshan, · the five-storied pagoda, the prisons, Henan· and its temples, etc., etc., because Guangzhou is one of the greatest marvels of the whole world!"25 An in another letter from 1907 Morais emphasises: "Macao proper is bewitching and deeply moving."26 Despite old age and the longing for death, Morais held China in a deeper appreciation in his declining years than when young.

A short narrative entitled Os Padresinhos (The Little Priests) in another of his posthumous works, Páginas Africanas (African Pages), is a reminiscence of an encounter about children destined for the Macao seminary. 27

China is once again described in A Vida Japonesa (Japanese Life). The literary works of Morais and his admirer Fialho de Almeida are both fragmentary, contradictory and repetitive. What else could be expected from chronicles destined to be published in a daily newspaper such as the "Comércio do Porto" ("Commerce of Oporto").

In this book Morais makes several comments about the financial world of Macao. In it he made references to the threatening competition to the colony's monopolies on opium, lotteries, vai-seng and fantan. He concludes: "However, Macao being a kind of Far-Eastern Monaco, must dare to embark in more serious pursuits otherwise, it will become engulfed by the wave of neighbouring challenging energies."28

Morais also showed some interest about the import of Portuguese wines in China. He happily mixed with Macanese army officers. One of these officers was a son of Cristóvão Aires, author of a number of important articles of a predecessor of Morais in the Orient: Fernão Mendes Pinto.

Morais mentioned once again the "[...] remote landmark of our feats in this same Far East- Macao, that bold outcrop of the Chinese coast almost fully bogged in the murky waters of the Guangdong estuary."

And he reminisced about the death of Ferreira do Amaral, in 1849, and the feats of lieutenant Vicente Nicolau Mesquita. And he concluded: "This great military feat is commemorated in the Border Gates triumphal arch with the following inscription: "Honrai a Pátria, que a Pátria vos contempla." ("Honour the Motherland, because Motherland contemplates you.")29Other sections of the text show that Morais was alert to the awakening of Chinese nationalism which, in his opinion, would eventually sweep away the foreign influence from the Heavenly Empire. Morais was a dedicated reader of Oliveira Martins. He describes in gloomy traces the political, economic and religious expansion of the West in Asia.

Cartas do Japão (Letters from Japan) makes a few more allusions to Macao. Morais had realised that the hegemony of the West in Asia would, sooner or later, clash with the Japanese growing military powers. Japan believed that it had the messianic task of free Asia by crushing the Western powers. But Japan was also conscious that in order to suppress its enemies, it had to do it gradually: "It would be suicidal for the Japanese to simultaneously expel all Westerners from Indonesia, Hong Kong, Macao, Jiuzhou· (Germans), the Philippines and Java."30 Morais also foresaw that Japan would have to finally confront the United States of America, its main rival in the Pacific.

In 1908, Morais was optimistic about the future of China: "No one can foresee how China will be in twenty or fifty years time. But one can sense that history will be awarded with the most marvellous and astonishing facets of the transformation and regeneration of a country, that only a human 'family' can accomplish." After the proclamation of the Republic in 1912 by Sun Zhongshan, · he pondered: "This is the dawn of another China, still hesitant and inexperienced but eager to learn, fervourous of modern emotions, drunk with tremendous ideals! [...] One day the Western world will have to face this China, or, more precisely, with a rising new Asia."32 And he rejoiced with the triumphant nationalism which aimed at resurrecting the glorious traditions of the vast Chinese civilization.

Paisagens da China e do Japão (Landscapes of China and Japan) contains a number of narratives about Chinese legends and the country's nature. In As borboletas (The Butterflies) Morais enthusiastically raves about the beauty of these insects: "China probably has the most beautiful of them [butterflies] all. It is wonderful to surprise them in the quieteness of the woods, flying in pairs, touching and embracing themselves and penetrating the mysterious shades of the bamboo groves. Their wings are tremulous, of marvellous colourings and with velvety blacks, soft blues, warm yellows. It is as if, in their folly, they are wearing satin or luxuriously silk changshan [...]"33 And Morais told the tragic love story of the charming "Zhu Yingtai"· and her companion "Leun-San-Pac"· set in a village on the Yangzi· river. He described the wedding cortége of the unfortunate bride to be wedded to a stranger imposed by the family: "The traditions of one thousand years ago are still the same. Big balloons and flag poles carried by young men dressed in red. Extraordinary attires, changshan, the groups of minute little shoes, all neatly set in the shining enamelled sedan chairs. There are colossal displays of sweets, castles of puffed sugar, dragons of sugar, astonishing things. Roasted porks, crispy and delicious splayed open on trays, decorated with bows and ribbons in their snouts. The children are all dressed-up in satin clothes embroidered with allegorical scenes of bygone eras, and perched leisurely on sluggish horses. And finally comes the sedan chair of the bride, resplendent in gold, lined with enamel, sealed as a coffer, hidden from the sights of the curious crowds, "Zhu Yingtai". But she is devoured by the soil: "Then suddenly, the silk cloth of a thousand hues turns into a butterfly of a thousand colours, escaping from rough handling, vanishing on the blue of the sky, vanishing! [...] The legend says that the origin of such gorgeous butterflies, so rich in hues, goes back to that event!"34 This beautiful story was dedicated to Moreira de Sá.

O Ano Novo (New Year) is a much more gloomy narrative. It was dedicated to Feliciano do Rosário. It is a chronical about Macao set "[...] in the hubbub of this nostalgic colony." It's the Chinese lunar New Year, the beginning of Guangxu· reign, year 22. Morais evokes "[...] the pale reflex of Western civilization which managed to reach Macao, this reduced Asian crag where Portugal firmly sets its flag." Macao celebrates, the sound of firecrackers resounds, from the thousands of boats rise multiple clamours It was cold. It poured incessantly. Morais felt"[...] a shrill on his soul [...]", the "[....] nerve-wrecking apathy [...]" of his mind; he endured the jubilations of the crowds with "[...] a bitter smile [...]" on his lips. He did not participate in the communal rejoicing. He described the muddy streets, the black changshan soaked by the rain, "[...] the trembling lights of the paper lanterns [...]." He over-emphasised the Chinese fixation for gambling. He described the misery of life and oppression in contemporary China. The south of the country was rife with plague. China was coming to terms with the consequences of its defeat by Japan. Morais made a bleak portrait of [Chinese] distress, fatalities of existence, horrors of prostitution, its mandarins' extortions and the long roll of humiliations imposed by the foreigners. He commiserated about all the disasters which assailed China: illnesses, cholera, the plague, leprosy, promiscuity, excess of population, calamitous mortality. 35

The China of the Manchu emperors -- the Qing -- was but a pale glow of the splendours of the previous Ming dynasty, during which the Empire had control over Korea, Mongolia, Turkestan, Burma, Siam, Vietnam and vast regions of Oriental Asia. Porcelain and enamels, the most refined symbols of Chinese arts, had reached the peak of perfection under the patronage of the Ming. On the contrary, during the Qing rule, the Empire was gradually weakened by successive rebellions of extremist mass groups such as the Taiping and the Boxers. Assailed by natural calamities, it experienced the gradual empoverishment of the populace. It sunk under the most abject humiliations imposed by the Western powers and Japan. This decline reached its ultimate debacle under the Dowager Empress Cixi. · Morais saw nothing but calamities. He could not conceive the resurrection of a new China.

Another story entitled A primeira formiga (The First Ant) makes reference to the times of the Tai-Sun emperor and the penitent woman Tchong-Mou-In.

In Bao Wencheng he describes the servants quarters of his Macao house. He describes the religious devotions of his cook: "Mystical fires are lit and frequently, throughout the night, incense burns, vermillion tapers, resins and papers, all exhaling an awful smoke which spreads as a whirlpool all over the house, invading without ceremony to the place where I am, intoxicating me. One must be patient. Patience indeed is the sole code of behaviour to an adventurer who chose exile in an exotic location remote from one's cosy homeplace, which disparate civilization and the traits of all those whom one daily meets will fatally become prevailing."36 Morais's following narrative is about the god Bao Wencheng, · venerated throughout the vast [Chinese] empire.

Amores [...] (Loves [...]) is the register of an "[...] impression of Macao [...]." It is a story about love among lepers; a grotesquerie à la Fialho de Almeida. Morais speaks about the contemporary fate of the lepers in China: "In more remote areas they are stoned to death but in Macao, the leniency of customs usually rejects such practise. However, those miserables are condemned to live on the islands' creeks, in putrid boats, on muddy marshes, hidden from people as a venomous animal."37

During this period, in the early twentieth century, Morais was a fervent enthusiast of his antecessor Fernão Mendes Pinto, the great apologist of Chinese civilization: "Dealing once again with Mendes Pinto and making particular reference to the Japanese section of Peregrinação (Pilgrimage), I firmly believe that all those who read this marvellous book and who have lived for some time in this empire, will agree that our travelogue, despite making some natural mistakes on names and other minor details, described with great accuracy what he saw in the lands of Nippon. Disregarding some obsolete terminology, he [Mendes Pinto] observes the customs of the people so sharply that one has the sensation that his text is a Portuguese translation of a chapter of an authoritative modern book on these matters."38 Differently from other studious, Morais believed that Mendes Pinto had been in China and he mentioned the chronicler's rendering of some floating "cities" which he had seen during a fluvial trip from Nanjing to Beijing. 39

Macao is once again mentioned in some letters written by Morais during his last years. In one of these letters he states never having met Canto e Castro, then President of the Portuguese Republic: "No, I believe I never really saw him. I think that when I arrived at Macao he was just leaving. Whom I did frequently see in Macao was a mestizo girl (her father was Dutch) who was called 'Canto e Castro's bride'."40 In another [letter] he mentions a common friend: "I do remember Magalhães e Silva! The last time I was with him was in Macao. If I am not mistaken, he used to be called 'The Magnificent'."41

Morais repeatedly makes reference to Macao in a Preface only recently published. The longest reference is an eulogy of the territory: "It is worth mentioning that Macao, beautiful Macao, with its Chinese population of about seventy thousand souls staunchly attached to their customs and remote traditions, and the facilities it offers for a number of extremely curious excursions to sites in its vicinity and further afield to Hong Kong and Guangzhou -- human ants' dens. Macao, incontestably is a wonderful perch for all intellectuals determined to study what they observe and write about their impressions, eager to unravel to all foreigners the kaleidoscopic splendours of China."42 This is how Morais thought in 1921.

Venceslau de Morais was one of a kind in a period of daring African explorations. Contemporary with the feats of António Maria Cardoso -- the first to reach Nyassa --,Serpa Pinto, Capelo and Ivens -- who Longitudinally crossed the 'Black Continent' -- and Mouzinho de Albuquerque -- the hero of Mozambique. But those were also the times of the 1890 Ultimatum, the end of the Portuguese monarchy, and of Joaquim Pedro de Oliveira Martins [° 1845-†1894] -- historian, sociologist and economist] literary output, whose doctrine was to impress Morais so deeply. Oliveira Martins' work has strong affinities with other literary work inspired by their contemporary African incursions. 43 The leading biographer of Morais, Armando Martins Janeira, remarked about the 'Morasian' opus: "Above all, his work was inspired by the observation of an alien world, the cry of alert and insatiable curiosity akin to an enraptured thirst of the unknown in a continuous anxiety similar to that of the Portuguese during the era of the discoveries. His amorous experiences were also recaptured in fascinating chapters. These two facets are essential ingredients of the psychological profile of Venceslau: his love for adventure and the never-ending enchantment for femininity. Despite the rather sombre tones with which some Portuguese biographers depict Morais, the writer was in fact an extremely convivial person, a born lover and adventurer. 44

Further along, Armando Janeira presents the final perspective of the relationship between the writer and China: "Morais never had a deep and serious interest in China. The short impressions he left us of China are testimonies of an unjust understanding of that great country and its extraordinary culture. His Chinese affections only superficially influencing the gross of his [literary] works."45

In effect, the 'Morasian' cult of exoticism was restricted to his appreciation of the empire of the Rising Sun. It was from this world that he extracted the impressionist visions of "[...] landscape backgrounds speckled with whites and reds [...]" and the "[...] hilarious festivities of the populace celebrating."46 From Macao and China, Morais extracted mainly the sombre aspects of a civilization in apparent agony, portrayed in aqua-fortis hues.

A FINAL APPRAISAL...

"The best pages from Morais are those in which he speaks of women and landscapes. When he diversifies on religion, art, love and death, his thoughts are quite banal. His culture is rarefied and his philosophy is nil. When dealing with abstract concepts, his dialectic and even his prose are those of a journalist of a provincial periodical.

But when he describes women and their charms, people and their picturesque daily chores, the Japanese colour, light, sky and earth, then he reaches the heights of a great artist, excited and ennobled by the love of what he sees and feels. It is therefore not surprising that despite banal journalistic texts Venceslau came to achieve a prestige that still holds strong thanks to some remarkable pages and sublime passages. It is true that, at the time, he knew how to make the most of fashion and novelty surrounding his literary themes as well exploit the curiosity of the Portuguese for all novelties, remote places and exotic locations.

But the of value of men and the creative power of the writer firmly transpire from his heart. This organ gives warmth and animates the subject matter which excites it, throbs in its love for those people and in its weakness and fervour of surrender to the charms of Japanese women. His spirit is not that of a genius but his taste is refined and scintillating."47

... AND AN EPITAPH TO VENCESLAU DE MORAIS

ln 1895, Vicente Almeida d'Eça described his friend and Navy companion as having "[...] a heart of gold and being a gentleman of upmost distinction. [...] He has a sad character, is thin, blond, of blue dreamy eyes, and slightly introverted with a subdued modesty."48

Morais seeked the most untouched pockets of Western influence in demand for exoticism: "The place I most cherish in Macao is the Bazaar, and here in Japan the places I enjoy the most are those virgin spots still untouched by European civilization. I think that our preferences are justifiable. Our civilization is gradually becoming degenerated by vulgarity, egoism, tediousness. I understand that the entrepreneurs, the industrialists and the politicians might prefer it that way for their own sake. But all those who do not belong to those 'classes' and live according to their sentiments, are certainly captivated by primitive civilizations which maintained at their core, ingenuity, kindness and picturesqueness, lost values in our contemporary society."49 So he wrote in Kobe, in 1908, still hoping for a better future. But in 1913 Morais was writing differently, totally disillusioned by the Westernization of Asia. The example shocked him the most. He wrote with excruciating bitterness: "Very well, Japan is becoming increasingly civilized. The last popular disturbances are a clear proof of that. It is really sad to see how this beautiful country and this brave nation reject their ancestral civilization so full of charms to fall besoted by Western civilization!"50 These thoughts were being contemporarily echoed by Lafcadio Hearn and others.

During the 1920s, the time of his last remarks about Macao, Morais no longer was the blond and distinct gentleman of the Macao years. He had become the debilitated osoroshi who used to solitarily roam the squares and cemeteries of Tokushima, the sleepy metropolis of Shykoku. An excruciating solitude and pungent sadness incessantly tormented the exiled man, the reader of the Goncourt and Loti, who once thought it possible to obliterate the banality of Western values in an illusion of a Far East whose glowing patina eclipsed an evanescent mirage.

In a manuscript of his dated the 12th of May 1904, are juxtaposed his constancy about China, his obsession for Japan and his overwhelming Portuguese fixation on saudade (longing). The page is illustrated with Japanese themes. Opaque sillouettes of geishas vibrate the samisen [Japanese guitar] on the border of the text. But the document is dated from his Macanese period. Nostalgic and melancholia, resounds in Morais verses, the dolence of Portuguese popular poetry:

"À dor, minha constante companheira,

Votei íntimos laços de amizade.

Se hoje encetasse a 'strada das venturas,

Crede, talvez morresse de Saudade..."51

("To pain, my enduring companion

I vowed intimate ties of friendship

If today I broached the path of pleasures

Believe me, most probably I would die of Longing...")

The Religião da Saudade (Religion of Longing):

two poems devoted to Venceslau de Morais

"Musumé

Graça da Musumé

que a Wenceslau de Moraes enfeitiça,

agora vejo muito bem como é...

ave do Paraíso que se arriça.

Ave do Paraíso, ou borboleta

d'um céu de fantasia!

Como ela entreabre a pupilita preta,

diabinho de Quimera e de Ironia!

E azuis, de nácar, cor d'opala ou rosa,

de folhas mortas ou de flor de vida,

os seus kimonos fazem-na radiosa,

asa de sonho sobre a larva erguida.

Asa de sonho, mas também de presa.

Gosta de mel ou sangue a Musumé,

Como a das asas vejo agora queé,

graça que a alma de Morais tem presa."

("Musumé

Grace of Musumé

who bewitched Wenceslau de Morais,

now I clearly see what she is...

a bird of Paradise ruffling its feathers.

A bird of Paradise, or a butterfly

from a fantasy sky!

How she partly opens her small black eyes,

little devil of a Chimera and of Irony!

And blue, nacre, opal or pink,

the colour of dead leaves or of the flower of life,

her kimonos make her radiant,

a wing of dreams raised over the larva.

A wing of dreams, but also of a prisoner.

Musumé likes honey or blood,

Like the one of the wings I now see that it is,

Grace that Morais's soul has imprisoned.")

Bangka Strait, Sunda Archipelago January 1908

In: CASTRO, Alberto Osório de, Flores de Coral, Dili, 1908, p.22.

"A Wenceslau de Morais O que não quis voltar

Não voltaste. Para quê, se a pátria mais amada

é, sempre, a que se vê, de longe, com saudade?

Português, a aventura elegeu-te a morada;

marinheiro, no mar procuraste a verdade.

Ficaste lá no Oriente. Exóticas paragens

suprema sedução tiveram para ti.

Artista e homem do mar, como Pierre Loti,

aprendeste a viver entre o esplendor das viagens...

Sonhador, o teu sonho alimentou-se, ao longe,

em montanhas de anil e cerejais em flor...

Poeta da solidão, contemplativo monge,

hauriste do exotismo o embriagante licor...

Lá morreste, sozinho, entre a paisagem linda

desse império do Sol nascente cujo encanto

infiltrou na tua alma a essência do quebranto,

feitiço da paixão que só na morte finda...

O-Yoné... Ko-Haru... Dias de Tokushima...

Coração português sempre a bater de amor...

Também tu respondeste aos apelos do clima

que ao sangue e aos nervos dá mais lassidão e ardor...

Não voltaste. Para quê, se a terra do Japão

te pôde alimentar melhor a fantasia;

se a tua alma oriental viveu como queria;

se o verdadeiro amor te encheu o oração?"

("To Wenceslau de Morais Who did not want to return

You did not return. Why, if the most loved homeland

is, always, the one contemplated, from afar, with longing?

Portuguese, adventure determined where you would live;

a sailor, you searched for truth at sea.

You stayed there in the Orient. Exotic ports

had a supreme attraction for you.

An artist and seaman, like Pierre Loti,

you learned to live among the splendour of journeys...

A dreamer, your dream was nurtured, far away,

in anil mountains and cherry trees in loom...

Poet of solitude, a contemplative monk,

You drank of the exoticism of the intoxicating liquor...

There you died, alone, surrounded by the beautiful scenery

of the empire of the rising Sun whose charm

filled your soul with the essence of languor,

a spell cast by passion that only ends at death...

O-Yoné... Ko-Haru... Tokushima days...

Portuguese heart always beating with love...

You also answered the call of the climate

that gives the blood and the nerves more lassi tude and ardour...

You did not return. Why, if Japan

can better nurture your fantasies;

if your oriental soul lived as it wished to;

if true love filled your heart?")

In: ROCHA, Hugo, Poemas Exóticos, 1940, p.185.).

See: SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY -- for the following authors and further titles for authors already mentioned in this article.

FURUNO, Kirino; INSO, Jaime do; PARREIRA, Carlos; RAMOS, Jorge; SAID, Edward W.; STEADMAN, J. M.

Text translated from the Portuguese by: Carlos Figueredo Poems translated from the Portuguese by: Paula Sousa.

^**Revised reprint from: A Presença de Macau na vida e na obra de Venceslau de Morais, in "Cosmica XVI", (3) 1966, pp.53-71.

CHRONOLOGY

1854-- On the 30th of May, Venceslau José de Sousa Morais, was born in the Travessa da Cruz do Torel, number 4, 2nd floor, in Lisbon,

1871-- Served in Caçadores 5 (Gunners 5), which he later left to join the Navy.

1875-- Aged twenty-one, became a graduate of the Naval School. Promoted to guarda-marinha (navy guard), joining the African contingent.

1880-- Promoted to segundo-tenente (second lieutenant).

1886-- Aged thirty-two, was promoted to capitão-tenente (lieutenant-captain).

1888-- Aged thirty-four, went to Macao where he started writing Traços do Extremo Oriente (Far Eastern Sketches), initially published as sundry articles in the newspaper "O Correio da Manhã", under the pseudonym of A. Da Silva.

1889-- Started living with Atchan, an Anglo-Chinese girl. Visited Japan for the first time.

1891-- Aged thirty-seven was promoted to capitão-tenente supranumenrário (supernumerary lieutenant-captain) and is promoted imediato (chief officer) of the Macao Port Authorities' captain. Goes to Portugal for the last time. Meets in Macao Camilo Pessanha, the symbolist poet author of Clepsidra (Clepsydra).

1892-- His son João, offspring of the writer's liaison with Atchan, was born. Baptised on the 1st of September in the church of São Lourenço (St. Lawrence), in Macao.

1893-- Promoted to capitão-de-fragata supranumerário (supernumerary commander). Visited Japan for the second time.

1895-- His first book entitled Traços do Oriente is published in Lisbon.

1897-- His second book, Dai-Nippon, published in Lisbon subsidised by the Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (Geography Society of Lisbon).

1898-- Aged forty-four, decided to go and live in Japan and settled in Kobe.

1899-- Appointed Portuguese Consul in Kobe (Hyogo) and Osaka.

1900-- Married O-Yoné Fukumoto, in the Japanese manner.

1902-- Started writting Cartas do Japão (Japanese Letters), as a columnist, to the daily newspaper "O Comércio do Porto"("Commerce of Oporto"), which he continued doing until 1913.

1905-- His book O Culto do Chá (The Cult of Tea), published in Kobe. His son José was baptised on the 2nd of September in the church of São Lourenco, in Macao.

1906-- Paisagens da China e do Japão (Landscapes of China and Japan).

1912-- O-Yonè dies.

1913-- Aged fifty-nine, retired from his consular position in Kobe and Osaka, as well as from the Portuguese Navy. Went to live in Tokushima, birthplace of O-Yoné. Resided with Ko-Haru, niece of O-Yoné.

1916-- Aged sixty-two, grieved the death of Ko-Haru. Visited daily the burial places of O-Yoné and Ko-Haru. Published the O Bon-Odori em Tokushima (Bon-Odori in Tokushima).

1917-- Ko-Haru is published as an offprint of the "O Comércio do Porto".

1923-- O-Yoné e Ko-Haru (O-Yoné and Ko-Haru).

1924-- Relance da História do Japão (A Glimpse on the History of Japan).

1925-- Relance da Alma Japonesa (A Glimpse on the Soul of Japan).

1926-- Serões no Japão (Evenings in Japan).

1929-- Aged seventy-five died alone during a thundery night, in his house in Igachô, Tokushima. "Lived in Japan for thirty-three years without returning to Portugal -- not even once."52

POSTHUMOUS WORKS

1933-- Osoroshi.

1944-- Cartas Íntimas (Intimate Letters).

1954-- Páginas Africanas (African Pages).

1961-- Cartas a Polycarpo de Azevedo (Letters to Polycarpo de Azevedo).

NOTES

1 ESPARTEIRO, António Marques, Wenceslau de Morais Oficial de Marinha, in "Ocidente", Lisboa, 375(77) 1969.

2 Ibidem., p. 16.

3 Ibidem., p. 19.

4 Ibidem., p.21.

5 Ibidem., p.22.

6 Idem.

7 ESPARTEIRO, António Marques, op. cit., p.23 -- The author comments that commander Esparteiro researched on documents of the Arquivo Geral da Marinha ([Portuguese] Navy General Archives). Esparteiro's book on Morais includes transcripts of two reports by the first lieutenant Morais: the Relatório da viagem de Macau a Bankok da canhoeira Tejo (Report of the gunboat Tejo's voyage from Macao to Bangkok), dated 1890, and the Relatório da viagem de Macau a Lisboa do mesmo navio (Report of the same vessel's voyage from Macao to Lisbon), dated 1891.

8 MORAIS, Venceslau, "A outra mama", in Lembranças da China, in "Traços do Extremo Oriente", Lisboa, Parceria A. M. Pereira Lda, 1971, p.52 [2nd edition] -- The first edition was published in 1895.

9 PEREIRA, Ângelo - CÉSAR, Oldemiro, Os Amores de Wenceslau de Morais, Lisboa, Editorial Labor, 1937, pp.59-64; BARREIROS, Leopoldo Danilo, A 'Paixão Chinesa' de Wenceslau de Moraes, Lisboa, Agência Geral do Ultramar, 1955.

See: LABORINHO, Álvaro Brilhante, O perfil de Atchan, in "Wenceslau de Moraes no seu Primeiro Centenário", Lisboa, Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, 1955 -- This author was consul general of Portugal in Hong Kong and then second class plenipotentiary minister in the Legation of Portugal, in New Delhi. In 1935, he met Atchan, who spoke to him about Morais with "[...] a vague feeling of nostalgia [...]."

Also, according to the report of the International Committee of Kansai, the Rev. Basil Tyson Moraes died in Hertfordshire, in 1982, shortly after making plans to visit his grandfather's grave.

10 MOTTA, Alfredo, Três Cartas de Wenceslau de Morais, in Offprint from "Ethnos", Lisboa, Instituto Português de Arqueologia, História e Etnografia de Lisboa, (5) 1966, pp.116-117 -- The mentioned letter was addressed to Sebastião Peres Rodrigues, a Portuguese Navy doctor, whom Moraes had met while on duty on the gunboat Douro, while at the time Rodrigues was a member of the staff of the Armada.

The letter belongs to the Manuscripts' Collection of the Biblioteca Central da Marinha ([Portuguese] Navy Central Library).

11 MORAIS, Venceslau de, A Gruta de Camões, in "Traços do Extremo Oriente", Lisboa, Parceria A. M. Pereira Lda, 1971, pp.62-66; AZEVEDO, Rafaela Ávila de, A influência da cultura portuguesa em Macau, Lisboa, 1984, pp.89-91, 113-114.

12 MORAIS, Venceslau de, Um eclipse total da Lua, in "Traços do Extremo Oriente", Lisboa, Parceria A. M. Pereira Lda, 1971, p. 128.

13 MORAIS, Venceslau de, A minha casa, in "Traços do Extremo Oriente", Lisboa, Parceria A. M. Pereira Lda, 1971, p.90.

14 MORAIS, Dai-Nippon [Big Japan], Lisboa, Parceria A. M. Pereira, 1972, pp.64-66 [3rd edition] -- [lst edition: Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, 1897].

15 JANEIRA, Armando Martins, selec. and intro., Perfil de Wenceslau de Morais, in "Introdução", in Wenceslau de Morais, of "Antologias Universais", Lisboa, Portugália Editora, 1971, p. XLII.

16 LANCASTRE, Maria José, Notas, in PESSANHA, Camilo, "Cartas a Alberto Osório de Castro, João Baptista de Castro, Ana Castro Osório", Lisboa, Impensa Nacional - Casa da Moeda, 1984, p.113.

The 1982 Portuguese film "A ilha dos Amores" ("Island of Loves") by Paulo Rocha portrays the friendship between Camilo Pessanha and Venceslau de Morais. The actor Luís Miguel Cintra impersonated Morais and Paulo Rocha, Pessanha.

17 DIAS, Jorge, The Presence of Wenceslau de Moraes: notes on three unpublished letters, in "Gaidai Bibliotheca", (47) 3rd December 1979, p.11 -- Letter from Kobe, dated 2nd of March 1900 addressed to João Pereira Vasco, teacher at the National Secondary School, in Macao. This letter and all the following ones addressed by Morais to Pereira Vasco is written on headed paper of the Consulate of Portugal in Kobe and Osaka.

18 Ibidem., p.13 -- Letter from Kobe dated 13th of July 1900.

19 Ibidem., p.13 -- All three letters were addressed to João Pereira Vasco.

Venceslau de Morais contributed towards the following publications: "O Lusitano", Macao, 1896, and "Portugal-Macao", commemorative edition of the Fourth Centenary of the Discovery of the Maritime Route to India, 1898.

20 GONÇALVES, Júlio, Boxers, Revolta dos, in SERRÃO, Joel, dir., "Dicionário da História de Portugal", Lisboa, 1970, vol.1, pp.363-364.

PEREIRA, Ângelo - CÉSAR, Oldemiro, pref. and anot., Cartas Íntimas de Wenceslau de Moraes, Lisboa, Empresa Nacional de Publicidade, 1944, p.27 -- In a letter from Macao, dated 23rd November 1888, he makes reference to the weather of the city: "I carry on as usual, without nothing in special to note. But now I feel chilly because the winter has arrived; a harsher winter than the Lisbon one, more humid and incomparably sadder, and more difficult to endure because it follows a scalding summer. However, it has some splendid days." And he mentions Christmas (p.28): "Christmas time is here and I am sending my sisters my very best wishes. You will not be getting a turkey like last year, bought by me, this will have to be for another time."

22 ROCHA, André, Carta de Venceslau de Morais, in "Cadernos de Literatura", Coimbra, Centro de Literatura Portuguesa da Universidade de Coimbra, (2) 1979, p.75.

23 DIAS, Jorge, HINO, Hiroshi, trans., Uma carta de Venceslau de Morais inédita no Japão, in "Gaidai Bibliotheca", (54) 1 of April 1981, pp.36-38-Letter from Kobe dated 31st of January 1905.

24 JANEIRA, Armando Martins, selec, and intro., op. cit., p. LIII.

25 MORAIS, Venceslau, NEVES, Álvaro, pref. and anot., Osoroshi, Lisboa, Ventura Abrantes, 1933 -- Letter from Kobe dated 3rd of February 1906, pp.42-43.

26 Ibidem., p.67-- Letter from Kobe dated 27th February 1907.

27 MORAIS, Venceslau de, Páginas Africanas, Lisboa, Editorial Cultura, 1954.

28 MORAIS, Venceslau de, A Vida Japonesa: Terceira Série de Cartas do Japão (1905-1906), Porto, Lello & Irmãos, 1985, p.27 [lst edition: 1907].

29 Ibidem., p.172.

30 MORAIS, Venceslau de, Cartas do Japão: Quarta Série de Cartas, 2 vols., Portugal - Brasil, 1928, vol.1, pp.92-93.

31 Ibidem., p.241.

32 Ibidem., p.128.

33 MORAIS, Venceslau de, Paisagens da China e do Japão, Lisboa, Tipografia de Francisco Luiz Gonçalves, 1906, pp.1-2.

34 Ibidem., pp.2-8.

35 Ibidem., p.20ff., pp.98-106.

36 Ibidem., pp.20-29.

37 Ibidem., pp.164-170.

38 AIRES, Cristóvão, Fernão Mendes Pinto e o Japão: Pontos Controversos: Discussão: Informações Novas, Lisboa, Tipografia da Academia, 1906, pp.30-32 -- For the reproduction of a letter by Venceslau de Morais, from Kobe dated 29th of November 1904, addressed to Cristóvão Aires, together with the reproduction of four Portuguese geographical maps and a sixteenth century chart of Japan.

Morais kept in his library the fourth edition of Fernão Mendes Pinto's Peregrinação -- Lisboa, Oficina Ferreiriana, 1725 -- a precious book which he had read "[...] many times."

39 MORAIS, Venceslau de, Fernão Mendes Pinto no Japão, Lisboa, 1942; pp.4-36 [1st edition: Offprint from "O Comércio do Porto", Porto, 1920] -- This was copy number 40 of a 300 copies facsimile edition of the original manuscript, printed in vergé paper. This copy belonged to Ângelo Pereira. This small edition was dedicated to the admirers of Morais.

40 MORAIS, Venceslau de, Cartas ao seu amigo Polycarpo de Azevedo, Lisboa, Edição de Arnaldo Henriques de Oliveira, Livreiro Antiquário, 1961, p.31 -- Letter dated 15th of April 1919. This book is a compilation of letters written by Morais, in Tokushima, between 1914 and 1927.

Canto e Castro (° 1862-†1934), admiral, Governor of Portuguese Overseas Possessions and politician, President of the Portuguese Republic from 1818 to 1819.

41 Ibidem., p.79 and p.89-- Where the author refers to the death of José d'Azevedo Castelo Branco, former Minister of Portugal in Beijing.

42 DIAS, Jorge, O núcleo de Venceslau de Morais na Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa, in "Anais", Tóquio, Associação Japonesa de Estudos Luso-Brasileiros, (18) 1984, p.37

43 Some of these works are:

PINTO, Serpa, Como eu atravessei a África, Lisboa, 1880; CAPELO, Hermenegildo Carlos de Brito -IVENS, Roberto, De Angola à Contra-Costa, Lisboa, 1886; CAPELO, Hermenegildo Carlos de Brito - IVENS, Roberto, De Benguela às Terras de laca, Lisboa, 1888.

MORAIS, Venceslau de, 1961 [Note 40], op. cit., p.81 -- In a passage from a letter written in Tokushima, dated 25th of December 1922, Morais mentions Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral, the aviators who piloted the first plane which crossed the South Atlantic, and he describes the feat of these two heroes comparatively with others by Portuguese pioneers: "Oh yes, an H. Capelo, or an Anchieta, or even a F. Mendes Pinto of the twentieth century."

44 JANEIRA, Armando Martins, selec. and intro., op. cit., p. XXXIV. Janeira owns a copy of a French translation of Goethe's Werther, published in Paris in 1864 and dated by Morais "Mozambique, 10th of April 1877". This book is annotated by a certain "Marie" with phrases in torrid French, dated from 1880. This "Marie" might be the "Maria Isabel" mentioned by Ângelo Pereira and Oldemiro César.

See: PEREIRA, Ângelo - CÉSAR, Oldemiro, 1937, op. cit., pp.45-52.

Also see: MORAIS, Venceslau de, 1961 [Note 40], op. cit., p.81-- The author mentions in a letter from 1920 a "Laura de Alenquer" whom he had met fifty years ago.

45 JANEIRA, Armando Martins, selec. and intro., op. cit., p. XXX.

46 MORAIS, Venceslau de, A Primavera, in "Paisagens da China e do Japão", Lisboa, Tipografia de Francisco Luiz Gonçalves, 1906, p.35.

47 JANEIRA, Armando Martins, Lendo Wenceslau de Moraes numa pequena aldeia japonesa, in "Caminhos da Terra Florida", Porto, Manuel Barreira, 1955, pp.77-78.

48 EÇA, Vicente Almeida d', Prefácio, in MORAIS, Venceslau de, 1971 [Note 8], p.21.

49 MORAIS, Venceslau, 1933 [Note 25], op. cit., p. 146.

50 Ibidem., p.146.

51 PEREIRA, Ângelo - CÉSAR, Oldemiro, pref. and anot., 1944, op. cit., p.5.

52 JANEIRA, Armando Martins, selec. and intro., Cronologia, in "Introdução", in Wenceslau de Morais, of "Antologias Universais", Lisboa, Portugália Editora, 1971, pp. LXXVII-LXXIX.

* Lecturer at the University of Kyoto, in Japan. Writer and historian. Researcher on the Portuguese Expansion in the Orient, namely Japan. Author of a number of articles and publications on related topics.