In Macao

In Short

This volume presents a novella centered on the waning glory of Macao, alongside a series of lyrical poems and a whimsical, fable-like story narrated by a wily hen. The title narrative follows a young American man, Robert Adams, who encounters a lethal rivalry while working in the Far East. Through a blend of romantic tension and tropical tragedy, the prose captures a specific moment of nineteenth-century global commerce and decline. It remains a poignant, atmospheric artifact of its time, capturing the intersection of Western idealism and the stark realities of Eastern colonial life.

The Story

The narrative opens in the sleepy, picturesque city of Macao, a Portuguese colony whose former vitality has been eclipsed by the rise of Hong Kong. Robert Adams, a prosperous and optimistic young American, arrives to finalize his marriage to Priscilla Fernald, an orphan raised by the wealthy Dom Luiz de Amaral. Robert is well-regarded, but his presence ignites a quiet, venomous hatred in Dom Pedro, Luiz’s son, who views Priscilla as his own rightful future.

The city itself is defined by its "poverty and pride," a place where the social life revolves around the dinner table and the fan-tan gambling houses. Pedro, consumed by a fever of jealousy, begins to plot. During a night at a local gambling hall, Pedro attempts to lure Robert into a trap. Shortly thereafter, while Robert is admiring the moonlight on the historic ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Pedro ambushes him with a poisoned dagger, leaving him for dead. In the ensuing chaos, Priscilla and her maid vanish, sparking a frantic but fruitless search across the peninsula.

Robert survives, though he loses his arm to the poison. His recovery is marked by a growing, singular passion for vengeance. Months later, a cryptic note leads Robert and Pedro to a junk anchored near the coast. Pedro, revealing his true colors, gloats that he has orchestrated the events to hold Priscilla captive and force her into marriage. As a sudden, violent tornado strikes the coast, the junk is overturned. Robert and Priscilla are rescued from the sea, but the trauma destroys Priscilla’s mind. She lives two more peaceful but vacant years before passing away.

Robert remains in Macao, managing the Amaral business and acting as a companion to the fading Priscilla. Years later, the narrator visits his uncle Robert in Macao, only to witness a final, violent confrontation at the grotto of the poet Camoens, where Robert kills Pedro—a long-delayed settling of accounts that brings the tragic cycle to its conclusion. The narrator departs, leaving the drowsy city to its memories, concluding the account of a life irrevocably altered by the malice of a single, obsessed man.

How It Unfolds

The arrival in the tropics Robert Adams steps off the steamer into the colorful, decaying splendor of Macao, expecting a future of domestic happiness. He is greeted by the hospitable Dom Amaral but is immediately met with the chilling, hateful gaze of the son, Pedro.

The shadow of jealousy The narrative shifts to the Sabbath, as Robert and Priscilla find solace in the ruins of a church on Mount Nillau. Pedro, meanwhile, retreats into a dark obsession, eventually securing a jeweled dagger from his family’s collection to settle his perceived score.

The night of the ambush Under the guise of a social outing to a gambling den, Pedro lures Robert into the city’s quiet, lantern-lit streets. The trap snaps shut at the ruins of St. Paul, where Robert is left broken and bleeding while Priscilla is abducted into the shadows.

The search and the storm As Macao fails to locate the missing woman, Robert recovers with a hardened heart. A final encounter on a junk near Taipa turns into a literal reckoning when a massive water spout destroys the vessel and releases the captives.

The final reckoning The aftermath sees Priscilla living out her days in a fog of broken memory until her death. The story concludes years later when the narrator witnesses the ultimate, fatal clash between Robert and Pedro, finally silencing the ghost of the past.

The People

Robert Adams is the central protagonist, a capable and healthy American merchant who embodies the vigor of the New World. His desire for a quiet life with Priscilla is thwarted by his own naive inability to recognize the depth of the local animosity directed toward him. He ends the story as a physically and emotionally scarred man, defined by his long-held thirst for retribution.

Priscilla Fernald is the delicate "transplanted flower" from Puritan New England, caught between her loyalties to her foster family and her love for Robert. Her trajectory is the most tragic; she loses her sanity to the trauma of her abduction and the terror of the storm, becoming a ghost of her former self.

Dom Pedro de Amaral serves as the story’s antagonist, a figure of intense, traditional Latin passion. His hatred for Robert is a projection of his own frustrated entitlements. He is a man who cannot move past his losses, eventually losing his own life to the very violence he initiated.

Dom Luiz de Amaral is the wealthy, aging patriarch of the family. He represents the old guard of Macao—a man who has amassed wealth but watches helplessly as his own son’s destructive impulses tear his household apart.

In Its Own Voice

Describing the visual allure of the city, the text captures the peculiar tension of the setting:

"Beautiful as this picture is, it was doubly so in the brilliant sunset colouring of a certain March day, as the steamer slowly came to her wharf and the passengers stepped ashore beneath the blue and white flag of Portugal, in this, her farthest eastern possession."

Regarding the psychological distance between the characters, the text notes the difficulty of reading the antagonist:

"It is hard to tell what Pedro's thoughts are; his eyes are like our Macao windows of isinglass and let very little light either way."

What It's Really About

The book explores the collision between the "sturdy" Puritan values of New England and the "poisonous," prideful atmosphere of a declining colonial outpost. It asks whether happiness can ever truly take root in a place defined by its past, or if the weight of local tradition and hidden history will inevitably crush the outsider. The text juxtaposes the "mariposas" (tethered butterflies) of California with the "twisted dragons" of Chinese art, suggesting that individuals are often like these figures—pinned by circumstances and cultural expectations. Ultimately, it is a meditation on the permanence of trauma and the way that obsession, once ignited, transforms even the most virtuous lives into monuments of grief.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the slow-burn, atmospheric fiction of the late nineteenth century—where setting acts as a primary character—will find much to admire here. The prose is lush and evocative, particularly in its descriptions of the "crescent bay" and the crumbling architecture of the ruins of St. Paul. It is an honest piece of its era, reflecting period attitudes toward colonial life and the exoticized "other," which may feel antiquated to the modern reader.

The pacing is deliberate, moving from the languid, dreamlike quality of a sleepy port to sudden, violent bursts of action. It feels like a story told by a traveler who has seen too much and wishes to leave the memory of it behind. You will likely find the interplay between the romantic tragedy of Robert and Priscilla and the bizarre, cynical humor of the "hen that could lay and lie" to be a jarring but memorable contrast. The book is not a fast read, nor is it a light one; it is a melancholic souvenir of a world that has largely vanished, remaining with you as a haunting, sun-drenched memory of regret and the slow, inevitable grinding of time.