Extracto dum artigo da escritora Bella Sidney Woolf (Mrs W. T. Southorn) (1) de 1929

“Macao has this exotic attraction…(..)
In thid peaceful sunny spot the Portuguese founded a little replica of their homeland. There is a fascination in travelling a few hours and finding a foreign atmosphere. The names of the streets – the tree-shaded Praia Grande, Estrada da Flora, Rua de S. Lourenço – how they carry one cross thousands of miles. How sonorously ring the Portuguese words, Escola de Artes, Orfanato da Imaculada Conceição, Santa Casa da Misericórdia…(…)
Then in the swift run round the town in a car, the dream continues, for we wind in and out among those green-shuttered, white-washed houses, and we read more street names in Portuguese, and we swoop down upon the the Praia Grande, peopling its tree-shaded allée with bearded dons and dark-eyed damsels. The noble ruin of St. Paul´s looks  down upon the town, a memento mori in the midst of so much smiling beauty. The fine hotels rise up in worldly pride – schools, hospitals, shops flash past us.
And then we find ourselves in a peaceful garden under age-old trees with guarled roots and far-reaching boughs. Before us is the bust of Camoens, the sweet singer od the Lusiad, who in this spot. far from home and kindred, composed his world-famed verses…(…)
To me it stands for Macao, the Loyal City, glowing through the ages – vigorous and undaunted as the spirit of the men who founded her”

(1) Bella Sidney Woolf  (1877 – 1960), escritora inglesa, irmã de Leonard Woolf (escritor) e esposa (segundo casamento) de W. T. Southorn (2) que foi secretário Colonial do Governo de Hong Kong. Visitou Macau a convite do Governador Artur Tamagnini Barbosa (2º mandato) possivelmente entre 1926 e 1929.
É autora de 13 livros (referenciados na wikipédia (3)) entre ficção ( a maior parte são contos baseados na experiência da sua vida pessoal e relacionados com a sua estadia nas colónias britânicas) e histórias infantis.
(2) W. T. Southorn (Wilfrid Thomas Southorn 1879 – 1957) foi Secretário Colonial do Governo de Hong Kong (e substituto do Governador de Hong Kong, Sir Cecil Clementi em muitas ocasiões, de 1925 a 1930). Antes foi durante muitos anos Administrador Colonial em Ceilão (onde conheceu Bella Sidney Woolf) e depois,  Governador da Gâmbia.
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bella_Sidney_Woolf