Camões,ChinaandMacau CLIVE WILLIS InMacau,ona woodedhill,overlooking theOld Protestant Cemetery and theoffices oftheFundaçãoOriente, liegardens thatfrom thenineteenth century havebeenknownas thegrutade Camões. Westward thereare sweeping viewsacrosstheInnerHarbourtowardstheChinesemainland. The gardensare regularly filledon finedays with local inhabitants practising their taichi,playing Chinesechess,reading their newspapers or juststrolling inthesunshine. Framed within a pi-shaped structure ofthree hugeStonehenge-like granite rocksstandsa plinth, two metres high,on whichin 1886was mounted a life-size bronzebustofPortugal's national poet.Thisrestrained representation contrasts sharply withthebrashand outsizestatue ofthebardthatwasplaced,withnolittle hubris, inthemain squareofOld Goa ini960,onlytoberemoved tothenearby museum after theIndependence thatfollowed a yearlater.Itnowstands, dulydiscarded, alongside statues ofAfonso de Albuquerque andLordVishnu.Butthenit is knownforcertainthatCamões had livedforsomeyearsin Goa. By contrast, there isdissension amongscholars concerning theissueofhisever having setfootinMacau. Charles Boxer was prominent among those who remainedto be convinced. Writing oftheseacaptainLeoneldeSousa,whoin1554appears to havesuccessfully negotiated withthelocal Chineseauthorities forthe future use of Macau as a commercial toeholdforthe Portuguese, he continues, Another interesting pointinconnection withLeonelde Sousa is thatmanyPortuguese writersclaim thatit was in his companythatLuis de Camões came to Macao as Provedor-Mor dos Defuntose Auzentes,CustodianfortheProperty oftheDead and Absent.This has been strongly contestedby others,and by the presentwriterin particular. However, Boxerleavesthedoorslightly ajar,addingthat hefeelsboundinjusticetopointoutthatLeonelde Sousa specifically complainsinhis letter of1556thatthispost,whichusuallywas one oftheprerogatives oftheCaptainMajor , had beentakenfromhimand givento another.He does notsayto whom,nor to whichofhis voyageshe is referring; butifhe meansthe1557/8 one, thenitis just possiblethatLuis de Camões was therecipient, and thathe was numberedamongst thefounders ofMacao in 1557,and perhapsaccompaniedtheCaptain-Majorlaterto Japan.1 In contrast to theforegoing, FatherPedrode Mariz, thepoet's first biographer, makesthefollowing assertion: 1C. R. Boxer,FidalgosintheFarEast,1550-1770 (The Hague: MartinusNijhoff, 1948),p. 32. CAMÕES, CHINA AND MACAU 87 foy porProuedor mòrdosdefunctos aas partes da China,dequeo Visorey o proueo, paraverseo podialeuantar da pobreza emquesempre andauaenuolto. Mas nema enchente dos bensque laa grangeou, o podeliurar, que emterra não gastasse o seu liberalmente. E nomarperdesse o daspartes emhumnaufragio quepadeceu terriuel, dequeellefazmenção naoctaua128do Catoio. E nãolhevaleoa excellencia desua Poesia,paradeyxar de serprezonaíndia,peloGouernador Francisco Barreto, ÔC de vir capitulado a esteReyno.2 Atfirst sight thestatement thatCamõeswentto Chinaas 'Prouedormor dos defunctos' seemsconclusive, wereit notfortheallegationthatthe Governor ofIndia(inGoa) Francisco Barreto, hadhimimprisoned on his return. Thisisplainnonsense, as Barreto nolonger exercised thatauthority (bywhatever date ourpoetmayhavebeendeemedto havereturned to India).3We are leftwiththequestionof theextentto whichMariz's accountmaybeseenas trustworthy, ifatall. In orderto providea reasonedcontextfortheabove viewpoints and statements it is important to reviewwhatis broadlyknownabout the presence ofCamõesinGoa upto 1556,theyearofSousa'sletter. Camões left Lisbon,forGoa, on three years'military service, on PalmSunday, 26 March1553,ina fleet ofcarracks underthecommand ofFernãoAlvares Cabral,probably onboardhisflagship, theSão Bento.Among contemporaneously published works ofhistorical reference thathewouldneedforhis plannedepicpoem,hewouldcertainly havetakenon boardshipthefirst book(1551)ofFernãoLopesde Castanheda'sHistóriado Descobrimento e Conquistada IndiapelosPortugueses and thefirst década (1552)ofthe AsiaofJoãodeBarros.Itwasthepractice fortheIndiafleets tosailinlate March or earlyApriland to reachtheirdestination in September or October.Itseemsprobable thatCamõesarrived inGoa inSeptember 1553, sincehewrites inhiscelebrated letter from Goa of'seismesesde mávida poressemar'.4Indeed,hedescribes thevoyagealso inhiselegy'O poeta Simónides, falando'(11. 67-144). ByNovember ofthatyearhe was alreadyparticipating, as relatedby Diogo do Couto in his sixthDécada (Book 10, Chapters15-17), in a punitive expedition, led by the Vice-Roy,5 Dom Afonsode Noronha, againstthe'pepperking',therulerof Chembe,on theMalabar Coast. Camões retails these events also in 'O poeta Simónides,falando' (11. 145-65),butwitha marked lackofenthusiasm ('Vi quantavaidadeem 2 Pedrode Mariz, biographicalintroduction to Luis de Camoens, Os Lusíadas (Lisbon: Pedro Crasheeck.tótìÌ. r>_ iv. 3 Barretowas GovernoroftheEstado da India from16June1555to 3 September1558. Luisde Camões, Obras Completas,2ndedn (Lisbon:Sa da Costa, 1956),m,247. Strictly speaking,as inthecase ofDom Afonso,thetitleof'Viso-Rei' was applicableonlyto thosewho wereofthehighernobility. Otherwise,as inthecase ofAfonsode Albuquerqueor of FranciscoBarreto,the correcttitlewas 'Governador'. In practicethe distinctionwas often blurred. 88 CLIVE WILLIS nós se encerra',coupledwiththe laconic and dismissive 'sucedeu-nos bem').Yetalready, as a minor noble,hewouldhavehadtheopportunity to forge a relationship withone oftheleadingofficers oftheexpedition, Francisco Barreto, who twoyearslaterwas to becomeGovernor ofthe Estadoda India, Camõesalso tookpartina military expedition to theRed Sea andthe Straits ofMecca,callinginon thewayatHormuz,thePortuguese basein thePersian Gulf,as was normal practice. Thisexpedition is likely tohave lastedroughly from February to Octoberor November of 1554or 1555. The reactions to itofthelovelorn Camõesarecharted inthewell-known can...