“Ye gentle nymphs of Tago’s rosy bowers, Ah, see what lettered patron-lords are yours! Dull as the herds that graze their flowery dales, To them in vain the injured Muse bewails: No fostering care their barbarous hands bestow, Though to the Muse their fairest fame they owe!” Trees overshadow this grotto, and a flight of stone steps lead to the top, where a large flat surface extends over and beyond it. When Macao was the principal residence of the families of foreign merchants, picnics were held in these gardens, and the children performed their little dances upon this rocky floor. In most parts of the grounds tropical trees and shrubs are so numerous as to form an almost impenetrable shade; while the tough and gnarled roots of hoary banians have crept up and down some parts of the old walls which enclose the gardens, until they have formed a sort of network which acts as a support for the masonry. In other places the banian, of great age and size, grows from the fissures of high, jagged rocks, and the serpent-like roots bind the rudely broken masses and granite boulders firmly together. In contrast with these are the beautifully graceful clusters of bamboo, some varieties of the palm, and trees of a delicate acacia foliage. We were indebted to the kindness of our Consul, Mr. Nye, for a charming boat excursion to _Tui-mien-shan_, or Lapa Island, which lies west of Macao. A large surface of ground, at the head of a little valley on this island, is covered with broken rocks, and boulders of every shape and size. Among those there is one of very large dimensions, which, on being struck with an iron instrument gives out a loud, clear, and ringing sound, like that produced by striking sonorous metal. From this circumstance it has received the name of the “Ringing Rock,” and persons visiting it always carry iron hammers with them, in order to amuse themselves with the echo which it creates in the valley.