For many years after the first foreign merchants came to Canton, they were not permitted to remain after their vessels were despatched, but were obliged to leave in them. In the case of the great Companies such as the English East India and the Dutch, it gradually became a great inconvenience. These, therefore, retired to Macao, where in time residences were specially built for their accommodation. (The old Dutch factory there, which had stood for over a century, was destroyed by a taiphoon in 1875.) The removal from Canton to Macao took place at the close of the north-east monsoon, simultaneously with the commencement of the dead season, when the market would have been cleared of teas and few or no vessels at Whampoa. Macao possesses a delightful climate, completely within the sea breezes, and is beautifully situated; it moreover offers in its entirety perhaps a unique specimen of Western colonies in the Eastern world as they existed 250 years ago--in its forts, churches, and walls, its convent, senate-house, and the extensive, solidly built, private residences. The Bay of Macao, looking eastward, is strikingly like that of Naples. The fine houses which border it are protected by a broad esplanade,[48] supported by a sea-wall with a low parapet. The view from it is very fine across the outer harbour in a north-east direction to the islands of Lantoa and Lintin; to the north lie the 'Nine Islands,' and south-westerly is the anchorage called 'Taypa,' between the islands of Montanha to the west and Cabreta to the east. This anchorage is about three miles from Macao, and (as well as the two islands) is under the sovereignty of the Portuguese. West of Macao is the inner harbour, which separates it from the island called the 'Lappa.' On it in the early days the Portuguese built villas and laid out gardens, but they were subsequently abandoned from an inability to protect them effectually from Chinese marauders and pirates, and in 1825 a few vestiges of them only remained.