Story of Apeman Rock and Apeman
On the southeastern foot of the Southern Hill lying in between Cheoc Van Bay and Hac Sa Bay of Coloane, there is a gigantic tawny rock (the entire piece of rock is known as Camel Rock, being the largest extant peculiar rock of Macao) whose side facing the southwest direction is shaped like the head of an ape-man. This side of it is known as the Apeman Rock.According to folklore, the land was populated by a nation of apes in the ancient times. The “Ape-man” was a wise and able courtier appointed to be the Admonitor of the Ape Kingdom. Seeing that the self-indulgent and tyrannical King of Apes had killed many meritorious courtiers and the morally courageous, he risked his life in admonishing the King for his wrongdoings, urged him to practice benevolence and to devote his time for the goods of his subjects. But instead of taking his admonishment, the King accused him of “deception against the monarch” and sentenced him to confinement in a huge rock along the seashore at the foot of the Southern Hill of Coloane Island.
When the “Generalissimo” in patrol of the frontier heard of the sentence of the Admonisher after returning to the Imperial Court, he went right away to the King to redress the mishandled case and save the wrongly condemned Admonisher. Yet the King ordered his imperial guards to tie him up, in fear that he would revolt against him. The Generalissimo was branded on the face and banished to the seacoast. Upon arriving to the western shore of Hac Sa Bay of Coloane, he passed through the rocks and went up to the surrounding hillside, where he craned his neck and looked into the far distance in deep contemplation. Time after time, he was turned into a rock.
This peculiar rock shaped like an old ape-man with its hair blowing in the wind. The contour of his forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, underjaw and the branded mark on his face are fairly visible, coupled with an expression of moral integrity and determination that echoed with the righteousness of the “Admonisher”. Nevertheless, the rock of “Generalissimo”, the most extraordinary rock formation across Macao, had vanished somewhere in time.