152
AFRICA
Government addressed an ultimatum to Portugal, as the result of which Lieutenant Coutinho s action was disavowed, and he was ordered to withdraw the Portuguese forces south of the Ruo. But while Mr Johnston was busily engaged in concluding treaties with the native chiefs in the districts to which Portugal had no prior claim, the diplomatists in Europe were seeking for a solution of the troubles which had arisen both north and south of the Zambezi. As the result of prolonged negotiations, an agreement was signed between Great Britain and Portugal on the 20th August 1890, by which Great Britain obtained a broad belt of territory north of the Zambezi, stretching from Lake Nyasa on the east, the
[history
southern end of Tanganyika on the north, and Lake Bangweulu on the west; while south of the Zambezi Portugal was allowed to retain the right bank of the river from a point ten miles above Zumbo, and the eastern boundary of her territory south of the river was made roughly to coincide with the 33rd degree of east longitude. The publication of the agreement aroused deep resentment in Portugal, and the Government, unable to obtain its ratification by the Chamber of Deputies, resigned. In October the abandonment of the treaty was accepted by the new Portuguese ministry as a fait accompli; but on the 14th November the two Governments signed an agreement for a modus vivendi, by which they engaged
east coast to the British sphere, freedom of navigation of the Zambezi and Shire for the ships of all nations, and stipulations as to the making of railways, roads, and telegraphs. The territorial readjustment effected left Portugal a triangular strip of territory north of the Zambezi, with its base on the Zambezi-Shire watershed and its apex on the angle formed by the Zambezi and the Loangwa, close to Zumbo. South of the Zambezi the Portuguese frontier, after running for a short distance due south, takes an east-south-easterly direction to the Mazoe river, which it intersects at the 33 rd degree of east longitude and follows that meridian to its intersection provisions relating to trade and navigation, providing by the 18° 30' parallel of south latitude, whence it follows inter alia a maximum transit duty of 3 per cent, on the eastern slope of the Manica plateau southwards to the imports and exports crossing Portuguese territories on the centre of the main channel of the Sabi, follows that
to recognize the territorial limits indicated in the convention of 20th August “ in so far that from the date of the present agreement to the termination thereof neither Power will make treaties, accept protectorates, nor exercise any act of sovereignty within the spheres of influence assigned to the other party by the said convention.” The breathing-space thus gained enabled feeling in Portugal to cool down, and on the 11th June 1891 another treaty was signed, the ratifications being exchanged on the 3rd July. This is the main treaty, defining the The treaty pjrjtish and Portuguese spheres both south and of 1891. nor^]1 0f the Zambezi. It contained many other
