266 



EAST AFRICA. 



the Portuguese were directed to bringing under 

 their direct influence the tribes south of the 

 Zambesi that were not tributary to Lobengula. 

 In defining the boundaries of the new province 

 of Zumbo, of which Lieut. Cordon was made 

 governor, care was taken to exclude those terri- 

 tories which had been declared by proclamation 

 to be within the British sphere and to include 

 all the other territories to which the Portuguese 

 laid claim and which they were bending every 

 effort to occupy effectively according to the rules 

 laid down by the British Foreign Office. 



The Marquis of Salisbury, on Nov. 21. 1889, 

 pointed out that the new district of Zumbo ap- 

 peared to comprise a large part of Mashonaland 

 and an immense tract northward approaching 

 the confines of the Congo Free State and the 

 watershed of Lake Nyassa, and said that, except 

 the stations of Tete and Zumbo, the British Gov- 

 ernment would recognize no territory as in the 

 occupation of Portugal. Senhor Barros Gomes, 

 the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, re- 

 plied in almost a suppliant tone, referring to the 

 cession of the whole region to Portugal in the 

 seventeenth century by the Emperor of Mono- 

 raotapa, who was converted with his people to 

 Christianity, and to the well-preserved ruins of 

 Portuguese forts, and saying that Portugal, who 

 conquered India and created Brazil, can now 

 only look to the development of her historic do- 

 main in Africa for a new and brilliant period for 

 her nationality. Lord Salisbury retorted in his 

 dispatch of Dec. 26 with the observation, that 

 forts maintained in a state of efficiency might be 

 a proof that territory is under the dominion of 

 the power to which they belong, but forts in ruins 

 can only prove that the domination of which they 

 were the instruments and the guarantee is in 

 ruins also. 



The Expedition of Serpa Pinto. In .1888 

 the Portuguese sent an expedition through the 

 Shire district to Nyassaland, which concluded 

 treaties with some of the surrounding tribes and 

 built a fort at Lake Nyassa. When Consul 

 Johnston's scheme fell through they planned and 

 announced publicly a long time in 'advance what 

 was called a scientific exploring expedition, 

 against which the British Foreign Office offered 

 no objection. Alvaro Castelloes, an engineer in 

 the service of the Portuguese Government, was 

 commissioned to survey a route for a railroad 

 along the rapids of the Shire from Mponda above, 

 where there were a Portuguese military post and a 

 mission of Cardinal Lavigerie's society supported- 

 by the Portuguese Government, to Katungas be- 

 low. Major Serpa Pinto was intrusted with the 

 task of exploring the Arangoa river and spread- 

 ing Portuguese influence north of the Zambesi 

 in order to forestall the British as Lieut. Cordon 

 and Col. Paiva d'Andrada were doing in the 

 south. But first he was ordered to organize the 

 Castelloes expedition and to conduct it to the field 

 of its operations. According to Portuguese ac- 

 counts, the Makololo for twenty-five years paid 

 tribute to a Portuguese resident named Maryano, 

 and afterward to his son for five years, but in 

 1884 they revolted, and since then have paid no 

 taxes. The British in the Shire highlands only 

 numbered about twenty persons, and the property 

 of the African Lakes Company on Lake Nyassa 

 was not worth more than $5,000. While Serpa 



Pinto was organizing his expedition, for which he 

 enlisted 350 Landins at Inhambane, the Makololo, 

 who had remained peaceable since their revolt in 

 1884, began to manifest a hostile dispositio 

 toward the whites. In June they blocked th 

 Shire route and fired on a steamer of the Afr 

 Lakes Company, which returned, and her ere 

 asked for assistance from the military comma 

 dant of the Portuguese station at Massingi 

 Later the steamer continued her trip under thi 

 protection of a larger English steamer with armed 

 men on board, declining the assistance of the 

 Portuguese authorities. On July 9 the comman- 

 dant at Massingire reported that intercourse with 

 the right bank of the Shire continued to be inter- 

 rupted, and asked for re-enforcements, which the 

 Governor of Quilimane declined to send, fearing 

 that the presence of the forces might appear to 

 justify the reports that had been spread that the 

 Portuguese Government intended to carry on war 

 against the Makololo, thus alarming the chiefs 

 and indisposing them against the Portuguese 

 authority. The expedition to explore a railroad 

 route intended to set out in the beginning of April, 

 but was delayed by the illness of its officers. 

 Major Serpa Pinto reached Mopeawith the engi- 

 neers on June 15, proceeding later to the village 

 of Pinda. He was informed that the Makololo 

 of the Shire would not allow his people to pass 

 above Katungas or to purchase provisions. On 

 July 15 he telegraphed to Quilimane that it was 

 absolutely necessary that the difficulty should be 

 amicably settled, and that it would be a great 

 mistake to raise a conflict with the Makololo. On 

 July 23, 1889, the British consul-general at Mo- 

 zambique, H. H. Johnston, who had returned 

 after his agreement with Senhor Barros Gomes 

 had been rejected, set out in a steam launch up 

 the Zambesi for Lake Nyassa. He had obtained, 

 under the pretense that he wished to visit the 

 missions on Lake Nyassa, a safe conduct and let- 

 ters from the Governor of Mozambique recom- 

 mending him to the attentions of Portuguese 

 officials, especially those of the Shire and south 

 Nyassa, to whom he offered to convey the official 

 correspondence of the Governor. On Aug. 8 he 

 came up with Major Pinto, who informed him 

 that the object of the Portuguese expedition was 

 to improve communications between the Portu- 

 guese station at Mponda, on Lake Nyassa, and 

 the sea, and to extend Portuguese influence by 

 treaties with the tribes west of Lake Nyassa and 

 on the upper Loangoa, which he intended to 

 visit with two thirds of the expeditionary force, 

 leaving the rest to guard the surveying party. 

 As the route was interrupted, he requested the 

 Englishman to take the two engineers up the 

 river on his steamer, which he refused to do. 

 While the Portuguese sent presents and did all 

 they could to conciliate the savages, who had 

 been incited to resist their passage by agents of 

 the African Lakes Company and the Blantyre 

 Mission, Consul Johnston proceeded to carry out 

 his secret mission, distributing British flags 

 among the Makololo chiefs. Serpa Pinto, who 

 was warned by Acting-Consul Buchanan that the- 

 Makololo would resist the passage of the expedi- 

 tion, returned to Quilimane, while the engineer 

 Themudo went forward to Mupasso, which is 

 below the mouth of the Ruo on what was ac- 

 knowledged to be Portuguese territory, with 



