88 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
which is a peninsula, with the Shire on the one side and the Ruo on the 
other. 1 
The Portuguese forces then marched up both banks of the Shire, driving 
Mlauri before them. Prior to his first defeat at the hands of the Portuguese 
Mlauri had concluded a treaty with Mr. Buchanan, but as the latter had 
forbidden him to fight with the Portuguese, he was not encouraged, after his 
defeat, to take refuge at Blantyre, whither all the other Makololo chiefs 
proceeded. The Portuguese forces advanced as far as Katunga, and were 
making preparations to occupy Blantyre, when the English Ultimatum to 
Portugal brought matters to a standstill. I have always believed that the 
Portuguese Government in Lisbon neither sanctioned nor approved this forcible 
entry into the district in dispute between England and Portugal, and that they 
even transmitted instructions to Major Serpa Pinto and others not to cross the 
Ruo, if by so doing any conflict was likely to arise with British interests ; but 
that their representative at Mocambique desired a bolder policy and acted far 
beyond his instructions,.and even in defiance of them : for at the time when the 
Portuguese Government in Lisbon had assured Lord Salisbury that Major 
Serpa Pinto had left for Mozambique, and that the expedition would proceed 
no farther in the direction of the Shire Highlands, the Portuguese Governor- 
General at Mozambique issued an official gazette announcing that the Shire 
province had been annexed to the Portuguese dominions, and appointed Lieut. 
Coutinho “Governor of the Shire.” These acts were annulled by the Portuguese 
Government after they were brought to their knowledge by the Ultimatum, and 
the Portuguese forces were withdrawn to the Portuguese side of the Ruo, 
though they continued to exercise a strict control over the Shire navigation, 
frequently stopping the British steamers and boats. At the same time, I think 
it is only right, in historical justice to Portugal, to make it clear that although 
this struggle for the possession of Nyasaland was a .sufficiently acute question 
to the Portuguese, and one in which they were passionately interested, no such 
struggle for priority of rights was conducted with more fairness and even 
chivalry. Lor instance, had Major Serpa Pinto been an unscrupulous man he 
would have, on some pretext or another, stopped my small expedition, and 
whilst detaining me on this pretext, have marched ahead and arbitrarily seized 
the country, before anything could be done to preserve British interests. Again, 
even after the Portuguese had advanced as far as Katunga, and occupied both 
banks of the Shire river, between that place and Chiromo, they placed no 
obstacle in the way of my return. On the contrary, the following incident 
occurred between myself and Lieut. Coutinho, who had been appointed 
“ Governor of the Shire.” When I passed down that river on my return from 
Tanganyika my boat was stopped by his orders and drawn into the bank by a 
Portuguese sergeant. I was, at first, annoyed at what seemed to be an attempt 
to arrest my progress towards the coast, but fortunately, before I could give 
expression to my angry sentiments, Lieut. Coutinho had met me on the bank, 
and. raising his hat, said, “ I have taken the liberty of stopping you so that you 
might not miss your mail-bags which are here awaiting you. As you have had 
1 Chiromo means “a big lip,” from the word -romo, or -lorno, which in so many Bantu languages 
means “a lip.” The chi- or ki- prefix in Chi-nyanja has the effect of an augmentative. Mromo means 
•‘a lip”; “Chiromo” means “a big lip.” This chi- prefix, which becomes si- in Zulu, has in that 
language the effect of a diminutive, consequently “ Silomo,” the Zulu name given to a well-known 
member of Parliament by the Swazi Envoys, means “ a little lip,” but is otherwise identical in origin with 
the name of this place in British Central Africa, for a year such a bone of contention between England 
