9 6 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
steamer was laid up for repairs, but Mr. Swann placed their sailing boat at 
my disposal. By means of this boat I visited all the chiefs on the south end 
of Lake Tanganyika, made treaties with them, and further penetrated to 
the settlements of Kabunda, an Arab trader, who had almost constituted 
himself a native chief. It was important in those days to conciliate 
Kabunda, who had remained neutral in the war between the Arabs and 
Lakes Company, and who had a great influence over the native chiefs. He 
was really a Baluch in origin, not an Arab, and considered himself in some 
respects a British subject. He entertained Mr. Swann and myself with the 
greatest hospitality, and assisted us to enter into treaties with the chiefs of 
Itawa, in the direction of Lake Mweru. This being the limit of the journey 
which I had to perform (Mr. Sharpe was working for me to the west), 1 
decided to return at once to the Shire Highlands, as rumours had reached 
me of war with the Portuguese. It was a great disappointment for me to 
turn back at this juncture, as I desired to go to the north end of Tanganyika 
and secure for England the north end of that lake, 1 but I felt it to be my 
duty to get through to the coast and send a report of the work already done; 
so I reluctantly postponed the completion of a scheme, which was, as I 
hoped, to give us continuous communication between Cape Town and Cairo, 
either over international waterways or along British territory. On my return 
journey, in which no unpleasant incident occurred, I found Mponda, the 
Yao chief at the south end of Lake Nyasa, in a more reasonable frame of 
mind, and concluded a treaty with him. I reached Mozambique at the end 
of January, 1890, telegraphed the result of my work to the Foreign Office, 
and subsequently proceeded to Zanzibar to make arrangements for the 
conclusion of treaties at the north end of Tanganyika. Not being able to 
return thither myself, as my health was failing, I entrusted the task to Mr. 
A. J. Swann, and sent up to him an expedition under the leadership of my 
invaluable Swahili headman, Ali-Kiongwe. Mr. Swann’s expedition was 
entirely successful. Treaties were made and the British flag was planted at 
the extreme north end of Lake Tanganyika. Unfortunately, however, his 
treaties arrived too late to be taken into consideration at the conclusion of the 
Anglo-German Convention ; but Lord Salisbury managed to secure by that 
Convention facilities for the crossing of German territory between Tanganyika 
and Uganda, which will be very important to us in future developments. 
In forwarding my report to the Foreign Office I proposed the term “ British 
Central Africa” for the territories just brought under British influence. Soon 
after my return to England in the early summer of 1890 the Anglo-German 
Convention was signed, which, among other important gains to Great 
Britain, set a seal on the work which the British South Africa Company, 
Sharpe, Nicoll, Swann, Fotheringham, Buchanan and I had done. This was 
followed by an abortive Convention with Portugal which, however, proved to 
be the basis of a definite understanding concluded with that Power in 1891. 
In the spring of 1891 the British Protectorate over the countries adjoining 
Lake Nyasa was proclaimed, and by the Conventions with Germany and 
Portugal, the remainder of British Central Africa was declared to be an 
exclusively British sphere of influence. 
After the conclusion of the Anglo-German Convention Her Majesty con¬ 
ferred on Mr. John Buchanan a C.M.G., and on myself a c.B. Mr. W. A. 
Churchill, who, during my absence in the interior, had done excellent work 
1 With land hunger Vappetit vient en maugeant. 
