Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, and his Most Faithful Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves, which treaty settled the question of the boundaries of their possessions and spheres of influence in eastern and central Africa.

"Article II. of this treaty contains the demarcation of the boundary to the south of the Zambezi; that is to say, from the point on the bank of this river opposite the mouth of the Aroangoa, or Loangwa, as far as the point where the boundary of Swaiziland intersects the river Maputo.

"Differences having arisen with regard to the meaning of certain phrases in the said article, the two governments have decided to have recourse to the arbitration of his Excellency M. Paul-Honoré Vigliani, formerly first president of the Cour de Cassation,' senator, and minister of state of the Kingdom of Italy.

"They do not, however, propose that the whole of the above-mentioned line should be submitted to the arbitration.

"The boundary to the south of the Zambezi may be considered as divided into three sections:

"1. From the Zambezi as far as 18° 30′ south latitude.

"2. From 18° 30′ south latitude to a point where the rivers Sabi and Lunde, or Lunte, meet.

"3. From this point to the river Maputo.

"It is not considered necessary to submit to arbitration the line defined in sections 1 and 3; the differences only concern the second section.

"The negotiations took place in London. The text of the treaty was drawn up in English, and initialed by the Marquess of Salisbury, then minister for foreign affairs, and by M. de Soveral, Portuguese minister. The treaty having been compared with the copy initialed in London, was signed at Lisbon by Count Valbom, Portuguese minister for foreign affairs, and by Sir George Petre, Her Britannic Majesty's minister at Lisbon.

"That portion of the article which deals with the second section of the boundary is drawn up in the following terms:

"Thence (i. e., from the intersection of the thirty-third degree of longitude east of Greenwich by the parallel of latitude 18° 30′ south) it follows the upper part of the eastern slope of the Manica plateau southwards to the center of the main channel of the Sabi, follows that channel to its confluence with the Lunte.

"It is understood that in tracing the frontier along the slope of the plateau no territory west of longitude 32° 30′ east of Greenwich shall be comprised in the Portuguese sphere, and no territory east of longitude 33° east of Greenwich shall be comprised in the British sphere. The line shall, however, if necessary, be deflected so as to leave Mutassa in the British sphere and Massi-Kessi in the Portuguese sphere.'

"The following are the terms, in English and Portuguese:

*

"Thence it follows the upper part of the eastern slope of the Manica plateau southwards to the centre of the main channel of Sabi, follows that channel to its confluence with the Lunte, whence it

*

"D'ahi accompanha a crista da vertente oriental do planalto de Manica na sua direcção sul até á linha media do eito principal do Save, seguindo por elle até á sua confluencia com o Lunde, d'onde

strikes direct to the northeastern point of the frontier of the South African Republic, and follows the eastern frontier of the republic and the frontier of Swaziland to the river Maputo.

"It is understood that in tracing the frontier along the slope of the plateau no territory west of longitude 32° 30' east of Greenwich shall be comprised in the Portuguese sphere, and no territory east of longitude 33° east of Greenwich shall be comprised in the British sphere. The line shall, however, if necessary, be deflected so as to leave Mutassa in the British sphere and Massi - Kessi in the Portuguese sphere.'

corta direito ao extremo nordeste da fronteira da Republica Sul Africana, continuando pelas fronteiras orientaes d'esta republica, e da Swazilandia até ao Rio Maputo.

"Fica entendido ao traçar a fronteira ao longo da cristo do planalto, nenhum territorio a oeste do meridiano de 32° 30' de longitude leste de Greenwich será comprehendido na esphera Portugueza, e que nenhum territorio a leste do meridiano de 33° de longitude leste de Greenwich ficará comprehendido na esphera Britannica. Esta linha soffrerá com tudo, sendo necessario, a inflexão bastante para que Mutassa fique na esphera Britannica e Macequece na esphera Portugueza.'

"In the month of June 1892, the commissioners of the two governments endeavored to trace the boundary line according to the above-mentioned stipulations, but a difference having arisen between them, the settlement was referred to their governments. Direct negotiations between the ministry for foreign affairs of Lisbon and the foreign office have taken place; but all prospect of arriving at an understanding having appeared impossible, the two governments have decided to have recourse to arbitration. "These diplomatic negotiations and the technical labors of the commissioners have left the question of demarcation in the following position: "1. As regards the territory comprised between the parallel 18° 30′ and a point situated at a distance of a few miles to the south of the Chimanimani Pass, each commissioner has proposed a boundary line, and each Government has adopted the line proposed by the commissioner; whence a difference of opinions has arisen which they have not yet found means of reconciling.

"2. As regards the territory comprised between a point situated at a distance of a few miles to the south of the Chimanimani Pass and the parallel 20° 42′ 17′′ of south latitude, the British commissioner and a delegate of the Portuguese commissioner, as far as he was authorized, have agreed upon a boundary line, the examination of which by the two governments has remained unfinished.

"3. As regards the territory which extends from the parallel 20° 42′ 17′′ of south latitude as far as the point where the rivers Sabi and Lunte meet, no project of demarcation has been discussed between the two governments. "In these circumstances, the two governments have agreed to request the arbitrator to take into consideration the documents, the reports of the negotiations, and the results of the technical labors, to weigh the arguments of the two governments, based upon their respective opinions, and to decide on the line which shall separate the Portuguese sphere of influence from that of Great Britain from the parallel 18° 30′ to the point of confluence of the Lunte and Sabi.

"In faith of which the undersigned, duly authorized by their respective governments, have signed the present declaration, to which they have affixed the seals of their arms.

"Done at London, on the 7th January 1895.

"KIMBERLEY.

"LUIZ DE SOVERAL.

"After our acceptance of the functions of arbitrator it was agreed between us and the two governments that the arbitration proceedings should take place at Florence, and that the documents relating to the arbitration should be drawn up in French.

"We then invited each of the two governments to submit to us a memorandum setting forth its claim, with documents to support it, and a geographical map showing the line of frontier claimed; and we reserved the right to ask them, after the examination of these documents, to send to us technical delegates instructed to furnish us with such information and explanations as would be useful for a thorough comprehension of the facts and localities connected with the questions to be decided.

"For the drawing up of the reports of the proceedings and other work connected with the arbitration, we appointed as our secretary the Marquis Alexandre Corsi, professor of international law at the University of Pisa. "After the examination of the case presented by the Government of Great Britain on the 16th March, 1896 together with five maps, of which the one marked D shows the line of frontier claimed by Great Britain. "The conclusions of this case are as follows:

"As regards the first section of the boundary in dispute—

"1. That the watershed between the basin of the Sabi on the one side and those of the Pungwe and the Busi on the other, proposed as the boundary by M. du Bocage, was definitely rejected during the negotiations which preceded the conclusion of the convention.

"2. That a large addition of territory was assigned to Portugal north of the Zambezi, in return for the abandonment by her of the claim to the watershed.

"3. That the plateau mentioned in Article II. of the Anglo-Portuguese convention actually exists much as it is shown on maps published prior to the conclusion of that convention, though its eastern escarpment is in places less sharply defined than it was then supposed to be.

"4. That the British claim leaves the plateau, as was intended, within the British sphere, and the whole of the slope connecting it with the plain within the Portuguese sphere.

"5. That the line of the British claim, following the upper edge of the plateau and drawn across the mouths of the ravines, is in accordance with the text of the convention and is exactly coincident with that in the minds of the British and Portuguese negotiators.

"6. That the deflection round Massi-Kessi of the line of the British claim amply meets the requirements of the case.

"As regards the second section of the boundary

"

7. That the line agreed to by Major Leverson and Captain d'Andrade is the line that should be adopted.

"As regards the third section of the boundary

"8. That till the Sabi is reached the boundary must run southwards between the limits 32° 30′ and 33 of longitude east of Greenwich.

"9. That it is immaterial as regards compliance with the text and spirit of the convention whether the boundary follows the Sabi up or down stream, that river merely serving as a connecting link by means of which to reach its confluence with the Lunte, which had been selected as a fixed point, whence the line was to be carried to the northeastern corner of the South African Republic.

"After the examination, also, of the case presented on the 10th June 1896, in the name of the Portuguese Government, with a volume of the White Book and three maps, of which the one marked C shows the line claimed. "The conclusions of this case are as follows:

"1. That the frontier from latitude 18° 30' south of the defile of the Chimanimani should follow the line proposed by the Portuguese commissioner.

"2. That southwards from Chimanimani to Mapunguana the frontier may follow the line proposed by the British commissioner and accepted by the Portuguese technical delegate, Freire d'Andrade.

"3. That between Mapunguana and latitude about 20° 30′ south the project of delimitation agreed to between the British commissioner and the Portuguese delegate should be rectified, the frontier to run from Mapunguana by Mount Xerinda towards the mountain situated on the abovementioned parallel between the basins of the Zona and the Chinica.

"4. That as the plateau does not exist south of latitude 20° 30' south, it appears just and reasonable that from this parallel the frontier should run to the Save by Mounts Mero and Zunone and the River Lacati, following after this the course of the Save to its junction with the Lunde.

"At our invitation the two governments sent to Florence and placed at our disposal their delegates, viz: Major Julian John Leverson, on the part of Great Britain; his excellency the Councillor Antonio Ennes, and Captain Alfred Freire d'Andrade, for Portugal.

"The delegates of the two governments after having, on the 16th and 18th of June, been made acquainted reciprocally with the cases and the maps having reference to them, laid before us fully, in a series of meetings which took place in our presence, and of which minutes were drawn up, the circumstances and arguments in support of the claims of their respective governments; and in their discussions they furnished us with the most careful and detailed information and explanations which we deemed it useful to ask them as to the doubts and difficulties which the nature and unexpected configuration of the mountainous and irregular plateau of Manica place in the way of an exact and literal application of the text of Article II. of the convention of the 11th June 1891 to the territory to be delimited.

"In the course of these discussions there were presented to us on the 9th July 1896 Observations on the British Case,' by M. Ennes and Captain d'Andrade, and 'Notes on the Portuguese Case,' by Major Leverson, and, further, 'Observations on the British Counter Case,' by Captain d'Andrade, as well as some replies in manuscript submitted by one side, and by the other illustrative maps and sections prepared before the close of the meetings by Captain d'Andrade; also a topographical map, submitted on the 14th July by Major Leverson, modifying two small parts of the first section of the frontier claimed by his government.

"Lastly, after the conclusion of the meetings on the 17th August, Major 5627-VOL. 5—38

Leverson submitted to us his 'final observations,' and M. Freire d'Andrade caused to be transmitted to us on the 21st August 1896 his 'conclusions.' All printed documents were communicated by our secretary to each of the delegates, the exchange of each one from one party to the other being as far as possible contemporaneous. The manuscripts and maps were at the same time placed at their disposal.

"I. Preliminary questions.-During the study of the documents, and during the discussions, certain preliminary questions presented themselves in the first place to our examination. They have reference to the text of the treaty of the 11th June 1891.

"It is pointed out in the joint memorandum ('Acte de Compromis') that the treaty was originally drawn up in English and initialed on the 14th May 1891 by the Marquess of Salisbury, secretary of state for foreign affairs of Great Britain, and M. Luiz de Soveral, Portuguese minister plenipotentiary in London; that after this the Portuguese text having been compared with the English text initialed in London, the double English and Portuguese text was signed at Lisbon by Count de Valbom, minister for foreign affairs in Portugal, and Sir George Petre, Her Britannic Majesty's minister at Lisbon, on the 11th June 1891.

"These circumstances are confirmed in the cases of the two governments. (Vide Part I. of the English Case, and the Portuguese Case, p. 43.) It has nowhere been declared which of the two texts, the English or the Portuguese, should be considered the original of the treaty.

"It results there from that each of the two texts contained in the protocol signed at Lisbon on the 11th June 1891 may aspire to the honor of being considered the original, whilst the English text initialed in London constitutes properly the first minute. In any case there can be no doubt that each of the two should serve equally for the interpretation of the treaty. "To the double text of the original there has been added in the joint memorandum ('Acte de Compromis') a French version of Article II. of the treaty, the use of this language having been agreed to for the arbitration proceedings. But as following this French translation the double English and Portuguese text has been reproduced therein, it is to be imagined that the high contracting parties considered this version as being in all respects equivalent to the double text of the original.

"Nevertheless, the use of two languages in the drawing up of the document could easily cause, as actually happened, namely, in the scientific world at Lisbon, doubts and differences of opinion in its interpretation, and this has been one of the principal causes of the necessity for recourse to arbitration (British Case, paragraph 1).

"The principal questions were: (1) What was the meaning of the expression Plateau de Manica?' (2) What was the signification of the words, la partie supérieure du versant oriental' ('the upper part of the eastern slope-a crista da vertente oriental')? (3) What was understood by the word 'plateau,' as used in opposition to the words 'pente' or 'versant?' (4) If these last words, 'pente' and 'versant,' were used as synonymous, what is the surface (table, terrace, or esplanade) of the plateau properly so called? What is the pente or versant [slope], and what is the bord or escarpement [edge]? (5) Is the expression 'vers le sud' in the French version equivalent to 'southwards' in the English text and to 'na direcção sul' in the Portuguese text, and do these three expres