But it must not pass to the east beyond longitude 33°, nor to the west beyond longitude 32° 30′, for the reasons which we are now about to explain.

"This is the only rational interpretation, the only one that is in conformity with the text of Article II., and with the intentions of its authors. "The objection that the text supposes the plateau to extend to the Save can in no way shake this conviction.

"The authors of the treaty, by the admission of the parties, had only an imperfect knowledge of the plateau which they delimited Now, even if they did make a mistake, this mistake, which does not affect one of the essential conditions, but only the flexibility of the line to be traced, cannot make any difference as to its final direction towards the south, which can and must be followed notwithstanding.

"Further, this conviction held by the negotiators that the plateau extended to the Save, though erroneous, would furnish evident proof that by the words 'the frontier follows southwards the upper part of the eastern slope to the Save,' they meant simply that the frontier runs southwards to the Save throughout its length, which expression for them was identical with the extent of the edge.

"As regards the limitation of longitude 32° 30' we are of opinion that Portugal would not have the right to free itself from it by supposing that the plateau ceased before the Save was reached.

"If one seeks the cause of and the reasons for this limitation, one easily understands that it is entirely independent of the continuity of the edge as far as the Save.

"It appears from the history of the negotiations which preceded the drawing up of the treaty that the Marquess of Salisbury had first proposed to make longitude 33° the frontier from 18° 30' to the Save; that Portugal, not having accepted this proposal, nevertheless declared through its minister, M. du Bocage, that it could agree to 32° 30′ as a dividing line, provided that attention were paid to the modifications required by the geographical conditions. (British Case, para. 13.) The two proposals reduced the difference between the two lines to the strip of territory comprised between longitudes 32° 30′ and 33°. It was, then, in order to reconcile this difference that Lord Salisbury submitted a kind of compromise which instituted as frontier line the upper part or edge of the eastern slope from 18° 30' to the confluence of the Save with the Lunde.

"This means of conciliation was accepted by Portugal, and adopted in Article II. of the treaty.

"But, foreseeing naturally that the edge of an irregular mountainous plateau, like that of Manica, would be tortuous in its development, the negotiators deemed it necessary to lay down that the frontier, whilst following the sinuous course of the edge, should never extend beyond the limit proposed by the two parties, viz, meridian 33° to the east, proposed by England, and meridian 32° 30' to the west, proposed by Portugal.

"Thus the line came to be, so to say, shut in in the groove bounded by the two meridians, with the double object that it should not leave the strip of territory in dispute, or assign to either party more than it had asked for.

"It is precisely this which was agreed to in the following paragraph of

Article II. It is understood that in tracing the frontier along the above slope of the plateau no territory west of longitude 32° 30′ shall be included,' &c. This line, then, throughout its length can not extend beyond the limits above mentioned; if it is mentioned that its trace is along the slope this is only for the simple reason above mentioned, that the negotiators of the treaty were fully persuaded that the edge of the slope extended as well as the line towards the Save. If by chance it has been found that the edge comes to an end before reaching the river, this circumstance does not do away with the raison d'être of the limit of the two meridians, and does not prevent the line, when running straight to the Save after the suppposed cessation of the edge, from remaining in the groove which the parties fixed for it by expressions which contain a clear and absolute prohibition.

"The impossibility of tracing the line between those limits (as has been observed by the British delegate) would be the only reason which could be invoked for overstepping them; but such impossibility is so far from having been proved that it has not even been alleged by Portugal.

"The only effect which the cessation of the plateau before reaching the Save can have to the advantage of Portugal is to give to the Portuguese sphere its greatest possible breadth towards the west by extending it till it reaches 32°30', the extreme limit. Just as Great Britain immediately south of Chimanimani has acknowledged that it can not follow the plateau in its detour beyond 33°, so Portugal has no right to follow the slope ('le versant ou la pente') or the plain beyond 32° 30′ in face of the explicit prohibition in the treaty.

"Finally, it must not be forgotten that Great Britain, to make sure that the frontier should not cross 32° 30′ and should not trespass on its sphere beyond this limit, made, as we have already more than once remarked, the concession of a large extent of territory north of the Zambezi to Portugal to indemnify it for the loss which it would sustain on the plateau of Manica. Now, it would be contrary to the principles of justice that Portugal in crossing this limit should take back part of the territory in exchange for which it had accepted the above-mentioned compensation. It is true as regards this concession, or, it would be better to say, this arrangement, that Portugal did not fail to raise objections both as to the value and the rights of Great Britain as regards the ceded territory. But we must repeat that we have already had occasion to remark that Portugal, after having accepted by the treaty this territory as equitable compensation, can not be permitted to raise objections, for which besides it has furnished no justification, having confined itself to simple allegations. "There remains only the last argument of Portugal deduced from the phrase 'the frontier follows the channel of the Save to the point where it meets the Lunde,' which is held to signify that the frontier reaches the Save above its confluence with the Lunde, and that consequently it must reach it before its (the Save's) arrival at the Lunde. This argument is destroyed by the fact that according to the convention, the line being obliged to enter the Save before reaching meridian 32° 30′, this meridian intersecting the Save below its confluence with the Lunde, it must necessarily have been understood that to reach the confluence of the Lunde the Save would have to be ascended.

"But apart from the question whether the expression to follow a river upstream' be rigorously accurate from a philological point of view, it is certain that in the diplomatic and technical language of the delimitation convention, to follow a river, or stream, is made use of with the meaning to follow upstream as well as to follow downstream.

"The British delegate furnished in his notes (No. 3) a proof of this by quoting the act of delimitation of the Turco-Greek frontier signed at Constantinople by the Mixed European Commission on the 15th (27th) November 1891 (sic: should be 1881). (See Vol. III of the N. Raccolta dei Trattati e delle Convenzioni fra il Regno d'Italia e i Governi Esteri, Turin, 1890, pp. 99, et seq., Articles I. and II. of the convention referred to, where evidently the words 'suit' (follows) and 'suivre' (follow) the thalweg of a river are used to signify follow upstream.)

"Many other examples could be quoted, but this is superfluous, once the Portuguese delegate has himself declared in his observations on the British Counter Case (No. 32 h) that even if the natural interpretation of the words 'to follow a river' is to follow it downstream 'this is not absolutely necessary.'

"To sum up, we are of opinion that the pretension of Portugal to lay aside Article II. of the convention beyond Mount Zuzunye and to substitute for it general principles in matters of delimitation is justified neither by fact nor by right, and that the line which should be adopted in this section is that traced on the British map D, and which had been agreed to by the delegates of the two governments as far as the point at which it meets 32° 30'. That the line should be continued thence along this meridian to the Save is a necessary consequence of this.

"For these reasons:

"We declare that according to Article II. of the treaty signed at Lisbon on the 11th June 1891 the line which should separate the spheres of influence of Great Britain and Portugal in Eastern Africa south of the Zambezi, from latitude 18° 30′ to the confluence of the Save (or Sabi) with the Lunde (or Lunte) should be drawn as follows:

"1. As regards the first section of the frontier in dispute, according to the designation used in the joint note of reference (Compromis') the line on leaving the point where latitude 18° 30' intersects longitude 33 east of Greenwich runs due west to a point situated at the intersection of 18° 30' by a straight line drawn from the stone pinnacle on the crest of Mahemasemika (or Massimique) and a height on the northern spur of Mount Panga, marked 6,340 feet. From this point of intersection on the parallel of latitude it ascends in a straight line to the above-mentioned point marked 6,340 feet; then, after following the watershed to a point marked 6,504 feet, it runs in a straight line to the summit of Mount Panga (6,970). From this point it runs in a straight line to the point marked 3,890 feet, and thence it runs also in a straight line, crossing the River Inyamkarara (or Inhamucarara) to the point marked 6,740 feet, situated to the north of Mount Gorongoe.

"After this it follows the watershed, passing through the points marked 4,960 feet and 4,650 feet, till it reaches the summit of Mount Shuara or Chuara (5,540 feet), and then, following the watershed between the Inyamkarara and the Shimezi or Chimeza (3,700 feet), reaches the trigonometrical point marked on Mount Venga or Vengo (5,550 feet).

"From Mount Venga it follows the watershed between the upper valley of the Inyamkarara and the Revué, and subsequently that between the Revue and the Odzi, as far as the point at which the spur branches off which forms the watershed between the Menini (or Munene) and the Zombi (or Zombe), whence it follows the crest of this spur to Mount Vumba (4,950 feet).

"From Mount Vumba it runs in a straight line to the trigonometrical point situated on the Serra Chaura between 4 and 5 kilom. east of the main watershed, and thence in a straight line to a point situated at the castern extremity of Serra Inyamatumba (4,650 feet).

"From there it follows the watershed, which incloses on the north of the valley of the Mangwingi (or Munhinga), till it rejoins the main watershed between the Save and Revue. It follows this watershed to the point where the small spur branches off which incloses on the north the upper valley of the Little Mussapa (or Mussapa Pegueno), and runs along the crest of this spur to the point marked 5,100 feet, whence it runs due east, crossing the Little Mussapa, and reaching the crest of the eastern slope of Mount Guzane, which it follows till it meets the meridian of longitude 33° east of Greenwich; after this it follows this meridian, crossing the Great Mussapa (defile of Chimanimani) till it reaches the point marked 4 on the map hereto annexed.

"2. As regards the second section of the frontier, which is comprised between the end of the preceding section and the point where the upper part of the eastern slope of the plateau cuts longitude 32° 30′ east of Greenwich, the boundary follows the line shown on the map hereto annexed by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, M, N, O, meeting the meridian 320 30 at about latitude 20° 42′ 17′′.

"3. As to the third section, which concerns the territory which extends from the intersection of the edge of the eastern slope by 32° 30′ in latitude about 20° 42′ 17′′ to the point at which the Rivers Save and Lunde meet, the line, following the aforesaid meridian 32° 30', runs in a straight line to the center of the main channel of the Save, and then ascends this channel to its confluence with the Lunde, where the frontier submitted to our arbitration comes to an end.

"A map, on which the line of delimitation in conformity with our decision has been drawn and which has been signed by us and bears our seal, is annexed to each of the originals of our award, of which it forms an integral part.

"Done at Florence, in duplicate, this 30th day of January 1897. [L. S.] "PAUL HONORÉ VIGLIANI. "ALEXANDRE CORSI, Secretary."

Great Britain and the South African Republic.-Award as to the southwestern boundary of the South African Republic:

"Whereas it is stipulated by Article II. of a convention between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the South African Republic, signed in London on the 27th day of February 1884 by the representatives of the respective parties to the said convention, that 'Her Majesty's government and the South African Republic will each appoint a person to proceed together to beacon off the amended southwest boundary as described in Article I. of this convention,

and the President of the Orange Free State shall be requested to appoint a referee, to whom the said persons shall refer any questions on which they may disagree respecting the interpretation of the said article,' and that 'the decision of such referee shall be final;'

"And whereas Her Majesty's government did appoint Captain Claude Reignier Conder, R. E., and the government of the South African Republic did appoint Tielman Nieuwoudt de Villiers, esq., as such persons to proceed together to beacon off the said amended southwest boundary;

"And whereas thereafter the President of the Orange Free State, being thereunto requested, did, on the 5th day of June 1885, appoint Meluis de Villiers, one of the judges of the high court of justice of the Orange Free State, to be such referee as aforesaid;

"And whereas the before-mentioned Captain Claude Reignier Conder, R. E., and Tielman Nieuwoudt de Villiers, esq., did refer to the said referee the following question on which they disagree respecting the interpretation of Article I. of the said convention, namely, What extent of ground to the west of the roads from Lotlakana to Kunana and from Kunana to Taungs, as such roads have been accepted and agreed upon by the commissioners of the governments of Her Majesty and of the South African Republic respectively, was intended to be included in the South African Republic by the words 'skirting Kunana so as to include it and all its garden ground but no more in the Transvaal:'

"Now therefore I, the said referee, do hereby decide and declare that the said words denote the ground included between the said roads and the following boundaries, namely: A straight line from a point on the road from Lotlakana to Kunana, as accepted and agreed upon by the respective commissioners before mentioned, 1 mile southwest of the point where the road crosses the 'spruit' known as 'Tlakayeng,' to a point on the 'kopje' immediately behind Batubatu's kraal, where the line next to be mentioned reaches the summit of the 'kopje;' thence a straight line to a point 200 yards northwest of an isolated hut whereof compass observations were taken by the British commissioners in the presence of the referee and of the commissioner of the South African Republic, this straight line passing immediately behind the huts of Batubatu's kraal so as to exclude them from the South African Republic; next a straight line from the said point 200 yards from the said hut to the northwestern corner of Ramatlane's garden, of which similar observations were taken; thence a straight line skirting the western side of the garden to its southwestern corner, that point being very nearly magnetic north of the 'kopje,' being the northernmost of three 'kopjes' forming the termination of a range of hills which is crossed by the road from Kunana to Marebogo, about 6 miles from the former place; next a straight line from the said southwestern corner of Ramatlane's garden to the summit of the said 'kopje;' thence a line along the ridge of the said range of hills to the point where the hill is crossed by the road last mentioned.

"Dated at Kunana this 5th day of August 1885.

"MELUIS DE VILLIERS."

Great Britain and Spain.-October 16, 1864, the British schooner Mermaid, laden with coal, while passing the Spanish forts of Ceuta, was

1 Br. and For. State Papers, LXXVI. 991-992.