Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1248

 892 PORTTTOAL

the Congo Independent State by those fixed by the convention of May 21, 1891 ; from British South Africa in accoidance with the convention of June 11, 1891, and from German South-Avest Africa in accordance Avith that of December 30, 1886. This possession is divided into hve districts : Congo, Loanda, BengueUa, Mossamedes, and Lunda. The capital is S. Paulo de Loanda, other important towns being Cabinda, Ambriz, Novo Redondo, BengueUa, Mossamedes, and Port Alexander. The military force consists of 4,010 men (2,858 being natives). The chief products are coffee, rubber, wax, sugar (for rum distilleries), vegetalile oils, coco-nuts, ivory, oxen, and fish. The province contains large quantities of malachite and copper, iron, petroleum, and salt. Gold has also been found. The Companhia de Mossamedes (Portuguese, with German capital) has a concession for cattle-rearing, tish-curing, and the exj)loration of mines. Their concession includes the recently-discovered Cassinga gold mines, and a great extent of country in the interior. Estimated revenue (1898-99), 1,651,797 milreis ; expenditure, 1,846,469 milreis. Value of imports, 1896, 3,451,456 milreis ; of exports, 1896, 4,612,800 milreis. The chief imports are textiles, and the chief exports are coffee and rubber. The trade is largely with Portugal. In 1896 there entered the ports of Loanda, BengueUa, Ambriz, and Mossamedes 286 vessels of 431,774 tons ; 37 of 44,242 tons being British, 33 of 45,754 tons German, and 189 of 326,457 tons Portuguese. Jn 1896 the length of railway open w^as 230 miles ; length of telegraph line, 430 miles ; 13 telegraph offices.

Portuguese East Africa is separated from British Central and South Africa by the limits of the arrangement between Great Britain and Portugal in June, 1891 [See South Africa (British) and Central Africa (British)], It is separated from German East Africa, according to agreements of October and December, 1886, and July, 1890, by a line running from Cape Delgado at 10° 40' S. lat. till it meets the course of the Rovuma, which dt follows to the point of its confluence with the 'Msinje, the boundary thence to Lake Nyasa being the parallel of latitude of this point. The whole possession is divided into three districts : Mozambique, Zambezia, and Lourenco Marques, to which have to be added the districts of Inhambane, formed on the failure of the administrative concession to the company of that name, and the Gaza region, which, has been temporarily constituted as a military district. The Manica and Sofala region is administered by the Mozambique Company, which has a royal charter granting sovereign rights for 50 years from 1891. The Nyasa Company, with a royal charter, administers the region between the Rovuma, Lake Nyasa, and the Lurio. The military force consists of 4,888 men (3,246 being natives). For 1898 the estimated revenue was 4,232,326 milreis ; expenditure, 3,945,765 milreis. The principal ports are Mozambique, Ibo, Quilimane, Chinde, Beira (population in 1897, 4,055, of whom 979 were European), and Lourenco Marques, the last having a Euro- pean population of about 1,700 (700 Portuguese), and a native population of about 6,000. The Zambezia Company carries on industrial, commercial, agricultural, and mining operations, and the Mozambique Sugar Company has plantations on the Lower Zambeze. At the port of Mozambique in 1897 the imports amounted to 151,823^., in 1896, to 87,7Q0l. Exports, 1897, 160,571Z. ; 1896, 59,418^. At Quilimane in 1895 the imports amounted to 94,537^., and the exports to 76,344^. At Beira in 1897 the imports amounted to 578,500^., and the exports to 35,460Z. ; while the transit trade reached 205,320Z. At Louren90 Marques in 1897 the imports amounted to 784,000^.; in 1896, 638,410Z. ; in 1897 the exports amounted to 38,000Z. ; in 1896, to 17,857^. ; in 1897 the transit trade amounted to 2,660, 000^. ; in 1896, to 1,518,970Z. The chief articles imported into the colony are cotton