Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-07-21
PORTUGUESE IN AFRICA.
fhelr Power and Influence Have Complete
ly Passed Away.

fhelr Power and Influence Have Complete
ly Passed Away.
The first to come were the men of
Portugal, then in the fresh spring
time of its power. Bartholomew
Diaz discovered the Cape OF Storms,
rs he called it, in 1886, and after
Vasco da Cana, in 1878, had trac-
cd the southeast coast as far as So
fala, little to the south of the mod
ern port of Beira, the Portuguese
established settlements at that place
and farther to the north of 1t, and
thence carried on considerable
trade with the natives, chiefly III
gold brought down from the mines
of Mashonaland. However, the IN
healthiness of the fat country which
lies between the coast and the lnte-
rior plateau checked their projects of
exploration and conquest. Individu-
al traders, and sometimes mission
aries also, penetrated far into the
interior, and articles which the Por-
tuguese must have brought to Afri-
ca, such as fragments of Indian and
Chinese pottery, and even, in one or
two instances, small cannon, have
been found many hundreds Of miles
from the seaboard. But, on the whole,
the Portuguese exerted little infu-
enoe on the country and its inhabit-
ants.
The white population remained
very small, and it became degraded
by intermarriage with the Kaffirs
for In Africa, as we'll as In Brazil,
the Portuguese have shown little of
that contempt for the native blacks
and aversion to q mixing of their
blood with the latter, which have
been SO generally characteristic of
the Dutch and the English. During
the seventeenth and eighteenth CEN
turtles the colonizing force of Portu-
gal declined with the decline of her
European power.
She made no further efforts to ex-
plore, and even abandoned some of
her stations ON the Zambezi. She
remained, however, undisturbed in
her possessions till few years ago,
when question arose between her
and Great Britain regarding the
right to Delagoa bay, a port the
value Of which, as the only deep Wa
Ger harbor fit for large vessels along
the whole stretch of the southeast
coast south of Beira, was now gener-
ally perceived. President MacMa-
hon, to whom as arbitrator the con-
troversy was referred, decided in IA
vor of Portugal. Subsequently Ger
many appeared as formidable
neighhor on the north, while bound
airy disputes arose with the British
settlers who In 1890 had occupied
the inland country to the west.
Thus the Portuguese frontier,
which had been very uncertain, has
now become defined. It includes
vast area, but in that area the num-
Der of white men, or even of semi
civilized half breeds, is so small that,
although some f1tful efforts have
been made by the Mozambique COM
pany, little OF no progress in occupy
ing or improving the country can be
recorded. Portugal sends no emi-
grants to Africa Her government,
now hard pressed for money, cannot
find tho sums NODDED to develop her
African territories, nor is there pri-
yate capital in Portugal to supple
ment the weakness of the govern
ment. The Beira railway and the
Delagoa Bay railway-of which more
anon-have both been built by for
eign companies. Practically, Portu-
gal may be looked on as an extinct
force in South Africa. = James
Bryce, M. P, in Century.