The establishment of the British South African Company in 1889 and the consequent development of Mashonaland and Matebeleland subjected the Portuguese territories south of the Zambezi to a searching scrutiny on the part of these merchant adventurers, who laid hands on behalf of Great Britain on all territory where the Portuguese could not prove claims supported by occupation or ruling influence. The strongest temptation existed to ignore Portuguese claims on the Pungwe river and to push a way down to the sea at Beira; but a spirit of justice prevailed, and no real transgression of Portuguese rights was sanctioned by the British Government, or indeed attempted by the Company. In June, 1891, after several unsuccessful attempts, a convention was arrived at between England and Portugal, which defined tolerably clearly the boundaries of British and Portuguese territories in South-east, South-west, and South-central Africa. Rights of way were obtained under fair conditions both at Beira and at Chinde (Zambezi Delta[75]). Since 1891 a friendly feeling has been growing up between the British and the Portuguese. The Portuguese have been making steady efforts to bring under control their richly endowed East African province. For some time after their settlement with Great Britain they were menaced in the south by the power of Gungunyama, a Zulu king who ruled over the Gaza country, and had been in the habit of raiding the interior behind the Portuguese settlements of Lourenço Marquez and Inhambane. The Portuguese warred against him for three years without satisfactory results, until Major Mouzinho de Albuquerque, by a bold stroke of much bravery, marched into Gungunyama’s camp with a handful of Portuguese soldiers and took the king prisoner. For this gallant action he was eventually promoted to be Governor-General of Portuguese East Africa, and then did something towards bringing under subjection the turbulent Makua tribes opposite Moçambique. ---------------------------------------------------------------- PORTUGUESE AFRICA Plate III. [Illustration] EXPLANATORY NOTE [green] _Area of Portuguese Possessions in 1820_ [tan]  ”    ”     ”   _1912_ [red] _Possessions lost or exchanged_ ----------------------------------------------------------------