CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library F 2554.G9G78 British Guiana Boundary .Arbitration with 3 1924 020 012 401 K XI Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020012401 BRITISH GUIANA BOUNDARY. ARBITRATION WITH THE UNITED STATES OP BRAZIL. THE ARGUMENT ON BEHALF OP THE GOVERNMENT OF HIS BRITANNIC MA.TESTT. LONDON : PEINTED AT THE EOEEIGN OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY. 1904. CONTENTS. II III IV Preliminary Observations ... Eeview of the History of the Question (I.) — Early Dutch Trade in and beyond the Disputed Zone (II.) — Errors of the BraziHan Momoires as to early Portuguese Knowledge of the Eio Branco ( III.) — Certain Special Errors of the Brazilian Mdmoires respecting the Dutch Control of the Zone ( IV.) — The Failure of Portugiiese Efforts (V. )— The Last Years of Dutch Rule (VI.) — The Beginnings of British Control The Contention of the, British Government ... (I.) — Actual Occupation the Only Source of Title (II.) — The Dutch the First Occupants (III.) — No Eivalry on the part of the Portuguese up to 1775 (IV.) — Eft'ect of the Dutch Possession (V.) — The Bearing of the Portuguese " Descimentos " (VI.) — The Bearing of the Portuguese Surveys (VII.) — The Closing Years of Dutch Possession (VIII.)— British Eights Established .. . (IX.) — Sclioniburgk's "^ .ploration ... (X.) — Collision between Great Britain and Brazil (XL) — Comparison of the Surveys on both Sides (XII.)— Position of the Zone from 184:^-1887 (XIII.) — The Events which led up to the Acute Phase of the Dispute (XIV.) — The present Condition of the Zone The Evidence of Maps (I.) — Fundamental Difference in the Point of View (II.) — Certain Erroneous Arguments Examined (1.) D'Anville's Map ... ... . (2.) Spanish and certain French Maps (.'i.) Van Heneman's Map (4.) Schomburgk's Maps (III.) — Summary of Observations on relevant Maps Legal Questions Involved ... (I.) — Questions connected with Occupation (i.) The Eights derived from Private Traders (ii.) The Inference deducible from Eegular Trade (iii.) The Control of Native Tribes... (II.) — Other Legal Questions arising (i.) The Eights of the Dutch under their Charters (ii.) Effect of certain Treaties (iii.) Eights possessed by (Jreat Britain apart from those of the Dutch (iv.) Elfect of the Agreement of 1842 V Questions of Prejudice Eaised ix the Brazilian Memoires 19 29 34 38 41 49 49 50 51 55 57 62 65 69 72 76 78 80 81 86 86 89 90 92 93 95 97 109 109 111 113 114 117 117 119 121 122 VI Summary of Argument 131 IT CONTENTS. Note. Subject. Page APPENDIX. I Peivate Trade in the Essequibo Colony 140 II The Fable of Manoel da Sylva Rosa 147 III The Depositions taken by Sampaio ... 151 IV The Evidence of Alexandre Eodriguez Fereeira 156 V Post Arinda 160 VI Official Suggestions as to a Boundary on each Side 173 Note. — Of the references placed in the margin of the text of this Argument, those in italics standing out from the text are to passages of the Brazilian Memoires which are controverted in the Argument ; those in Roman letters close to the text are to passages supporting the statements of the Argument. BRITISH GUIANA BOUNDARY. ARBITRATION WITH THE UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL, THE ARGUMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. HIS Majesty the Arbitrator has now before him the whole of the docximents upon which the two Parties in this dispute base their conten- tions : he has before him the statements and replies of both Parties. The task which is pro- posed to the exalted wisdom of His Majesty is to deterimine the real effect of the documentary evidence upon the question of boundary. The object of the present exposition will be to lay clearly before His Majesty what it is that Great Britain claims to be the effect of the documents to which reference has been made. It is, however, first incumbent upon the British Government to comment upon the posi- tion of Brazil, as revealed by the " Second M^moire" which her Special Envoy has sub- mitted. In the first place Brazil, as already indicated in the British Counter-Case, has reserved for her " Second M6moire " a great part of her own affirmative Case. This course is not in accord- ance with the practice which has usually been followed in questions of national importance ; but it is not of much actual moment in this case, because the Chapters entitled " La Preten- tion anglaise " have been completely answered in advance by the British Counter-Case. [196] Those chapters contain a laboured attempt to show that the British claim originated Avith Schomhurgk. The wliole force of the Brazihan attack was directed upon the British position in or about 1840. It was evidently hoped to separate the two divisions of the British Case and so demolish them separately. The attack has failed completely. Fortunately, positive evidence was forthcoming which has broken up the whole of the Brazilian case. A British missionary — Mr. John Armstrong — was at Pirara, Avarning off Brazilian trespassers, at least two years before Schomhurgk ever thought of British Guiana. AVith such confidence was the Brazilian conten- tion put forward that its authors even ventured to say that Armstrong had never been in the Bris. Notes hist., p. 224:. disputed territory. The evidence produced on p. 108 of the British Counter-Case disposes con- clusivelv of this allegation. And under this blow the whole structure of the Brazilian Case collapses. In dealing with tlie historical portion of the British Case— which is done chiefly in vol. ii of the "Second M6moire" entitled "Notes sur la partie historique du premier Memoire anglais " — Brazil makes no general attempt to meet the proofs produced in tlie British Case. ~Eor the most part the counter- stati^ments oE the " Second Memoire " are a mere repetition of the state- ments made in the " Premier Memoire." Sometimes simple dissent is expressed, with a reference to the '•' Premier Memoire." Very often it seems to be thought suflBcient to assert Vide, e.g., Bi-^s. Notes hist., pp. 40, 75, 95, that documents emanating from a Portuguese -'■*^' 150. source must necessarily form a " Portuguese title." As regards this last method, His Majesty's Government venture to suggest that such a treatment of documentary evidence is inade- quate and inadmissible. Every document pro- duced on either side is open to be used by either Party : it is necessary to take account of its admissions as v/ell as of its claims : it is matter for discussion and for argument. It is claimed by Great Britain that a great majority of the documents produced from the Portuguese archives are evidence of the strongest nature in favour of Dutch control or occupation. It is necessary for Brazil to meet the evidence in each such case by specific argu- ment. It is not suflBcient to reply merely that such and sucli a document is a " titre portugais." In a few cases, certainly, the framers of the Brazilian Case enter into argument upon a ques- tion of interpretation; and every case of a real attempt to argue any point will be carefully dealt Avith in the present Argument. It will be submitted in every case that the construction given to the documents by Brazil is not that which they naturally bear. It is not proposed to deal in detail and page by page with the volumes of Brazil's " Second M^moire." To do so, would be to prove over again every point which has been proved in the British Case and Counter-Case ; and would be simply wearisome repetition. Bres. Notes hist., p. 138. There is not the slightest ground for the sug- gestion made in the Notes historiques that Great Britain has applied to the consideration of the documents a partial standard, neglecting those facts which might appear to tell for Brazil. Quite the contrary is the fact ; and His Majesty the Arbitrator is respectfully requested to take note of the main feature which distinguishes the attitude of Great Britain in the present arbi- tration from the method adopted by Brazil. From first to last the object of Great Britain has been to establish the whole question on a sound historic basis, supported by con- temporary documents. The result has been frequently to overthrow completely previous con- ceptions of the history, derived from imperfect knowledge. Here and there points are necessarily left in some degree of uncertainty; but it is claimed that in every case where any particular point is not quite directly proved, the view pre- sented by Great Britain has always been either based on an irresistible inference from proved facts, or so entirely in accord with the general history of the period as to render it preferable to every other view which can be suggested. The case of Brazil, on the other hand, is largely based upon statements which are inaccu- rate and misleading. Becourse is constantly liad to authorities which are completely discredited ; and fiction is too often accepted in preference to fact. The British Government, indeed, feel it their duty to protest in strong terms against the manner in which the Brazilian Government attempt to rely upon the effect produced by the constant repetition of unproved statements as if they were ordinary accepted facts. The Notes liistoriques in particular, written as a running commentary on the British Case, are made a Tchicle for such repetition. The statements so made on behalf of Brazil may be divided into two classes : — (a.) Statements which, though without any foundation, are treated as axioms which it is unnecessary to prove, e.g., that from the first £r^s. Fr em. M^m., pp. 378, 382. settlement of the Portuguese in Brazil the par- ticular territory now in dispute must be taken to have belonged to them ; or that the Portuguese Ibid., pp. 6, 195. considered as theirs everything up to the Rupu- nuni ; or, again, that the Dijtch never claimed Ibid., p. 231. anything in the basin of the Amazon : (b.) Statements which have, as a matter of fact, been completely disproved in the British Case and Counter-Case, e.g., that there was no Brh. Notes hist, p. 1 . Dutch trade up the Uupununi ; that the D'Anville Bris. Prem. Mim., pp. 346 and note, 398, &c. line was accepted by the Dutch ; or that the ^''^'- ^^^^ ^^'^■' "^o^- ^. P- 34 &c. Portuguese controlled the disputed territory and that no other control but theirs was known to the Indians residing upon it. In one form or ^'>'is. Prem. M4m., pp. 330, 401. another this last error occurs so often that some ^'"^l- ^^°\¥J'^-'jy^:}iPP:'^\ _57, 80, 142, twenty references to it are noted in the margin. 148, 153, 163, 175, 271, 285, 320. Bris. Notes hist., pp. 19, 25, 26, 29 81 Yet it is absolutely disposed of by the British 239, 246-7. ' ' Counter-Case. Every attempt will be made to notice the principal errors in the course of the ensuing Argument as occasion arises, but there are many minor ones which it is practically im- possible to notice without devoting a separate study to the errors of the Brazilian Memoires. Great Britain, in the Argument which she will now proceed to develop, will, as hitherto, give full weight to every proved fact which appears to bear in favour of Brazil : but she will show that on the balance of the evidence her case is fully established. The general scheme of the ensuing exposition will be, in the first place, to review the main outlines of the history upon which the Avhole question turns, establishing any facts which are in controversy ; then to show how, in the opinion of His Majesty's Government, each detail of that history affects the claim of Great Britain ; then to consider the bearing of cartography; and lastly, to deal with certain questions of law which have arisen in the course of this discussion. CHAPTER I. REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OE THE QUESTION. Eor a complete statement of all the facts which are really material to the consideration of this case, His Majesty is respectfully referred to Chapters III, IV, and V of the British Case, and Chapter V of the British Counter- Case. It will be remembered that the latter gives a continuous view of the whole history of the question. It would be out of places to repeat the details, here. It is confidently affirmed that, for the most part, Brazil has made no sort of attempt to displace the facts of that history ; the few cases in which she has made some attempt to do so will be considered in this Chapter under separate sections. Early Dutch Trade in and beyond the Disputed Zone. The first broad fact claimed for the Dutch is that they had, before 1638, found their way to, and beyond, the territory now in dispute, and that, from that time forward, Dutch traders made regular use of this territory as the centre of a traffic which, for many years, reached even to the banks of the Amazon. This result is obtained by the careful comparison of a number of passages, Brit. C.C., which have been fully set out. It is not pretended pp. 51-57). that the statements in these passages are precise ; BrSs. Notes hi^L, p2>- ^'i {note 24), 29. in the beginnings of any history it is seldom that precise data can be found ; but these passages form a chain of evidence which leads up to the more definite statements contained in the Dutch records at the close of the I7th century, — which explains these records, and is explained by them. Ibid. p. 25, and See Mem., p. f*. It is no answer to say that the Dutch maps of the 17th century, i.e., those of De Laet, Blaeu, &c., did not delineate the physical features of the territory now in question. Scientific cartography was in its infancy : the ordinary map-publisher had no relation to the trader or explorer, and the [196] B* G vagueness of such maps cannot displace the fact that this district is proved to have been a centre of Dutch trade. As regards the attempt to show that the por- Bn'^^. Notes hist. pp. 32, sqq. tion of the evidence whicli is drawn from Major Scott's writings is either against the British con- tention or too vague to be of value, a careful study of those writings at once disposes of it. The Notes historiques quote a passage from Scott's "Discription of Guayana," but overlook entirely the supplementary passage in his " History and Description of ye K-iver of ye Amazones." Erom this latter passage it appears that Matteson did bring all the ripe fruits of his experience to Essequibo, and place them at the disposal of Groenewegen. That part of his evi- dence, as quoted by Scott, on which reliance is Brit. C, p. 21 placed in the British Case, viz., that he was in ^^^•' P' ^ -*' the service of the Dutch when he took Groene- wegen into the Amazon region, certainly enures to the benefit of the Dutch. Apart, however, from Matteson, Scott had the Vide Brit. C, evidence of Hendricson, who for twenty-seven Brit. O.C.,' pp. 52-3 years had served as a Dutch factor amongst (F^"-' PP- 55-6). '•' the upland Indians of Guiana." He is a most important link in the history of the early Dutch trade. As tQ the alleged vagueness of Scott's descrip- tion of the district visited by Groenewegen, it is desirable to recall the language he uses of it. Scott's first mention of the locality where Brit. C, Ann. I, p. 4. Matteson traded is as follows : — "Discription of Guayana." " The Shahones, Sepoyes, and Occowyes, whose habitations are 200 leagues south-west from St. Thome, neare the Mountains of the Sun " — ■ with them he is said to have traded for twenty- two years. In his second mention of Matteson Scott Brit, C, Ann. I, P- 5- writes : — " History and "Capt. Matteson with sixtie Spaniards from Saint Thome .... marched eighty dayes east and east- south-east, partly by periagoes, and most afoot till they came to a colonic of Indians scittuate on a faire plaine not far from a great lake, and a mightie ridge of mountains .... this (Japt. Mattison .... was of opinion that they were not above fiftie leagues from the head of Dessekeebe." Scott also describes the district of the Der-cription of Amazones." Brit. C, Ann. I, «' Occowyes, Shawhauns, and Semicorals " in these « DiBcription of terms : — Onayana." " The uplands of Guiana either under the line or in south latitude .... a vast tract of land beginning at ye Mountaines of the Sun on the west and north and extending themselves to Rio Negro 500 miles south." and he further refers in other passages to the savannahs at the head of the Parioia (Parma) and the Suanes* near the source of the Black River. Scott also shows in his narrative that he obtained most of his geographical information from Matteson and Hendricson. While absolute accuracy ia such a document, and in the then state of geographical knowledge, is not to be expected, the locality of the Indians described by Scott, can be identified with reason- able certainty as the territory stretching from the Parima range, on the west and north, to the mouth of the Rio Negro south and east, thus crossing the Rio Eranco. It has roughly an expanse of 500 miles ; it does approach the Equator ; and the readiest access to it from the sea is up the Essequiho by the overland route to the Rio Branco, along which Matteson and Groenewegen would arrive at it. Similarly, Scott's description of the journey with Groene- wegen has sufficient data for general identifica- tion. The river journey 300 miles up the Essequiho from Port Kijkoveral will bring one beyond the Kio Branco, and for a part of this route, at any rate, the direction of the traveller v/ill be south-south-easterly. The Brazilian Case, however, shows conscious- ness that its denial of the existence of Dutch trade is not satisfactory, and seeks to meet the references to trade and private traders by main- taining — Brh. Nata hist., p. 18. («•) That they were not necessarily of Dutch nationality ; * The Swanis or Shahauns mentioned by Scott are doubtless identical with the Suanes or Zuanas mentioned by Acuna and other early writers as living between the Negro and the Amazon. The passing suggestion made in the British Case (Ann. I, p. 6) that the tribe now known as Wapisianas may be the representatives of the Suanes {i.e., Uapes-suanes) had merely ethnographical interest: it is not evidence in aid of the proof that Dutch traders from Guiana iu the middle of the 17th century had intercourse and traffic with tribes living- between the Negro and Amazon. [196] C 8 (b.) That they were not servants of the Com- pany ; and that they, therefore, could not acquire any rights for either the Company or for Holland. Although as a matter of fact these traders ■were mainly Dutch, the nationality does not matter, as long as they were Dutch subjects, or came from Dutch settlements. As r(!srards the statement that they were not servants of the Company, it is sufficient to remind the Arbitrator how large a part the •' interlopers," to whom they were e"?actly equivalent, played in creating British India. The effect of their action as a matter of Vide Gh. TV, injra. international law will be considered in the proper place in this Argument. Meanwhile, in all the history of the Dutch Company in Guiana this fact must never be left out of calculation ; that side by side with the officials of the Company there were at work the private traders of private firms. From the very beginning of the Company's records these men are referred to, and eventually Courthial, Pipersberg, Einet, &c., are names almost as familiar as that of Storm himself. These men not unnaturally pushed ahead of the Company, drawing their profits from regions which the slower methods of the Company did not reach so early. As to the suggestion that their actions may Brda. Notes hist., j). 29. have accrued to the benefit of Surinam only, it will be remembered that in the period to which the earliest trade belongs, and up to 1667, the Colony of Surinam was British, and not Dutch; and that even when it became Dutch it was an entirely separate Colony.* * In the 18th century the use of the terms "colony of Surinam" and "the Dutch of Surinam" by the Portuguese is a general one, covering all the Dutch settlements on the Guiana coast. Indeed, so far from connoting the colony of Surinam, properly so called, as distinguished from those of Essequibo and Berbice, in nearly every case where it is employed by Portuguese v^riters, it signifies specifically Essequibo, and not Surinam. See Brit. C, App. i. No. 48, p. 31, 173."); No. 73, p. 52, compared with No. 79, p. 54, 1750; Prem. Mem. Bres., Ann. i. No. 51, p. 91, 1766; Brit. C, App. i. No. 144, p. 105, 1775. The following passage from Manoel da Gania Lobo's Descripqao relativa ao Rio Branco e sen Territorioj-wiitten in 1787, affords a striking instance of such usage. He says [Prem. Mem. Bres., Annexe i, p. 258] : " As nafoes extrangeiraa confinantes e fronteiras do Rio Branco sao os Hespanhoes das regioes do Orinoco e os Hollandezes de Surinam. Descreverei como estas na96es se podem co]itinuar para o Kio Branco Os Hollandezes de Surinam nao tem passo tao difficultozo, pois subindo ao Essequebe, no em que elles j8, tem estabelecimento, vem o no Repunuri de que conhecem a navegagao, &c. Bris. Sec. Mdm., Ann. I, pp. 272, aqci. As an alternative way out of the difficulty Br 21. Apr 15. Lieven returns . . J Lieven goes " weder naar boven " ■ Lourens returns [this time by way of the Massaruni (" uijt maseroen ") ] 90 days. 84 days. A study of the above Table, compiled from the CO*' a'^*' ^"''" ^ffi^^^l Journal kept at Fort Kijkoveral, leaves p. 47, seq'.' little doubt that Lieven and Lourens worked together ; and apparently shows that, as a rule, one remained up the river whilst the other came down. The entries in the Stock Account Books corroborate this view, further, it is clear that the period covered by each expedition to " Penoenij " and back, on this hypothesis, was on an average three months. The usual period of absence of each man seems to have been over bIx. As the stream known as the Puruni is not more than three or four days' journey from Port Kijkoveral, it is preposterous to suggest that the above distant journeys can refer to it. Thirdly — the " Penoenij " district was capable of being approached by way of the Massaruni, as one of the passages noted above clearly shows: but it was something far beyond and away Yen. Arb., Brit. C, from it. It was apparently identical with the ■ ■ * region of the Accuways " up in the interior," which lay beyond both the Essequibo and Massaruni. So far one arrives at a conclusion that the Penoenij represented a separate and distant region, probably three weeks' or a month's journey away, and beyond Massaruni. Apart from the reference in a despatch of Commandeur Beekman's of the year 1706, on which the Brazilian Government relies, there 12 appears to be no reference to " Penoenij " in the records beyond tbose wbicli have just been noticed. There is a hiatus of several years in the Dutch records, but the thread may be caught up again in a series of references to the trade of Brit. U., Ann. I, the Upper Essequibo commencing in 1721. ^' /' Amongst these there is a reference to slaves brought down the Essequibo from above and beyond it from the Portuguese, and, a little md-, p- 32. later, to trade near the Amazon river itself. And just at the time when these Dutch references to the Portuguese and the Amazon are met with, the Portuguese on the Amazon at the mouth of the E-io Negro are found com- Brit. C, p. 23 plaining of the persistence of Dutch trade in gi-j^ o,c.^ " that district. Prom different sides we have two PP- ^^"'^^,„ ,„, (Pr., pp. 13-19). converging lines of evidence bearing exactly on the same point and establishing the existence of a regular traflBic ; — not mere casual visits of traders, but a traffic supported by an alliance with the chief Indians in the region, and so considerable as to threaten the existence of Portuguese supremacy on the Amazon itself. It is but a few years subsequently that the Company are found making definite arrange- ments for establishing their own hold over the Essequibo trade and controlling the private traders, the volume of whose trade may be gathered from the Note No. I annexed. A deliberate consideration of the whole historv can leave no reasonable doubt that all these references, though broken by the loss of docu- ments, represent the same trade, viewed at long intervals through the haze of the past ; and that gradually the Penoenij and the Upper Essequibo became in part convertible terms, the forme, being included in the latter. The attention of the Dutch Company itself in this direction seems to have been concentrated chiefly upon the Pvupununi and savannah districts ; but up to 1730, or thereabouts, the traders, who were independent of the Dutch Company, went further afield and pushed to the very borders of the Amazon; till at length the defeat of their chief ally, Ajuricaba, by the Portuguese set back the trade to the district now more immediately under discussion : here it was more within reach, and very soon became subject to the regular control of the Company. It is submitted on the above grounds that it is 13 impossible not to identify the Penoenij with the E,upununi ; it is almost ridiculous to ask any critic to believe that these references to an im- portant trade extending over many years are made to the Puruni, a tributary of the Massaruni, which is never again mentioned in any Dutch records, and never marked on a single map before Schomburgk's time, — never, apparently, noticed before the British held the Colony. It is throwing too much of a strain on credulity to suggest that this considerable trade should have suddenly collapsed without leaving a single trace. Against this overwhelming weight of testi- mony there are only two considerations advanced on the part of Brazil, one philological, the other based on a single passage, which will be carefully considered. The suggestion that Puruni might be called £rSs. Notes hist., v. 43, ad init. Pununi by the Oaribs, though a clever retort on Brit. C, p. 8 an illustration used by Great Britain, is essentially ■' ^' '' unsound ; to the scientific philologist it is a well- known fact that there is much more diflficulty with initial letters than with those which come in the middle of the word, especially those tvhich precede an accented syllable. Moreover, the difficulty which the Caribs found in pronouncing the letter "r," which, according to Scliomburgk, led to its being dropped at the beginning of the name Rupununi, would not account for its being converted into " n " in the case of Puruni. It is not suggested that the Caribs called the above- named river Nupununi. In fact, no part of this argument bears examination. It now remains to consider the passage cited on p. 56 of the British Counter-Case and attacked with vigour in pp. 45-47 of the Notes historiques. The gist of the passage is con- tained in the words : — " He had found the foxir slaves overland in Penoenij, who said their wish was never to come to the fort, but make their way into the savannah." Only the strictly relevant portion of the Dutch record was appended to the British Case. The lUd., p. 45. Brazilian Notes historiques cite the whole of the passage as produced in the Appendix to the British Case in the Venezuelan matter ; and on the passage, taken as a whole, found an elaborate argument to prove that " Penoenij " must mean the Puruni. 14 It is submitted that the argument put forward by Brazil, though plausible, is unsound. The mere mention of savannah is sufficient to dispose of the suggestion that " Penoenij in this pas- sage is for Puruni." There is no savannah in the Puruni; it is all thick forest land. There are two well-known savannah districts adjoining the rivers of British Guiana ; one, that upon the Rupununi, the other, that far up the Ouyuni. These are the two districts referred to in the extract. The words in which Jan Pietersen's report is cited point to the conclusion that the four runaways whom he had found " overland in Penoenij " were already in the savannah ; this being so, Penoenij cannot possibly be the Puruni, where there is no savannah ; it may well be the Rupununi, in which one of the great savannah districts commences. Moreover, the times indicated in the extract are against the Brazilian view ; the calculations put forward in the Notes historiques are erroneous; the dates allow far too much time for the short journey to the Puruni, which was close to the fort; while there was ample time for Jan Pietersen, going, as he would, at considerable speed, to make the journey (say twelve or fourteen days) to the savannah country on the Rupununi and be back at Port Kijkoveral by the 12th June. The passage in question is accordingly not to be interpreted as suggested in the Brazilian Notes historiques. The apparent difficulties which meet one in the very brief narrative of an ordinary event in the life of the Colony are perfectly capable of explanation as follows. The Oom- mandeur Beekman sent off with the two old negroes a free mulatto who knew the trade routes. The three men apparently set off up the Mas- saruni, from which overland paths run, on the one side to the Ouyuni, on the other to the Essequibo. It seems that Jan Pietersen heard, soon after starting, that some of the runaways^ had taken a different route from the Cuyuni, whereupon he at once separated from the two old negroes, and sent them up the Ouyuni, while he himself went by the overland route already mentioned, which led from the Massaruni to the Rupununi. As regards the statement that the other fugitives had gone up the Ouyuni, " also to the savannah," it is submitted that the savannah thus mentioned is something different from the savannah just previously mentioned. 15 It is, of course, the western savannah on the Yuruari. It is clear that Jan Pietersen had been entirely separated from the old negroes, as to whom Beekman, in his despatch, merely put concisely the information he had obtained from other sources. The words " further up the Cuyuni" do not necessarily imply a comparison with the position of the runaways found by Pietersen. Eor the above reasons it is ' submitted that this despatch of 1706 cannot be cited as showing that the Penoenij, to AvhicU reference is so often made in the Dutch records as a centre of trade, is to be identified witli the obscure and com- paratii^ely insignificant Puruni. The evidence that in those records Penoenij denotes the country in the neighbourhood of the Rupununi may be described as not only complete, but overwhelming. Eut in truth the identity of the Penoenij with the "Rupununi has not the importance which is Br4t Notes hist., p. 41. attributed to it in the Brazilian Notes historiques. Apart from the passages in which this Avord occurs, there is conclusive evidence to show the extent and volume of the Dutch trade passing through the district which is now in dispute. The more general arguments which the Brazilian Notes historiques brings forward in denial of early Dutch knowledge of the Eupununi are easily answered. lUd.,p.^l. The despatch and instructions of 1714 were from the Directors of the Company at home, who evidently based them on one of the many imitations of De Laet's Map. Now even the local Commandeur of the Company, stationed at Port Kijkoveral, had but an imperfect idea of the distant localities to which the trading operations of the Company extended ; these were but names to all the pre- decessors of Storm ; and even Storm, as his own maps show, had not arrived at any accurate knowledge. It is, therefore, quite natural to find the Directors of the Company displaxing still greater ignorance. Even at the present daj^ similar instances are not at all uncommon where a country is administered from a great distance. Ihitl. Again, in the report made as to the trade of the Essequibo by the Commandeur Laurens Ven. Arb., B.C., d'Heere in 1727, there is no inconsistency with the other documents which have been men- tioned. The Commandeur was in his report speaking merely of the Essequibo : and his in- vestigations on behalf of the Company had no [196] D 16 reference to private traders who used the route : indeed, they may even have been suggested as an alternative to the old overland route. That the Dutch at this time were quite familiar with the route to the Eio Negro by waj of the Rio Branco is sufficiently established, were it only by the document under date of 1732, Brit. C, Ann. 1, which specifically refers to the passage of the P' ^^' Dutch by the Essequibo and Branco to the Portuguese settlements on the Rio Negro. And certainly there is no sort of ground for Br6s. Notes hist., pp. 37-8. the suggestion that when Storm van 's Gravezande first talked of moving Arinda up to the Rupununi he was speaking of a stream of which he had heard for the first time. Quite otherwise. The reference is to that wdth which he was familiar — some- thing of wiiicli he had ample information. It is as follows : — " It should also be stated that not very far above the Post two other rivers (called Sibarouna and Eupummi, the first of which is not yet very well known) fall into the Kiver Essequibo. " Eut the second having a very extensive course, there is a place a few days' journey above the Post where, by dragging the boat for about three hours across a low and marsh}' land, we come into the Oreelv Meejou, also called Maho, which flows into the Rio Branco, and the latter into the Pao Negro, which falling into the Amazon, can make communication with that great river easy." The whole passage is set out on j)p. 32-33, of the British Case, and a perusal of it shows that, from first to last, it deals with rivers which are well known in the Dutch Colony. As to the references to the early Dutch trade which are contained in contemporary Portuguese documents, the Brazilian Case makes no real V'de Brit. C 0., attempt to deal with them. It is, in fact, im- (pj.^ pp. 57-65). possible to do so. They remain a conclusive admission which cannot be set aside. The mere invocation of a document as a " titre de posses- Ibid., 'p. 38. sion portugaise " is no ai'gument. The docu- ments in question show, indeed, an intention of the Portuguese to control the Rio Negro at that period (1687-1697) but they contain the im- portant admissions that this control did not as yet exist, and that the nation which at that time dominated the Rio Negro was the Dutch. All this has been fully explained at pp. 54-61 of the British Counter-Case. The Brazilian Notes historiques, after a long 17 citation from these documents, conclude as follows : — Brh. Notes hist,, p. 40. " La souverainete portugaise ne pouvait etre raieux affirmee que par de tela ordres et un tel laiif;age." No assertion could be more confident, and none could be more unfounded. When the '^'^* ^"*- *^-^-> documents are referred to it will be found that pp. 54-(il (Fr., pp. 57-65). they are to the effect, that, unless forcible measures are taken, it will be impossible to pre- vent the continuance of relations between the Indians and the Dutch. As yet, at any rate, there was no Portuguese sovereignty ; there was merely the aspiration to it, and this on the Amazon itself, above the mouth of the Rio Negro. Coming down twenty years later in date, there is still more definite and positive evidence from Portuguese sources of the Dutch influence along the Rio Branco. This the Brazilian Case attempts to set aside, contrary to the whole tenour of the document cited : the reading of this document Ibid., pp. 50 and VSo. given in the Notes historiques is a travesty of the JSrSs. Prem. ilh'rji., pp. 115 and 1'63. document; it is a mere repetition of the suggestion made in the " Premier Memoire," which was absolutely disposed of by the British Counter-Case at p. 14. The translation adopted by Brazil is impossible, and it is only necessary to express surprise that it could for a moment be adopted by the learned author of the Brazilian Case. The view of Brazil is, however, so vitiated bj' a false preconception that the whole of Berredo's important evidence is misconstrued. It must be remembered that what Berredo was considering was the safetv of the Rio Negro. The point upon which his attention was con- centrated was the fort at the mouth of that river. When Berredo spoke of " entradas " of the Rio Branco he used this word in its ordinary sense : he was undoubtedly thinking of the ways by which the Dutch came down to the Rio £riis. Notes hist., p. 133. Negro, certainly "voies d'acc^s," as the Brazilian Case translates it, but " voies d'acces " of a par- ticular kind — the usual " voies d'acces " to the river : that is to say, its mouths. The point where the three mouths of the Rio Branco branch off is precisely the point whicl Serredo's sub- ordinate would wish to block bv transferring the fort to its neighbourhood. It was reason- ably expected that a fort at this point Mould effectually check the danger of the hour, which was that the Dutch would master the Avhole Rio [196] D 2 18 Negro.* In all the despatch there is only one point which is not immediately clear. Looking to the general ])ace of recorded voyages, twenty days is a long period to take hetween the Barra do Eio Negro and the month of the Rio Branco. But it is not by any means an unlikely period in those early times in certain conditions of the current. The entrances (o the river were in after- Fide Brit. CO., times notoriously difficult, and it is only reason- %f^„ 2.3). able to suppose that the first man who tried them would take full time over the journey. Even in 1835, Adam de Bauve took twenty days Bres.Prem.M(5m., from the Barra do Bio Negro till he actually -^™. V, pp. 29, 30. reached the main stream of the Bio Branco. In dealing with this passage a fresh error is Br^s. Mtes hist, pp. 133 -4. introduced by the Notes historiques, for in refer- ence to the sentence : — "A Dutch convoy is trafficking with our Indians of the Mando nation at the sources of this river." the words " this river " are stated to refer to the Bio Branco. This is impossible. T^he chief river of which the writer was thinking was the Bio Negro. The Manoas mainly inhabited the upper waters of the Rio Negio. The passage must be taken to refer to that river. In fact, Brazil fails, and must fail, to answer the argument of Great Britain on this point, just as she cannot explain away the statement of Berredo that the Rio Branco is the boundary nf Ibid., pp. 136 and 2:34. the Dutch Colony of Surinam (confina com Sorinam). The Portuguese word ■'' confina " is from the Latin confinis, and is properly translated by the old English words " marches with : " it imports "a touching all along the points of a. given line," not a mere touching at a giyeu point. But without pressing the language of Berredo on its literal rendering, it is enough to point out that Berredo did, in his annals, view the river generally as the boundary between the Dutch and the Portuguese. * " Furo " always means a channel of communication between two rivers [vide Sec. M^m. Bres., p. 20], and it is applied to the western mouth of the Branco, which is named in the Map of Silva Pontes, 1781, " Furo de Amayau." The words " Furo de Javaperi " probably signify the eastern mouth or channel affording- entrance ["entrada"] from the Pavev Negro into the Rio Branco ; and the spot where the fort was to be placed was the point of junction of this channel with the main stream of the Branco. The connection of the name of Javuperi with the spot where the eastern mouth issues from the main stream of the Branco is well illustrated liy the Map of Ooudreau [Braz. Atlas, No. S8]. 19 Generally, then, it is urged, Avithout fear o£ further contradiction, that early Dutch documents prove, to a degree which is not always attain- ahle in such early history, that from the early days of the Essequiho Colony a regular traffic was carried on from Port Kijkoveral, partly overland, and partly hy way of the Essequiho and E-upununi, which bad its objective point in or near the territory now in dispute ; and that up to 1730 or thereabouts a more extended traffic found its base in this district, and Dutch traders held regular communication with the Amazon along routes Avhicli are indicated with approximate accuracy in Map No. 5 in the atlas attached to the British Case. The existence of this traffic as indicated in Dutch documents is entirely corro- borated by contemporary Portuguese documents. The accuracy of the episode of Ajuricaha and his alliance with Dutch traders has been so tully vindicated in theBritish Counter-Case at pp. 15-18 and 59-60, that there appears to be nothing more to add here ; there is nothing fresh in the incorrect susjojcstions made in the Notes Brh. Notes hist., pf. 52, sqq. Mstorioues. •'&o (II.) Errors of the Brazilian Memo ires as to early Portuguese knowledge of the Rio Branco. The next broad fact in the history which it is desirable to establish on an incontrovertible basis is that the Portuguese never ascended the Rio Branco liefore they learned of its course from a Dutch official (Horstman*), and that all Sampaio's allegations as to early expeditions up that river are unfounded. It is hoped that the arguments contained on pp. 21-27 of the British Counter-Case and in Notes I and II attached to that Counter- (]ase will leave no further doubt in the mind of Ibid., pp. '25, 65, 161, sqq. the Arbitrator ; but as the Bi'azilian Notes -Cf. Ser. Mivi., vol. Hi, p. -Vl. historiques, in spite of the very clear indication of Brit. Case, the truth contained in the British Case, still cliug (Fr. pp."i4-67). to views which should be regarded as exploded errors, it may l^e necessary to give some * The error as to Sylva Kosa's alleged jourue_y has been exploded in the British Counter-Case, p. I'o. and is the subject of a further special Note. Xo. II, appended to this Argument. 20 space to a rapid review of the facts established by contemporary documents. Apparently the Brazilian Memoires proceed upon very loose views as to what constitutes evidence. Even the declaration of Diogo Br^s. Sec. M^m,, Rodriguez Pereira"-'- is not contemporary evidence. °°* ™' ^' It is, however, a document based on personail knowledge, and it is entirely opposed to certain of the facts alleged by Brazil, negativing entirely the statement that the whole of the Rio Branco Bris. Notes hist., p. 135. was explored by the Portuguese before 1720. In support of the legends of Prancisco Perreira, Jeronimo Coelho, and the statements as ^^'^•' W- 135, 138, 141. to various alleged expeditions, including that of Pranclsco Xavier de Andrade, the Brazilian Memoires refer to the depositions of Prancisco Xavier Mendes de Moraes, and others, taken in 1775 — a period which was separated by thirty- five years from the most recent, and seventy-five years from the earliest, of the events in proof of which they were adduced. As regards Prancisco Perreira, Jeronimo Coelho, Christovao Ayres de Botelho, and the various tropas de resgate, it is submitted that there is nothing more to be added to the argu- ments adduced in the British Counter-Case at pp. 21-27 and 63-65. It is conceived that these erroneous claims are completely disposed of in those passages.! The allegation which here demands fresh and more particular notice is that which is the sub- ject of the argument which commences at p. 163 of the Notes historiques, with the map which illustrates it. It is to the effect that in 1740 Prancisco Xavier de Andrade and others went up the stream now known as the Uraricoera, and found their way to the furthest points of this ■western arm of the Rio Branco. This allegation, which, in spite of the proof contained in the British Case at pp. 57-61, is again put forward in detail, rests entirely upon * In the text of the Notes historiques, p. 135, as well as in a note to p. 141 of the " Premier Memouo," this name is wrongly written as " Fereira," in spite of its being correct in the docu- ment produced by Brazil. ■j- As reg-ards the statements respecting Christovao Ayres de Botelho, a comparison of the Memorandum upon the tributaries of the Eio Negro drawn up for de Mendon^a Furtado (Bres. Sec. Mem., Ann. iii, p. 17) with the " Synopse das Alguas Noticias " foi-cibly suggests that this story really referred to the smaller Rio Branco (or Maravya), and, indeed, that many of the depositions confused events which happened in these two different rivers of the same name (see Brit. C, At. No. 14). 21 the evidence of certain witnesses brougM together by Sampaio Avith a view to forming his " justifi- cation of Portuguese rights in the Rio Branco." The statements of Sampaio to the same efiPect, Avhether in his Memorial of the 18th April, his " Diario," or his " Relagao," cannot be taken apart from those of his witnesses. The depositions of these witnesses have been criticised already in the British Case at pp. 59 sqq. The writer of the Notes historiques urges that the reading given by Great Britain completely changes the nature of the statements. This is not so ; what the British Case did Avas to extract the real truth from the statements. These statements certainly are so drawn as to convey the impression that the expedition ascribed to the year 1740 had penetrated as far as the Uraricoera proper, and had traversed the country on both sides of it, NoAV, in dealing Avith the statements of these Avitnesses, it must not be forgotten that in the same depositions they profess to testify to the the truth of the stories of Francisco Perreira, Jeronimo Coelho, and Christoviio Ayres de Botelho, and the various tropas \A'ho are alleged to have preceded the expedition of 1740 ; and tliat these stories have been completely Brit. CJ., pp. 57-61 exploded in the British Case and Counter-Case, C.c'.' pp. 21-27, in the passages cited just above. The fact that 63-65 these Avitnesses testify to statements Avhich can be 67-69).' ' disproved in every case wdiere they are brought to the test of contemporary documents, must discount the weight Avhich should be attached to their testimony on other points. But apart from the question of their general credibility, there are the gravest reasons for rejecting their narrative of the alleged expedition up the Uraricoera. The events to which these depositions relate are stated to have occurred in the year 1740. If so many persons made such considerable A'oyages in that year, some trace must have been left by them on the contemporary information with regard to these regions. Yet for nearly thirty years after 1740 no mention ot the Uraricoera, and no allusion to any stream Avhich suggests the Uraricoera, is found in any Portu- guese documents. It AA^ould, at any rate, be expected that Pran- cisco Perreira, w^ho was with the expedition, -would have something to say as to the Uraricoera 22 and its main features. But in the Memorandum taken from his mouth hy the Captain- General of Para in 1755, Prancisco Ferreira, after describing the " Ocahy," adds, in language which is per- fectly definite : — " Above this river there is no knowledge of any other Brit. C, Ann, I, one of importance which falls into the Rio Branco on ^' ' this side." Now, it cannot he fairly contended that Fran- cisco Ferreira was regarding the Eio Branco as one with the TJraricoera; the whole tenour of his description shows that he was treating the Eio Branco as a stream up which, according to his experience, the traveller went northward, meeting certain branches on either side. It appears certain that, if he had had any knowledge of the two rivers which by their junction from two opposite directions form the Eio Branco proper, he would not have been silent about this. He mentions the Takutu, evidently froin hearsay, and he is obviously wrong as to its distance above the Cataract. It is further certain that, when the Royal Order of 176'> was penned, the knowledge of the Portuguese at head- quarters had got no further than in 1755, and had no other source of information than the Memorandum taken from Francisco Ferreira, which is quoted testually. This is admitted at p. 163 of the " Premier Memoire" of Brazil. Yet it is inconceivable that, if there had then been any knowledge of the Uraricoera, it would not have been utilized, as indicating a much greater danger on the side of Spain than the Caritirimani. The first mention of the Uraricoera in a Por- tuguese document is in 1766 in the interesting paper entitled " Synopse das Alguas Noticias, &c " That document, for the first time, gives the name Uraricoera to the western of the two streams which, by their junction, form the Eio Branco, and also introduces the error, which the Portuguese never dropped, of confining the name Parima to a small tributary. The state- ment is based on recent Indian information, and the writer of the document evidently brings it in rather as a new discovery. Later in the same year the Lieutenant Agostinho Diniz went as far as the junction of the two rivers, Uraricoera and Takutu, and doubtless confirmed the inform- ation which had been previously received. 23 Noronha, in his " Roteiro," again has the name. In the map attached to Sampaio's Diario of 1771-5, the rivers which had been really explored by the Portuguese, are shown in some detail ; but the two rivers which by their junction form the Rio Branco, are shown in a very rudimentary form, and no name is attached to either. Thus, on an impartial review of the documentary evidence prior to 1775, there is every reason to doubt whether even the name Uraricoera was known to the Portuguese at any time before 1766. The doubt thus thrown on the truth of the depositions under consideration is greatly strength- ened when the method of Sampaio's inquiry is examined. When a Magistrate of high position draws up a Memorial, and, reading it over to each of a number of witnesses, many of them ignorant men, inquires whether the statements are true or not, it is not, as a rule, probable that he will receive any answer but an affirmative. None of the witnesses had any interest but to please their superior ofS.cer, and support the national claims. Vide Note No. Ill In a separate note to this Argument an analysis to this Argument. ^^ ^j^^ depositions is made, showing in italics the phrases and portions of sentences in eacK which are practically taken from the Memorial of Sampaio. The attention of the Arbitrator is called to the fact that these phrases present every appearance of having been transferred straight from that ]\temorial, and of not being the genuine language of the witnesses, with whose other statements they are often incon- sistent. There is very much more than a mere general similarity of language. It would seem that each witnp'^s had a certain knowledge of the tradition of earlv entries some little way into the Eio Branco ; and that upon that small stock Sampaio grafted a number of details to suit his own theory. An attempt will now be made to re-state the facts which emerge from a study of these depositions as a whole, and to sift out from the mass of accretions the knowledge actually possessed by each witness as to the expedition ascribed to 1740. Of the ten witnesses summoned by Sampaio at the Inquiry of May 1775, only three deposed to the facts of this expedition from personal know- ledge. These three are the second, third, and [196] E 24 fourth T\'itnesses, and their evidence alone needs any detailed consideration. The other witnesses may be summarily dis- missed at once. The first of them was Prancisco Xavier blendes Brit. C, Ann. I, de Morae^. He does not profess to speak at first P' ' hand, and his very vague and general statement on this point is little more than an echo of the terms of the Memorial. The fifth deposition, that of Balthazar dos Ibid., p. 100. Eeys, does not deal with the expedition of 1740 at all. It is merely a general affirmation of the Memorial, with a small addition fr-im personal knowledge. This addition, however, indicates that his actual knowledge of the Rio Branco in 1741 and 1742 was very small. The sixth deposition, that of Constantino Ibid. pp. lOO, 101. Dutra Butter again does not deal with the expedition of 1740. It is absolutely general; and does not lend the smallest sup[)ort to any of the details in Sampaio's Memorial. The seventh witness, the Indian, Alberto I'''''- P- lOi. Parente, says nothing about tlie expedition. Neither does the eighth witness, Matheus Lobo, nor the ninth, Nobre da Sylva ; tlieir depositions are merely a general affirmation of the state- ments in the Memorial. The tenth deposition, that of Captain Paulino Ibid., p. 102. da Sylva liego, gives a brief account from hear- say as to the proceedings of Andrade's expedition without mentioning any name except the Bio Branco. Turning now to the three depositions which are based on personal knowledge, it is possible to dismiss at once that of the second witness, Paulo de Oliveira, who deposes merely that he and his brother went up with Andrade's expedition : — " Sobindo .... pelo braqo do Rio Branco chamado Brit. C, Ann. IV, Urariuoera, mais de hum mez andando pelas campinas ^' ' a margem do ditto rio 4 parte direita Lindo por elle assima " it is a mere general statement of the fact of the journey up the Rio Branco, with the adoption of the name Uraricoera from the Memorial. It is the depositions of Theodosio Jos6 dos Brit. 0., Ann. I, . p 99 Santos and of Prancisco Xavier de Andrade himself which are really the fount of information "' ^^" ' on this matter : and the Arbitrator is respectfully requested to compare with the statements of these witnesses the map facing p. 170 of the 25 Notes historiques, which, professes to show the route of this expedition made by Andrade in 1740 ; and to test, by their statements, the imaginary route thereon delineated. According to this map, and the argument whicli accom- panies it, the expedition proceeded, as a whole, beyond the junction of the Uraricoera and Takutu to an island in the Uraricoera, and there divided into two bodies, one of which proceeded eastward and the other towards the west. On turning to the depositions of Theodosio dos Santos and Xavier de Andrade it will be seen that their language is quite inconsistent with the idea that tliey could ever have reached that well- marked point where the Uraricoera and Takutu meet to form the Rio Branco ; and that the point at which the expedition divided into two parties could not have been on the Uraricoera at all, but must have been on the Rio Branco itself below the well-known "cataracts of this river." The detailed description of the route taken by the expedition is given by Theodosio Jose dos Santos in the following words : — Brit C, Ann. I, "And that in the companv which went to the same D 99 (Cf Ann TV river under the command of Francisco Xavier de p. 9). Andrade, Deputy in this town, he, the witness, formed one of the party which proceeded up the same Rio Branco, going in by the arm called Uraricoera [A qual [bandeira] subindo pelo mesmo Rio Branca assima, entrando pelo bra90 charaado Uraricoera] : after he had established his camp several corps were sent out along the banks of the river, and he, the witness, formed one of the corps which operated on the left bank going up, sent out in search of the Sapard tribe and others. Of this corps the chief officer was Domingos Lopes, and he had with him Francisco Rodrigues, Manoel Pires, all Europeans, with them also Headman Ajurabana, Sergeant-Major Miguel, and the Abalizado Arubaydva, all from the village of Poyares in the district of this town, and Headman Faustiao Cabral and Headman Camandry of this town, and Head- man Assenso of the town of Moura. On this occasion they went up along the prairies for more than a month and a-half 's journey until the same prairies ended, and entered the bush, getting as far as the head-waters of the River Patyrimany, and to a latitude little distant from the head-waters of the River Aracaj at length they emerged at Cahahy, which flows into the said Uraricoera very high up, which rises between mountain ranges, at which point they turned back on account of sickness, which there began to attack the members of the escort." [196] E 2 26 Prancisco Xavier de Andrade is still more precise. He deposed as follows :— "In 1740 Lourenyo Belforte was sent to the Rio Brit. C, Ann. I, Negro in command of a troop for obtnnino- slaves . . . %; Anii. IV, p. 10. on this occasion he, the witness, went as chief officer of a company or escort which entered the same Rio Branco navigating up it and sending down Indians [Cabo da huma bandeira on escolta que entrou no mesmo Rio Branco, subindo por elle assiraa practicando e descendo Indies] to our settlement of Carvoeiro opposite the mouth of the Rio Branco ; and the escort took the left arm going up called Uraricoera, which is the main trunk of the Rio Branco [e toraou a escolta o bra90 da esquerdo liindo para cima chamado Uraricoera, que he o principal tronco do Rio Branco] and continuing the journey along this river en- camped on an island, from which it sent out two corps of soldiers along the two banks of the same river by land to search for the Uapixana and Maouxy tribes, whose villages are close to tlie mountain ranges which here trend towards the centre of the plains. The corps, which was sent along the right-hand bank, per- formed a month's journey along the plain country, being under the command of Captain Francisco Ferreira, well acquainted with this disti-ict because he had frequented it for many years ; and he was accom- panied by Manuel Dutra, native of Oaraeta, and Head- man Romao de Oliveira and his brother Paulo de Olivieva, with Headman lama and Headman lamue of this town of Barcellos. The corps, which took the route of the left-hand bank, was, however, conveyed in boats as far as the cataracts of this river, and there disembarking, kept along the plain searching for the Sapara tribe and others ; of this Domingos Lopes was chief oflScer, and for his companions he had Francisco Rodrigues and Manoel Pires, Europeans, and Headman Ajurabana, and the Sergeant-Major Miguel and the abalizado Arubiava, all of the village of Poyares, and Headman Theodozio Jos6 dos Santos and Headman Faustino Cabral and Headman Camandry all of this town, and Headman Assen^o of Pedreira. This corps journeyed for a month and a-half until they had traversed all the plains and proceeded through the bush, and arrived at the head-waters of the River Caratirimany, reaching the latitude at which the natives assured them that to come out at the head-waters of the River Araca that falls into the Rio Negro above this town would take three days; and at length they struck another river called Ucayahy which falls into the same Uraricoera very far up, running between mountain ranges, and took notice that its water was whitish, and aboimded in turtles and fish, but was very unwholesome, so that they found themselves compelled to turn back." It is not difficult to separate the two incon- sistent elements of which these depositions are 27 compounded; the one, the narrative of actual experience of the route taken, the other, the references to the name Uraricoera, which are obviously out of place and unfamiliar. It is submitted that if these two depositions be read in a straightforward manner, their whole description negatives the idea that the two parties had started from a point on the Uraricoera. Both witnesses clearly begin with the entry into the Eio Branco, and with that which occurred at the outset of their journey. Then they each of them proceed to describe from the commencement how the expedition went up what is clearly the main stream of the Bio Branco, from its mouth, one taking the right bank, one the left ; one party going " as far as the cataracts of this river '' — clearly the main and well-known cataract of the Bio Branco, where it was always customary to disembark from the larger boats, — clearly also where there were wide plains on each side, and not where the plains are narrowed by hills or dis- appear altogether, as is the case along the Uraricoera itself. The references to the rivers are absolutely clear : the party on the left bank wanders for a month and a-half along the plain, and through the bush searching for the Sapara tribe, till at last it reaches the headwaters of the Caritirimani (Parytirimany is clearly an erroneous form of the same name) ; there it learns of a route which took three days (clearly south- ward) to the Uaraca which flows out close to Barcellos (this detail is most important), but pressing on northwards it strikes another river ; this is named by one witness Cahahy, by another Ucahahy, and it can be no other river than the Br^s. Sec. M^m., Ucahy mentioned in 1755 by the Captain- General Ann. Ill, p. 16. "^ J i de Mendon9a Purtado, which is identical with the Ocahy described in the Memorandum of Brit. 0., Ann.' I, Fraucisco Ferreira, the Mocajahi of later maps. This river falls into the Bio Branco, and the name Uraricoera is clearly introduced into the depositions in connection with it merely for the purpose of giving colour to Sampaio's theories. The whole tenour of the depositions is absolutely inconsistent with the references to the Uraricoera which have been foisted into them. Indeed, it may here be observed that it is obvious from all the depositions that none of the witnesses knew what was meant by the term Uraricoera, or had any personal knowledge of the river which now bears that name. 28 This view of the route of the expedition alone makes the affidavits clear. Further, it alone accords in some measure with the docu- ments nearest to it in point of time. It is definitely stated that Prancisco Eerreira went with this expedition, and his statements, as embodied in the Memorandum of 1765, mark Brit. C, Ann. ], UK the limit of Portuguese knowledge. He dis- ^' tinctly states that on the west of the Rio Branco nothing is known of any river further north than the Ocahy. It is submitted that the route of the ex- pedition, as marked on Map No. 5 of the British Atlas, is broadly accurate,* and that the counter-suggestion made on the map facing p. l70 of the Notes historiques simply exhibits what Sampaio would like to have had as the fact — what, indeed, he suggested as the fact — not, however, what is really the fact and the truth. Indeed, the fact that it has been necessary to invent an entirely new river is quite sufficient to refute the whole of the Brazilian theory. In order to support the suggested itinerary of Andrade's expedition, the map which faces p. 170 in the Brazilian Notes historiques is made to exhibit a tributary of the Uraricoera of which there is no trace on any map whatever, and which does not in fact exist. This is the tributary marked with the name Cahahy or Ucahahy at the upper portion of the Uraricoera on the map, and His Majesty the Arbitrator is respectfully begged to take note, that for the purpose of supporting a theory based on Sampaio 's errors this imaginary river has been marked on a map which has been deliberately laid before him in this Case. If much stress has been laid upon this one point, it is because His Majesty's Government conceive that very important consequences follow from it. In the first place, it is desirable to en- force the lesson that contemporary and apparently * As to the route of the "right-hand bank going up" as indicated on that map, there is remarkable corroboration in tiie " Synopse das Alguas Noticias, &c.," which shows that in 1766 the only actual knowledge which the Portuguese had obtained of the Takutu was near the hills at its head-waters (" vertentes"), and that this came from certain slave-hunting expeditions (" diligencias de resgate") — ^possibly from this expedition of 1740 only. It is noteworthy that the Indian informant of the author of the " Synopse " had met at this point what were evidently Dutch traders. 29 See argument in Notes to British Counter-Case, Note III pp. 35-8. Cf. the statement of Padre Jos^ Moraes cited by Mello Moraes, vol. iii, p. 496. Brit. (J., p. 100. Ann. I, Ibid., p. 99. unprejudiced evidence is entitled to far more weight than testimony given many years after an event for an obvious purpose, and tainted with the desire of the witness to effect that purpose. In the second place, it is important to define accurately the area covered by the Portuguese on the first occasion on which they penetrated any real distance up the Rio Branco. The exact date of this expedition is another point of much interest. It is maintained that in any case, even if it was really in 1740, it could not have been anterior to Horstman's journey. Horstman could not have written as he did of his descent of the llio Branco if there had been any Portuguese on the river within a few weeks prior to his journey ; he would not have found the Indians quietly sitting in their homes and in large nu)nbers. The presumption that his journey preceded the arrival of any Portuguese is so strong that it may be accepted as a fact. There is indeed some doubt whether the expedition was actually as early as 1740 ; the evidence of Balthazar dos Beys may be read to suggest that it was later than 1741 or 1742 ; and in all the affidavits every other date that can be independently tested has been proved erroneous. However, as the date indicated by Pranciseo Xavier Andrade himself, 1740 may fairly be accepted, provided always that it is understood that the expedition took place in the latter part of the year, after, and indeed in consequence of, the arrival of Horstman at Aricari. It is hoped, then, that the second broad fact of the history is established to the satisfaction of His Majesty the Arbitrator, and that it remains clear that the Portuguese never ascended any distance up the Bio Branco till after they learned the way from a Dutch official in 1740. Brit. C.l.!., pp. 61, sqq. (Fr., pp. 65, sqq.). (III.) Certain special Errors of the Brazilian Me'nwires respecting the Dutch Control of the Zone. Between 1740 and 1775, as already stated in the British Counter-Case, the history of the district now in dispute is the history of its gradual absorption into the definite sphere of Dutch influence and protection. Portugal never actuallv came near it. 30 The Brazilian Memoires, however, contain certain erroneous sugsjestions relating to this period which it is necessary to correct. The first of these is based upon a statement ^'•^*- ^'■*»'^- ^^'"•'-P- ^^l' J 1 ex , /-I 1 • I • m 4-- Cf. Notes hilt., p. 234. made by Storm van 's Gravesande in his Treatise upon the Trading-places (1764) : — " Our itinerant trader, Jan Stok, has been so far up the Brit. C, Ann. 1, river that he has seen the Missions of the Portuguese, but P- ''• did not dare to approach them, through a childish fear so common amongst the Indian traders." This is paraphrased as follows in the Brazilian Premier Memoire : — " Jan Stock, qui avait vu, en 1764, nos troupes de rachat lorsqu'elles remont^rent le Rupununi." The words " lorsqu'elles remont^rent " are possibly a mere slip for "lorsqu'il remonta." But the word " missions " of the Treatise has been in translation turned into " troupes de rachat," evidently because the Portuguese records and maps afford incontrovertible tes- timony that, in 1764 and for many years after- wards, there was not, and never had been, any Portuguese mission station nearer to the Dutch colony than Aricari or Carvoeiro, opposite the mouth of the llio Branco. The fair inference from the above passage is that Jan Stok, like other Dutchmen before him, pushed his travels far down the main Rio Branco itself, till he saw the village of Aricari. But even were the mistranslation in any way defensible, there is not a shred of evidence to show that any Portuguese tropa de resgate ever approached the Rupununi. The next incident of the history, in which the Brazilian Case can be proved to be wrong, is the question — How far did the Lieutenant Agostinho Diniz go with his patrol in 1766? It is necessary to review it afresh in the light of further study of the subject. The Brazilian Memoire and Notes historiques Bris. Prem. Mdm., pp. 143, ut at 87 pp. 91-93 of the Britisli Counter-Case : but it mav be well to quote once again tbe very definite admission of the Dutch influence contained in the diary of Joaquim do Cabo, tbe botanist who accompanied Alexandre Ro- driguez Ferreira. He refers to the tribes in- habiting the zone now in question in these words : — "The Peroalvilhanos, Aturdyas, Maripas, and Macuxye are comrades of the Caripunas, and the latter of the Dutch of Surinam." And Colonel Manoel Gama Lobo, almost at the same period, writes : — Brit, C, Add. I, " The Caripunas dwell to the west of the Eupunuri . . . P" ^''' None of this tribe have come down to our estabhshments. These Tapuyas are those which have most trade in slaves with the Dutch." and he mentions the other three tribes in such a way as to indicate that they also have no dealings with the Portuguese. It is plain that tbe Portuguese had, in 1788, entirely failed to acquire any influence over tbe tribes which then inhabited the zone. In their attempts to induce the natives to come down to their Settlements on the Rio Branco, tbe Portuguese may be said to have entered the zone at two points : one was near tbe confluence of the Zurumu with the Cotinga on the extreme west of the disputed territory ; here they did for a time gain some influence over a section of the Wapisiana and Macusi tribes, inducing some of them to come down to tbe fort : the other was in the district of the Canaku range ; but here they distinctly limited their efforts to the endeavour to bring back into the fold certain refugee Paravilhano Chieftains, who bad originally come from tbe neighbourhood of tbe Rio Branco, and to whom the Dutch seem to have given freedom of action either to go or stay as they chose. Tbe Portuguese also during the same period entered upon tbe territory to a very small extent by means of survey parties. But neither of the two surveys purported to do more than examine those passages by which tbe Dutch could make a descent upon the Rio Branco. 38 The general result of a review of the period is tins. The Portuguese effort in the whole of the district failed. They very soon gave up their attempt to found Settlements north of the Fort Sao Joaquim, and by 1790 they were even in danger of losing all hold upon the Upper Eio Branco. The Last Years of Dutch Rule. The Brazilian Memoires have attempted to Brds. Prem. MSm., pp. 344-6. assert that at the time when the Dutch Colony passed into the hands of the British, the Post Arinda had already been abandoned, and that there was no sort of pretention on the part of the Dutch to control the territory now in dispute. These assertions are unfounded. Though the Dutch records for the period are almost entirely lost, there is still evidence obtainable to refute the view put forward by Brazil. One of the last acts of the Dutch Administra- tion was to arrest, apparently in or near the dis- puted territory, the two men who had been the most active agents of the Portuguese Govern- ment. These men had come from Port Sao Joa- quim eastward, with the object of getting Indians for the captaincy of Rio Negro. As to this last incident, the Brazilian Notes Br4s. Notes hist., p. 104. historiques observe that the arrest of the two Portuguese suspects took place at Stabroek (now Georgetown), and that no inference can be drawn from it. Portunately, however, the archives of Para furnish an important key to the references in the Dutch archives. On the 30th January, 1797, the Governor of E,io Negro writes from Barra do Bio Negro as follows : — " Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Sir, Brit. C.C, Ann. I, " I instructed Sergeant Miguel Archanjo to carry out ^' certain sendings down of natives of the R. Branco after the method which he had followed on other occasions. It seems that he pushed forward to the Dutch part, and they distrusting him, or for some reason or other, have detained him ; I do not know whether he is in custody or let loose, for both conditions are reported. It must be hoped that they wiU permit him to return, if they call to mind that they ought to so reward the bond fide proceedings which occurred in the year 178.5, when apprehension was made in the vicinity of our fortress on the R. Branco of a Dutchman who appeared 39 to be travelling simply for trade with the natives : he was very kindly treated in Barcellos by Sr. Jao Pereira Caldas, who gave orders that he should be helped with everything A\.'anted, and immediately allowed him to retrace his steps, without loss of time, along the same road by which he had come, causing him to be provided not only witli necessary supplies for the journey, but also with some further provisions which he likewise received. But whereas, notwithstanding all this, the sergeant has not returned, I doubt very much if we shall obtain this said return of bona fides which we ought to expect at their hands. The news of the detention of this sergeant aforesaid was brought by an Indian native, who received it from other natives of those ranges who traded with the Dutch. I shall immediately report to your Excellency the further news which I hope to ascer- tain concerning this matter, and what I may be able to accomplish. The same sergeant was accompanied also by a soldier named Duarte Jose Jligueis, the latter belonging to the City Regiineut and the sergeant to that of Macapi. " May God preserve your Excellency. (Signed) "MANUEL DA GAMA LOBO D'ALMADA." From this despatcli it is pretty clear that Miguel Arcanjolo and Duarte Migueis bad not long before been arrested somewhere in the neigh- bourhood of the disputed territory, and been taken to the Dutch head-quarters. Brit. C, Ann. I, In the Dutch archives of 1797 we find what is ^' ' doubtless the complementary evidence of this occurrence. The two men who had been arrested had been detained by order of the English Com- mandant (the Colony having just been captured by the English), and on the 7th January were granted a passport to proceed up the Essequibo and out of the Colony, by the southern frontier, to Barra in E.io Negro, whence they came. While the Dutch recoi'd might, by itself, be read as implying that the men had arrived in George- town of their own free will, the account of the Portuguese Governor negatives this : he is clearly describing news brought to the fort by some Indians who had seen the occurrence, probably Indians who bad gone up with the two soldiers. The issue of passports to these two men for their return by way of Essequibo implies the full control of the whole course of that river up to a distant frontier, but does not throw much light on the question of that frontier. It serves, how- ever, to show that there can be no suggestioa that the English in possession of the Colony [196] G 40 relinquished any of the rights whiah the Dutch possessed on their southern frontier. There can be little doubt that these two men were actually arrested by the Dutch Postholder at Post Arinda. Though, as already observed, the Dutch records for this period are lost, and the careful returns which are extant up to 1790 no longer are available, yet there is one piece of evidence from a Portuguese source which may be considered to place the matter beyond doubt. The evidence of the Indian, Leonardo Jos6, was briefly referred to in the British Counter- Brit. C.C , p. 101, Case as showing that there were Dutch subjects 'f^^"' ^ot) settled at the mouth of the Rupununi at that time. Sufficient attention has not before been given to the document; partly because of the very inaccurate paraphrase given of it by Brazil. BrSs. Frem. M&m., p. 288, note. The truth, however, will soon become apparent from the following translation : — " Tlie above-mentioned Headman went up the Rio Prem. Mem. du Branco to the Rio Tacutu, and thence to the Rio „ 292 ' ' ' Pirarara, from which he passed by land to the Kio Repumiri, and descended along that nntil he came out in the Rio Essequibo. and descending the latter (spend- ing seven days in all in these descents) he reached a big settlement (rancho) of half-breeds and of Indians, whom he calls mulattoes, where he stopped, and got from them the following particulars. I'his colony was then still subject to the English, who had taken it. ***** " The mulattoes of that settlement are descendants of negro slaves of the Dutch colonists ancl of Indians of those legions. Amongst the said mulattoes there are one or two who superintend the ranch, and who appear to have influence over the Indians of those parts, and to be satisfied with the obedience to the present English. government in the colony." It is obvious that the deponent had only got just a little way down the FASsequibo — seven days' journey in all from the liio Branco — when be came upon a settlement which was clearly Arinda, with its two officials, the Postholder and his assistant, who now represented the British Government. The opinions which the deponent afterwards went on to express are immaterial, but the fact which he has preserved is of the highest import- ance, and disproves by itself the statements of the Brazilian Memoire and Notes historicjues as to £r4s. Prem. iWm.,2>. 344. the abandonment of Arinda. Notes Jdst.,p. 104. It may not be amiss to observe here that in the little maps which have been drawn to illus- 41 trate the Brazilian Notes historiques, the positioa of Post Arinda is wrongly given. Bris. Firm. A[6m., pp. 228 and 229, 286-8. The Brazilian Case has made a very great BHs. Sec. Mim., vol. I, pp. 269-70. effort to draw a picture of Portuguese control by means of Port Sao Joaquim at this period. There is scarcely any part of the picture which is not overdrawn, and as to any control in the direction of the territory now in dispute, it simply had no Eft's. I'rnn. Mim.,p. 228. existence whatever. It is suggested that, if only ihid.., p. 286. all the archives of the fort could be found, they would support the Brazilian view. It is remark- able what a number of such archives still exist. The despatches of the Commandants have been fully used in this Case, and they do not support the view in question. The vaunted patrols of the territory had no existence ; the allegation is based on the movements of the escort of the "desci- mentos," and they did not trespass on the zone on more than two occasions at the most. The Ihiil., p. 286. fort was certainly the one resting-place on the Portuguese frontier, and its Commandant, in later days, showed himself most ready to accord hospitality to any who, like "Waterton, came as far as its gates. But all the country eastward and north of it was left absolutely alone. Ihid., p. 288. Barata's account of his journey which is adduced by Brazil as evidence of the absence of Dutch officials in the territory now in question is equally a proof of the entire absence of Portuguese interests in the district. (VI). The Beginnings of British Control. The early period of the British occupation of the Colonies of Demerara and Essequibo is, as regards the district in question, shrouded by a veil which is very rarely lifted. If, after the incidents noticed in the previous section, and the double change of ownership within a few years, the post of Arinda was left unoccupied, and there was a break in the opera- tions of the Dutch traders, who for many years had frequented the district in dispute ; yet, on the other hand, there is no evidence that any Portuguese at this time entered the district for any purpose. Bres. Prem. Indeed, the correspondence between the Com- w ^94^"" ^ mandant of Port S5o Joaquim and the Governor of Eio Negro in 1811, when the presence of a [196] G 2 42 ^British Commission in the zone was announced, is a clear indication that for the preceding years the country east of the fort had been an unknown land to the Portuguese. The incident which first brought the British actually on to the territory now in dispute was that of the visit of Manariwan to the capital of the Colony during ISIO. It is worth while to set out at some length the official account of the matter : — " His Excellenoy the Groveriior communicated that a Brit. C, Ann. I, Chief ot one of the Caraiban tribes of Indians had PP- 209-210. lately arrived in town accompanied by a numerous suite, the object of whose visit would appear from a letter his Excellency had received a few days ago from the Honourable the Commandeur of Essequibo, on whom the said Indian Chief had called previous to his coming up to Demerary. " .... It was agreed that, previous to taking any resolution on the subject thereof, it would be expedient to hear the Indian Chief himself, and a message was accordingly dispatched to him requesting his attendance in Court. " The proposal to be made to him having in the meantime been agreed upon, and the Indian Chief having now appeared in Court, accompanied by several of his relatives, and followed by a suite of musicians and other attendants, and the proposals in question having been made and his answers heard, both through the medium of the interpreter, Hendrich Simon, the result of a very long conference (in the course of which he was made sensible of the improbability of the Court's admitting him to sell his Indian prisoners in these Colonies) was the following agreement, viz. : — " That the Court should give him and his people, in the first instance, such articles as he had demanded (and whereof the Governor undertook to have a list made by to-morrow), and that the same kind of presents should be distributed to them annually when called for at the end of each year; and that a person should be sent by the Court to see his nation in order that the Court might be enabled to proportionate the quantity of articles so to be annually given to the number of people among whom they were to be shared out. " In consideration whereof he, the said Manariwan, most solemnly promised and pledged himself not to make war upon the Indians residing in the back lands or connected with this Colony ; that he would spare the lives of the prisoners he had made, and, as he could not sell them, would use them as domestics ; and that, finally, he and his people would behave themselves peaceably and amicably towards the whites and those who lived under their protection, expecting, in case of his being molested by either of them, to 43 obtain such redress from the Government of the Colony as should in justice appear to be due to him. " The Indian Chief then retired. " It was, lastly, resolved that the appointment of the person, who, in consequence of the foregoing agree- ment, it will be necessary to send into the interior of the country, be left to the Governor, his Excellency being at the same time requested to furnish the person so to be appointed with such instructions as his Excel- lency shall deem expedient for attaining the object in view, viz., that of ascertaining the real strength and situation of the Indian tribes, of which the said Manariwan states himself to be the King, or Chief." It tvirned out, on inquiry, that this Manariwan, Brit. C, Ann. I, who had previously been under the control of the T?."j \.^' ■, Dutch, was Overlord of the Caribs and the Ibid., p. 219, and Hancock. Macusis, and apparently of all other tribes in- habiting the now disputed territory. The imme- diate result of his visit was the dispatch of a special Commission to the district. No time was lost. In November 1810 Captain Simon, Mr. Sirtema, and Dr. Hancock started for this terri- tory, with the main object of ascertaining the real strength and situation of the Indian tribes, " of which the said Manariwan states himself to be the King or Chief." The results of the Commission are to be gleaned from Hancock's maps and the fragments still extant of his Report, which has been reconstructed as far as possible for the elucidation of this matter. It is worth while to set out the follow- ing extracts : — Brit. CO. "On entering the Macoosy country we summoned Ann. I, pp. 63, 64. a meeting of all the Chiefs of that part (Etacka) in the name of His Majesty, as authorized by the Governor of Demerara. This was done to inquire into the nature of their disputes, and the petty warfare then carried on, and to ascertain how far the supremacy of Mahanarwa was there recognized. According to what had been stated, we found that most of their troubles arose out of slave bickerings, and besides, as of old, the fortunes of a fair Helen were mixed up amongst them. There were present, besides fourteen Macoosy Captains, several from the Caribees and Atorais. They unanimously agreed that Mahanarwa was not onlj"- a Caqui of the Caribees, but was acknowledged by themselves and by all the other tribes. An old Macoosy Captain said that Mahanarwa had travelled more than any other man amongst the other nations ; he knew them all, he said, was a wise and good man, and, therefore, the right one to govern. The Caqui, they informed us, was either hereditarj', or elected by an assemblage of their Chiefs, 44 and could only be deposed by a majority in a public Council. " From this spot we could see, far along the Cordillera of Parime, Mackerapan, as also the groups of Conoko to the southward, which we afterwards ascended ; and at the same time, the two great systems of rivers which drain the novthern and southern slopes by the Essequibo and the Branco ; the source of the Pei'ara, the Maou, the Lake of Amaku, &c., were visible here. " From Slaruca, Mr. Simon and myself proceeded up the Rupononie, and overland southerly to the residence of the Carib Chief Mahanarwa, having sent to the Por- tuguese to notify our wish to proceed to their Settle- ment ; they afterwards sent horses to assist us forward. " We then crossed over the height of land to the other system of rivers which run to the south-west. "It is little more than a day's journey from Maruca landing-place to the Pirarara Creek, to which place the Portuguese had brought canoes for us, and in which we proceeded down the Maou and the Tacatoir to its con- fluence with the Rio Parima or Branco, where the Por- tuguese fort of St. Joachim is situated (two days from Pirarara). We had a kind reception, and were well treated whilst at the fort." Erom these extracts it will be seen that during the latter part of 1810 and early part of 1811 a very great part of the territory now in dispute was traversed by a British Commission, which held meetings of the Indians, and discussed the con- dition of the whole district with the paramount Chief, whom the British Government had only a few weeks previously bound by a solemn engage- ment to keep domestic peace in the interior, and adapt his mode of life to that required by the new masters of the Colony. It is true that before the Commissioners left this district their presence had led to the arrival on the same territory of various Portuguese officers and soldiers. But it was entirely at the request of the British that these Portuguese were sent to meet them there. There is nothing at all in the Report of the Commission to justify the allegations made by a Portuguese Corporal, that they had removed from the territory now in dispute at his bidding. This allegation has been disposed of at p. 103 of the British Counter-Case. The Brazilian Notes historiques urge that Brds. Notes hist., p. 106. Manariwan's dwelling is shown on Hancock's map as east of the Hupununi, and that the episode now under consideration does not affect the present question. The reply to this sug- gestion is that Manariwan is specifically stated 46 to be head Chief or Overlord of all the Caribs and Macusis, aud that the chief habitat of these tribes is shown distinctly in Hancock's map as covering the greater part of the territory now in question. Brit. C, Ann. I, Manariwaa again came down to the capital p. 212, . 7 . m 1812, and again had an interview of interest with the Court of Policy. He evidently.repeated the visit agaia — probably more than once ; and there is other evidence to be gleaned as to the continuous control of the Colony over this distant portion of its territory. Ibid., p. 219. On the 1st January, 1814, Wahl, the Postholder stationed at Massaruni, made a return of the Indians under his charge, and to this he added a note, to the effect that the distance of the Indians on the boundaries of Spain and Portugal made it difficult to summon them for service to the Post. This showed, at any rate, that the British Government intended to keep their hold on the savannah Indians. On the 23rd July, 1816, the Protector of Indians, who had previously informed the Go- vernor that he had " been in the habit of calling, on behalf of the Government, for the assistance of the Indians at different periods since the year 1795," wrote as follows of the Macusis : — Ibid., p. 220. "1 must, however, observe that the Macoushies are by far the most numerous tribe, and have never failed to send a part of their number with every expedition that has been under my direction. ' This is proof positive of the ancient control of the Dutch and British over these savannah tribes, for there is no question where the bulk of these Macusis lived, viz., in the territory which Brazil now attempts to claim. Ibid., p. 220. On the 16th March, 1818, the then Protector Bnt C Ann VI ^^^^ ^ "^^^7 ^^^^ return of the Indians, and pp. 12-13. amongst them he included on the ordinary list of those attached to the Post a Macusi who lived himself close to the mouth of the Siparuni, " ten days " distant from the Post, his men living as far as " fifteen days " further on, that is to say, in and even beyond the disputed territory. Brit. C, Ann. I, Again, in 1821, another return, made by the p. 221. o » ' •' Postholder Wahl specially includes the Macusis and Atorais (written " Addrays") to the number of 1,000, living from twenty-one to thirty -two days' journey from the Post ; this also imports a claim 46 of protection and jurisdiction over the whole of the disputed territory. Six years later than this return (1827) a pro- Brit- 0., Ann. II, posal was mooted for an expedition to this distant ' part of the Colony, but it is not known what the result of the proposal actually was. It led, however, to some interesting notes by Dr. Han- cock, from which it is apposite to cite the following observations respecting the Macusis and neighbouring tribes : - " We found the Macousi (by far the most numerous tribe) a very inoffensive and hospitable race of people, as well as the most industrious and provident, and the only tribe, excepting the Ackawais and the distant Tarumas, who may be said to be independent of the Caribs, whose warHke spirit and capacity have almost annihilated the other tribes. Yet a lamentable practice among themselves renders them unhappy and con- tinually subject to civil broils, that is the strange custom of selling their own people and relations as slaves — a practice common to all the tribes of the interior, more or less, except the Caribs. " The practice still exists among them although the Macousies are sensible of the evil them- selves, and complained of the same to us when amongst them. In Governor van Grovestine's time I was told they came down to complain of the same grievance. * * * * "None of the Indians ever showed us the least hostility ; they were particularly well disposed towards the British, whom they call Paremakari, or Sons of the Sea. " If a white man of steady and sober habits and some instruction were placed amongst them, he might do much towards their reformation, and might serve as a monitor against illicit attempts of the Caraiwa, as they term the Portuguese ; he could act as a sort of magis- trate or mediator in adjusting their disputes." That there was a regular trade still maintained with the Macusis by traders from Georgetown is indicated by the mention made of it in cor- Brit. C.0„ p. 107 respondence respecting Mr. Armstrong. But ^^^•' P" ^^^^' apparently the next British subject who entered the territory now in dispute in an official character was Mr. Armstrong himself, who, as recorded in the British Counter- Case, after some grit. C.C., vears of missionary labour in parts of the PP- 107-108 • 1 • T J • -.nor, (Fl".,PP. 113-115)> Colony nearer the capital, carried out in 1833 a project which he had for some time entertained, and spent some weeks in the centre ot the dis- puted territory preparing the way for a per- manent British mission. 4-7 It appears accordingly that, at any rate as from 1810 onwards, the British Government assumed full responsibility for the administration of the territory which Brazil now claims, taking it over as part of their inheritance from the Dutch, and accepting the Indians of the district as " friends " of the Dutch. The most obvious sign now left of such definite assumption of responsibility is the fact that the Macusi nation — at any rate, that great majority of it which dAvells in the territory now in dispute — was regularly regarded as amongst the inhabitants of the Colony, and so treated in official returns and reports. On the other hand, there is no actual proof that after 1813 any Brazilian ever came into the disputed territory ; although references made by Armstrong and by Schomburgk to Brazilian raids would seem to point to occasional inroads upon the district by the Portuguese or Brazilians for the purpose of obtaining slaves. It is claimed that up to the time when Schom- burgk arrived in British Guiana in 1S35 the territory now claimed by Brazil had been con- tinuously in the peaceable possession of Indians who were British subjects, or, at any rate, under direct British protection ; and that steps had already been taken for founding a permanent British Mission at Pirara. It is believed that, in the foregoing sections, enough has been said to place beyond all doubt the accuracy of the view taken by Great Britain as to the broad facts of the historv on which the present question turns. That view may be summed up as follows : — The Dutch were the first Europeans wiio found their way to this territory. They occupied it for trade purposes during the 17th century, and for at least 100 years were without any rivals even in the neighbourhood of it. Their trade was a reality, admitted by the Portuguese, and not the fiction which the Brazilian Case would have one to believe. This trade gradually led up to close relations with the Indians of the zone, and from these sprang a general administration of the district for all purposes, which was as regvilar and complete as the state of the case demanded. [196] H 48 The Portuguese, on the other hand, had no knowledge of the territory now in dispute before 1776 or the immediately following years. They were more than 100 years after the Dutch in reaching it. They then only made its ac- quaintance superficially, and, eyen if they ever dreamed of acquiring it, they never took any effective steps for this purpose. The British, succeeding the Dutch, lost no time in asserting their rights to this district. Although the ofl&cers of a Special British Com- mission, by going to Eort SSo Joaquim, aroused the anxiety of the Portuguese, nothing occurred to disturb the possession of Great Britain. As from 1834 the general facts of the history are little controverted, and it is only necessary here to refer to Chapter VI of the British Case and to pp. 107-112 of the British Counter-Case for a full statement of them. Their bearing, with that of the rest of the history, will be discussed in the next chapter. 49 CHAPTER II. THE CONTENTION OE THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. Throughout the formal argument which, it will now be the duty of His Majesty's Govern- ment to submit on the question which is before the King of Italy, it should be carefully borne in mind that the piece of territory now agreed to be in dispute is a strictly limited area, of which the greater part lies in the basin of a large tributary of the AmazoD. It has been described with care in the first chapter of the British Case. Bris. Sec. Mim., vol. i, p. 230. To some extent the Second Memoire of Brazil has endeavoured to attack details of that descrip- tion; it has also endeavoured to meet by a general denial the position that, in fact, the zone is a homogeneous whole, geographically connected with the Colony of British Guiana : it does not, however, contain any effective reply to the statement of the British Case on this point. Actual Occupation the Only Source of Title. The Brazilians cannot claim that the Portu- guese, by the mere act of occupying the mouth of the Amazon, also acquired a right to the zone now in question, or to so much of it as lies in the Amazon basin. It would be absolutely unreason- able that any nation by occupation of the mouth of a river should at once obtain a right to a piece of territory 1,425 miles distant in a direct line, and probably double that distance by the ordinary routes. Any such pretention has been entirely Brit. C, negatived in the chapter of the British Case pp. 124-142 dealing with the "Watershed Doctrine." The (Fr., pp. 134-154). ^ Portuguese, therefore, in 1625, acquired no rights OA^er this territory. And similarly they could not acquire any rights over it by their definitive [196J ' H 2 50 occupation of the mouth of the Rio Negro, a great tributary of the Amazon, which took place in 1(595 ; even if the zone had at the moment been vacant territory, which it was not. The Brazilian Government have, indeed, in one B^^- ^''^'"'- ^^*'^-' P' '^^^^ passage practically admitted that they could have no such right, and cover their position by the denial of previous occupation. Again, in another Imd., 'p. 41. passage they admit that they had been deprived of any original rights by the action of Spain, and they could only rely on effective conquest. Yet it seems to His Majesty's Government that in spite of these admissions, the contention above mentioned still lies at the basis of the Brazilian claim, and is the main ground upon which that claim, has, as a rule, been limited to the water- shed. But it is a contention which cannot be supported in international law. The real test of the title to the zone in dispute is the question, what rights have been acquired by acts which connote occupation. (II.) The Dutch the First Occupants. It is submitted as a result of the examination of the early history which has been briefly summed up in the foregoing chapter, that it is incontest- able that the Dutch were the first to discover and utilize the territory now in dispute. It is clear that by 1640 this district was known to Dutch traders, that by 1680 it was actually brought within tbe sphere of the ordinary journeys of the West India Company, and that from that time it became the regular centre from which Dutch traders came down close to the month of the Rio Negro, and, in alliance with the Manoas and others, actually placed in jeopardy the hold of the Portuguese even on that river. What, then, was the consequence of this first and early hold on the zone ? It was, that the Dutch had thereby acquired an incipient right to the ownership, which could not be displaced except by at least equivalent acts superseding this incipient right. It is not necessary that the Dutch should have established at this period a definite station to control the zone. They traversed the district constantly, they utilized 51 its products, and they made it the basis of trade with the natives further to the south. So far, they had been the only Europeans to exercise over the zone any one of those rights which lead up to actual occupation. And the next period of the history strengthened their position. Bris. Prem. M6vi., f. 135. The Brazilian Case, in opposing this view, argues that the " cessation of the Dutch traffic [with the Rio Negro] is a proof of Portuguese supremacy." The passage endeavours to apply the argument to the whole of the Dutch trade which had its centre in the zone now in question. But the argument is without foundation. The trade in and ai'ound the zone did not cease. The trade with the Rio Negro was crushed, and that Avas certainly a proof of Portuguese supremacy on the Eio Negro. Tliis has been freely admitted from the first. lUA., p. 101. Again, the Brazilian Case suggests another argument, viz., that all the orders issued by the Portuguese relative to the Rio Negro implied ipso facto control of the Rio Branco. This is an old fallacy in a new form. Control of the Rio Negro could not carry with it control of all its tributaries. Br6s. Notes hist., 2^- 133. Nor could an abortive project to erect a fort at the mouth of the Rio Branco be construed as an exercise of sovereignty over the whole basin of the river, when parts of that basin were already occupied. Certainly, the fort at the mouth of the Rio Negro had no such effect as against Spain. (III.) No Rivalry on the part of the Portuguese up to 1775. Although, soon after 1724-, a considerable change came over the relations of the Dutch with the peoples dwelling to the south of the territory now in question, it may be averred with confidence that, up to 1775, they met with no sort of rivalry or opposition in the neighbour- hood of the upper waters of the Rio Branco. Brit. C, pp. 49-62 It is submitted that, after the exposition of D '.'' p^p** the history of the Rio Branco between 1720 and pp. 20-33, 59-75 1775 which has been made in the British Case eo^sm^" ' '"^^^ Counter- Case and summed up in the previous 60-80). Supra, pp. 19-34. chapter, it cannot be any longer maintained on behalf of Brazil that the Portuguese ever came as far as the site of the present Port Sao Joaquim before 1766, or that they ever advanced beyond that point before 1775. Por the legends of Perreira, of Jeronimo Coelho, and of the journey of Prancisco Xavier de A.ndrade, on which Brazil has relied so much, His Majesty the Arbitrator is respectfully referred to the previous chapter of Supra, pp. 20-28. this Argument with the pages of the British Case Brit. C, pp. 57-61 and Counter-Case which are noted in the margin, i, .'' ^ ' ° Brit. C.C., The British Government, in fact, maintain that pp. 21-27 and not only from 1640 to 1720 but that from 1720 ^Frf pp. 21-29 to 1775 there is no evidence that the soil of the «nd 67-69). zone now in dispute was ever marked by the. footprint of a single Portuguese. It may be objected that a presumption to the contrary is raised by the publication of D'Anville's Map of 1748, with the boundary drawn so as to exclude from Dutch Guiana the zone now in question, and by the Spanish-Portuguese Treaty Map of 1749, which indicates Portuguese occupa- tion as extending to the " Maho." There is no trace of any authority for D'Anville's line, and the reasons which led him to draw his line as it appears on his map will never now be known ; bitt one thing is certain, Brit. CO., despite the repeated but unfounded statements to ^J^^ m/™^ch IV the contrary made by Brazil — viz., that the Dutch never accepted this line : nor indeed did Portugal ever on any occasion put it forward. The Treaty Map of 1749 is one to which the attention of His Majesty the Arbitrator is specially called. It will be observed that on this map the whole of the territory now in dispute, with the exception, apparently, of the belt between the Mahu and the Cotinga, is treated as being beyond the Portuguese dominions. In the copy of the map reproduced in the Brazilian Atlas there is a considerable area west of the Takutu which is not coloured as in Portuguese occupation. The map was signed and sealed by the Pleni- potentiaries of Portugal, as well as those of Spain ; and it is not easy to see how, in the face of it, Brazil can now claim that Portugal was in 1750 entitled to any territory east of the Takutu and Mahu (Ireng). The colouring on this map is certainly evidence of a Portuguese claim to the greater part of the PJo Branco, and doubtless upon it is based the first formal claim to the Rio Branco as part of 53 the Portuguese dominions — the claim which is found in the Royal Order of 1752. But the claim so coloured on the map certainly did not correspond to any actual " occupation " by Portugal ; it is negatived by every document from 1720 to 1775 which in any way refers to the Rio Branco. ^'qr^' '^°"' ^' "^^ omit the evidence of Berredo, already frequently quoted, and to come to a period immediately subsequent to the date when the map now under consideration was framed — the 13th December, 1751 — the Captain-General of Para, de MendoncaPurtado, writes as follows : — Ibid., I. p. ;>•^. " The information which I can get in pursuance of this Royal Order of your Majesty is that into the Rio Negro flows the Rio Branco, and eight [sic] days' voyage up-stream by this last and to the west [sic] of it is found another called the Takutu, by which in old times the Dutch were accustomed to come to trade with our people, and a few years ago have repeated on that side their entries into the interior district of the Rio Negro, to obtain slaves whom they carry off to their lands ; and when in the year 1749 some Indians of the Mission of Aricary sought to oppose this business these Dutchmen fired a number of shots at them, so that they were forced to retire to their mission. ***** '• The only means that occurs to me to be efEcient for the purpose is that a Settlement should be formed on either of the banks of the Rio Branco. . . " But, sire, this captaincy is so exhausted of capital, as your Majesty will understand from the account which I gave you on that subject, that it is impos- sible for the treasurer to aid the enterprise even with the least expenditiu^e " This extract is absolutely inconsistent not only with the idea of an occupation of the Rio Branco, but even with that of a moderate know- ledge of the river. Mello Moraes' About 1759 or 1760 Padre Jose Moraes, the vo[°ui™n 49'fi ° ' well-known chronicler of the Jesuits, after re- ferring to the voyage of " NicolSo Horsima, a German, [who] proceeded with much exertion, along the Rio Essequibo up-stream, and from rivers into lakes," and so into the Rio Branco, proceeds in the following words : — " This Rio Branco abounds in fish and turtles, and especially does it abound still to-day in many nations of Indians, since the Portuguese had made few entries into it." vol. iii, p. 496. 54 Again, some two years later, in 1762, the Chief Magistrate of Kio Negro writes as follows : — " This is a reason, why it will be well to have the for- Brit. 0., Aim. I, tress in that river uot only to act as a curb and object of P- ' • dread, but because when it is made it must follow that the Indians will ^^ash to form villages at the foot and in the shadow of the fortress. Besides, the Rio Branco is very fertile, and has cacao, as I am told by those who have knowledge of it; and the people can maintain themselves there with cattle and plantations. *■ Owing to good reports which I have received of the said river, I am determined, so far as my share in the administration of Colonies is concerned, to persuade the interim Grevernor of the advantages which will folloAv from a-ettina: these same Paravilhanos to come down and settle by the bank of the said river, in the site where, at the cost of the Royal Treasury, they have established this year a turtle fishery and breeding ground and a butter factory.'' This turtle fishery and factory for butter made of turtles' eggs, which were a beginning of occupation, were situated in the lower part of the Rio Branco. Sampaio states that they were Brit. C, A.nn. I below the cataract, and the ofiicial Portuguese P' maj) of 1781 shows that they were a long Braz. Atlas, distance bqlow it. °" " Still, even as late as the year 1774, just before the final occupation of the Jiio Branco by the Portuguese, the Chief Magistrate of that day could write as if the river were quite unoccupied : — '■ The Rio Branco holds forth such great possibilities Brit. CO., Ann, 1, D 4:1 that my natural zeal urged me to relate its advantages ^' in a Report which I gave to the General of the State, Fernando da Costa de Athajde, who recommended its establishment if there were colonists who wished to have the same accomplished, and no orders to the con- trary from His Majesty." It is strenuously maintained on the part of Great Britain, as a result of the foregoing passages, that the claim of occupation indicated ^^' ■^'''^- ^°^^^ hist., p. 234. on the Treaty Map — which, be it remembered, did not cover the disputed territory — was j)urely an exaggerated attempt on the part of the Portuguese to represent themselves towards Spain as in a much better position in regard to occupation than they actually enjoyed at any time. There is no record of the grounds upon which the colouring found on the map was adopted, and it cannot be allowed to have weight against the actual admissions of contemporary documents. oo It may be laid down without fear of contra- diction that up to 1766 the Portuguese had not established any claim to more than the lower reaches of the Rio Branco, and that up to 1775 the territory in dispute was free from even the remotest shadow of a claim except on the part of the Dutch. (IV.) Effect of the Dutch Possension. What, then, was the nature of the possession enjoyed by the Dutch in 1775, and what is its effect in international law ? It has been show^n that before 1737 Dutch Brit. C, pp. 25-28 trade hud expanded into Dutch administration, Brit' C^O ~ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^® Post afterwards known as Arinda pp. 61-75^ had been established on the Essequibo at the ' mouth of the Siparuni ; its avowed object was Brit. C, Ami. I, to extend the Company's trade to the Amazon, ^" ■ which that of private traders had reached long previously. The extent of the trade flowing in this direc- tion, even at this period, is indicated by the fact that Horstman in 1739 took with him on his journey along this route four Creoles who knew the district thoroughly and were acquainted with the languages of the natives. It is noteworthy that one of the four seems to have been old Brit.^ C, Ann. I, Frans Hoeke, who had been the Company's factor p. 45. Ibid.. I, p. 19. some twenty years previously in the same district. The efforts of the Company to rival the private Brit. C, pp. 25-28 traders and to develop for their own account the ( r., pp. )- ;. (Jistrict of the Upper Essequibo, including the territory in dispute, are marked not only by Horstman's journey, but also by the miner's pros- p 48 ' °° ' pecting journey in 1746, and various attempts to Ibid., p. 50, ei alia, close the trade of the river to all except the Of. Note I to this „ Argument. Company. Ibid., I, p. 51. Before 1750 orders had already been given for the removal of the Post to the point where the Rupununi joins the Essequibo.* It was actually Ibid., 1, p. 72. so transferred soon after 1764. t Its function at this time is fully explained in the interesting * The Notes historiques, p. 68, criticise as unfounded the suggestion made iu the British Case that probably in the first instance a sort of sub-Post was made. If the documents of the period be carefully read, it will be seen that there is warrant for the suggestion. f The statement to the contrary in the Notes historiques, p. 234, is inaccurate. [196] I 56 account given by the Director-General in 1764, and liis instructions to the Postholder ; the first is cited at length on pp. 82 and 33 of the British Casp.. and the leading portion of the instructions will be found in full at p. 69 of the Counter- Case. The Post remained to the end at the mouth of the Rupnnuni, but surveillance of the district under discussion was complete. Immediate in- Brit. C, Ann. I, D 81 formation was brought to the Postholder of the presence of Diniz' expedition at the mouth of the Takutu (Maho of the extract). No action was required because Diniz disappeared, and the Dutch Sris. Prem. M4m., p. 342. were, in any case, dropping their interest in the Eio Branco itself. Similarly, a few years later, Ibid., I, p. 121. immediate notice was brought as to the presence of the Spaniards on the Parima far to the west.* It was in 1769 that the first ofiicial explora- tion of the greater part of the district in dispute was made by Jansse, the Postholder, and a con- Ibid., I, pp. 85,86. siderable impetus was given to enterprise in this direction. The Post was the controlling point of the frontier trade which was carefully regulated. Ibid., I, X -n V ^- o ,, • -T-T- n,r • / ,, . n . pp. 134-135. In illustration or this, His Majesty the Arbi- trator is invited to compare the entries contained in the Dutch official journal of 1778 just alluded Ibid. to with Jose Agostinho Cabo's account of the Brit. C.C., Dutch trade in slaves in the disputed territory. Y^'^ ~ gg^ Eeference may be made to the British Case Brit. C, pp. 38-41 and Counter-Case for a fuller statement of the (^y-' pp- 41-44). development of Dutch control over this district pp. Vs, 91-93 which Brazil now claims. But in order to give 1^"^'' PP- ^^' . . 96-98). a concise idea of the continuity, the functions, and importance of Arinda, which is constantly minimised by Brazil, a special note has been Bris. Prem. M an intrusion into the sphere of Dutch influence. By 1775, when the Portuguese at last found their way to the neighbourhood of this district, the Dutch had, in a manner, raised a barrier against all fresh comers which it was necessary for these fresh comers to penetrate before they could acquire any right as against the Dutch. They had so identified with their interests the natives who inhabited the territory now in question that, short of actual conquest, the Por- tuguese could not acquire any rights over this BNs. Prcm. Mdni. pp. 344, 355, etc. territory. The Poi'tuguese, however, despite the erroneous statements contained in the Brazilian Memoires, did not attempt anything of the sort. They cannot even be said to have attempted to win over to their allegiance a single Indian from within the territory now disputed, except at one point on its extreme margin. They failed altogether to oust the Dutch influence, which remained supreme. (V.) The Bearing of the Portuguese " Descimentos." The period from 1775 to 1796 is one of such importance that in it a very large part of the interest of the present question must centre. It is proposed, therefore, to examine with care ri96] I 2 58 every act or claim of the Portuguese during this period. It has been shown in the British Case and Brit. C, pp. 62-73 Cou^nter-Case that the action of the Portusjuese ;, !;' f,^' ~ '' " Brit. (J.C., operating from Fort Sao Joaquim in this period pp. 75-101 falls into two main divisions, viz., the " Desci- ^ ^■' P^' ^~ mentos " and the Explorations. As each of these is examined in detail, it will be fair to test them by the questions : — How far in these acts did the Portuguese show an intention to claim the territory now claimed by Brazil ? How far did any such intention (if it existed) actuallv succeed ? Prom 1775 to 1781 the Portuguese were actively engaged in prosecuting their first series of "desci- mentos," by which they endeavoured to bring down the Indians from the regions beyond the fort to positions much nearer to the fort and within its immediate control. The detailed state- ment of their actual operatj.„ij.s, so far as they can be gathered, is set out in the British Counter- Case at pp. 75-79; it is entirely supported by the allusions in the 'I'raile hislorique of A. Pk^odriguez Vide Note IV to Perreira, which has now been produced by the Arg-ument. Brazilian Government. It is certain that in this period the Portuguese did not obtain any Indians from the district now in dispute. Apparently the soldier Duarte Migueis, on one occasion, ventured a consider- able distance up the Mahu (Ireng) to the point where it nearly approaches the sources of the Siparuni. But this was a solitary instance. Even if Indians had been drawn from the district now in question, and removed to the neighbourhood of the fort, this action would not have affected the Dutch hold on the district. To entice Indians out of a j)iece of territory does not suggest any right of occupation in that territory ; but rather the opposite. Much more is this the case where the territory in question has already been appropriated even in an im- perfect degree. But, as a matter of fact, no " descimentos " were made from within the territory in question, which was already effectively secured to the Dutch by the allegiance of the natives who inhabited it. The Dutch were at this time regularly traversing the district by their traders, and they were appealed 59 Brit. CO., p. 78, to for protection even by the Atorais,* who, at (Pr., p. 83). ^Yie time, lived west of the district. The " descimentos " of the Portuguese for Ibid., p. 79 these years (1776-1780) resulted in complete failure. Their Settlements revolted, the inhabi- tants fled to districts where they were out of reach of the Portuguese (a great part of them, for that very object, coming into the district now in question), and, for the time being, matters had reverted to the same position as in 1776. It is at this period in the history that the survey of Almeida Sen-a and Silva Pontes took place. It had no immediate connection with the attempt to colonize the Rio Eranco, and it will be best to discuss its effect with that of later surveys. For the three years between 1781 and 1784 the " descimentos " of the Portuguese at Port Sao Joaquim seem to have been in abeyance. Then came the decision of the Portuguese Crown to pardon the revolting natives, and try and win them back. A new series of " descimentos " began, and these were accompanied by expedi- tions to get back the Indians who had I'evolted from former Settlements. This second series lasted from 1784-1789. The area and scope of this series has been determined with accuracy in tlie British Counter- Case at pp. 79-91. It has been shown, in the course of the passage referred to (pp. 86-90), that the Portuguese escort in charge of the " descimentos " did, in their search for refugees during the above period, on two occasions enter the zone now in dispute. They entered it, as far as can now be ascertained, only at, and south of, the Canaku mountains. They went into the district for the sole purpose of winning back to Portuguese allegiance those revolted Paravilhanos who had taken refuge there. But there is no evidence that any Indians brought away by the escort were taken from territory now in dispute ; and it is certain that their main object, to win back certain refugee Paravilhanos, completely failed. Prom the small area lying to the east of the Cotinga, at a point near the junction of the * The fact that the Atorais were brought down by the Portuguese from the Anaua, and that the rest of the tribe moved eastward and northward to be nearer the Dutch, is not, as suggested in Notes historiques, p. 92, any argument in favour of the Brazilian claim. It tells the other way. 60 Surumu with the Cotinga, certain Chiefs, who through the mediation of their immediate neigh- bours on the west of the Cotinga had been brought into friendly relation with the Portu- guese, sent down certain Indians to a settlement at the old site of Sao Pelippe close to the fort. This, then, is the sum total of Portuguese success as regards the territory now in question. They induced a few Wapisianas, under the Head- man Liony, to come down from the hanks of the Cotinga to a settlement composed of other Wapisianas and Macusis, drawn from positions quite outside the zone, which lay north of the fort but close to it. These Wapisianas and Macusis revolted in a few months and returned to their own districts. Ultimately, in 1790 the final revolt of all the Brit. CO., p. 96^ Portuguese Indian Settlements took place. The *- '' P' villages close to the fort Avere lost, and within a few montlis scarcely any trace remained of the Indian communities which the Portuguese liad taken such trouble to found. The passages from the reports of Manoel Gama Lobo which describe this failui"e are set out and discussed at p. 97 of the British Counter-Case. His Majesty's Government urge that any action of the Portuguese in endeavouring to bring down Indians from this territory was not such as to indicate any intention to claim the territory, but rather suggested that they wished to attract the Indians from land which they did not claim into districts which they felt in a position to control. The Portuguese, by their own statements, admit that they acquired no sort of influence over the natives in this district. His Majesty the Arbi- trator is respectfully referred to the passages from Portuguese reports set out at pp. 93-95 of the British Counter-Case. In the course of their " descimentos " in the neighbourhood of the district in question the Portuguese came definitely into collision with the Dutch. It is important to consider where col- Cf. supra, p. 30> lisions took place, and how they were treated. The first occasion was when the Portuguese escort in 1784 unsuccessfully attempted to come Brit. C.C., up with the Dutch on the Maruwa. The W' ^^ ^""t^^ , •■• _ _ (.J^r., pp. 87 and second was when the active Miguel Arcanjolo 97). seized a Dutch trader in the Canaku Mountains. Ibid., p. 88 This trader, who was one of those Surinam ^ '^'' ^' ^*^' colonists who held a special permit from the 61 Director- General of Essequibo, was brought down to Earcellos, but was immediately released, and sent back to the district now in question on the express ground that the district in which he was seized was not clearly Portuguese territory. The languaeje used by the Portuguese Governor with reference to the incident, it will be remem- bered, is as follows : — Brit. C, Ann. I, « Since, according to what the Corporal tells me of the place in which he met that stranger, while he was among the mountains near the River Eupuunri, and there in a Settlement of Caripima Indians more friendly with the Dutch than witli us, it may be doubted whether such district belongs to the Portu- guese dominions, taking that circumstance into con- sideration, and that the afore-mentioned person had not yet acquired any slave, although I know that such dealings and practices, notwithstanding the very great distance, are always harmful to the Royal interests of Her Majesty ; I have nevertheless resolved that the said Dutchman, with the two Indians who accompanied him, be replaced in the same district and thence be com- pelled to embark, without fail, from the most convenient spot and proceed down stream, so that they do not tarry and have an opportunity of continuing the at- tempted business, which, with all those harmful prac- tices, should be stopped in conformity with what I have advised you and earnestly enjoin upon you again ; but yet those seizures are only to be made when such dealers come and enter into the recognized Portuguese dis- tricts, as I sufiSciently gave you to understand when I replied concerning the blacks." Vide p. 37, ttipm. In the British Counter-Case, at pp. 91-93, will be found cited the leading passages from Portu- guese despatches, which admit the Dutch in- fluence in this region. The result of those passages is certainly not exaggerated by the red line on the map which faces p. 90 of the British Counter-Case. Dutch influence is shown to have been felt as far as the Majari to the west, and to the sources of the Uanauau or Anava on the south. So far, then, there is no evidence that the Portuguese even considered themselves as having any claim to the territory now in dispute, and it is certain that they had not acquired any such right by any of the acts which are sanctioned by usage and recognized in international law. 62 (VI.) The Bearing of the Portuguese Surveys. It is now proposed to discuss the effect of the surveys made in 1781 by Almeida Serra and ^J*" ^'^g'J'' ^^ SUva Pontes and in 1767 by Colonel Manoel da Brit. C.C.,p. 95 Gama Lobo, as well as of the visit (which was gj^^_' qq ^ J' ^qo not a survey) made to a point within the zone (Fr., p. 106). * ' -^ Brds. Prem. M6m., p. 257. by Dr. Alexandre Rodriguez Ferreira in 1786. ^^.^^ ^r^tes hist, p. 190. It has been shown more than once in the British Case and Counter-Case that the surveys in question were not, and did not profess to be, Bris. Prem. Mini., pp. 229, sqq. surveys of the territory in dispute. Such a claim -S'''^«- '^««- '^"'-' ^'PP- ^^' ^^L is made over and over again on behalf of Brazil, ^'■^'- ^^'*'' ^''^■' ^- ^^ ""^ P^^'™' but it is practically negatived by the admission contained in the Report made by the Foreign Section of the Council of State of Brazil.* Bt66. Sec. Mem., The instructions, indeed, in both cases are clear, ■ ' • • and it is well to quote their actual words. Those for the first survey are as follows : — " The Sovereign commanded me expressly to en- Brit. C, Ann. I, deavour to ascertain with the greatest care, and with P" ' all possible accuracy, whether by the Rio Branco or any other river, lake, or passage there is any way of commiinication for the Dutch with the Portuguese or Spanish dominions, this investigation being of the greatest importance to the Courts of Portugal and Spain, more especially in view of the reports received that by the Essequibo and its tributaries the Dutch have water communication with Lake Parime, and thence with the Orinoco on one side and the Rio Brauco on the other. Her Majesty also directed me to report all that is discovered in regard to this important matter, and to point out at the same time the means and measures which seem the surest and best calculated for preventing the pernicious effects of such communi- cation." The instructions to Colonel Manoel da Gama Lobo run : — "In the said Rio Branco there should be made every Ibid., I, p. 169. kind of astronomical and geographical observation and * The assertion tliat a mark was placed at the mouth of the " Sipo " (not to meulion the Siparuni), on which the Report above referred to throws such doubts, is sufficiently disposed of by i-efei'ence to the original documents. It is only another instance of the inaccuracy of common Brazilian knowledge on the subjecc of these surveys. How this inaccuracy was fostered and spread is illustrated by the worthless hearsay evidence produced at p. 139 of Ann. I to the" Second Memoire " of Brazil, which is absolutely refuted by contemporary documents. 63 all local investigations as well of the river itself as of the connections of those which communicate with it, or discharge their Avaters into it, in such a way that a general map may be made of the same river, and a detailed report of all that was seen, observed, or iuvestiga.ted in it, as well with respect to the advantages which can be drawn from it, as of the localities by which the Spanish, Dutch, or French can approach it ; and, above all, of the ridges or heights of the mountains which are mentioned in the IXth Article of the Treaty of Limits of 1750, which Article, as well as the Xlltli of the Preliminary Treaty of 1777, you are to give in copy to the Colonel above mentioned." The surveys in both cases were surveys de- signed to show the Portuguese what were the vulnerable points of their territory in this direc- tion, and Avhat was the boundary which Portugal could fairly claim as against Spain. The question of a boundaiy Avith the Dutch only came up incidentallv. In pursuance of these instructions both surveys crossed a portion of the territory now in dispute. The earlier survey investigated the ordinary passage from the Takutu to the Eupununi by way of Pirara, and also Avent some distance up the Mahu (Ireng). The later survey examined the passage across the zone by Avay of the Sara- au-uru ; and Colonel da G ama Lobo also visited the locality just east of the Cotinga, where the .Dutch were said to have dug for crystals. The extent to Avbicli each of these survey ■parties entered upon the zone is shown on the Map No. 3 attached to the British Coxmter-Case. That ma}) also marks that part of the journey of Mexandre Rodriguez Perreira which was on the soil of the zone ; the rest of his journey having been to the Avest, up the Uraricoera. His botanist, however, Avent up to Pirara. iSTow, it cannot fairly be maintained that such limited entries into the district, made tentatively and only with a Aiew to a report as to the methods of access to tlie Eio Branco, can confer a title to any part of the territory. Still less- could they do so Avhen the whole of the district had been for a long period previously under the control and protection of a friendly Power. There is nothing in the utterances of the surveyors or of the Portuguese local authorities to support any claim by the Portuguese beyond the watershed ; and it is evident that even this claim is put forward for the first time. [196] K 61 lu their reioort (17S1) Almeida Serra and Silva Pontes use the following language with reference to the Dutch boundary : — " Oil the east the said plains are also shut in hy the Brit. C, Ann. I, waters of the Rupunori, which offers a site which we ?• ^°^' consider admirably fitted for establishing, in accordance with the scheme and with your Excellency's orders, a watch tower for observing on that frontier the innova- tions or attempts of the Surinam colonists. The tower might as readily be placed on the bank of the Rupunori near the IgarapS or small river Tauarikuru, unless this be opposed to the claims of the said Dutch, seeing that we have to take into consideration the watersheds and not the west bank of the River Rupunori for the boundaries." The Captain- General of Para in transmitting their report adopts generally the view of the sur- veyors, and writes to the King as follows : — '■ Tliey will not only serve for the fair division or Ibid., p. 141. boundary-line between the Portiiguese and vSpaniards under consideration, but in their continuation, and as far as the end of a Hne which must be drawn nortli and HOiith over the sources of the Rio Pirara, will serve to form the other division between the dominions of His Majesty and those of the aforesaid Colony of Surinam, along that part: this seems to me to be very much to the purpose, if we take care to recognize clearly the advantage that thus those dominions stand separated by the permanence of its great and convenient extent, and by [sic] the benefit of enabhng us to secure that the sources of the Rio Pii-ara and the various other rivers which run from the same eastern district and flow into the Rio Branco may wholly stand under our rule." This is the most enlarged limit wdiich was thought possible in the opinion of an officer who was endeavouring to give the greatest extension to the Portuguese pretensions. This same Governor in 1784, only three years later, in writing of a spot which has been shown Brit. CO., to have been no further east than the Canalai (p^.., pp. 42, 94) mountains, distinctly expressed his doubt whether these mountains did not belong to the Dutch rather than to the Portuguese. The second and more formal survey, that of Colonel Manoel Gama Lobo, was ordered by the Portuguese Government at Lisbon. The conclu- sions of that officer (1787) are stated in the fol- lowing words : — ■'D "From all this it is deduoibie that just as the Brit. C, Ann. I, Cordillera that runs along the upper part of this frontier P' ■'^^• is a natural mark, which, dividing the watei'sheds of the 65 Orinoco from the watersheds of the Rio Branco, must necessarily be crossed in order to get commnnication on this side from the dominions of Spain to those of Portugal, in like manner all the district which lies between the Rivers Mahii, Tacutu, and Rupunnri, is a tract which iiaturaliv marks off in these parts the com- munication of the Dutch and Portuguese dominions." BHs. Notes hist., pp. Vj,l^h. I'here is here no assertion of Portuguese ownership in this territory. The plain meaning of these words is that Colonel Manoel da Gama Lobo treated the district in question as beyond the limits of the Portuguese dominions; and although Joao Pereira Caldas, the Captain- Brit. C, Ann. I, General, in his despatch covering the report, deprecated the view put forward, referring to his earlier despatch of 1781 as indicating the boundary which he would like to recommend, it will be found that the view of Colonel Manoel da Gama Lobo remained the last word on this subject, See original of being the view of the boundary reaffirmed in the despatch cited m ^ ™ . „ Brit. CO., Ann. I, same words by that omcer m 1796, when he was P* Governor of Rio Negro. This view, indeed, was necessarily invested vi-itli peculiar authority. The Colonel was the Special Commissioner appointed by the Crown of Portugal ; he had seen on the spot the effects of the second series of "descimentos " ; and it is clear from a comparison of passages that he had conferred with Alexandre llodriguez Perreira, and obtained from that savant all the information w^hich he had been able to acquire His pro- nouncement cited above is a deliberate opinion opposed to the claims of Portugal in this par- ticular district. (VII.) Tlie Closing Year.i of Dutch Possession. Coming now to the period which elapsed between 1790, when a fresh revolt destroyed the Settlements which had been made on the Bio Branco, and the final establishment of British rule in 1803, it seems certain that, from the time of the revolt, the zone now in dispute, and, in- deed, the whole district whicli lies between it and Port Sao Joaquim, was left untouched by the Portuguese. In 17^6 the Governor, da Gama Lobo, seems to have contemplated a renewal of "descimentos" in this region. But the attempt was nipped in [190] K 2 66 the bad. Miguel Arcanjolo pushed too far, and ■was promptly arrested by the Dutch, together •with the soldier, Duarte Migueis, who accom- panied him. Though we have so little information abovit the incident, we have enough to show that the Dutch were on the alert to resist any violation of their territory, and that the Portuguese Grovernor had See his despatch 1 • , . , 1 ^1 T £ J. ■ cited in full at no objections to make on the ground ot tern- gg supm. torial rights. The voyage of Barata in 1798, as has already been stated in the British Counter-Case, can- Brit. C.C, p. 46. not be considered to have any bearing at ail upon the present question.* It was the journey of an oflB.cer through friendly territory to obtain information from a friendly State. His ex- perience as to the alleged absence of any Dutch Post near the territory now in dispute could only show that the British had not as yet taken steps to institute a control similar to that which had been exercised by the Dutch. The apparent unfami- liarity of the Governor of Surinaai with the terri- tory of a neighbouring Colony is not a matter which can be pleaded by Brazil. It is not an unusual thing for the Governor of a Colony or a territory to be unacquainted with the correct geography of distant regions even when under his own command. Barata's hesitating reference to 7ide Braz. Ann., Portuguese claims means nothing.! It ap- ' P' pears to be a reflection of something which he had heard at head- quarters. But in the edition of Vittorio da Costa's Map, which is to be ascribed to 1797 or 1798, there is no claim to a Portuguese boundary in this * Barata, who was not on a mission of exploration, but who wished to reach his destination as rapidly as possible, went by a route which involved a long detour and considerable waste of time.' This indicates practical ignorance of the district. It is of 'itself sufiScient to show the limited extent of the ex- plorations of Gama Lobo de Alraada, who doubtless informed Barata of the route. f The quotation from Barata's jourual, given in the Prem. M^m. at p. 288, is inaccurate. Barata was pointing out on a map after dinner to the Dutch Governor of Surinam (who, of course, had never had anything to do with Demerara and Essequibo) the route that he had followed : and after refer- ring to the Governor's knowledge of the Rupununi, he says : " Je n'indiquai pas et passai sous silence cette petite Saraurii parce qu'elle appartient d^ja a notre territoire, ainsi que d'autres qui en font ^galement partie.'' These words clearly suggest that Barata was so doubtful about the claim of Portugal to the Sara-au-uru that, in order to a\oid con- troversy, he deliberately refrained from mentioning even the name of the river to the Dutch Governor. 67 district : indeed, a note on tlie map states that the boundary is undetermined. The map bears a line indicating the area within which no occupa- tion, i.e., by settlement of a foreign Power, had, up to that date, been noticed. But that is all ; there is no claim to a boundary- Bris. Sec. M6m., Hi, p. 94. On the other hand, the Dutch, apparently at a period only a little later than this,* had framed a map, which is now before His Majesty the Arbi- trator — the map of van Heneman — which most distinctly claims not only the whole of the district now in dispute, but considerably more to the west- ward. It is urged by His Majesty's Government that the minimum of the claim on which the Dutch could at this time have successfully insisted as against Portugal is indicated by the line on Map No. 2 of the Atlas attached to the British Vide also Brit. Counter-Case as the line of Dutch influence in CO., Map facing,- p. 90. 1790. Unfortunately, the matter was never taken up on either side. The Brazilian Government, however, now claim that, in effect, shortly after this time, viz., in 1802, the question was settled in favour of Portugal by the Treaty of Amiens. They go so far as to say that this Treaty amounted to a " reconnaissance europeenne " of the line claimed Vide Brit. C.G., }^y Brazil. There is no sort of authority for such {Fr.,pp. 187-189). a contention. The boundary between the Portu- guese and Dutch possessions was never mentioned in the Treaty, and was not brought up during the negotiations. It is, moreover, certain that no arrangement between France and Portugal (entirely to the disadvantage of Portugal) could be pleaded as binding Holland in any way. Br^s. Notes hist., p. 15, cf. also pp. 70, 88, The statement made in the Brazilian Memoires et passim. ^^^^^ Holland always recognized the right of Portugal over the Avhole of the basins of the Bio Branco and Rio Negro is one of those unfounded Supra, p. 4. statements of which the British Government have already formally complained. His Majesty's Government accordingly main- tain that up to the year 1803, when the posses- * It appears to be suggested ia the Second Memoirs of Brazil (vol. iii, p. 41) that the date of van Heneman's Map should not have been put as late as between 1796 and 1802. It is obvious that there is uo object to be served by pushing the date of van Heneman's Map so late. It would, indeed, be more to the advantage of the British case to accept the earlier date. But the more complete search which has been devoted to clearing up this question makes the later date appear the more accurate. 68 siou of the Colony of Essequibo finally passed, from Dutcli hands into those of the British, the Dutch had a good claim to a boundary consider- ably to the westward of the territory now in dis- pute, and that Portugal, on the other hand, did not pretend to this territory. His Majesty's Government altogether deny that at the period when the British came into possession of the Colony, or at any later period, Bris. Prem. Mdm., pp. 285, 296, 310, 344. Tort SSo Joaquim was, in any way, the centre of Srds. Notes hist., pp. 201, 203. influence dominating the country which lay to the eastward as far as the territory in dispute. There is no evidence that any Portuguese subject, either in an ofiicial or unofficial capacity, passed to the eastward of Port Sao Joaqiiim between 1790, when the revolt of tlie Indian Settlements took place, and 1796, when Miguel Arcanjolo was dispatched iu search of some Indians and was promptly arrested by tbe Dutch. Fort Sao Joaquim protected the cattle farms, and acted as a guard to the few Portuguese settlers who remained on the Bio Branco. JBut every mention which we have of it points to the fact that it was a frontier fort, con- sidered as marking the practical limit of Portu- guese jurisdiction. That it exercised no sort of supervision over any territory to the eastward, much less over that now in dispute, is abundantly clear from the Beport of the Commandant of the fort, when in 1811 he received the news that a British expedition was present in the disputed territory. It is, in fact, admitted on that occasion y^^g Bj.j^. qq by the Governor of Bio Negro in his despatch to P^,^*^^ the Commandant., that for some years past no sort of effort had been made to keep a watch on the frontier in that direction. Doubtless, if there had been a recognized Portuguese frontier marking off a district which had been previously taken into possession, the absence of surveillance could not be interpreted as derogating from the rights of Portugal over such a district. But where, as has been shown above, the possession was in the Dutch and in the British who had succeeded them, the absence of any patrol or any guard is to be interpreted as an admission that the Portuguese themselves had no right in that direction. In the attempt to argue that Great Britain Brd?. Notes hist., p. 201. claims for Arinda a wider area of influence than she allows to Port Sao Joaquim, Brazil displays an inability to grasp the salient point of the history, viz., tliat the Dutch, by means of Arinda, 69 had acquired an area of control — had in a manner set up a fence, which was well established long before the Portuguese came into the neighbour- hood. The sphere of influence which it was possible to attach to Eort Sao J'oaquim on the east was definitely limited by the joreyious occu- pation of the Dutch. As a matter of fact, the attempt of Portugal to occupy any ground east of Port Sao Joaquim distinctly and totally failed. (VIII.) British Mights Established. His Majesty's Government maintain that when, in 1803, the Colonies of Essequibo and Demerara passed finally into British hands, the territory now in dispute, at the least, and, indeed, a larger area to the west, which is not now claimed, was already de jure part of the Dutch Colony. By the act of conquest it became de jure British. His Majesty's Government must insist that as regards this period of the history the first act which showed any claim to sovereignty over the disputed territory came from the side of the British. Within seven years of the date when the British finally took possession of Essequibo, and at a time when there was no indication of any interest by the Portuguese in the territory now in dis- pute, or any inclination on their part to interfere with Dutch rights therein, the British were invited by the leading Chieftain on the southern frontier, Manariwan or Mahanarva, whose suze- rainty is shown to have extended over the territory now claimed by Brazil, to adopt Avith reference to him and his country the same policy Brit. C, Ann. I, of protection which had been extended to him pp. 209, 213, 218. ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ The British Governor accepted this responsi- ' bility, and asserted the jurisdiction of Great Britain by taking pledges from Manariwan Vide supra, p, 42. (Malianarva) to maintain peace in the interior, to give up slave trading, and generally to behave as a peaceable British subject. In pursuance of their undertaking towards this Chief, the British Government immediately sent up to the district a strong Commission, com- posed of two principal officers of the Colony and Dr. Hancock, to investigate the statement of the Chieftain, and to inquire generally into the state of the tribes in the far interior. This Commission, on arriving in the territory 70 which is now claimed hj Brazil, held meetings of the chief tribes who inhabited it. Their Vide supra, p. 43. report and maps show that these tribes were chiefly Macusis and Oaribs (Caripunas), who were acknowledged by the Portuguese to have been the tribes avowedly under Dutch influence. They also included in tlieir investigations the Atorais ; — probably that branch which had moved to the eastward across the Takutu and had settled out of the reach of the Portuguese. In every way, then, the Commission indicated to the Indians that the British Government had succeeded the Dutch as owners of this territory. And though no boundary was at the time settled, the British Government is entitled to maintain that they did in 1811 in practice adopt that frontier which the Dutch might fairly have claimed at the same date. That line is shown See also supra, on Map No. 2 in the Atlas attached to the ^' ' British Counter-Case. The Commissioners then sent messengers to Port Sao Joaquim, inquiring if they might ad- vance into Portuguese territory and to that fort ; and they did eventually, without waiting for formal permission, go down the Takutu to the fort. There was certainly no admission on the part of the British Commissioners of any Portuguese claim over the territory now in dispute. The allegations loosely made in the Brazilian Me- -^''^s. Prem. M(>m.,pp. 297, sqq. moires will not stand the test of impartial Bris. Sec. M&m.,vol. T,p. i:2. examination. These Memoires in particular rely ^'^'- ^'*'' ^''''■' PP- ^^^' ^"il- on the statement of the Portuguese Corporal, Salvador (who, on receipt of the Commissioners' message, was sent to meet them), that the British Commission had moved to the Bupununi because of his warning that they were on Portuguese territory. As already stated in the British Brit. CO., p. 103 Counter-Case, there is only the word of the ^^"""'P' ^' Corporal for this, and he admits that he did not understand English or Dutch, and that the Commissioners did not understand Portuguese. It is, in the opinion of His Majesty's Govern- ment, impossible to accept this version of an illiterate Corporal of what took place at an interview with persons whose language he did not understand, when his statement is entirely negatived by the acts of those persons, and by the subsequent writings of one of them, Dr. Hancock. To the order issued by the Governor of Rio Negro for a patrol of the waters of the Takutu itself by a Portuguese detachment no objection can be taken by His Majesty's Government, but 71 if any claim to the territory now in dispute was implied by the order to extend that patrol as far as the confluence of the Pirara with the Mahu and even to the Rupununi, His Majesty's Govern- ment most empliatically deny that there was any ground for such a claim. There is no evidence that anything further was Brit. C, p. 45, done under the latter part of the order, unless it and Anil. I, p. 215. , ,, , . , » ,, . be that in the following year one or two soldiers seem to have been sent by the Commandant of Fort Sao Joaquim to build a boat somewhere near the mouth of the Pirara. But even if there had been any repetition of such acts, they could not suffice to displace the previous possession of £r^. Notes hist., p. 117. the Dutch. Brazil ignores the force of this Dutch possession. Having once distinctly established and publicly indicated their right to this territory, it was not necessary for the British Government either to station an officer upon it or to go on sending up Commissions to inquire into its progress. At Brit. (-■., Ann. I, short intervals after J.SIO, down to the year 1819 Yen Arb ■ ^^ ^^^^ Tate, Manariwan (Mahanarva) himself Brit. C, Ann. VI, used to come to the capital, and if there had been any interference with him or his vassal tribes on the part of the Portuguese, it is inconceivable that he would not have reported it and demanded the protection, of the British Government. At the same time, the Postholder who was respon- sible for the welfare of the Indians on that frontier kept so far in touch with them as to Brit. C, Aim. I, report at intervals as to their number and status ; pp. 219--'.. . ^j^jj though the evidence does not go very far, it is sufficient to indicate that there was a general control over the whole area where the Macusis and the Atorais lived. His Majesty's Government submit to the Arbitrator that they have proved that up to 1822, when Brazil became an independent State, their rights, inherited from the Dutch, over the territory now claimed by Brazil, remained adequate and unimpaired. Nor did anything happen to impair those rights of the British in the decade which suc- ceeded the year 1822. There is apparently a possibility that towards the latter part of the decade the Brazilians from Port Sao Joaquim once more made an attempt to obtain Indian slaves within the area of the district now in question. TS^o proof of this has [196] L 72 been brought forward, but it is to be inferred from expressions used by Mr. Armstrong and by Schom- burgk. If, however, any such raids were made, it would be monstrous to suggest that they could be made the basis of a claim to British territory. They were rather an effort to drag British sub- jects across the Brazilian border into slavery, and they were thus viewed by Mr. Armstrong. It has been shown in the British Counter-Case that Mr. Armstrong, in 1833, settled for some time Brit. CO., at Pirara as the first British missionary in the ?E" ^^^"ifs.iiKN district, and that he formally conveyed to the Brazilian authorities a demand that any such raids should cease. Attention may here once more be called to the extraordinary attempt made by Brazil to avoid the inference which results from the evidence as to JVlr. Armstrong. So confident were the Go- vernment of Brazil that they could not be re- futed by direct evidence, that they carried their assertions to the extent of saying that the mis- Brds. Notes hist., p. 224. sionary Armstrong was never on the disputed territory. I'ortunately, this statement has been completely disproved by Mr Armstrong's papers. It is shown that Mr. Armstrong was at Pirara a considerable time before Schomburgk ever dreamed of going to Guiana. His Majesty's Government then, in bringing their argument up to that period of the question where Brazil would make the controversy origi- ^^ds. Prem. Mim., pp. 420, sqq. nate, claim that the foregoing exposition of the history has completely cut away from under Brazil the ground on which she has endeavoured to approach this question. (IX.) Schomburgk' s Exploration. The Brazilian Government suggest that the claim put forward by Great Britain as a historical Bris. Sec. Mem., vol. i, p. 30. Dutch claim is a posthumous birth ; and devote '^»'^«- Notes hist., p. 2r>'l. the greater part of their second Memoire to an attempt to prove that the British claim had its sole origin in tbe zeal of Schomburgk. It is hoped that the fallacy of this view has been demonstrated by the argument \ip to this point. The occupation and control of the zone by the Dutch is an historical fact : such occupation and control was continued by Great Britain. It is submitted that the attempt of Brazil to dis- 73 sociate the claim of Great Britain from the claim of the Dutch is based on an erroneous view of the facts ; and that their attempt to avoid all argument on the etToct of the history of the zone since 183-1', which is all in favour of Great Britain, must be held to have failed. Ihe continuity of the claim of the Dutch and British is further emphasized by the original R.a.S., 1836, mission of Schomburgk, which was one of " dis- ^ ' ''■ ■ covery into the interior of British Guiana " under Ibid., p. 9. the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society. Schomburgk was told that in the first place he was to subordinate everything to " the object of thoroughly investigating the physical char- acter and resources of that portion of the cen- tral ridge traversing this part of South America, which furnishes tributaries to the Demerara, Essequibo, and other rivers flowing into the Atlantic, within, or immediately contiguous to, the British Colony of Guiana." There was nothing in these words which implied that the central ridge referred to was the boundary of British Guiana ; the instructions, read broadly, suggest that British Guiana was looked upon as stretching to and perhaps beyond the supposed " central ridge," and this was to be the sphere of Schomburgk's chief operations. Moreover, as Brit. CO., pointed out already in the British Gounter-Case, Fff pp 122 *^® central ridge does not as a fact mark the 126). watershed between the Essequibo and the Sio Branco at any point which is relevant to the territory in dispute. Schomburgk, at the outset of his work, showed that he did not consider that there was any justification for the presentation of the boundary as it appeared on Arrowsmith's Maps.* This subject has been so fu.lly discussed in pp. 113 sqq. of the British Counter-Case, that it would be waste oC time to pursue it here. As soon as Schomburgk had finished his first explora- tion of the llupununi, he continued his work in the Canaku Mountains, and over much of the central portion of the territory now in dispute ; * There are certain expressions in Scliomburgl^'s eai'lier reports which might suggest that the Portuguese had know- ledge of both the Mahu and the Rupununi as far as certain falls, in each case called Corona. In his later reports Sfhomburgk shows that this " Corona ' is a Carib word (see Brit. C, Ann. Ill, p. 152) ; and so indicates that, before he got to know the dialects of the district, he had mistaken the word Caraiba for tlie word Caraiwa. attributing the place-names given by the Caraiba (Caribs) to the Caraiwa (the Indian name for Portuguese). [196] L 2 74 liis reports give no indication tliat he considered that lie was on Brazilian soil ; he was simply carrying out his instructions for the exploration of British territory. The Brazilian Memoires suggest that Schoua- Brds. Prem. Mlm., p. 320, Bqci- burgk's action in " taking possession " of certain ^r4s. Sec. M6m., vol. i,p. 99. points shows that he considered them hitherto outside British territory. The suggestion is little Brit. CO., p. 119 better than a quibble, and is sufficiently dealt *^^'"'' ^' ^'^'^^' with in the British Counter-Case. While Schomburgt was still engaged in his earlier explorations, Mr. Youd arrived at Brit. C, Ann. Ill, Pirara and founded his mission. The Brazilian P- *^- Government attempt to fix on Schomburgk the responsibility for this mission; they Brds. Prem. MSm., pp. S2S and 330. endeavour to exhibit it as part of a scheme -^'■^«- ^^- ^^^■' '"°^- '^' PP- ^ "-^ ^^' ^''' for seizing Brazilian territory ; they try to confuse the operations of the missionary with those of the exjolorer. For all this there is not the slightest foundation. Mr. Youd's arrival on the territory in dispute, to found a mission at Pirara, was simply the outcome of Mr. Armstrong's earlier mission to the Brit. CO., p. HO same place ; he only came to make permanent ^ ' P' '' what Mr. Armstrong had begun. It is, of course, natural that he should have seen some- thing of Schomburgk when they were both staving in the same territorv, and that he should have accompanied Schom.burgk to Fort Sao Joaquim to pay his respects to the Commandant. But he had no nearer connec- tion with Schomburgk ; nor had Schomburgk's explorations anything to do with Mr. Youd's mission. It was, however, indirectly due to the presence of the mission at Pirara and of Schomburgk at Fort Sao Joaquim that a little later the question of boundary was raised. Up to this time there had been no discussion of the question between the Britisli and the Brazilians. For both parties the actual boundary remained very much as it is stated in the note on Captain Alexander's Map of 1832,—" Fort Krit. CO., Joachim may be considered the boundary between ' the British and Portuguese." The question was raised in consequence of the presence of a Brazilian gentleman engaged in Br^s. Sec. Mem., the pursuit of natural history in the neighbour- " hood of the fort. He heard about the new occurrences at Pirara, and reported them to the 75 Government.* Prominence was doubtless given to the matter by the advent of a Brazilianf press-gang from tbe south M'hile Schomburgk was still at Port Sao Joaquim. These people appear to have projected a raid on Pirara and to have carried one out at Tenette. As pointed out in the British Counter-Case, no Brit. C.C. p. 119 T,'eiglit need he attached to the opinion somewhat (Fr., p. 126). . ^ hastily expressed by Schomburgk on this occasion, in a letter of the 25th August, 1838, as to the boundary which might be claimed by Great Britain. It is at variance with the whole of the history set out in the Case and Counter-Case on behalf of Great Britain, and with Schomburgk's own view expressed a few months earlier as well as with his maturer views. Within a year Schomburgk took a very much clearer line on the subject. He had traversed the greater portion of the northern half of the zone now in dispute ; he had undoubtedly listened to the lepresentations of the Indians who had been collected at Pirara by Mr. Youd and disturbed by the Brazilians. He had come Brit. C, Ann. Ill, fresh from the scene of Mr. Youd's expulsion from Pirara. It Avas in these circumstances that Avithin a month of his arrival at head-quarters he enunciated as the true line of boundary the line of the Cotinga and Tacutu which Great Britain claims to-day. The attacks which have been made in the J^'^^^-P'^'^'^- ^^^m^pp. 326, 327. Brazilian Memoires upon Schomburgk's proposal Br^s. Sec. Mdm.,vol.i,pp. 6 and7,U4:, saq. „,.,. , rr- ■ .^ i- Brd/i. Notes hist., p. 18. ot T''iis line have l)een sumciently answered m Bnt. C.C., ^i^g British Counter-Case. As soon as the pp. 117-lL>l (Fr., pp. 124-127). previous history is knoAvn and understood, the imputations which are cast upon Schomburgk are seen to be without foundation. His Majesty's GoA'ernment, in. fact, have stronger reasons for adhering to that line than any Avhich Schomburgk gave at the time. They have had before them historical facts which Schomburgk did not knoAv. They have learned that the line he proposed is very much within the fair line of Dutch claim. If Schomburgk had been in possession of all the materials Avhich * The papers published with the Annexe to Brazil's Second Memoire, vol. i, pp. 30 and 31, show that the statement on this point contained in the British Case was not quite accurate. But the matter is not of real importance. t The suggestion made in the Second Memoire of Brazil, vol. i, p. 22, that this Avas a raid by Macusis only, is not less iiigi'uious than it is contrary to evidence. 76 arc now before the Arbitrator, there would assuredly have been none of that hesitation on his part which he displayed on the question whether the Cotinga or the Mahu (Ireng) should be taken as the true boundary. His Majesty's Government insist that, in putting forward the line of the Cotinga and Takutu, they are con- ceding to Brazil a great deal of territory which the Dutch might have claimed in 1796. In fact, not only has it been shown that Schomburgk did not, as Brazil alleges, concoct the British claim : it follows without contradic- tion, from what has been already proved, that Schomburgk's proposal fell short of what might have been fair and just to Great Britain. His Majesty's Government do not, as Brazil suggests, rely -merely on Schomburgk, whose knoAvledge of the history of the qi;estion, largely derii^ed from Baron von Humboldt,* was in great measure imperfect: they treat Schomburgk's explorations as one incident in a series of occurrences which indicate uninterrupted possession of the district by the Dutch and the British for almost two centuries. (X.) Collision between Great Britain and Brazil. The report in which Schomburgk indicated what he considered the fair boundary of British Guiana brought also to the notice of the British Government that a British missionary, Mr. Youd, had been forcibly ejected from British territory, and that his station was in the possession of the Brazilians. This news produced two consequences : — The first of these was the determination to require the Brazilians to withdraw from the Brit. C, Ann, II, territory in question : this resulted eventually in P"*^*'® '' PP' ^' ^^' the expulsion of the Brazilian intruders by an armed British force. The second consequence was the formal mis- sion of Mr. Schomburgk on behalf of the British Government to mark out the boundaries of British Guiana. * The Brazilian M^moires, which rely so much on Humboldt, charge Schomburgk with inaccuracies which are really those of Humboldt, e.g., Second M^moire, vol. i, pp. 36 and 60, note. On this point generally, see Note V to British Counter-Case. 77 MeanM'hile, however, a provisional arrange- ment for the neutralization of the territory had been arrived at between the British and Brazilian Governments. Its text is set out on pp. 84, 85 of the British Case. It is true, as urged in the second M^moire of Bris. Sec. Mim., vol. i, p. 75. Brazil, that the Brazilian Government did at first attempt to justify their descent on Pirara by citing various proofs in support of their claim. These alleged proofs are very much what Brazil has urged ever since, and it is not necessary to con- sider them separately in this Argument, The fact to record is that, in the presence of the firm attitude of the British Government, the Brazilian Government made a definite proposal, which was accepted by Great Britain, that, pending negotia- tions on the subject, the territory should be neutralized. The substance of this arrangement was that the Indian tribes should remain independent, and in exclusive possession of the territory, pending a definite decision as to the question which had arisen ; that, meanwhile, there sliould be no military occupation by either party : but that it should be open to missionaries or subjects " with- out, military character " of both States to enter the territory as occasion might demand. Brazil had certainly no reason to complain of the terms of this arrangement. The British Government, by their military occupation of the territory in force, had just asserted their previous continuous possession. By the Agreement of 18-12 they placed the territory as between the two Powers concerned in a state of susjoense.* It will be observed that the leading note of the arrangement was the provisional independence of the native tribes who inhabited the zone. Such inherent rights as the aboriginal inhabitants possess in the soil were specifically reserved to the Indians who dwelt in this territory. It was open to subjects of either State to enter and settle in the territory; it was also open to either Govern- ment to send officers to preserve order and look into grievances from time to time; but all this was subject to the native rights. * It is probably by an oversight that the Brazilian Govern- ment (Second Memoire, vol. i, p. 178) put forward, as a fact to be considered in this matter, the statement that Brazilian officers in 1843 hoisted the Brazilian flag at Pirara. The statement was denied and repudiated by the Brazilian Govern- ment. It would have been an immediate breach of the agreement of 1842. 78 It is submitted that in the final decision which the arrangement contemplated — the decision wliich is now to be pronounced — considerable weight should be given to the wishes of those native tribes whose interests were _ so carefully safeguarded by the arrangement, and to the natural development of the territory which has, since the date of the arrangement, taken place without interference on the part of the British Government. (XT.) Comparison of the Surveys on both, Sides. The survey of the disputed territory made by Great Britain, as well as the alleged survey of the same territory Avhich is said to have been made by Brazil, really fall under the period which followed the arrangement of 1842, as although Schomburgk's survey commenced in this district prior to the arrangement of 1842, the greater part of it was carried out after that arransrement had been concluded. The work of Schoniburgk, both as explorer and as Boundary Comiuissioner, has been sum- marized at pp. 86-88 of the British Case, and set out in full at pp. 121-126 of the British Counter- Case. The " Second Memoire " of Brazil endeavours -^^^s- ^ec. Mim., vol. Hi, pp. 11,, 26, 48. to compare this survey of Schomburgk with those of the Portuguese surveyors made in 1781 and 17S7. But these, whatever their scientific value may be, so far as they went, have practically no relation to the territory in dispute. The Portu- guese surveyors, as ah-eady pointed out more than once, were looking for the vulnerable points of the Portuguese frontier on the side of the Spaniards, and incidentally on that of the Dutch. They never entered, except to a small degree, upon the territory now under discussion. Schom- burgk, on the other hand, was sent out to survey a line of boundary which he had himself recom- mended as fair, on a territory to which Great Britain had a very definite claim. He went on to that territory as British territory, or at any rate as territory which was in the posses- sion of tribes who had invited British protec- tion. He traversed that territory in every direction, not only along its river routes, but also 79 over its main Indian paths. He knew it thoroughly, and described all its main features. It may safely be said that he examined it as it had never been examined before. A glance at Map No. 4 in the Atlas attached to the British Counter- Case will show how completely the ter- ritory in dispute was traversed at one time and another by Scbomburgk and his brother. Richard Scbomburgk, " Keisen," p. 394. Vide Brit. CO., Ann. II, p. 56. Br4s. Sec. M^m.. Ann. II, p. 27. Bres. Sec. Mdm., Ann. II, vol. i. Bres, Sec. M(lm,, Ann. II, p. 27. Brit. C.C, p. 150 (Fr., p. 159j. Shortly after Scbomburgk had finished his survey, the Brazilian Commission also arrived at the frontier. The Senior Commissioner, indeed, had come to Pirara before Eichard Scbomburgk himself had left that district. So far as British information goes the Commission was without instruments and without technical knowledge. This is practically admitted by the Report of the Foreign Section of the Council of State in 1853. Annexed to the Second Memoire of Brazil will be found the Beport of this Commission. It will be observed that they claim to have surveyed the territory in dispute ; but their report is couched in vague general terms. No dates are given ; there is no specific account of work done. Neither the latitude nor the longitude of a single point appears to have been determined. Nothing is contained in the report which might not have been written by Colonel Matos as a result of casual inspection or inquiry of Indians during his brief visit to Pirara in June 1843. Indeed, it is quite impossible that Colonel F. C. de Campos> should have come from Bio de Janeiro, made any detailed survey, and returned to Para, between June 1843 and the 26th July, 1844... The report of the Commission deals only in generalities, but as soon as the map attached to the report is inspected, it becomes clear that the work of the Commission does not represent any real survey at all. There is scarcely a geo- graphical feature in the map that is correct. It is obviously an enlarged sketch made up of prior surveys of a partial character, and, as shown in the British Counter-Case, its main features were apparently copied from an incorrect map by Scbomburgk, compiled before he had ever really surveyed the territory now in question. It is so unlikely as almost to be impossible, that, if any real survey were made by these Com- missioners, no mention of it shordd occur in the correspondence which was proceeding between the British and Brazilian Governments at that [196] M so time ; and that not a word of the presence of the Brazilian Commission should be brought by the messengers who were coming down from the district to the Colonial Government. It is submitted that this Report and the map which accompanied it may be dismissed from all further consideration in this Case. Twenty-five years after Schomburgk's survey another British survey of very great importance covered the whole of the territory in dispute almost as thoroughly as that of Schomburgk had done. This was the geological survey con- ducted by Mr. Sawkins and Mr. Barrington Brown. These surveyors, charged with a Special Mission by the Government of Great Britain, investigated with the greatest minuteness and care the geological features of the whole of the zone now in dispute as part of the geological survey of the Colony of British Guiana. They treated the zone as part of the Colony of British Guiana, and found within it no trace of any other influence than that of Great Britain.* (XII.) Position of the Zone from 1842-18S7. As the geological survey by Messrs. Sawkins and Brown comes just at the middle of the modern period of the history of the zone, and as it is the first public act which throws any light on the condition of the zone after the arrangement of 1842, it is appropriate to inquire what were the conditions which the surveyors found prevailing in the zone in question. These have been sketched Brit. C, p. 91 in the British Case by means of extracts ' ' P" -*' from Barrington Brown's book of his travels. In the thirty years which had elapsed since the agreement of 1842, the territory now in dispute had been very slowly but gradually developing as a part of Bi'itish Guiana. It will be remem- bered that under the agreement there was no reason why the Brazilians should not also have settled upon it, if there had been any tendency to settlement from that side. But there is no trace of any Brazilian having entered it up to the time of the geological survey. A few settlers * The suggestion (Br^s. Sec. M^m., vol. i, pp. 225-6) that it was only Fort Sao Joaquim that made possible surveys and explorations vehich for the most part hardly came near the fort is almost too absurd to deserve even an allusion. p. 142. 81 had come into the zone from Georgetown. The Brit. 0., Ann. II, Indians who lived in the zone did all their partie in, P- 2 (of. Brit. C, p. 92), trade with Georgetown : Macusis, Wapisianas, and n 112^"^°' ^^^' -^torais all acknowledged Chieftains wlio had attached themselves to the British Government. His Majesty's Government maintain that all this was a ^^roof tliat the arrangement of 1842 had no power to alter the natural trend of de- velopment within the zone. It is a proof that the Indians, who, under the arrangement, were to be treated as independent, looked to the British as their natural protectors, and that their relations were entirely wdth the other portions of the British Colony. So far as can be gathered from the meagre details as to this period, of which some record is left, the zone now claimed by Brazil was cut off absolutely from any sign of Brazilian influence. Por all practical purposes the line of the Cotinga and Tacutu was treated as a boundary, just as effectually as if it had been agreed upon by both the Governments and demarcated bv a Joint Commission. (XIII.) The Events which led up to the Acute Phase of the Dispute. Prom occasional writings, such as those re- ferred to in the last section, and the information conveyed in Mr. McTurk's Memorandum which Brit. C, Ann. II, was produced with tlie British Case, it may be partie ni. gathered that there Avas for several years very little to mark the quiet history of the zone, which had practically settled down as part of a British Colony. Late in 1887, however, news reached Her late Majesty's Government that a Joint Commission of Brazilians and Venezuelans had gone upon the territory now in question, and delimited a common boundarj^, assigning one part of the territory to Venezuela and another part to Brazil. As it was this report w^hich practically gave birth to the final negotiations which have led up to the present arbitration. His Majesty's Government conceive it to be of importance to have a clear understanding as to what really did happen on this occasion, and what its effect may be upon the present question. The British Government at once sent up officers to report upon the facts, and those [196] M 2 82 officers, the bona fides of whose reports is beyond ^^'<^« Brit. C, ryrt Q A, SOQ suspicion, distinctly stated that they could find (Pr.,pp. i02,*gg.)- no trace at all of any Brazilian or Venezuelan Commission having been on any portion of the territory now in dispute. Further, the Brazilian Government themselves, when challenged as to violation of the agreement of 1842, replied in terms which certainly imply that no such survey B.C., Auu. II, i, and delimitation had ever been made. ^' The whole of this matter is one which places His Majesty's Government in a very difficult position before the High Tribunal of the Arbi- trator. On the one hand, there lies on the table before His Majesty a very definite Report purporting to come from the pen of the members of the Bra- zilian Commission — a Report as to which the able author of the Brazilian M^moires states that he could no more think of ch alien 2;inor its accu- racy than he could think of challenging a Report of a Royal Commission. It must also be admitted that tlie part of this Report which purports to relate to the Mahu, contains such detail, such curious little touches, that it seems almost inconceivable that it should not have been the result of personal investigation. On the other hand, the Brazilian Government have by positive statement implied that no entry was made upon any part of the zone ; and, further, in full unison with this statement, is the careful Report of an officer of the highest ability and integrity, who was sent up as soon as possible into the district to make full inquiry into the matter. Mr. im Thurn's Report is set out almost in full at pp. 96-97 of the British Case. Crossing every point where the Brazilians must have gone, he questioned all the Indians he came across, and made use of all those means of obtaining infor- mation on which reliance is always placed in those countries, and of which he in particular, beloved by the Indians and trusted to the last degree, could avail himself. Yet he failed to obtain any sort of hint that any Brazilian (Caraiwa) had ever been in the neighbourhood. The difficulty is one which His Majesty's Government can only leave to the wisdom of the King of Italy.* * There is no inconsistency (Br^s. Sec. M^m., vol i, p. 232) in quoting an admission from a report which is not itself genuine. Such an admission is good evidence of general reputation. 83 (XIV.) The present Condition of the Zone. It now remains to notice briefly a subject of which much is made in the second M^moire of Brazil. Within the last ten years or so a distinct change has been gradually coming over the posi- tion of affairs in the territory now in question. Bris. Sec. M4m., vol. i,p. 151. Up to 1890, not a single Brazilian, as far as is known, was settled to the east of Fort Sao Joaquim ; but since that date there have been a certain number of cattle farms established by Brazilians to the east of the line of the Cotinga and Tacutu. In 1890 there were no Brazilian farms nearer the territory in dispute than those indicated on the sketch map of 1865, which faces p. 204s of the Second Memoire of Brazil ; twenty- B.C., Ann. II, i, five years had made no difference : but by May ^' ' 1896,fiveBrazilians had established small holdings on the rigbt bank of the Takutu in the positions indicated on the map which faces p. 107 of vol. II, Part i, of the Annex to the British Case. Of these five places four lie along the Takutu between its confluence with the Cotinga and its confluence with the Ireng (Mahu) ; one is a little higber up the Takutu, near the ranches occupied by Melville and other British subjects. Ibid., p. 110, In 1897 a British subject, Montagu Hint, who was himself engaged in cattle-farming, Br^s. Sec. M6m., vol. i, p. 240. reported in very exaggerated terms that the Brazilian farmers had increased in number. There seem to have been, in fact, three additions to the ranches on the right bank of the Takutu. Ibid., p. 137. Two years later there were a few more, as referred to by Mr. McTurk. Bris. Sec. M 84 the allegations in the ordinaiy way. However, on the delivery of the Second Memoirs of Brazil, the Governor of British Guiana, Sir Alexander Swettenham, visited the zone, and has made a report, giving full and authentic details as to the settlers. Under the circumstances, His Majesty's Government appeal to His Majesty the Arbitrator to allow them at this stage to lay before His Majesty the report of Sir Alexander Swettenham, which could not be produced before, owing to the course which the Brazilian Government have adopted of reserving this part of their case till the delivery of the Second Memoire. The Brazilian Second Memoire further makes much display of tables of those who have registered their property ; but the Arbitrator's attention is called to the fact that these tables are swollen by including settlers on the western bank of the Takutu, who, for the purposes of this arbitration, should be left out of account. The request of Brazilian subjects for a registra- -S*"^*- ^^<^- M6m., Ann. II, p. 162. tion at Boa. Vista of births occurring in the disputed territory is quite consistent with the fact that the territory is really British : it would be open to Brazilians residing therein to retain, if they so desire it, Brazilian nationality for themselves and their children. No attempt, however, to exercise jurisdiction within the territory in question seems to have been made by Brazilian authorities. Whatever jurisdiction has been enforced has been British, and that has been chiefly by the agency of Mr. McTurk of late years. As to this able and active ofacer, the stories which have been brought down bHs. Sec. M&m., vol. i, p. 254, note (cf. documents to the Brazilian Government are in almost every ^'i ^nn. II, pp. 125, 130, 131). case gross exaggerations.^' But there is some point in the suggestion that the British Govern- lUd., vol. i, pp. 152, 161, 190, 246, 254, 261. ment have accepted the jurisdiction of their magistrate as perfectly natural, while they re- sented any sort of interference by Brazil. The reason is to be gathered from the history of the zone. The territory has been shown to have been in British possession. The agreement of 1842, as already observed, did not effectively interfere with the British connection. The ancient ties continued, and, where jurisdiction was required, it was British jurisdiction to which appeal was naturally made. * Similarly, there is absolutely no foundation for a casual suggestion made in Brazil's Sec. Mem., vol. i, p. 263, that Mr. McTurk admitted the existence of Brazilian jurisdiction. 85 His Majesty's Government submit that the recent settlement of a few Brazilian farmers in the disputed territory furnishes little support to the claim of Brazil. They have come into a territory which has long since settled down into fixed British tendencies. They have, indeed, been enabled to settle there owing to the existence of that sentiment of security which has grown up within the territory by its natural and historical connection with a British Colony. Their presence cannot derogate from that ancient right which His Majesty's Government commend with con- fidence to the consideration of the Arbitrator to-day. 86 CHAPTER III. THE EVIDENCE OE MAPS. The Brazilian Government devote a volume of their Second Memoire to " La Preuve carto- Bris. Sec. M6m., vol. Hi. graphique." This is supplementary to the sec- tion, with the same title, contained in the BHs. Prem. MSm., p. 404. Premier Memoire, and it contains a running criticism of Chapter X of the British Case entitled "Maps." Chapter VIII of the British Counter- Case dealt fully hoth with the general principles on which cartograpliy should be applied to questions of boundary, and with certain special arguments which the Brazilian Government have put for- ward. The note on cartography included in the volume of Notes attached to the British Counter- Case contained a complete detailed classification on scientific principles of the maps to which reference has been made on either side. It is necessary now to resume the argument of the chapters of the British Case and Counter- Case with special reference to the further state- ments made in vol. iii of the Second Memoire of Brazil. It will be the object of this chapter to proceed on sound principles, and to give, in reply to the somewhat diffuse comments of Brazil, a connected and loarical idea of the contentions which His Majesty's Government seek to enforce. Every point in "La Preuve cartographique " M^hich seems worthy of notice or argument will be dealt with, but it is impossible to follow the order in which comments appear in the Brazilian Case. The subject will be dealt with in three prin- cipal sections. In the first the general principles of the matter will be discussed ; in the second certain specific arguments advanced by Brazil will be met ; the third will contain a resume of the comments on those maps which the British Government have treated as relevant. Fundamental Diference in the Point of View. There is a fundamental difference in the view taken bv the British and Brazilian Governments 87 as to the importance of maps as evidence in an international case. Brazil appears to appeal to the whole cartography of Guiana without any reference to its authority, and without any real attempt to investigate critically the value of any of the maps. Great Britain, on the other hand, holds tliat the value of a map depends upon various circumstances which must be carefully determined ; that, of itself, a map is of no value as evidence at all ; and, therefore, that the accu- mulation of maps all showing the same line carries no weight whatever. The repetition of an erroneous fact upon a series of maps does not prove the fact any more than the repetition of errors by historians alters the actual truth when it is discovered. The lake of Parima was marked on maps of repute down to the middle of the 19th century, but this did not give the lake existeoce. The British Govern- ment maintain that each map, like each docu- ment, must be investigated carefully and verified by contemporary evidence. They have en- deavoured all through this inquiry to maintain a rigid standard of criticism in regard to every map which they have brought before the Arbitrator. Briii. Sec. Mi Guiana is to be brought into evidence, then the most modern and the best portion of it is in favour of His Majesty's Government, and cannot be ruled out by a fiction which has been proved groundless. The British Government do not rely on this consensus of modern cartographers in their favour ; but neither do they admit that Brazil may rely on the errors of the old carto- graphers. They claim that only certain maps deserve examination, and that these must each and all be examined as part of the evidence of the period to which they belong. 109 CHAPTER IV. LEGAL QUESTIONS INVOLVED. In the course of the negotiations which led up to the Treaty of Arbitration, reference was made to the principles of international law which might fall to be applied by the Arbitrator in this ease. It appears to His Majesty's Government that they are comparatively simple, and that they are for the most part connected with the question of occupation within the area to which the two Parties, under Article II of the Treaty, have agreed to limit the Arbitrator's consideration. These will be discussed in the first part of this chapter. The second part of the chapter will be devoted to certain questions which depend on legal con- siderations of a different character. Questions connected with Occupation. Though the framers of the Brazilian Case display a tendency at times to press the principle of mere discovery of a distant point, such as the mouth of the Amazon,* they may be considered * Brazil (Prem. Mem., pp. 26 aud 43, text and note ; Sec. Mem., p. 128) makes a strenuous and, at first sight, plausible attempt to represent the Portuguese as the first discoverers and explorers of the month of the River Amazon. Confronted with the undisputed fact that the Spaniard Orellana vpas the first to traverse the river to which he gave his name, the writer of the " Memoires " endeavours to discount its importance : (1) by alleging that Orellana himself, in 1544, stated that no one except Portuguese pilots had any acquaint- ance with the mouth of the x\.mazon; (2) by pointing to the Portuguese expedition to the Maranhao of Ayres da Cunha in 1535 and of Luiz de Mello da Silva in 1554. It is suflScient, in reply, to refer to the able and erudite works of the latest historian of Para, J. Lucio d'Azevedo, himself formerly resident in lie country, who has, in his " Estudos de Historia Paraeuse," published in 1892 (pp. 213, 215, 229, and 232) and his '' Os Jesuitas no Grao Para,' published in 1901 (pp. 21-26), dealt exhaustively with these very assertions, and shown by the evidence of contemporary documents that tlie Maranhao of the Portuguese was the River of Pai-a, and not the .Amazon, and that his countrymen had no acquaintance with the Amazon itself until the third 110 as resting mainly on an allegation of occupation. They give, however, to the conception of occupa- tion a very fanciful extension which cannot be supported in international law. Their position is well illustrated by the two following pas- sages : — " Le Bresil pretend qua d^faut d'une occupatiou Bris. Prem. M4m., p. 197. contraire, qui n'eut jamais lieu, le Portugal, inaitre de I'Amazone, avait un titre k la possession du Rio Negro ; maitre du Rio Negro, il avait un titre h, la possession du Rio Branco ; maitre du Rio Branco, il avait un titre k la possession de tous ses affluents." "Avec cet Expose, le Bresil presente de nombreux Tbid., p. 145. documents etablissant la possession exclusive du Rio Branco et de tout son bassin par les Portugais. Les ordres mentionnes ci-dessus relativement au Rio Negro avaient presque tous pour objet d'empScher I'entree des autres nations par le Rio Branco." The above passages amount to a contention that the occupation of the main course of a large river must be taken to include all the tributaries on each side of that river however large they may be, and however distant from the scene of actual occupation. No such claim can be admitted in international law. It cannot be allowed that the occupation of the main stream of a river of the size of the Rio Negro carried with it ipso facto the constructive occupation of another large river of the size of the E/io Branco, even if that river were a vacant possession. The suggestion is, in fact, a sort of variation of that "watershed doctrine" which has been decade of the 17th century. These results of Azevedo's researches are set forth in the foUowing' passages from ' Os Jesuitas,' pp. 23, 24 : — ' The circumstance of the Captain [Orellana] asking for Portuguese pilots has been invoked to support the asseveration that already at that time our ancestors were accustomed to traverse the Mar Doce of Pinzon, or that Orellana likewise shared in the common error of confounding this river [Para] with the actual Maranhao. On the con- trary, the impression that one gathers from the documents relating to the voj^age is entirely opposed either to one or the other conclusion. * * » » " After this unfortunate attempt of Luis de Mello da Silva, who, in his last and ill-fated voyage 1555], had received information of the mouth of the Amazon from the companions of Orellana, never again had the Portuguese directed their efforts to this side, and ^^•hen later they returned [1615], jealous of their dominion, already the Dutch, the English, and the French had preceded them." Ill thoroughly examined in Chapter IX of the British Case.* It will be seen from that Chapter that the suggestion is in itself inadmissible ; but in any case, it could cot be applied in the present case for the Portuguese did not pass beyond the mouth of the Rio Negro until many years after the Dutch had begun to enjoy the user of the territory now in dispute. The Portuguese did not advance beyond the bar at the mouth of the Rio Negro until 1719, and they then at once found themselves in collision with the Dutch, who by way of the district now in dispute had spread their trade up to the Rio Negro itself. An occupation effected Brit. C, p. 23 by Portugal, through pioneer expeditions which (Fr., p. 2 ). ]^^^ ^^ fight their way with Indians under the influence of the Dutch, could certainly not be interpreted to carry with it a control of any territory beyond that ^vliich was actually domi- nated by the arms of the Portuguese at the moment. In brief, this variation of the watershed doctrine, which is suggested by Brazil, has no application to the history of this case, and is altogether opposed to the sound principles of international law. The question, then, comes back to one of actual occupation of the territory in dispute. It is proposed to consider under three heads the chief facts relevant to this question, with the object of showing how far certain acts constitute a good occupation under international law. (i.) The Eights derived from Private Traders. The very great part played by private traders Supra, p. 8. in the development of the Dutch Colony has been already noticed in this Argument : it is also illustrated by a special Note attached to this Argument, No. I. * The Brazilian Government propose (Sec. Mem., vol. i, p. 316) to discuss this doctrine in their final Memoire. It is submitted that they cannot produce any sound argument opp(jsed to the priaciples laid down by Great Britain. 'i'he arguments which it is attempted to set up in Brazil's Second Memoire, vol. i, pp. 56, 57, and 316, sqq., by applying the contention put forward by (xreat Britain in the Venezuelan Boundary Case, ignore the whole point of that contention. The circmnstances, discussed in the present case, to which Brazil attempts to apply that contention, differ in every material point from those which attended the occupation by ih3 Dutch of the Essequibo and the territory beyond its basin which is now in dispute. [19G] Q 112 It sliould be remembered that private trading Companies preceded the advent of the Dutch West India Company upon the coast of Guiana. The Dutch "West India Company was, in fact, in its inception, an amalgamation of the more powerful private Companies. When it com- menced operations under its Charter it still found a number of traders carrying on operations in the districts covered by its Charter. It could not prevent, and did not seek to prevent, other persons coming in afterwards on the same footing. This phenomenon is not peculiar to the history of ■Guiana. Private traders, technically called "interlopers," played a very great part in the development of the British East Indian Empire, and probably were as prominent under the Dutch East India Company, which was for so long the British Company's rival. The position of the private traders was that of subjects of the Dutch Government, enjoying a recognized right lo the benefits of Dutch citizen- ship, and obeying the general laws for the good government of the Colony. They were subjected to certain restrictions as to the places and districts where tliey might trade, in so far as the Dutch Company might see fit to enforce such restrictions. There was nothing clandestine about their trafiic ; the officers of the Dutch Company recognized it as a regular feature in the management of the Colony ; although they reserved the right to check it m particular districts if they chose, and to follow the private trader into the districts where he had preceded them, eventually absorb- ing the trade of those districts if they saw fit. This general view of the rights of the private Vide Note I to trader and the Company respectively is illus- '^ rgumen trated by several instances in the history which has been discussed in this case. It was accordingly open to private traders to acquire territorial rights either for the Dutch Company, if it chose to assume those rights, or for the Netherlands Government, through which the Company held its Charter, if tbat Government elected tovtake advantage of their operations. It is contended by His Majesty's Government that the continued presence of Dutch traders in any territory otherwise inhabited only by savage tribes raises a presumption that such territory was under the influence of the Dutch. Over and over again in the documents which have been considered in the history of this Case, II.;; the Director-General of the Dutch Company refers to the private traders. He constantly makes use of their knowledge in regard to the more distant portions of the Colony; he fre- quently discusses the policy of checking in one direction or another their operations or their profits ; he talks of closing to private traders one river or anotlier ; he is constantly defeated in such intention of closing the trade by the power of the private traders in the Court of Policy of the Colony. From the very beginning of the history these private traders are proved to be in, and making use of, the zone now in dispute. Portuguese Governors, from the earliest days of their acquaintance with the Hio Negro, testify to the vigour of the Dutch trade which mainly came from this territory. It is impossible in the face of such facts to suggest that the private trader is something with which the Dutch Company was not conce]'ned. His Majesty's Government maintain that, broadly speaking, the operations of the private traders enured to the benefit of the Company, and tliat in all that is relevant to this question it is impos- sible to separate the acts of the private traders from the acts of the servants of the Company itself. (ii.) The Inference deducible from Eegular Trade. In the present day, when tlie comity of nations usually permits the presence of foreigners of all kinds on the national territory for purposes of trade, no territorial inference can be drawn from the extent of such trade. In the 17th century, when the comity of nations was far less settled, when the general policy of each Government was extremely exclusive, the use by a number of persons of one nationality of any piece of terri- tory, otherwise inhabited only by savage tribes, might certainly raise a presumption of right over that territory, on the part of the nation to which tliese persons belonged. In the case of territory such as that which is now under consideration, the presence of a large volume of trade, carried on by a particular nation, pointed very clearly to the fact that the savage inhabitants of the territory were under the control of that nation. The fact, which has been proved in previous c'hapttTs, of the utilization of the district now [196] Q 2 114 in dispute by Dutch traders for Dutch trade pur- poses, implies the exclusion of any other Power from enjoyment of the same territory. It is certain that if the Portuguese had had any rights over the territory, the presence of Dutch traders would not have been permitted ; the fact of their continued presence is a very strong argument against the claim of Brazil that the district was ' Bris. Prem. Mim^pp. 354-5. Portuguese. It is sufficient here to notice, in passing, one particular section of the Second M^moire of Bris. Sec. M4m., vol. i, pp. 272-283. Brazil which purports to deal with this subject. It is an ingenious combination of erroneous history with imaginary situations which it seems scarcely necessary to answer in detail. It is hoped that the case of Great Britain has already been placed in such a light that any farther notice is unnecessary. In the present case, then, the constant user of the territory by the Dutch for trading purposes is an element of considerable importance in the creation of a sufficient occupation in interna- tional law. (iii.) The Control of Native Tribes. Prom trade, and the consequent influence over the natives, some sort of definite control by the central authority must naturally arise. Very early in the history of the Dutch in this district the necessity for some such control manifested itself. In 1750, when the Dutch Director- General first tliought of j)ushing the Post of Arinda up to the junction of the Eupununi he was thinking more of trade than of anything else. In 1761, only fourteen years later, when he gave his final orders for the removal of the Post, he was clearly con- cerned not only with trade, but with the general care of the natives, and extension of Dutch ride Note V to influence in the interior. *is Argument. The question arises how far the position of the Post at the mouth of the Hupununi enabled the Dutch to control efficiently the territory now in dispute. It is not essential, as the Portuguese themselves argued in 1775, that there should Br^s.Piem. Mem. have been any definite Post u])on the territory p^jlj' Reia95o,"'' which is claimed as occupied. The Portuguese PP' 35-37.) in that year claimed as against Spain the wliole course of the Rio Branco without ever having had a Post upon the river. AVith much more 115 reason could the Dutch claim that tliey held the territory now in question by means of Post Arinda. The first jaosition of Arinda at the mouth of the Siparuni commanded both the overland route to the savannah and the water- way of the Essequibo. The second position of Post Arinda was only 67 miles as the crow flies from Pirara, which may be taken as the practical centre of the territory. The distance by river, which is perhaps the practical distance, is about 120 miles, and is usually covered in five or six days. It was from this second position of Post Arinda that the Dutch for something like thirty years, namely, from 1765 to 1796, did actually control and administer this zone, as their records show. The presence of a fixed Post upon the territory itself was rendered unnecessary because the Dutch had acquired a complete hold over the tribes inhabiting the territory. It is abundantly clear that, as a result of their trade, the Dutch gradually formed a very close alliance with those Indian tribes who occupied the territory in dispute and the region imme- diately to the west of it, namely, the Caribs, Brit. C, pp. 37-42 Macusis, and Atorais. The fact is admitted over { r., pp. - ). ^^^ ^^^^ again from Portuguese sources. As soon as the Portuguese, in 1775, came into the neighbourhood of the territory'-, they became conscious of the power which the Dutch had obtained over the natives. The general policy of the Dutch seems to have been to make special friends of certain tribes and natives within their terri- tory, and by means of those natives to obtain the products which they desired either from their own territory or beyond it. How the Caribs, or the Macusis, or the Atorais got their slaves, which formed an important matter of com- merce, the Dutch were perhaps not particular to in quire. There was, however, one matter in which, their policy was clear. Those Indians with whom they had relations were absolutely free. They were the allies of the Dutch. The nations wdiich. occupied the territory now in dispute fell within this category. The Dutch drew no slaves from those particular tribes, but the friendly Indians in that territory brought Macusis, Wapisianas and other slaves from the territory to the westward. .e.g., Br^. Sec. MSm., vol. i pp. 175, 176 308. The point is important, because the Brazilian Mcmoires seem to find it impossible to realize 116 that there are and were Macusis who live beyond the disputed territory, west of the Cotinga. This fact explains some apparent inconsistencies. A colonizing European Power may make use of the natives of a country in two ways. It may either absorb them completely, and, with them, their territory, or it may treat them as allies, largely dependent upon the European nation in question, constituting, in so far as their territory is concerned, a barrier against any other European Power. It was precisely in this latter way that the Dutch utilised the tribes which inhabited the district now in dispute ; and, very much in the same way, the British, on succeeding the Dutch, utilised those tribes in the first instance. The I^ritisb were already beginning to incorporate these tribes when the Agreement of 18 1-2 intervened, and the obli- gations towards them, which had then commenced, were not, as Brazil would appear to suggest, Bris. Src. Mim.,vol. i,pp.Vl'^,2%°i. entirely annulled. It is submitted that on the facts as to occupation the territory is effectually and legally allocated to the Dutch and the British. The Portiiguese never traded in this territory, they never in any way attempted to control it, and they found the tribes which inhabited it almost invariably inaccessible or actively hostile. Though the orders of the Portuguese Court were Bris. Notes hist., p. 197. wise and kind, yet the whole history of the "descimentos '' of the Portuguese in the neigh- See Brit. O.C, bourhood of this territory indicates that the on"*descimentos.'' natives fled to this territory as to something beyond the control of the Portuguese where they were safe from attack. Where Brazil alleges the acquisition of influence over Macusis or Wapi- e.g., Br^s. Sec. M6m., vol. i, pp. 175-6, sianas or others, it must be remembered that these acts relate to Indians dwelling to the west of the zone, and have no direct bearing on the question before the Arbitrator. The general condition of the Indian subjects Ibid., p. 27, note, o08. of Brazil hardly seems material to the question at issue; nor yet the argument based on the Ibid., p. BOO. alleged use of the lingoa geral ; nor that derived from deserters as a colonizing influence. -^^'^•' P- ^10. It is hardly to the point to say much about another form of occupation to which the Brazilian JBris. Freon. M6m., pp. Til, 282. Case refers, viz., the introduction of cattle by Bris. Sec. M6m.,vol.i, pp. %^,21Q. 117 the Portuguese. The cattle farms which the Brazilian Case has mentioned as established in this district by Portugal were all situated to the west of the Rio Branco. In Schomburgk's time there were still no farms east of the Cotinga. Within a comparatively recent period, a certain number of Bi'azilian farms have been established on the east of the Rio Branco towards the Takutu. None of these constitutes any sort of title to the territory now in dispute. The fact that since 1890 a few Brazilian farmers have settled to the east of the Takutu has been sufficiently examined on pp. 83-55, supra. (II.) Other Legal, Questions arising. In addition to the considerations bearing upon occupation, which have been above discussed, there are certain other questions involving a reference to legal principle to which it seems desirable to call the attention of His Majesty the Arbitrator. (i.) The Rights of the Dutch under their Charters. Br^s. Frem. MSm., pp. 334, sqq., -636, 7iotc. The Brazilian Case suggests that the Dutch Br^s. Mtes hist., p. 77, p. 163-167. of the two parties in a more favourable position than the other. That is true : but it did not impede the natural internal development of the life of the zone. That life was altogether in- 1-3 flueaced by the past, and it becomes an index in discussing the present. There was nothing in this Ai>-reement to inter- fere with the right of the Arbitrator in this Case to take into his consideration the subsequent liis- tory of the district as throwing light on the question of title. Now, Great Britain argues that as regards this particular piece of territory the natives, as admitted by the Portuguese, had formed a very distinct alliance with the Dutch, placing themselves under Dutch protection; that when the British took over the Colony, these natives came voluntarily and placed their district under British protection, in the same way as it had been under the protection of the Dutch ; that this state of tilings continued up to the date of the Agreement of 1S42, despite the temporary interruption intro- duced by the interference of Brazil ; and that after 1S4!2 they had a full right to continue that allegiance to Great Britain if they chose. The Agreement of 1842 was, in fact, a self-denying ordinance on the part of Great Britain. It gave to those natives who hitherto had only looked to Great Britain an opportunity, if they desired it, to invite Brazilians into their territory and to place themselves under Brazilian iafluence. Yet the Avhole history of the district from 1842 up to 1890, or for a period of fifty years, disj)lays the following facts : — (a.) A preference of the natives for the British — a preference which they Avere free to exercise ; (6.) The presence of British traders and settlers, and British only, in the zone ; (c.) The occasional exercise by the British Government of such jurisdiction as was necessary between the natiAes and British settlers. The details of these iacts will be found on pp. 89-90 and 91-92 of the British Case ; and on p. 99 will be found the story of occurrences which Avere the natural result of this fifty years of British influence, shoAvinp;- that the traders Avithin the territory protected themselves from Brazilian aggression, and the Brazilians respected in practice the view upon which the British traders insisted. The Brazilians, on the other hand, till Avithin the last few years, have made no sort of settle- ment within the zone, and have never exercised 124 any jurisdiction within it : indeed, the recent arrivals from Brazil appear to have relied on the comparatively frequent jurisdiction which has been exercised by British officials since 1892. It is submitted that the Agreement in 1842 did not and could not arrest the natiu'al develop- ment of the zone from the British side, and that this development, of British origin, has been gradually procefeding, until it has greatly strengthened the British title to the whole of the zone. It is further submitted that this state of facts compels attention to the wishes of those natives who have lived for so many years under the regime created by the Agreement. The sugges- tions made in the Brazilian Memoires do not BrSs. Sec. MSm., vol. i, pp. 289, 292, (&c^ sufficiently recognize this. In Chapter VII of the British Case the views of the Indians who inhabit that zone at present are set out at length. There can be no question on whose side their wishes are arrayed. They desire the protection and rule of Great Britain, and they dread that of Brazil. Eor them the practical line of boundary has for many years been the line of the Cotinga and Takutu. l'J5 CHAPTER V. QUESTIONS OF PREJUDICE RAISED IN THE BRAZILIAN MBMOIRES. It is perhaps desirable to take notice of various passages in the M^moires put in by Brazil, in which the argument is directed to certain episodes in such a way as to leave a wrong impression on the mind of the reader. These episodes have chiefly to do with the period of negotiations. The question before the Arbitrator is to be considered in the light of the evidence actually placed before him on each side, and not upon the opinion expressed, perhaps quite casually, by some agent of either party in the course of some preliminary discussion. Any statements made by Schomburgk, on which Brazil relies, have been already dealt with in detail. But Great Britain does not admit the propriety of being called upon to defend the doubting or hesitating statements made by Mr. Br^s. Sec. JA'm., vol. i, p. 14. Youd or Mr. Crichton ; or the obvious errors Ibid., p. 68. made even by her own Minister at Rio. These Ibid., p. 74. cannot weigh with the Arbitrator, now that he Ibid., p. 80. j^g^g before him all those facts on Avhich a final decision will be based. The way in which the Go^"erament of Brazil seek to utilize certain incidental expressions of opinion is best illustrated in the treatment accorded in the Second 3Iemoire of Brazil to the proposals made by Great Britain in the course of the negotiations as to a settlement, particularly of those between Lord Aberdeen and Senlior Araujo Ribeiro. The story of the negotiations from their beginning has been laid before His ^lajestT the Arbitrator in Chapter YIII of the British Case. It is a story which has some interest in the discussion of this question, as shoA\'ing the efforts made by the two Governments to arrive at a solution of the question by direct negotiation; 126 but the discussions or admissions which then took place should have no weight at the present time, when the matter is being considered on a basis of strict right. In theory, there is no difference between the Government of Great Britain and that of Brazil upon this point. Both Governments have admitted that nothing which took place in the course of negotiations has really any effect upon legal rights. Nevertheless, the Second Memoire of Brazil Bris. Sec. M4m., vol. i, pp. 123-140. selects for consideration and argument the whole of the negotiations between Lord Aberdeen and. Senhor Araujo de Ribeiro in 1843 with a view to insisting that at this time Great Britain did not venture to claim the Schomburs'k line. It is first necessary to observe that no record has been left by Lord Aberdeen as to his inter- view with the Brazilian Plenipotentiary. The long despatch which is cited at p. 125 et seq. of vol. i of the Second Memoire no doubt repre- sented what that Plenipotentiary understood to have been the effect of his interview with the British statesman. But there are some points in it which suggest on the face of them that there was misunderstanding, and in the absence of any confirmatory Memorandum by Lord Aberdeen, the account of the interview should be treated as non-existent. Lord Aberdeen has left on record a brief written note in which he states his pro- Brit. C, Ann. I, posal to the Brazilian Minister. It is impossible P^"^*^^ "> P- 12. to go behind this note. The Brazilian Government have constantly asserted that Lord ikberdeen had accepted the Rupununi as the boundary of British Guiana. Seizing upon a reference in the documents presented in the Venezuelan Case, the Brazilian Hid., p. 135. Second Memoire suggested that, if a particular letter from the Colonial Ofiice to the Poreign Office could be produced, that would settle the matter. The Arbitrator, in the discharge of his high duty, has seen fit to call for that letter, and has it before him. It gives an absolute denial to the suggestion made by Brazil. It clearly explains Lord Aberdeen's note. It shows that Lord Aber- deen's words on this point mean precisely what they say ; namely, that instead of the line along the presumed watershed proposed by Senhor Bibeiro, he suggested a line taken along the Mahu and the Takutu up to the second degree of north latitude. Lord Aberdeen's readiness to Ibid., p. 135. 127 abandon the upper part of the Essequibo at this period is not now in point ; the right of Great Britain to that part of British Guiana has been settled. But His Majesty's Government repeat, as they stated before, that it is an extraordinary error that the Brazilian Government should at any time have suggested that Lord Aberdeen was prepared to accept the line of the Eupununi. This error, which is repeated on several occa- sions, appears to have first occurred in the report of the Foreign Section of the Brazilian Council of State appointed to examine the question of Br^s, Sec. Mem., the boundary in 1853. If there is no error in Ann. II, p. 30. tj^^ Prench translation of that report, it is clear that in some way the Council committed the mistake of fastening upon Lord Aberdeen a pro- posal which he never contemplated. It may be admitted that the language held by Lord Aberdeen M'ith regard to the protection of the Indians was by no means clear. That, however, was a matter which does not now aflFect the question before the Arbitrator. It :Br6s.Sec.M^.,voli,p.l35. ^^^^ ^^^ justify the Brazilian Government in inserting within inverted commas in their text a quite unjustifiable paraphrase of Lord Aberdeen's despatch, intended to support their argument. So much for this oft-repeated error. There is another point now to be mentioned which is more serious. The whole intention of the Brazilian narrative Jbid.,p. 138, is to endeavour to show that Lord Aberdeen, in these negotiations, adopted, on behalf of the British Government, the line which seemed to him to be the most extreme line that Great Britain could possibly claim, so that the British Government are thereby prevented from support- ing any other line at the present time. More than once it is suggested that the British Government, coming into negotiation, at once put forward the maximum of their claim. It should be sufficient to urge, in reply, that when two parties enter into negotiation for a mutual settlement of a dispute, without recourse either to arms or to arbitration, it is not unusual for both to endeavour to arrive at a settlement bv makinff some concession on one side or the other. The whole story of the diplomatic negotiations in this matter is a story of concessions offered on the part of Great Britain. From the first Great Britain has not pushed the extreme claim to [196] S 128 which, as successor to the Dutch, she was rightly entitled. The Schomhurgk line itself, as already shown, falls considerably short of this ; but on many occasions throughout the negotiations Great Britain has shown readiness to give up part of the Schomhurgk line in order to settle the whole matter without further delay. His Majesty's Government protest in the strongest terms against the insinuation that because they have on occasion, out of friendli- ness and international comity, indicated their readiness to accept a line that was less than their strict right, there should now be any Bris. Sec. Mim., vol. i, p. 139. attempt to penalize them by suggesting that the first line which a British Minister puts forward in negotiations must be taken as the maximum of that to which the British Government con- sidered themselves entitled. The Brazilian Government further appear to claim that an inference in their favour is to be drawn from the facts (1) that they were ready Ibid., p. 75. with a large quantity of " titles " directly their claim was challenged, and (2) that they were, in the first instance, the more anxious to enter upon Ibid., p. 123. negotiation . (1.) As regards the suggestion that Brazil was prepared with the defence of her rights, it is sufficient to point out that the " titles" put for- ward by Senhor Aureliano Coutinho were for the most part general considerations of a vague and unsatisfactory character, which, in the opinion of His Majesty's Government, Brazil has found it quite impossible to support either in the course of the negotiations which have been carried on in the past few years, or in the M^moires which have recently been presented to His Majesty the Arbitrator. (2.) The other suggestion is of so general a nature that it can carry no weight. Great Britain has never been reluctant to negotiate under circumstances which afforded any hope of a solution. ' The question, however, now arises for judicial decision, and must be determined according to the right of the parties. There is yet another matter to which the Brazilian Memoires call attention, which demands an explanation. 129 Bris. Sec. Mim., vol. i, pp. 154-155. In congratulating himself upon resisting the insertion of any map in the Treaty, the Plenipo- tentiary of Brazil points out that there are discrepancies in the latitude and longitude of several points as marked in the map framed for the Venezuelan Boundary Arhitration and the map drawn for this Case. The fact is quite irrelevant, but as it has been brouglit up, the explanation is as follows : — By some inadvertence, which cannot now be explained, the distinguished ofi&cer of Royal Engineers who superintended the execution of the map drawn for the British Case in the Venezuelan matter had before him only the original positions of Schomburgk, and not his corrected and final ones. When the map was prepared for the present Case, Major Hills, C.M.G., who now presides over the Cartographical Department, observing certain discrepancies, had all the main positions checked, and restored the drawing of the map according to Schomburgk's latest geographical positions. As soon as the discrepancies were discovered, each of the leading positions was specially and separately checked on the spot by Colonial surveyors, with the result that in every case Schomburgk's final positions were shown to be within a very small fraction accurate. The result, indeed, was a remarkable testimony to the soundness of Schomburgk's work. While the mistake as to the earUer map is regretted by His Majesty's Government, it has enabled them with the more confidence to put forward the present map, with maps of Schom- burgk's survey, as an accurate and scientific pre- sentation of that part of the Colony of British Guiana which it covers, and of the territory in dispute. In conclusion, Great Britain desires once more most respectfully to insist that this case must be determined in accordance with the evidence before the Arbitrator, and with that alone. Great Britain has put forward her case on strict historical lines, supported in every point by all the relevant original evidence which she has been able to produce. Brazil has similarly had the opportunity of putting forward her case, but has not so sifted her original evidence. '[196] S 2 130 His Britannic Majesty's Government claim that the decision in this matter should he guided by the original facts, which have now heen clearly stated ; and that it should not be affected by expressions of opinion emanating from any persons or bodies, however reputable, or by any other matter which may have been sug- gested in prejudice of the claim of Great Britain. 131 CHAPTER VI. SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT. Bt4s. Prem. Mim., pp. 422-3. Bris. Sec. M6m., vol. i, pp. 265, 285, 322. Sr4s. Notes hist., pp. 250-1. It is not proposed to summarize and traverse specifically the various passages in the Brazilian Memoires which recapitulate the different state- ments alleged to be proved. These contain not a single arguable proposition which has not been refuted in the course of the British Oases or Argument. The object of the present chapter is to put quite briefly, and in a somewhat new form, the position which Great Britain takes up before His Majesty the King of Italy as Arbitrator. The onus lies on Brazil. Great Britain takes issue with Brazil on two principal questions. Eirst, Great Britain claims that she inherited from the Dutch an historical title to the terri- tory in dispute, dating from before the close of the 17th century. She claims that, within a very few years of her possession of the present Oolony of British Guiana, she became fully aware of the extent of the Dutch claim to the territory in dispute, and enforced her right to it by oflB.cial action of the most formal and public nature. Secondly, Great Britain claims that she had from the first possession of that territory, and that her possession was never interrupted prior to 1838 : that she was, in fact, in actual possession of the territory in 1838 when the Brazilian troops from Eort Sao Joaquim drove Mr. Youd from the territory ; so that, when she again occupied Pirara by a detachment of British troops, she was merely reasserting a possession which had continued for nearly two centuries. Great Britain consequently maintains that the onus of proving a title to this specific piece of tei^ritory lies on Brazil. The subject of The question to be discussed is not now as to a si^ific zone.' the right of the Dutch to the Rio Branco, or even 132 to a boundary identical with the line which is indicated on the map which faces p. 90 in the British Counter-Case. If any such claim had been put forward by Great Britain at the present time, there might have been some relevance in a large proportion of the suggestions and argu- ments put forward in the Brazilian Memoires. With the territorv limited, as it is limited in the Treaty of Arbitration, Great Britain holds that a very large proportion of the Brazilian pleadings are quite irrelevant. It has been of the essence of the British case to keep the attention of His Majesty the Arbitrator fixed on this limited zone ; and great pains have been taken to confine the Argument to an indication of the facts which bear upon that particular zone. The first part of the foregoing Argument has, Histoid of the ,« , 1 1 , ,. I! J.1 -r-> •!• 1 • Brazilian Case m eftect, been destructive ot the Brazilian claim, q^j^g .(yjong. It has aimed at showing that not only did the Dutch in the 17th and l&th centuries occupy this zone to the exclusion of any other Power, but that the Portuguese, by the evidence of their own documents, made no approach to this par- ticular territory till a comparatively late period in the 18th century. The claim of Brazil that Portugal had any earlier dealings with the terri- tory in the neighbourhood of this zone is based upon stories concocted by a strenuous advocate of Portuguese claims, which are refuted by every reference which can be culled from contemporary documents. Indeed, in every instance through- out this Case, where, as occasion arose, correct historical investigation has been applied to the views adopted by Brazil, those views have been shown to be erroneous. The British Government contend that the real The real point^of questions of history which it is requisite to deter- ^ ^ mine in this matter are as follows : — 1. How far had the Portuguese, when in 1775 they arrived at the point where they erected Eort S5o Joaquim, any right to make themselves masters of the territory now in dispute ? 2. How far had they any intention of doing anything of the sort ? 3. How far did any such intention, if it existed, succeed ? It is maintained by His Majesty's Government that, through the operations of Dutch traders 133 whether official or private, and hy consent of the natives who inhabited this piece of territory, the Dutch had before 1775 acquired a right in this district which had ripened into a sufficiently effective possession, and which it would have required forcible dispossession to defeat. His Majesty's Government have further shown that the Government of Portugal never mani- fested any intention of making themselves masters of this district ; and that any aspirations towards this piece of territory on the part of the Portuguese local authorities were tentative and hesitating. His Majesty's Government have, hy a careful analysis of all the Portuguese despatches dealing with their occupation at Port Sao Joaquim, and their attempts to make Settlements on the Rio Branco, proved that the Portuguese never really made any attempt to take natives out of this disputed territory; and that the whole of their effort to draw natives from any points east and north of Port Sao Joaquim absolutely failed. The British Government argue that the few occasions on which the presence of any Portu- guese Tvithin the zone now claimed bv Brazil can be traced could have no effect in giving Portugal or Brazil a right to any portion of the territory, even if that territory had been vacant, which it was not. Continuity of The last act of the Dutch in or near this Dutch and British , o t, i t title. territory was the arrest or Portuguese soldiers who had trespassed upon it, and the first action of the British was to assume those rights of control which they had inherited from the Dutch : this was done with the full concurrence of the natives who inhabited the zone ; and these were the same as those who, by Portuguese admission, had been previously under the influence of the Dutch, and beyond the influence of the Portu- guese. Nothing occurred in the period which followed 1811 to derogate from the rights which Great Britain had so acquired. No casual trespasses on the part of Portugal or Brazil — no attempt to drag natives from their homes in the zone — can have any effect in defeating the British title. As soon as the missionary Armstrong for the first time heard that any acts of the sort might have taken place, he formally protested to the 131 authorities of Port Sao Joaquim, and threatened them with the displeasure of the British Govern- ment. It is urged that when in the year 1842, the Great Britain n ancient possession of Great Britain was assailed, Pg^l®^^'*"* "^ the British Government triumphantly asserted its rights ; and that Great Britain as a consequence comes hefore the Arbitrator in the position of the rightful possessor of this territory, which has been unjustly claimed by Brazil. The Brazilian Government have attempted to take up the position that the British Case origin- ated with Schomburgk. It is shown by the foregoing Argument that this position is entirely imaginative, and without foundation. When Schomburgk went as an explorer to this territory, it had been, and still was, in possession of the British. When ultimately Schomburgk made a definite suggestion as to the boundary, he was proposing a line which included considerably less territory than the Dutch Government might in their time have fairly claimed. Finally, it is submitted to the Arbitrator that Modem history the history of the territory since 1842 is very of the zone, material in this case. The Indians living in the zone had for many years been accustomed to the control of the British, as their ancestors had been to that of the Dutch. When under the Agree- ment of 1842 their territory was left in their hands without the intervention of either of the contiguous Powers, they naturally turned towards Great Britain. They distinctly exercised their rio-ht to place themselves under British protec- tion. They continued to have all their dealings with the British Colony. Many of them had come into the zone for the very purpose of escaping from the influence of Brazil. Further, till within the last ten years, no persons save British subjects had settled anywhere within the zone. The Brazilian subjects who have lately come there are to be found just along the verge of the lower Cotinga and the Takutu. It may be stated broadly, that except on that extreme edge of the zone, scarcely any, but Dutchmen and Englishmen, have ever entered the zone. All the northern and eastern parts of the zone may be described as absolutely unknown to Portuguese and Brazilians alike. ISl The line of the Cotinga and Takutu has for fifty years and more been a substantial boundary, marking a definite line of demarcation between the two neighbouring Powers. It is this line of the Cotinga and Takutu which is claimed by Great Britain to-day. [196] APPENDIX SPECIAL NOTES 135 The line of the Cotinga and Takutu has for fifty years and more been a substantial boundary, marking a definite line of demarcation between the two neighbouring Powers. It is this line of the Cotinga and Takutu wbich is claimed by Oreat Britain to-day. [196] APPENDIX. SPECIAL NOTES 139 APPENDIX. SPECIAL NOTES. THE following special Notes have been pre- pared to illustrate certain points which either required more treatment than could have been given in the course of the Argument without breaking its general continuity, or were not of essential importance to the Argument. The Notes are on — I. — Private Trade in the Essequibo Colony. II. — The Eable oE Manoel da Sylva Eosa. III. — The Depositions taken at Sampaio's Inquiry. IV. — Certain Evidence from the Writings of Alexandre Kodriguez Eerreira. V. — Post Arinda. VI. — Official Suggestions as to a Boundary made on either side. [196] U 140 NOTE I. PHIVATE TRADE IN THE ESSEQUIBO COLONY. OVER and over again the M^moires of Brazil speak of the early Dutch trade in the interior as a pure fiction. In the volume entitled Notes historiques at p. 30 is a typical passage ; every word of it is incorrect, being absolutely contra- dicted by the very documents to which the Avriter appeals, i.e., the documents and corre- spoudence of the Dutch West India Company. This attempt to deny the existence of Dutch trade is specially directed against that of private traders as distinct from that of the Company. It is outside the purpose of the present Note to collect the evidence of the existence of this British trade from any but Dutch oflS.cial sources, and it is thought unnecessary to carry the inves- tigations down to a later period than about 1750, as by this date the existence oP such trade is so notorious that it scarcely needs proof. The following passages relating to private trade down to the middle of the eighteenth century are drawn from the Appendix to the present British Case and from that presented in the arbitration with Venezuela, from Professor Burr's collection of Hague extracts, and from G-eneral Ts etscher's History of the Dutch Colonies. Since the presentation of the Counter-Case a new series of documents has been discovered in the Rijks Archief at The Hague, ranging from 1675 to 1687, which throw much additional light upon the great trade carried on around that period both by private individuals and by the West India Company on the upper portions of the Colony's rivers. Copies of these documents can be submitted to His Majesty the Arbitrator, if their production be deemed desirable. It wiU be interesting, in the first place, to print the following extracts from the official records of the Dutch West India Company, dated the 22nd November, 1628 :— 141 " Liberties and exemptions accorded and granted l)y the Chartered West India Company to private indi- vidimls who on the Wild Coast of Brazil or the Islands lying there and therealiouts shall plant any colonies. * * * * 18. " And as regards private persons who for themselves or others, who in the service of their masters here at home shall go to live there as free people, they are allowed to choose and occupy, upon approval of the Director and Council there, as much land as they shall be able conveniently to work, and to retain it in full possession for themselves or their masters on con- dition of paying seignorial dues of 10 stivers per acre. 19. " They shall also have the right to catch all game and to fish in the district of their dwelling-place, subject to the orders of the Director and Council. 20. " Whosoever, be it colonists of the patrons for their patrons, or free people for themselves, or other private persons for their masters, finds a suitable locality for making salt-pans, is at liberty to occupy the same and to work it in full ownership to the exclusion of all others. 21. " And if any one of these Colonists by his exertions and appHcation should come to discover any minerals, precious stones, crystals, marble, or anything of that sort, or any pearl fisheries, these shall remain the pro- perty of the patron or patrons of that Colony, on condition that the finder there be assigned a premium &c " (Ven. Arb.) Brit. App. I, pp. 65-69. The above extract proves that the "West India Company from the first not only permitted, but encouraged, private individuals, under certain conditions and restrictions, to settle and trade in their Colonies upon the Coast of Guiana. But though the status of the private trader ■was thus officially recognized and regulated as early as 1628, it must be constantly borne in mind that no record of private trading operations is to be looked for in the Archives of the Com- pany except in cases where tlie official regulations affecting private trade were contravened or changed, or where the actions of individuals in some way bore upon the interests of the Company. Such are the incidental notices in the subjoined extracts. [196] U 2 U2 " The Commissioners are of opinion that the River 1645. of Essequibo has now for some time been navigated with small profit to the Company, for the reason that private Colonists are permitted to trade there as well as the Company, so that the goods coming from there cannot fetch their proper price on account of competi- tion ; they are, moreover, of opinion that at the expira- tion of the Charter, either the trade there ought to be reserved exclusively for the Company, or it were better that the aforesaid place should be thrown open under payment of proper dues." (Ven. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 131. "The Company reserves for itself only the trade and 1656. the gathering of the aunatto, which nobody shall be at liberty to trade in, gather, or transport, on penalty of his life and of the confiscation of all his goods." (Ven. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 139. . Annatto dye (which the Company reserves 16.17 exclusively for itself) no one shall be allowed to trade in, gather, or transport, on penalty of his Hfe and confiscation of all his goods." (Ven. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 143. "- . . . in the commerce of dye [annatto], letter- 1678, wood and vanilla, hammocks ami otherwise to take good care that no one trade on his own account. (From the instructions given to Commandeur Abraham Beekraaii, 1st September, 1678.)" Xctscher, " Geschiedenis van Essequebo," &c., Aanteekeningen en Archief-Stukken, p. 372. ". ... iDasmuch as we have received reliable Dec. 30. 167S. information that on the Orinoco a good trade could be established with the Spaniards, we shall by the next letter expect a list, or petition of the goods and mer- chandize required therefor ; how and in what manner the aforesaid trade is carried on there, whether by the Governor, by private inhabitants, or perhaps by the natives of the country .... (Ven. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 181. "From your preceding letters we had expected a 1(18'1 rather lai'ge consignment of sugar. You must see to it in future that private persons no longer get ahead of us — aye, even make twice as much as does the Company. * * * * "As for the annatto trade, you must not approach tlic owners or Indians too eagerly, but somewhat indiffer- ently ; and take none but first quality, as the common kind fetches here only 3d to -ii/. per lb. Concerning the trade to Orinoco, we find it advisable that you slop it, and neither trade thither yourself nor permit others to trade thither, directly or indirectly, until further 113 orders ; since we are of opinion that the Company bears all the expenses and burdens, and that others help themselves to the profits." U.S. Com. Eeport, ii, pp. 165 and 168. 1685. " It is true that many hammocks are to be had, of which private planters, and others also, secretly avail themselves, against my explicit orders ; but, as a result, they occur so rarely that one can hardly obtain among the Indians one fit for one's own use, unless one get the cotton oneself and give out the making, and then it takes a year and more before it is done. Even old hammocks for negroes are scarcely to be found for the annatto trade, as the planters also gather these far and near for their slaves." U.S. Com. Report, ii, p. 172. 1685. " it was furthermore approved and agreed to throw open the rivers of Essequibo and Pomeroon to each and every one, who shall desire to navigate and trade thither, or to settle and dwell there, on condition that he pay to the West India Company the dues and commission receivable ; the West India Com- pany reserving to itself expressly the trade and exporta- tion in the aforesaid rivers of annatto dye and letter- wood, with prohibition to all others^ on penalty of confiscation of the annatto and letterwood exported by others beside the Company, to be applied to the profit of the Company."' (Yen. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 189. 1687. "Whereas this river is beginning to be frequented by many inhabitants, some of these are continually roving [swieren] among the Caribs, buy up everything, and supply them abundantly with barter wares, and whenever they [the Caribs] are angry with their women or girls, then they sell the same to the free planters, and subsequently proceed to buy for slaves others, of their friends that are free folk, so that they are at variance with one another, saying that the Indians in Surinam have also been thus treated : and seeing that this has here twice happened, I have, therefore, on their complaint, caused the said female slaves to be restored to them, and have, by the afiixing of bills, a copy whereof is inclosed, forbidden such dan- gerous traffic, which may place our lives in the utter- most danger." Netscher, " Geschiedenis van Essequebo," &c., Aanteekeningen en Archief-Stukken, pp. 376-7. 1690. « To trade in the Maraan balsam exclusively for the Company, and to permit no others to do this." Netscher, " Geschiedenis van Essequebo," &c.. Aanteekeningen en Archief-Stukken, p. 373. 1693. 1699. 1-11 "No slight advantage, moreover, has through yon been brought the Company by your having started up in Cuyuni a trade in horses You are therefore most urgently recommended and instructed to retain the trade for the Company alone. We give you, how- ever, permission to dispose of them to the private planters for a considerable profit." (Yen. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 212. October 6. — " To-day the Proclamation concerning the prohibition of purchasing annatto dye, slaves, boats, bread, &c., framed in the last meeting, was published and posted." (Yen. Arb.) Brit. C. C, App., p. 58. " Coneeming the trade in horses and red slaves, we 1703. have ere this frequently sent you our orders, to which we refer, and as yet continue to insist that the aforesaid trade must be most strictly prohibited, especially that of red slaves, and for the reasons which you have very well remarked." (Yen. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 225. " the Company will take due care that the 1704. Governor of Surinam obtains no trade in annatto in the district situated under our Charter, and, therefore, you will do well to prevent it, as you have done up to this time, and to take, moreover, such measures that private planters in Rio Essequibo may still less undertake this trade." (Yen. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 227. " I can assure your Honours it frequently happens in 1706. descending the river Cuyuni that the horses of private individuals die as well as those of the Noble Company." (Yen. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 229. " The prohibition concerning the purchase of red 1713. slaves, annatto dye, and balsam copaiba, issued by me on the 24th July of last year, shall still continue to hold good and to be executed until I receive orders to the contrary " (Yen. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 236. '• as to the balsam oil that, together with the 1713. purchase of red Indian slaves, was prohibited by me to the inhabitants of this Colony, in pursuance of orders from the Zeeland Chamber, so lately as the 24th July of last year." (Yen Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 237. lJi5 1714. " We leave it still most ui'gently recommeuded ta you that you strictly maiDtain the prohibition of trade in red slaves, annatto dye, and balsam copaiba, since the Company desires, as heretofore, to keep that trade exclusively for itself." (Von. Arb.) Brit. App. I, p. 24."). l^l'^- "In answer to the Petition presented by the inhabi- tants of the I'olony of Esseqnibo avc have decided to permit the said inhabitants of Essequibo, provisionally and until our further orders, to barter for copaiba alone, but not for annatto dye, since we desire to preserve the latter trade for the Company itself." (Yen. Arb.) Bvit. App. I, p. 248. l'^--- '■ Widow La Tombe received in barter &vv red slaves wliich came from up the River Essequibo from the Portu.a;uese." (Braz.) Brit. App. I, p. 19. 'to"^ 1730. " It having been found that divers inhabitants allow trade to be carried on in the rivers of Massaruui and CuyiTiii through the medium of their slaves or free Indians everyo?ae is hereby expressly forbidden to carry on any trade in them."' (Ten. Arb.) Brit. App. II, p. 10. 1731. " Concernui g the advantag es of the trade in the rivers of JMassaruni and Cuyuni for the Honourable Company alone, this consists only in red slaves, and the order has been renewed because the veto was one kept tip by all former Commandeurs." (Yen. Arb.) Brit. App. II. p. 14. 1733. " I pray and beseech your Lordship to be pleased to exhort the Governor of the Dutch of Essequibo tliat his subjects may. under no condition or pretext what- ever, give or sell arms or ammunition to tlie Indians to be used against the Spaniards." (Yen. Arb.) Brit. C. C. App., p. 170. 1 742. " Heard from the reports of several itinerant traders of this Colony who are wont to trade up in the River Essequibo that the Creoles who went up with Iloi-stman murdered the latter." (Braz.) Brit. App. I, p. 45. 174(i. " Finet arrives from up the Cuyuni with information concerning Spanish Mission.'" (Yen. Arb.) Brit. App. II, p. 4.3. 174G. •' Jan Stok. ha^'ingretui'ned home from his wander- ings in the Upper Essequibo, has reported to me that he had heard from several Indians that Nicholas Horst- niau was on his way to return hither."* (Braz.) Brit. App. I, p. 47. * In this passage the word '' Cuyiiui " was written for " Upper Essequibo" by a slip iu tlie Bi-itisli Appendices to botli Yene- ziiola and Brazil Cases ; the correct vei-sion is given above. IIG "Two of our itinerant traders, named HermauuB 1747. Bannink and Gerrit Goritz, have been murdered in the Upper Essequibo by the Indians " (Braz.) Brit. App. I, p. 48. "In consequence of the ill-behaviour of the traders in 1748. the Upper Essequibo, that river was closed." (Braz.) Brit. App. I, p. 48. " Finet brings further report from the Upper Guyuni 1748. respecting Spanish Mission." (Ven. Arb.) Brit. App. II, p. 58. "Ignace Courthial constructs a road at his own 1748. charges for 130 or 140 leagues through the forests of the Cuyuni." (Ven. Arb.) Brit. App. II, p. 60. "Jacobus Maximilian, a free colonist, brings informa- 1750. tion concerning runaways on an island eight days' navigation up the Essequibo from the Fort. A Creole of the colonist, Andries Pieterse, was sailing at the same place, near the Siparuni." (Ven. Arb.) Brit. App. II., p. 69. "Persik [a free colonist] further informed me that 1751. m the month of January the Carib nation made a raid upon three Spanish Missions and murdered four or five priests." (Ven. Arb.) Brit. App. II, p. 70. "The Maganout nation are disturbing and dri^^ng 1751. away the other nations very far above Essequibo .... They had killed a certain trader named Pieter Lous, further confirmation of which is still required." (Braz.) Brit. App. I, p. 53. "J. L. Marcand, Poivet and Watje, three of our 1753. inhabitants, having gone to Upper Essequibo with intention to try to establish some trade with the Portuguese along the Amazon, have been killed by the Mapissanoes." (Braz.) Brit. App. I, p. 61. The above series of extracts points to a very large private trade, which clearly oa occasion not only surpassed, but actually swamped that of the Company itself. It will be remembered that even for the Company itself the records are merely fragmentary, and that the private traders for the most part carent vate sacro. 147 NOTE II THE FABLE OE MANOEL DA SYLVA EOSA. IN the Second M^moire of Brazil — ^vol. ii {Notes historiques) — several references are made to the story of tlie discovery of Horstman's route by a Portuguese named Manoel da Sylva B,osa. The principal passage on the subject occurs in vol. ii, § 53, pp. 64-66, where a serious argument is based upon two fragments of a passage from Hartsinck's Beschryvmg van Guiana [Amsterdam, 1770], pp. 266-267. This quotation, if completed, contains a statement which turns out to be fatal to the acceptance of Hartsinck's story. The passages in which Hartsinck mentions Horstman's journey are two in number. On p. 202 he writes : — " At 1 degree from the Equator it (the Parima) receives the River Tacutu which comes from the east, and by which one can get into the River Essequibo, as we shall subsequently relate to have been discovered by a bold Dutch traveller in the year 1740, whilst in search of Lake Parima." On pp. 266-267 he has the following further and inconsistent account : — '' By the aforesaid lakes and rivers we can make our way from our Colony through the interior to the Eiver Amazon. This was proved by one Manuel da Sylva Rosa, who died some years ago in Essequibo ; he was private secretary' to the Viceroy of Brazil, and had the mis- fortune to kill someone in a duel ; he fled, and after having wandered from the Amazon across country for fully half a day, he arrived, with some of his slaves, at a rivei', where he felled a large tree, and made a canoe of it, in which he and his people, without setting foot on land, came along the Maho into the River Riponouuy and thence into the Essequibo as far as our possessions. " In like manner, Nicolas Hortsman,^ a native of Hildesheim, and a surgeon, was, in the year 1740, sent by Commandeur Storm van s' Gravesande with four free Creoles to explore the interior. He reached the possessions of the Portuguese in Para, where he settletl, and sold to the Portuguese the wares and gniides that had been given to him ; but the four Creoles afterwards 1 So spelt by Hartsinck. [196] X 148 escaped from slavery, and made their way back to Essequibo, where they related that in the description of the journey given by Hortsman to M. de la Condamine he had served up to that learned man many falsehoods concerning his journey, but that he had proceeded iip the same way that Manoel da Sylva Eosa had come down, and that he had probably been informed of that way by the said Portuguese." Now, it will first he noticed tliat Hartsinck is inconsistent. In the first passage he distinctly speaks oC Horstman as discoverer ; in the second Le fills in a number of details, which, if correct, Avould contradict the previous statement. One of the passages must be Avrong. In this second passage there is a reference to a definite historical personage, Manoel da Sylva Rosa, who A¥as Secretary to the Viceroy of Brazil from 1722-1727. Very full details, covering the entire life of this man, are to be found in a Petition^ ^ji'i^g in the National Library of Lisbon, including certificates of his birth, death, and burial, the patents of the various offices he filled, and sworn affidavits recounting his services. Prom these irrefutable proofs it is certain that this Manoel da Sylva Rosa never was a fugitive, and never visited the Essequibo. lie died and was buried in Bahia. Thus Hartsinck stands convicted of serious, though evidently honest, blundering. His statement looks as if it were based on some real substi'atum of fact, and that the mistake must be due to some confusion of names, persons, and events. It can be shown that a comparatively simple explanation of Hartsinck's story presents itself. Hartsinck himself enumerates in the preface to the Beschryv'mg van Guiana the sources from which he derived his information concerning the different Colonies ; and though he lays stress as a rule on his recourse to original Reports, Memoirs, and notes of officials, daily registers, &c., he distinctly states that his knowledge of the ex- ploration of Essequibo Avas due to word-of-mouth information derived from a friend. Information so acquired is always liable upon reproduction to errors in detail, and to the mixing up and confusion of similar events separated by an interval of time. 1 Bibl. Xac. de Lisboa, Kequerimentos, 'So. 48, 1728. A copy of the document is in the hands of His Majesty'.anha, que sempre se conteve nos lemites do Orinoco, que nem aiuda todo conhecia no referido uuno de 1736, em que os Portu- guezes ]i navegavao o Pao Branco havia mais de 70 annos ; 2>ois que em 1744, /oi a jmnieira rrz que Castelhanos tiverdo noticia (la parte superior do Orinoco, chamado Paraud ; E assim muito menos a podiao ter dos Kios, que Ihe ficao em remoticima distancia. Mas nao somente descohrirdo, c senJioreavdo os Portugueses o mencionado Urari- Branco logo imidititamente o descobrimento do Eio Negro, de sorte que no ditto anno de mil e setecentos e vinte e cinco con- lieceo elle Testernunha ao dito Capitao jd em estado velho, e o mesmo Capitao Francisco Fer- reira contara a elle Testamunha muito miudamente as entradas que fizera aquelle Eio navegando e comerciando nao so pelo Tronco principal diamoAlo Uraricoera, mas tamhem pelo Bio TacutA, e por todos OS mais que dezagudo nelles, que sao varios, e desco- brindo us grandes Campinas qua rodedo estcs Bios; de sorte que descera o ditto Capitao imen- cidade de Gentio para as nossas Povoagoens do Eio Negro, prin- cipalmente para a ditta dc Ara- cary, que ainda hoje existem alguns dos dittos Indios decidos : Que tambem snbia elle teste- rnunha pelo ver, conhecer, e prezenciar a expcdicdo que ao mesmo Bio Bj-anco fez no anno de mil setecentos e trinta c seis Christovdo Ayres Botelho, natural do Maranlido e sobrinho delle Testernunha, em companhia do Principal Donari, subindo muito assima das caxoeiras do Eio Branco em resgate de Indios, que naquelle tempo era licito : Que no anno de mil setecentos e quarenta entrdra 7io mesmo Bio Branco huma, Bandeirco com- 7iuindada, por Francisco Xavicr de Andr&de sobrinho delle Teste- munha, no qual tempo se achava tambem elle Testernunha no Eio Negro entrando no corpo da escolta principal que governava Lourenro Bdforte ; e entiio con- heceo elle Testernunha que a mesma Bandeira commandada pelo dito seu sobrinho sobindo ao Eio Branco entrara pelo brdgo Uraricoera fazendo Arraydl em p)0uca distancia da Cachoeira do mesmo Uraricoera, e dcchi cxpedio dous corpos de gente ds margens do mesmo Bio, que subirdo por die acima dous mezes de viagein como tudo era not6rio e o con- tarao publicamente a elle Teste- munha toda a gente daquela escolta : Que depois continudrdo sempre as expedi^oens pelo Eio Branco fazendose entradas pelos Portuguezes ei7i todos os mais que nelle dezagodo ; de sorte que depois da ditta expedigdo de Bou- rengo Bdforte se seguio logo a que commandon Joz^ Miguel Ayres, que mandou fazer hua entrada ao ditto Bio Branco, e na ditta ocaziao foi tambem Sebastiao Valente natural da Villa do Cametd, com hum corpo separado a resgatar tambem Indios ; e que dahi por diante foriio sempre continuando as entradas daquelle Pard, Jodo de Abreo Castelo Branco; nessa occasiao foi elle testernunha por cabo de huma bandeira, ou escolta, que entrou no mesmo Eio Branco subindo por elle assima, practicando e descendo Indios para a nossa Povoacao de Carvoeiro fronteira a boca do Eio Branco ; e tomou a escolta o bra(;o da esquerda hindo para cima chamado Uraricodra, que M principal tronco do Eio Branco, e continuando a viagem por este rio se aquartelou em huma ilha donde despedio dous c6rpos de gente pdas duas maryens do mesmo rio por terra em de- iiianda do gentio Uapixana, e Macuxy, cujas Povoacoes estao junto ds serras que por aqui ha para o centro das campinas ; o corpo que mandou para a margem direita andou hum mez de viagem pelo campo, sendo commandada pelo Capitao Francisco Ferreira, muito practice deste pays pelo ter d muitos annos frequentado, acompanliando o juntamente Manoel Dutra, natural do Ca- meta, e os Principaes Eomao de Oliveira, e seu Irmao Paulo de Oliveira com o Principal lama, e o Principal lamue desta Vila de Barcclos. corpo que seguio a margem da esquerda foi ainda embarcddo athd ds caxoeiras deste rio, e aqui saltando em terra seguio o campo em demanda do gentio Sapara, e outros; hindo por cabo Domingos Lopes, e por seus companheiros Francisco Eo- drigues e Manoel Pires homens brancos, e o Principal a larubana, e Sargento Mor Miguel, o Abalizado Arubia^■a, todos do lugar de Poyares, e o Principal Theodozio, Joze dos Santos, e o Principal Faustino Cabral, e o Principal Camandry, todos desta villa, e o Principal Assencjo da Pedreira. Andou este corpo mes e meio de viagem athe que se Ihe acabdrao os campos, e se seguirem jd Mattos, e chegarao ds cabeceiras do Eio Caratirimany andando athe a altura que Ihe certifieou o gentio que para sahirem ds cabeceiras do Eio Araca que dezaugua no Eio Negro assima desta vila gas- taiiao tres dias : e sahirao emfim a outro rio chamado Ucayahy, que dezemb6ca no mesmo Uraricoera muito assima, correndo por entre serras, e derao noticia (^ue era de dgoa branca, e muito abundante de tartarugas, peixe, mas muito doentio, de sorte que se virao obrigados a voltar para tras. Que depois da nomedda expedigdo de Bourengo Bdforte, mandou o mesmo General do Estado outra comanddda por Jozi Miguel Ayres, e nessa ocaziao entrou tambem huma bandeira pelo mesma Eio 153 co^ra, ou tronco do Eio Branco, mas tarribem o hrago Tacutu ; pelo qual navegarao, entrando noutros Bios que no mcsmo dezagiiao ; de sorte que por este Eio sustentou muitos aniios co- ■%drcio com as Hollandezes pelos annos de 1720 e seguintes Fr. Jeronimo CoelJw, Eeligiozo Car- melita, e Missionario da Aldea de Tarumd ; e antecedentemente ao dito anno se tinhao no mesmo Eio I'eito descobrimento pelos Indies da sugeiQao Portugueza, mandsidos exprdssamente ao so- breditto iim. Por onde se conhece, que o mesmo Tacutu esta indisputavel e bem fundado direito no I)o- minio da GorSa de Portugal, coma desculerto e ocupado pela mSsma; continuando dcsde tempo immemorial a sua pdsse scm cun- tradiccdo alguma das Natjoes vezinhas, como sao os Hol- andizes, que nao passdo do Bio Essiquibc c Eupomoni. Eio athe a que fez no anno de mil settenentos e sessenta e seis o Alfires Jozi Agostinho Diniz por ordem do Govcrnador di-sta Gapi- tania Joaquim Tinouco Valente ; continuando sempre depois tam- bein a criraliirem-se do mesmo Bio as Drogas que produzem as suas margens e campos, c a fazcrem-sc pescarias nolle : Sendo certo que sempre este Bio Branco com todos OS que ncllc dezagudo foi sempre tido, liavido, e recon- hccido no Bomiiiio de Forttcgal dcsde tempo inmicmoridl, e isto scm contradic<;do alguma c muito menos dos Gastelhanos que nunca tivcrfio noticia de tal Eio, pois que nem ainda o mesmo Bio Negro conhecido antes do anno de mil t^cicccutos e quarenta e quafro em rr . i-i > (5.) 17;w . . • January 12. — "Among the outgoing cargo are two half-kegs of fine dye, taken in exchange by Van der Burg up in Essequibo, where the necessary buildings liavo been made and a post established to extend trade through those regions, if possible, to the Amazon. But, although my expectations in this respect have not as ^■et been fulfilled, still, in view of the slave trade and the production of fine dye, this post remains of much importance, since, small as is this beginning, we become acquainted among the Indians further inland, and this trade may by degrees become considerable." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C. App. I, p. 32. 162 Postholder (1740) Jaques Donacq. 1740 Postholder (1744) Jan de Ketel. (6.) 1748 PoBtholder (1 749) Jacob Frederick Mushack. (7.) 1750 (8.) 1750 (9.) 1750 (10.) 1750 (11.) 1751 At the trading place above Essequibo. (Yen. Arb.) Brit. C, App. VII, p. 159. Upper Essequibo to be closed. "His Honour, to further the various claims which the inhabitants of this colony still have outstanding there, undertook to charge the Postholders of the Honourable Company's trading- place Arinda with the recovery of the said outstanding slaves, on condition that the said Postholders shall be paid 10' guilders per head for their trouble by the owners." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 48. Jacob Friedrich Mushack, Postholder at Arinda, up in Essequibo, came down in the beginning of April, bringing for the Honourable Company three Indian slaves whom he had bought. (Ven. Arb.) Brit. C, App. II, p. 65. Jan Stok, an itinerant trader, " attacked the nations our friends close by the Post Arinda ... A warrant of arrest was ordered against him, and the ensign and a sergeant and four men were sent to arrest him . . . " I immediately caused the natives to be informed of this, and caused them to be promised satisfaction, with a request to send their chiefs, so that they may be present. This some have already assented to, but some lie so far off, and are so scattered through panic that I have not yet been able to warn them." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, pp. 50, 51. "At the Company's trading-places everything is at present well, they being provided with good Post- holders. The one at Arinda up in Essequibo I have ordered to be transferred to foiu' days' journey higher at the creek Ripenouni." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I. p. 51. Netherlands Committee approve of the removal. (Ven. Arb.) Brit. C, App. II, p. 68. " The Postholder of Arinda up the Essequibo pursuant to the order of the Commandeur, having to remove the Post to the River Ripenoery, has, from the abundance of water at that place, found the site unsuit- able, but has judged another place close by at the side to be a better site, of which, having given me informa- tion, it is being transferred thither, as being the most suitable place, a provision garden being already cut and cleared there." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 58. (12.) 1752 "There is a rumour here that some negroes have made their appearance up in Essequibo, but since the Postholder of Arinda has not yet come down (being 163 (13.) 1753 prevented by the high water), I am not yet certain abont the matter, but have, under a promise of good payment, strongly persuaded the Indians of the Akawois nation living below the Post to go out and capture them, and they have promised me to do so." (Braz. Arh.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 56. " Three of our inhabitants, having gone up the Essequibo with intention to try to establish some trade with the Portuguese along the Amazon, have been killed in a mxirderous way by the nation named Mapissanoe " I have instructed Mushak, the Postholder, carefully to inform himself of their villages, number, and strength ; to ascertain the way, and everything exactly, and to make me a circumstantial report thereof, as then I intend (with your Honours' approbation) to attack them with the assistance of the Caribs, who have come and ofiered their services for this purpt)se, and to drive them away inland far from the River Essequibo, so that we may have the passage free." (Braz. Alb.) Brit. C, Aj^p. I, p. 61. (14.) 1756 (15.) 1756 Postholder (1756) H. Steinfels. " The Postholder at Arinda has asked for his discharge, which I have granted him, and have oiFered that place to one H. Steynfels." (Yen. Arb.) Brit. C, App. II, p. 129. Assistant Postholder Steyner reports on white men and Indians in the savannah. (Ven. Arb.) Brit. C, App. 11, p. 130. Postholder (1757) A. Tollenaer. (16.) [1758 Postholder (1762) Wolfgang ynoers. (17.) 1762 Postholder (1763) Hendrik Bakkcr. (18.) 1763 The following extract from a Spanish document of this period is worth adding at this point : — "The Dutch and Caribs, in order to go to those nations [on the Spanish frontiers] ascend the River Essequibo, navigating it for 20 leagues up-stream to a point where they have a post: then, on account of a great waterfall, they are obliged to drag the boat over- land, and afterwards continue their navigation." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 66.] " I do not know how matters stand in Post Aiinda ; the Postholder ought to have come down the stream in October last, or should have sent his assistant It is my intention to send some one out as soon as possible to make inquiries into the reason of this long delay." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 68. "Evervthing is going on pretty well at Post Ai-inda, I having discharged the Postholder on the last day of December, 1762, on accoimt of his neglect and xuipar- donable laziness, and appointed the assistant, Hendiik [196] Z 164 Bakker, in his place; but I have as yet selected no fresh assistant, because I Avould like to have a com- petent and trnstworthy pei'son. " While cousidei-ing the importance of that Post, and the meag]-e knowledge we have of it, I came to the resolve last year to send two persons, named Elias Lindgreen and Joseph la Chau, .... up the Eiver Demerarjr, and so to the post and further up Essequibo for discovery. . . . " The Postholder of Arinda has reported to me, and his report has been corroborated by Joseph la Chau, who came down from the Post about that time, that the nation of Manoas (called here indiscriminately Magnouws), being dissatisfied with the treatment they received from the Portuguoso of Brazil, had resolved to come to this Colonj^ to make a Treaty of Commerce with us, and that a strong body had set out with that object " I have informed the Chiefs of the Manoas, through the Parhawaens, their friends, that we should welcome them and receive them well ; that in order not to give umbrage they should, however, not come down-stream in such great force, but that on arriving at the Post their Chiefs could come liere under the escort of the Postholder or his assistant, whilst the others would wait there." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, pp. 69, 70. (19.) 1763 . . . " I have just heard that a mutiny has broken out upon the principal plantation in Canje (Berbices) . . I shall write to Post Arinda as soon as possible to instruct the Postholder to induce the Carib nation, by the promise of a recompense, to take up arms in this matter." (Yen. Arb.) Brit. C, App. II, p. 223. (20.) 1763 . . . . " We approve the explorations which you intend having made above the Post Arinda, and hkewise we have no doubt that, if they are carefully done, they Avill be of no slight importance to us. In view of this we take upon ourselves the expenses occasioned thereby.'' (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 70. (21.) 1763 . . . - " The third is Post Arinda, above Essequibo, really intended for the trade in red slaves and dye, and for the further exploration of the lands and nations of the interior, as well as to prevent the slaves making off in that direction." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 71. (22.) 1764 . . - " I have this week given orders to remove the Post Arinda four days' journey higher, at the mouth ot the River Ripenuwini, so that the Post is now about 101) hours from Fort Zeelandia. I liave also given orders for going up the Essequibo, wJiich has not yet been done, in order to visit the numerous and powerful nation called Tarouma, and, if possible, to discover the source of the Essequibo." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 72. 165 (23.) 1764 . , . "The Post above Essequibo, called Arinda, of entirely different importance, lies about seventj' hours (at a guess, because it has never been exactly measured) above Fort Zeelandia, up the River Essequibo, and, as it is thought, at about four degrees and a few minutes' latitude north The trade carried on there has hitherto consisted in red slaves and in Acuway and Ataray dyes, which, although very pretty to look at, have, up to the present, not been of any use. Although the trade in red slaves might be made very profitable, it contributes but little to the importance of this Post, because, in addition to the latter being of great service in keeping xxp the communication and friendship with the inland nations, by means of which great discoveries might be made, it should also be stated that not very far above the Post two other rivers (called Sibarouna and Rupununi, the first of which is not yet very well known) fall into the River Essequibo. " But the second having a very extensive course, there is a place a few days' journey above the Post where, by having the boat dragged for about three hours across a low and marshy land, we come into the Creek Meejou, also called Maho, which flows into the Rio Branco, and the latter into the Rio Negro, which, falling into the Amazon, can make communication with that great river easy " It is now easy to understand of what importance this Post may become if it be entrusted to intelligent and diligent folks " (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, pp. 72, 73. (24. ( 1764 - - • Extracts from I iistructionis to PoBtholder, Arinda. I. " The Postholder shall try to maintain and cultivate friendly and peaceable relations with the Indian nations as far as lies in his power, and shall not allow those nations to be unjustly or badly treated by any one, whoever it may be, and should any such offences be committed by itinerant traders, the latter, although they may be provided with a pass, shall instantaneoiisly and directly be sent Avith one of' his assistants to Fort Zeelandia." III. " He shall allow no foreign traders, from wherever they may be, in the River Essequibo or in the rivers that fall into it, nor any traders of this Colony, except such as are provided with a proper pass, but shall arrest them and send them to the fort.' VII. "He shall execute carefully, exactly, and without delay all orders sent to him by the Director-General." [196] Z 2 166 VIII. " As soon as it is at all possible he shall remove the Post and transfer it to the mouth of the Eipenuwini, such being, for reasons, considere.l absolutely necessary." IX. "He shall also try to make his way up the River Essequibo himself as soon as possible, and enter into friendly relations with the Taroumas and the other nations living there ; if possible, too, with the Manoas (also called JIagnouws)." XT. " By friendliness with the Indians he shall try to discover where there are mines, precious stones, or such things, and, when properly informed of where such things are found, he shall carefully mark the places and send us a report." XII. " He is also to examine carefully the crystal mine up in the Ripenuwini, and if it is at all possible he shall inspect the pyramid, or get his assistants to do so, and send us a report upon the same." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, pp. 76, 77. ('25.) 1764 . , . " I have, &f^ I had the honour to inform you in the postscript of my last, given orders for the removal of Post Arinda, and it is my intention, as soon as it is at all possible, to establish it much higher still, or to establish another post higher up (but since the last cannot be done without special orders from your Lordships, I am obliged to await these first), in order that I may, at least, receive detailed reports of all the movements made by our neighbours in the interior.'' (Braz. Avb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 77. (26.) 1765 . ■ • . " I have not yet received any report conceniing the removal of Post Arinda. I had instructed the Post- holder to come down at the beginning of this year, but as he has been earnestly charged to keep a sharp look- out upon all that goes on beyond his post and in the interior, he has possibly been detained." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 78. (27.) 1765 . . - • " Tlie Report from the Postholdci' of Arinda states that all is well as far as the Post is concerned; that he had intended to proceed up the River Rupununi, but had found the Macoussis and Wapissanes, the two nations living there, at war, which had stopped him half-way, but that he, having summoned an Owl of each nation, had told them that he had received orders 167 Postholder (1765) Jiirgen Hendriks. (28.) 176(5 from me to proceed up the river, and that he should come as soon as his assistant had returned from below, whereupon they had answei-ed him that he might do so witliout any fear ; that he had not yet removed the Post, having found out that the site first selected at the corner of ..the liupununi was covered with four feet of water in the rainy season, but that he had found a very good site half-an-hour higher up. " The Post being at present surrounded by swarms of Caribs who had taken up a position there, and were only waiting for the abandonment of the Post to fall upon the Accuways, against whom they felt very bitter, he had not considered it advisable to remove yet, since, by his doing so, progress up the river would be made unsafe, nay, impossible. Wherefore he had done all tl lat he possibly could to pacify the two nations, and had fairly succeeded Nothing has yet been heard of any strangers in the interior, and he has made such arrangements with the Indians that whoever might turn up would be immediately seized and sent to the fort." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 79. " I have as yet no report how matters stand at Arinda, the Postholder, who has at last undertaken the journey to the interior according to my reiterated instructions, having sent me Avord to say he hoped to come down in March . . ." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 80. (29.) 1766 (30.) 1766 (31.) 1767 Postholder (1767) Gerrit .Jansse. (32.) 1768 " The Postholder Hendrik having come down from Arinda . . reports that above the Post, in the creek of IMaho, a friar and another white person, a Portuguese, have been found." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 81. '• The Postholder of Arinda is at present here ; the fellow has not made the slightest attempt to carry out his instructions ; he blames the assistant Bekker for this, who again throws the blame upon him." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. T, p. x-2. '• The Postholder (of Arinda) having failed to do his duty ill everything, and his conduct being perfectly inexcusable, I have dismissed him, and having at last found a man, one Gerrit Jansse, who ... is an honest, upright, and sober fellow, I have appointed him to be Postholder." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C., App. I, p. 83. " I am again sending an express to-day to the Commandeur to inform him that Gerrit Jansse, the Postholder of Arinda, had come down-stream and reported to me that he had spoken to the body of Caribs up by the fall ; that the Owl had charged him to tell me that everything there had been well searched, but that nothing had been found . . . 168 " The Postholder of Arinda has reported to me that all is well up there, and that the nations are at perfect peace with each other." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 84. (33.) 1768 " We have now a good Postholder at Arinda, who has done more in six months than the others did in six years, bnt reinforcements is his daily cry in order to be able to go farther." (Bmz. Arb.; Brit. C, App. I, p. 84. (34.) 1769 " The Assistant Postliolder Schreuder arrived from the Post Arinda up the Essequibo, bringing with him to me the Common Chief, or Great Owl, of the Caribs up in Essequibo . . . " The Chief of the Caribs has come down to request from me permission to attaclv and capture this Mari- purma, not having dared to do this because he is under that Post near the Acuways . . .'" (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 85. (35.) 1769 " (Gerrit Jansse, Postholder of Arinda), on arriving at the Macoussis, hired an interpreter who spoke the language of the Wapissanes, which nation lives near the crystal mine on both sides of the Kiver Maho . . . " The Postholder coming to the Wapissanes, who had not seen a white man since the affair with Marcan (fifteen or sixteen years, if I remember rightly), and who were thus in want of all European things, was received exceptionally well . . . " He also found there the nation of the Parhavianes, who were still living up in Essequibo in my time, and who, being too greatly molested by the Caribs, removed thither. " This place being his destination, he stopped there for a few weeks, and carefully investigated every- thing . . . " This having been only an attempt, and the way being now opened, because he may now come there welcome and free, which is a good beginning, I have given him full and circumstantial written instructions, and also verbal ones as far as possilJe." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 86. (36.) 1770 Postholder (1771) Pieter Schreuder. (37.) 1771 " As cases of desertion are now becoming so frequent, I find myself obliged to seek some remedy for this state of things, and therefore wrote to the Postholder of Arinda on the 3rd September to ask the Carib Owls, hi my name, to send a detachment of fifty men of their nation here to keep a watchful eye upon the planta- tions." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 88. " The Postholder of Arinda, having been ill and confined to his bed for four months, has come down 169 Postholder (1774) Servaas L'ficlair. (38.) 1774 Postholder (1775) J. Schiiltz. (3St,) 1775 (40.) ]77() with over fifty Caribs, and ou the 1st of this month wont into the woods behind the plantations with those men to look for the runaways." (Ven. Arb.) Brit. C, App. IV, p. 82. Muster roll :— Postholder at Arinda, Servaas L'Jllclair. Bijlegger at Ariuda, Frans Mathias Feidler. Corporal, Carel Loiiis Stoet. Soldier, Jan Fisher. Ditto, Benoit Arard. Ditto, Ferdinand Jatte. Ditto, Jan Michael Claasen. (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. II, Supplement, p. 3. " I have given Oostenrijker, the newly-appointed Postholder to the Post of Arinda up in the River Essequibo, and his assistant Steijner their discharge at their own request .... " I have now appointed a mulatto or native named Schultz, who knows how to deal with those nations up the river, he having travelled about n th( .e parts for some time and being acquainted with the languages, for your Lordship v.'ill be pleased to understand that the only use of this Post is to get the Indians up the river to become somewhat more accustomed to us, and at the same time to keep a sharp look-out whether those nations might not be planning something against us, of which, however, there is little fear." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C. App. I, p. y4. '•From the pay-book sent over in December 1774 your Lordships will have seen that there were two men, named Le Clair and Feidler, serving at Post Arinda up in Esseqaibo. One of these, Feidler, having already long served his time, was dismissed at his own i-equest, and Le Claiv, being up amongst the nations of the Indians, no assignations were in that year delivered either to him personally or to any one else as liis proxy .... " But about two weeks ago some Indians, who told me that they lived near the Portuguese frontiers, came and reported to me that they had come down-stream expressly with a message from one Le Glair, who was at present among the Portuguese, and who had sent them to inquire whether he might come down with some of the Portuguese nation, wlieu he would explain liis long absence, and offering to put us in the way of some lucrative trade Avith the Portuguese. •' Seeing no possibility of getting the aforesaid Le Clair to come down by forcible means, and being curious to know how far oif from us the Portuguese are in the River Amazon, I let Inm know by means of a letter sent by the aforesaid Indians that no harm should be done to him .... As soon as I receive further information of this matter, which will probably 170 not be for another six months, because the distance is so great, I shall have the honour of giving your Lord- ships a circumstantial report of the whole. " Meanwhile I have appointed a new Postholder and Assistant to that Post, and shall try to bring the place into a better condition." (Eraz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 117. It is interesting at this period to compare the following from a Spanish source: — (41.) [1776 . . . . " Sergeant Marcos Zapata was for more than two years in the villages of the Parime above mentioned without seeing any European except an officer of a Post which the Dutch have upon the River Apanony, who, learning from the Caribs that the Spaniards were established on the Parime, came on the loth December, 1774, to the town of San Juan Bautista de Cadacada, feigning to be a deserter, and. satisfied l:>y ocidar demonstration that it was so, he escaped immediately to give the information to the Governor of the Colony of Essequibo."] (Yen. Arb.) Brit. C, App. IV, p. 164. (42.) 1776 .... " The former Postholder of Arinda, Le Clair, has not yet made his appearance ; but I have some time ago understood from Indians that he was on his way hither with three Portuguese . . " My intended journey to the said Post Arinda I have not yet been able to make." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. 1, p. 126. (43.) 177& .... "Some weeks ago four Pdituguese arrived from above at the Post Arinda, who thereupon were conducted by the Postholder and kept in the fort here. .... According to the prevaihng story, Le Clair has ■ already returned to Europe." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 126. (44.) 1778. . . . . "J. H. C. Klein, with the baggage with him, free Indians and goods, is permitted to pass and repass the Post of Arinda in order to obtain slaves by barter among the nations in the rivers above." (Braz, Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 135. (45.) 1778 .... "To-day arrived the Postholder Schultz, Avith his- assistant Pietersen, in order, pursuant to my summons, to make replies touching the complaints of the Indians, who, in July last, had complained that the said Post- holder had ill-treated them, handing to me therewith a narrative of what had occurred, from which his innocence seemed to be clear "Further, he informed me that an Attorai Owl, named Taumaii, arrived at the Post on the 22nd August, saying that he wished to come to me for a letter that Postbolder (1780) F. Eijffel. 171 he is a comrade of ours, since the Portuguese would not otherwise leave him in peace " (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 135. Postholder (1785 ?) W. Smith. (46.) 1785 (47.) 1790 (48.) 1790 • • " The Postholder Smith, of the upper post, in Esse- quibo, named Arinda, came to the seat of Government with 108 free Indian Caribs to see the G-overnor with three of their Commanders to present their service and fidelity, seeking presents as tokens of friendship, upon which I presented each of the Commanders with a silver ring collar, a half-piece of salampore, two flasks of gunpowder, and each of the others with 5 ells of salampore, besides salt fish, soopye.and bananas, where- with they all departed very satisfied." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 159. Lands granted to Postholder \Y. Smit, of Arinda. (Yen. Arb.) Brit. C. App. VII, p. 377. " Upon the request of Daniel van der Heyden, presented the mulatto Felix Patist with a permit to pass the Post of Arinda." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C, App. I, p. 201. (49.) [17it(> The following passage from a Spanish source is suggestive : — " The Dutch have trading-posts established at the soui-ces of the Essequibo for the traffic of poitos or slaves And so jealous are they of any other nation obtaining any information concerning the country that they take great care that no one should enter it not of their nation. So there are only Dutch and Caribs." (Braz. Arb.) Brit. C. App. I, p. 204. Finally, the following statement from the (50.) 1798 Archives of Para is of great interest : ''i\V(r,s of the Dutch Colony of Denierara brought on the ord September, 1798, bi/ the Indian Leonardo Jose, Chief of the Oaycds nation, ivho went to the River Essequibo of the Dutch possessions. " The above-named Chief went up from the Rio Branco to the Eio Tacutu, and fi'om this to the Rio Pirardra, from which he crossed by land to the Rio Repumiri and descended by this until he came out in the Rio Essequibo, and descending by this last (spending- iu these descents in all seven days) reached a large settlement (rancho) of half-breeds and Indians whom he calls Mulattoes, Avhere he stopped, and received from [196] 2 A 172 them the following news : This Colony was at that date subject to the English, who had taken it Among the said Mulattoes there are one or two who are at the head of the settlement, and who appear to have authority over the Indians of those districts, and seem to yield willing obedience to the actual English 0-overnor of the Colony " Prem. Mem. br^s., Ann. I, pp. 292, 293. 173 NOTE VI. OFFICIAL SUGGESTIONS AS TO A BOUNDARY ON EACH SIDE. IT is a matter of some interest to inquire how- far in this question of boundary either party at any time in the course of the history gave some definite indication of a view as to what the boun- dary should be. It is therefore proposed to devote a short Note to bringing together in con- secutive order any expressions of view uttered by the Government, or by officials, on either side, which bears on the actual question of a boundary for the territory now in dispute. The first reference to an actual boundary between the possessions of Holland and Portugal anywhere in this district was made by the Governor Pereira de Berredo in his Annals written in 1728, in a passage which has already been quoted — Brit. C, Ann., " Sixty leagues further down from the Yauapuari, Vol. I, p. 26. four degrees to the north, the great Rio Negro (where to-day we have a fort) enters the Amazon. It is before that joined by another river of great volume called Branco, which bounds the Dutch of Surinam. Both are peopled by rnany nations of savages." Putting on one side the Spanish-Portuguese Treaty Map of 1749-50 as not definite, ttie next reference from an official source is still from the Portuguese side, and still entirely contrary to the present claim of Brazil. In discussing the extent of the new Captaincy of E-io Negro, which he is proposing to establish, the Governor and Captain- General of Para has the following statement — Ibid. Vol. 1 " It® frontiers, which are conterminous with the p. 62. possessions of Spain and Holland, will thereby stand in a better state of defence " and in urging that the capital of the new province should be at Mariua, on the Rio Negro, he gives as his second reason — " . . . ., because the chief town ought to be situate in the middle of the said Government; and this river Hes between the Rio Branco and the Amazonas, [196] 2 A 2 17A two powerful arms to which that Government must extend, both of them marking the limits of the above- mentioned nations [viz., Holland and Spain]." The Brazilian Memoires suggest that the Dutch Governor Storm van 's Gravesande adopted the boundary laid down on D'Anville's Map in such language as to amount to a recognition of the boundarv by tbo Dutch Government. This contention has been fully dealt with in the British Counter-Case at pp. 139-141 (Fr., pp. 147-150). There is no warrant at all for stating that the Director- General was prepared to adopt such a boundary; and the whole trend of sub- sequent events indicates his opinion that there was no limit upon the interior into which the occupation of the Dutch West India Company might be pushed. The next reference, therefore, to a possible line of boundary in this district is again a Portuguese reference, and it marks a great advance in the claims of the local Portuguese authorities ; it is contained in the Report of Almeida Serra and Silva Pontes, and is as follows :— " On tlie east the said plains are also shut in by the Brit. C, Ann. I, waters of the Rupunori, which oifers a site Avhich we P- ■'■'^^■ considered admirably fitted for establishing, in ac- cordance with the scheme and with your Excellency's orders, a watch tower for observing on that frontier the innovations or attempts of the Surinam colonists. The tower might as readily be placed on the bank of the Eupunori, near the IgarapS or small River Tauarikuru, unless this be opposed to the claims of the said Dutch, seeing that we have to take into consideration the watersheds, and not the west bank of the River Rupunori, for the boundaries." It is indorsed in the despatch of the Captain- Geneial of Para transmitting the Report. That officer suggests that, if possible, Portugal should obtain as a boundary — " a line to be drawn north and south over the sources of the Rio Pn-ara." Ibid., I, p, 141. The passages show that in a somewhat tenta- tive fashion a claim was now advanced by the Portuguese to a boundary in the neighbourhood of the watershed. But further and more authori- tative investigation of the subject modified the Portuguese view, and Gama Lobo de Aimada in 1787 reported on the frontier in the following terms : — 175 Brifc 0., Ann. I, "From all this it is deducible that just as the Cordillera that runs along the upper part of this frontier is a natural mark, which, dividing the water- sheds of the Orinoco from the watersheds of the Rio Branco, must necessarily be crossed in order to get communication on this side from the dominions of Spain to those of Portugal, in like manner all the district which lies between the Rivers Mahii, Tacutii, and Repunuri is a tract which naturally marks off in those parts the communication of the Dutch and Portu- guese dominions." This Eeport treats the greater part of territory now in dispute as outside the Portuguese frontier. It implies that the boundary of the Portuguese possessions is the line of the Malm and Takutu. Towards the close of the 18th century a definite indication of Dutch claims is given by the sketch map of van Heneman, which was Vide Aigument, evidently attached to an ofiBcial Report which '"f""- P- ■ i^^g been lost. The claim indicated by this map is no doubt that of the fullest extent of the sphere of Dutch influence at the date of the foundation of S5o Joaquim ; to the west as against Spain, and on the south as against Portugal. It corresponds very much with what is claimed by Great Britain on the documentary evidence as being the line of Dutch influence in 1775. Van Heneman's line would cut the Takutu shortly above its junction with the Eio Branco, and include in Dutch territory the rivers which are to-day claimed by Great Britain. The map which was sent home by Colonel Hislop in the first days of the British occupation Vide Brit. C, of Guiana does not indicate the territory in P" dispute as belonging to either Power. It cam- Vide Argument, not be considered as a definite indication of a supra, p. . boundary. The despatch transmitting it makes no reference to boundaries. The references to latitude and longitude, to which the Brazilian Second M(^moire refers, have really no bearing upon the southern boundary. In the ^Jemoran- dum which contains them the writer is obviously making a statement as to the settled portions of the Colony. In 1804, however, Lieutenant-Governor Myers sent to the Earl of Camden the following state- ment as to the boundaries of the new Colony : — Brit. C Ann. I, It is bounded on the north by the main ocean, P- 207. which divides it from Africa, on the south by unex- plored woods and the river of the Amazon, on the east by Berbice and Surinam, on the west by New Cumana and the Spanish Settlements on the Orinoco." 176 These limits are certainly vague, but they indicate distinctly a claim to territory in the south, much beyond the limit now claimed by Great Britain. In 1811 the Portuguese Governor of Rio Bres. Prem. Negro, Vittorio da Costa, ordered a patrol from ^I'gJ;' ^°"" ^' Eort Sao Joaquim up to the Mahu as far as the mouth of the Pirara, up the Takutu to the Sara-au-uru, and in certain circumstances across to the Rupununi. This may be regarded as indicating a claim to a part of the territory now in dispute south of the river Pirara, but scarcely amounts to an indication of boundary. In 1827 Sir Benjamin Durban, in a Memo- randum enclosed in his despatch of the 18th October, describes the southern boundary as follows : — " On the south, the Portuguese frontier, in that -gj^^. q ^jm jj district of it which is called the Government of Eio partie i, p. 4. Negro, and which may be; generally defined by a line running east and west along the ridge which Humboldt calls the Cordillera of Parinia, separating the two systems of rivers flowing respectively northward into the valleys of the Orinoco and Essequibo, and south- ward into that of the Amazons." This is certainly a claim generally to the watershed boundary ; but it is a broad, general statement, based on the maps of the period ; and more accurate acquaintance with the geography of the country shows that the so-called " ridge " of Humboldt affords no help in determining the boundary in the district now in dispute, inasmuch as there is a complete break in it at this point. The next definite claim was that made by Her late Majesty's Government in 1840, after Schom- burgk had been in the district and had explained by Memoire and map what seemed to him to be the fair boundary at this point. This claim is to the line of the Cotinga and Takutu. It is the claim by which the British Government have ever since abided. The line proposed by the Brazilian Commission of 1843 was a line along the Pacaraima Mountains as far as Anna-i, and thence to and up the Bupununi. But the extraordinary inaccuracies of the map which accompanied the Eeport of the nde Brit. O.O., Commission deprive their recommendations of P- J^g^^^''-' any weight. Eventually the experts to whom this Report was referred recommended that 177 Brazil should not claim anything to the east of Br4a. Sec. Mem., the watershed, and it was the line of the water- Ann. I, pp. 66-67. siied ^hicii ^as adopted as the claim of Brazil by the Foreign Section of the Council of State in. 1854