ON the 12th day of the month of October, 1885, in the reception room of the Naval and Ultramarine Office, were brought together: The Colonel Counsellor Agostinho Coelho, Chief of the Fourth Department of the Colonial General Direction; José Casaleiro de Alegria Rodrigues, Director of the suppressed Angoche Custom-house and Special Envoy of the Chieftain Gungunhana, son and successor of the late Chieftain Muzila; Matanda-Encoce and Mapinda, subjects of the said Chieftain; and also Caetano Xavier Diniz, junior. Lieutenant in the Ultramarine infantry regiment employed in the aforesaid Department, and acting as Secretary, so as to agree upon the terms of the deed of vassalage proposed by the said Chieftain Gungunhana. The Colonel Councilor Agostinho Coelho presented and read the Royal Order, dated the 9th of the aforesaid month and year, by which it is His Majesty the King’s pleasure to trust him with the composition of the said deed, and he then proceeded to question the Chieftain Gungunhana’s subjects, Matanda-Encoce and Mapinda, concerning their Sovereign’s designs in sending them to Portugal, and they answered that the said Chieftain had sent them to testify as to his having transferred to José Casaleiro de Alegria Rodrigues, in his own and his successors’ names, all powers necessary for the presentation to the Portuguese Government of his deed of vassalage to His Majesty the King of Portugal, with full submission to the following dispositions:—
1. The Chieftain Gungunhana, in his own and in his successors’ names, swears vassalage to the King of Portugal and of obedience to the Laws and Orders transmitted to him by the General Governor of the Mozambique Province, or by his subordinate Agents, undertaking to exclude from his territory the dominion of every other nation.
2. The territory under the Chieftain Gungunhana’s jurisdiction is the same that was secured to his father’s dominion on the 2nd December, 1861.
3. By the Chieftain Gungunhana will be placed a Delegate of the Portuguese Government, with the name of Chief Resident, whose office will be to counsel him ia the country’s administration, and to resolve all disputes pending between,the natives and Portuguese subjects.
4. In the principal villages imder the Chieftain Gungunhana’s jurisdiction, and mainly in those confining with the Lourenço Marques, Inhambane, and Sofala districts, subordinate Residents will be placed, dependent of the Chief Resident, to continue over the local authorities subordinated to the said Chieftain the guardianship referred to in the preceding Article.
5. When any native under the Chieftain Gungunhana’s jurisdiction falls into crime or transgression in territory under Portuguese administration, he will be committed, judged, and sentenced by the Portuguese Tribunals.
6. The Portuguese subjects that may fall into crime, or transgression in the Chieftain Gungunhana’s territory shall be given up to the Resident of the locality, or to the Resident nearest the seat of crime, to be committed before the Portuguese authorities, who will judge him in his own district.
7. At all solemn acts of succession to the Chieftainship the Chief Resident will be present, and with him a deed confirming the successor to the Chieftainship, duly signed by the Governor-General of the Mozambique Province.
8. The Chieftain Gungunhana will oblige his natives to agricultural pursuits, and to the improvement of all native produce that may serve industry and commerce.
9. The Chieftain will have a seal given by the Portuguese Government, so as to authenticate all orders he may send to other Chieftains or all communications to the Portuguese authorities.
10. All Portuguese subjects will enjoy free transit through the dominions of tk Chieftain Gimgunhana, and all natives of his dominions wfil have the same right in territories under Portuguese authorities.
11. Those only who are elephant hunters will require a previous permission given by the authorities dependent of the Chieftain Gungunhana, and duly authorized by tbe Chief Resident.
12. The Chieftain Gungunhana binds himself to grant permission to work mines or any other produce of the country tc all persons who may have obtained Concessions from tbe Portuguese Government.
13. The Chieftain Gungunhana will facilitate by all means in his power the exploration and study of all the rivers, mountams, and lakes that the Portuguese Government may consider necessary to the chorographic study of the country.
14. It being mainly intended by the present deed of vassalage to forward the culture of the tribes under Gungunhana’s jurisdiction, the said Chieftain will undertake to protect the foundation of all schools and religious missions the Portuguese Government may desire to establish, providing workmen and materials for the. construction of the necessary buildings at a convenient price.
15. The Chieftain Gungunhana will be promoted by Royal Decree to the honours of Colonel of the 2nd Line.
16. Under proposal of the said Chieftain, and with the intervention of the Chief Resident, the Governor-General of the Mozambique Province may concede the honours of a Captaincy of the 2nd Line to the two head Secretaries of the Chieftain, honours that fall with the destitution from office.
