The Portuguese Government has signed the Treaty ceding the district
of Lorenzo Marques to Great Britain, in considera- tion of certain advantages to Goa ; and though the ratification of the Portuguese Parliament is not complete, the Lower House has accepted the Treaty. Lorenzo Marques, which the English will probably call the Colony of Delagoa, is a province of 18,000 square miles, with a coast-line of 140 miles, stretching from Zululand all along the northern half of the Transvaal. It is to the Transvaal, in fact, what Dalmatia is to Bosnia. It contains the magnificent harbour of Delagoa Bay, and not only gives us a separate entrance into the Transvaal, but renders insurrection in Zululand exceedingly difficult. Any one who glances at the map will see that with a short railway from the Bay to the Transvaal plateau, North Trans- vaal and Delagoa together would form a splendid subtropical colony, with many climates and many cultivations. There are no inhabitants in the new province, and it is asserted that the tsetse-fly prevents the use of horses, but the facts about that fly have still to be ascertained. At all events, it will not sting railway engines, and it is probable that European veterinary surgeons will yet devise some protection against its ravages.
