Delagoa Bay

Delagoa Bay, a, Portuguese possession on the S.E. coast of Africa. In 1875 a difficulty between England, Portugal, and the Transvaal as to the bay was submitted to the arbitration of the President of the French Republic. The chief point was as to the possession of Inyak Island and the Maputa river, and the southern part, including the Maputa river up to the Lobombo Mountains, was declared Portuguese territory. The bay, stretching from lat. 25° 30' to 26° 20' S., has a width of 25 miles, and, though having many islands and shoals, is of easy navigation, and affords good anchorage. The principal rivers falling into it are the Maputa and the Komati, and the Maputa with its tributary the Tembe is navigable in its lower course. A railway was opened in 1890 to the frontier of the Transvaal, and will, owing to the presence of the gold-fields, become more and more important. In 1889 this railway was the occasion of a serious difficulty between Portugal, England and the United States, which was referred eventually to arbitration. Drainage works and a sea-wall have done much to render healthy the swampy and malarious Portuguese settlement of Lourenco Marques.