Mr. Dawson to Mr. Hay.

No. 396.]

Sir: I have the honor to forward you herewith the English and Portuguese texts of the arbitration treaty recently negotiated in regard to the boundary between Brazil and British Guiana. The Brazilian congress ratified it on December 27; January 28 ratifications were exchanged by the minister for foreign affairs and the British chargé d’affaires here accredited, and the treaty was immediately proclaimed.

It will be observed that the supplementary “declaration” annexed to the treaty virtually settles the southern boundary of British Guiana. In that region the Amazon-Essequibo watershed is agreed upon as the dividing line.

The part of the line in dispute constitutes, roughly speaking, the southern half of the western boundary of the colony, the northern half being its Venezuelan frontier. The territory in question is about 300 miles long and 100 miles wide in its broadest place. Great Britain claims the line to be the Takutu and Cotinga rivers, which unite to form the Rio Branco, which in turn flows into the great Rio Negro. Her success would therefore give British Guiana a navigable tributary of the Amazon as a boundary. On the other hand Brazil claims the division to be partly the watershed between the Amazon and Essequibo basins and partly the Rupunumi, a navigable tributary of the Essequibo. The Takutu and Rupunumi approach very near each other and there is no well-defined watershed; the altitude above the sea is only about 350 feet; portage is easy, and a railroad would be cheap. If Brazil’s claim is sustained she will have the essential link of the proposed Georgetown-Manaos route all within her own territory, the Essequibo will be an international stream, and no European power will have a foothold anywhere in the Amazon Valley.

If a sketch map would be useful to the Department, it can be obtained.

I have, etc.,

Thomas C. Dawson.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]

The President of the United States of Brazil and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, being desirous to provide for an amicable settlement of the question which has arisen between their respective governments concerning the boundary between the United States of Brazil [Page 104] and the colony of British Guiana, have resolved to submit to arbitration the question involved, and, to the end of concluding a treaty for that purpose, have appointed as their respective plenipotentiaries;

  • The President of the United States of Brazil, Señor Joaquin Aurelio Nabuco de Araujo, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Brazil to His Britannic Majesty;
  • And His Majesty the King of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, the Most Hon. Henry Charles Keith Petty Fitz Maurice, Marquess of Lansdowne, Earl Wycombe, Viscount Cain and Calnstone and Lord Wycombe, Baron of Chipping Wycombe, Baron Nairne, Earl of Kerry and Earl of Shelburne, Viscount Clanmaurice, and Fitzmaurice, Baron of Kerry, Lixnaw, and Dunkerron, a peer of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, a member of His Britannic Majesty’s most honorable privy council, a Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, etc., His Majesty’s principal secretary of state for foreign affairs;

Who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have agreed to and concluded the following articles:

  • Article I. The President of the United States of Brazil and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, agree to invite His Majesty the King of Italy to decide, as arbitrator, the question as to the above-mentioned boundary.
  • Art. II. The territory in dispute between the United States of Brazil and the colony of British Guiana shall be taken to be the territory lying between the Takutu and the Cotinga and a line drawn from the source of the Cotinga eastward, following the watershed to a point near Mount Ayangeanna; thence in a southeasterly direction, still following the general direction of the watershed as far as the hill called Annay; thence by the nearest tributary to the Rupununi, up that river to its source, and from that point crossing to the source of the Takutu.
  • Art. III. The arbitrator shall be requested to investigate and ascertain the extent of the territory which, whether the whole or a part of the zone described in the preceding article, may lawfully be claimed by either of the high contracting parties, and to determine the boundary line between the United States of Brazil and the colony of British Guiana.
  • Art. IV. In deciding the question submitted the arbitrator shall ascertain all facts which he shall deem necessary to a decision of the controversy, and shall be governed by such principles of international law as he shall determine to be applicable to the case.
  • Art. V. The printed case of each of the two parties, accompanied by the documents, the official correspondence, and other evidence on which each relies, shall be delivered in duplicate to the arbitrator and to the Government of the other party within a period not exceeding twelve months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty.
  • Art. VI. Within six months after the cases shall have been delivered in the manner provided in the preceding article, either party may in like manner deliver to the arbitrator and to the Government of the other party a counter case and additional documents, correspondence, and evidence in reply to the case, documents, correspondence, and evidence as presented by the other party.
  • If in the case or counter case submitted to the arbitrator either party shall have specified or alluded to any other report or document in its own exclusive possession without annexing a copy, such party shall be bound, if the other party thinks proper to apply for it, to furnish that party with a copy thereof; and either party may call upon the other through the arbitrator to produce the originals or certified copies of any papers adduced as evidence, giving in each instance notice thereof within forty days after the delivery of the case or counter case, and the original or copy so requested shall be delivered as soon as may be within a period not exceeding forty days after the receipt of notice.
  • Art. VII. Within four months after the expiration of the time fixed for the delivery of the counter case on both sides, each party shall deliver in duplicate to the arbitrator and to the Government of the other party a printed argument showing the points and referring to the evidence upon which each Government relies; and the arbitrator may, if he desires any further elucidation in regard to any point in the argument of either party, require a further written or printed statement or argument upon it; but in such case the other party shall be entitled to reply by means of a similar written or printed statement or argument.
  • Art. VIII. The arbitrator may, for any cause deemed by him sufficient, extend the periods fixed by Articles V, VI, or VII, or any of them, by the allowance of thirty days additional.
  • Art. IX. The high contracting parties agree to request that the decision of the arbitrator may, if possible, be made within six months of the delivery of the argument on both sides.
  • They further agree to request that the decision may be made in writing, dated and signed, and that it may be in duplicate, one copy to be handed to the representative of the United States of Brazil for his Government and the other copy to be handed to the representative of Great Britain for his Government.
  • Art. X. The high contracting parties engage to accept the decision pronounced by the arbitrator as a full, perfect, and final settlement of the question referred to him.
  • Art. XI. The high contracting parties agree that the Indians and other persons living in any portion of the disputed territory which may by the award of the arbitrator be assigned either to the United States of Brazil or to the colony of British Guiana shall, within eighteen months of the date of the award, have the option of removing into the territory of the colony or of Brazil, as the case may be, themselves, their families, and their movable property, and of freely disposing of their immovable property, and the said high contracting parties reciprocally undertake to grant every facility for the exercise of such option.
  • Art. XII. Each Government shall provide for the expense of preparing its case. Any expenses connected with the arbitral proceedings shall be defrayed by the two parties in equal moieties.
  • Art. XIII. The present treaty, when duly ratified, shall come into force immediately after the exchange of ratifications, which shall take place in the city of Rio de Janeiro within four months of this date, or sooner if possible.

In faith whereof we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty and have hereunto affixed our seals.


  • Lansdowne.
  • Joaquin Nabuco.

declaration.

The plenipotentiaries on signing the foregoing treaty declare, as part and complement of it and subject to the ratification of the same, that the high contracting parties adopt as the frontier between the United States of Brazil and the colony of British Guiana the watershed line between the Amazon basin and the basins of the Corentyne and the Essequibo from the source of the Corentyne to that of the Rupunumi, or of the Takutu, or to a point between them, according to the decision of the arbitrator.

  • Lansdowne.
  • Joaquin Nabuco.