232 
EUROPE AND AFRICA 
mean to the British South Africa of the future; and he con- 
ceived the project of taking over the habitable portion of the 
immense plateau between the Limpopo and Zambesi Rivers 
for Britain, with the hope that it and the vast tropical region 
behind it would ultimately become part of a strong and pro- 
sperous Federal Union of South Africa. 
It was due to his influence largely that the way to the 
north was kept open by the annexation of Bechuanaland in 
1885; but he knew it was out of the question to persuade the 
Home or the Cape Government to undertake such an ex- 
tensive policy of expansion. He, therefore, determined to 
work out the enterprise through a commercial company, be- 
ing convinced, through observation and the expert advice 
of such men as John Hays Hammond, that the mineral and 
agricultural wealth of the region would in time make the 
venture a paying one. Accordingly Rochfort Maguire, ac- 
companied by C. D. Rudd and F. R. Thompson, went into 
Matabeleland and secured a “concession,” on October 30, 
1888, from King Lo Bengula, who ruled over that district 
and Mashonaland, giving them full mining rights and the 
ownership of all metals and minerals in his kingdom in ex- 
change for 1000 Martini rifles, 100,000 cartridges, £500, and 
a subsidy of £100 per month. The British South African 
Company was then formed with a capital of £1,000,000, 
under the presidency of the second Duke of Abercorn. 
Among the original directors were the Duke of Fife, Lord 
Gifford, Alfred Beit, Cecil Rhodes, and other prominent and 
able British financiers. A formal petition was prepared ask- 
ing for imperial recognition and protection, and on October 
29, 1889, the British Government issued a charter ! formally 
incorporating the British South African Company and en- 
dowing it with political as well as commercial powers. On 
February 3, 1891, a deed of settlement was issued authoriz- 
' Hertslet, Com. Treaties, vol. 18, p. 134.