d
compares very favourably with existing conditions elsewhere, being several
degrees more temperate than would be expected. Approximately the mean [v.03
p.0426] maximum and minimum temperatures stand at 80deg and 55deg F.
respectively, with an extreme range of 100deg to 35deg and a mean annual
temperature of 68deg to 70deg. The rainfall varies according to district
from 22 to 32 in. a year and has shown extraordinary stability. Since 1884,
the first year in which a record was taken by Francois Coillard,
Barotseland has known no droughts, though South Africa has suffered
periodically in this respect.

The Zambezi, as would be expected, forms a definite boundary line in the
distribution of many species of fauna and flora. In these respects, as well
as from an ethnological standpoint, Barotseland essentially belongs not to
South but to Central Africa. The great river has also served to prevent the
spread from South Africa into Barotseland of such disastrous cattle
diseases as tick fever and lung sickness.

3. _The Establishment of British Suzerainty._--By the charter granted to
the British South Africa Company in October 1889, the company was allowed
to establish its rule in the regions north of the Middle Zambezi not
included in the Portuguese dominions, and by a treaty of the 11th of June
1891 between Great Britain and Portugal it was declared that the Barotse
kingdom was within the British sphere of influence. The dispute between the
contracting powers as to what were the western limits of Barotseland was
eventually referred to the arbitration of the king of Italy, who by his
award of the 30th of May 1905, fixed the frontier at the Kwando river as
far north as 22deg E., then that meridian up to the 13deg S., which
parallel it follows as far east as 24deg E., and then that meridian to the
Belgian Congo frontier. In the meantime the British South Africa Company
had entered into friendly relations with Lewanika (_q.v._), the paramount
chief of the Barotse, and an administrator was appointed on behalf of the
company to reside in the country. A native police force under the command
of a British officer was raised and magistrates and district commissioners
appointed. In the internal affairs of the Barotse the company did not
interfere, and the relations between the British and Barotse have been
uniformly friendly. The pioneers of Western civilization were not, however,
the agents of the Chartered Company, but missionaries. F.