VIII. The goods in transit will be delivered for transport after the formalities prescribed by the preceding clause have been complied with, and the consignee or forwarder has executed a bond of responsibility guaranteeing the respective fiscal duties, in case the goods do not reach their destination.

The cancelling of the responsibility referred to will be effected on production of a certificate from the custom-house to which the goods are destined, which document must be authenticated by the Consular authority.

For this purpose a reasonable period will be fixed in the bond of responsibility within which proof shall be exhibited of the arrival at their destination of the goods forwarded in transit.

IX. Exemption from executing bonds of responsibility is conceded to the consignees of goods in transit which are transported direct to Peruvian ports in vessels which do not touch at any intermediate ports except Manáos and Tabatinga.

The same exemption from executing bonds of responsibility is also conceded to the consignees who effect the transport of such goods in vessels which, although they touch at other intermediate ports, convey them in special compartments sealed by the Customs authority. These compartments may only be opened at the port of entry in presence of the Brazilian Consular authority.

In both these cases the presentation of the list referred to in the previous clause is dispensed with, clearance being effected simply by indicating the number of the packages and their marks and counter-marks.

X. Vessels engaged in transit trade will carry fiscal officers from both Republics according to the requirements of the customs service, in order to verify the destination of the goods.

XI. In connection with direct exportation from Peru to the Atlantic, involving transhipment or deposit at the Brazilian ports of transit, the same stipulations as in the foregoing clauses with regard to importation will be observed in the matter of documents proving the origin of the goods, when it becomes necessary to deposit them in the land or maritime depôts or warehouses, each Government omitting such of the measures within its competency as it may consider unnecessary.

XII. In order that the transit of export articles above alluded to may continue, the consignee will draw up the outward clearance in accordance with the respective custom-house certificates and manifest.

XIII. With the exception of using stamped paper, or affixing stamps, no tax will be levied for the documentary service in connection with clearance in transit of warehoused goods.

XIV. Brazilian products imported into Peru, and Peruvian

products imported into Brazil, by the Amazons, and such of its tributaries as are common to both countries, are exempt from any duties whatsoever.

XV. Merchandize cannot be nationalized, and consequently foreign goods exported from Brazil to Pera, or from Peru to Brazil, will pay the duties established by the respective receiving customhouses.

XVI. Besides the respective manifest which it is customary to send, the custom-houses will forward a list of the goods in transit whenever such is required by the Inspectors.

XVII. The import and export trade of the River Javary, both on the Brazilian and Peruvian shores, will be subject to perfectly equal customs duties on the bases and under the formalities hereafter specified.

XVIII. In case of any contract with vessels or Shipping Companies for reduction of freights in the trade of the River Javary, such reduction will be common to both countries, in order that in the transport there may be the same equality as in the levying of duties.

XIX. Goods or products in transit destined to or proceeding from the River Javary will be put on special manifests separate from the rest of the cargo.

XX. India-rubber proceeding from the region of the River Javary will pay, on the occasion of its export, a tax of 10 per cent. calculated on its official value, and all other products exported from the same region will pay 7 per cent, on the same basis.

XXI. The said official value will be calculated on the last quotations for the goods or products in question on the market of Manáos, which is the most important, and the nearest to the River Javary.

XXII. Import goods (not Brazilian or Peruvian) destined to the district of the Javary, and to either of its shores, will continue subject to the duties actually paid in accordance with Brazilian legislation, until the Brazilian Congress shall constitutionally authorize the Government to make a special reduction for the mixed custom-house, which has been proposed by a Mixed Commission, in which reduction consideration will be given to the remoteness and other conditions affecting the trade of that region.

XXIII. Discrepancies in quality or quantity discovered in the process of clearing and customs inspection will entail the payment of double duties in order to avoid or repress abuses.

XXIV. The High Contracting Parties resolve to establish a Mixed Custom-house at Tabatinga, to insure the faithful execution of the foregoing stipulations affecting the import and export trade of the River Javary, the supervision of the same, and the collection of the customs duties.

XXV. The staff of this custom-house will be appointed by the Government of Brazil, the Government of Peru constituting a Fiscal Agency or Consular Representative, who will keep himself informed of the service connected with manifests, invoices, bills of lading, and certificates of entries of goods and departures of products, as well as of examinations and other processes conducted in the land or maritime depôts of the Mixed Custom-house.

XXVI. A Mixed Commission will frame regulations to be adopted in the Mixed Custom-house after their approval by the two Governments.

XXVII. The acts of the Fiscal Agency or of the Consular Representative shall be valid in the Brazilian custom-house for all customs purposes affecting import and export trading matters.

XXVIII. The sums resulting from customs duties on imports to or exports from Peru, collected by the Mixed Custom-house, will be delivered monthly to the custom-house at Iquitos, in the same form as received.

XXIX. Vessels which receive a "pass" from any of the Brazilian customs ports, bound direct to Iquitos or to any other port on the River Maranhão, or Peruvian Amazons, as well as those which leave the said ports bound to Brazilian or foreign ports, are exempted from making entries at the Mixed Custom-house at Tabatinga; such vessels will receive the fiscal and police visits only in case they land or receive passengers.

XXX. A pass, which is given gratuitously by the Mixed Custom-house, is indispensable for the entrance of vessels into the River Javary, and once the products derived from that district are cleared at the said custom-house, the cargoes will proceed to their destination free from any further inspection or duties, or other taxes whatsoever.

XXXI. For the better exercise of custom-house supervision, and in order to facilitate commercial relations between the Republics of Brazil and Peru in the district of the Javary, the Government of Brazil undertakes to extend its telegraphic line to Tabatinga, and Peru undertakes to continue the same from the said frontier to Iquitos, where the principal Peruvian frontier custom-house is now established.

XXXII. In case of an embargo being placed ou goods or on the vessels or smaller craft conveying them, in consequence of infringement of the Police Regulations concerning the free river transit, the High Contracting Parties stipulate that such embargo shall be raised on the presentation of guarantee or security sufficient to secure the value of the goods detained.

Similarly, when the infraction is punishable only by a fine, the offender will be allowed to continue his journey on giving security

for the amount of such fine, and its effective payment within a convenient period.

XXXIII. Should a vessel of one of the High Contracting Parties be wrecked or damaged, or be abandoned on the river-shore belonging to the other Power, every possible assistance and protection shall be given to the ship and her crew; and the vessel, or any part of her, all her equipment and appurtenances, and all the effects and merchandize which may be saved, or their product in case of sale, shall be faithfully delivered to the owners, or to duly authorized agents.

In the absence of the latter, delivery shall be made to the respective Consul or Vice-Consul, on payment only of the expenses incurred in the preservation of the property, or any others which may be paid in similar cases by national vessels when wrecked; and, in cases of such shipwreck or damage, permission shall be given to land, if necessary, the effects or merchandize which may be on board, without exacting any duty therefor, unless the articles are intended for sale or consumption in the country where so landed.

XXXIV. Both Republics will, for the benefit of navigation, in their river ports, abolish the former taxes, known as light and buoy dues, and will substitute therefor one tax only, on tonnage, as recommended by the Washington Congress, which tax will be levied on the gross tonnage, that is, on the total capacity of the vessel.

The said tax will be levied only on vessels coming direct to their ports, or on such as come indirectly (cases of force majeure excepted), when they embark or discharge cargo.

XXXV. The maximum tax on tonnage will be:

In Brazil, 40 milreis, and in Peru, 20 soles, for vessels of and under 200 tons;

In Brazil, 60 milreis, and in Peru, 30 soles, for vessels over 200 and of and under 400 tons;

In Brazil, 80 milreis, and in Peru, 40 soles, for vessels over 400 and of and under 700 tons;

In Brazil, 100 milreis, and in Peru, 50 soles, for vessels over 700 tons.

XXXVI. The following vessels are exempt from payment of tonnage dues: :

1. Transports and ships of war;

2. Craft measuring less than 25 tons;

3. Vessels which, from any unforeseen or irresistible cause, are compelled to abandon their true course and take refuge in the port; 4. Yachts and other pleasure vessels.

XXXVII. River transits cannot be burdened, directly or indirectly, with any tax, whatever may be its denomination or object, beyond those hereinbefore stipulated, viz. :

Landing and warehousing dues, as provided by Article VI, on goods deposited;

The tonnage dues on vessels, imposed by Article XXXIV; and The stamps or stamped paper, referred to in Article XIII.

XXXVIII. The Republics of the United States of Brazil and Peru bind themselves respectively not to allow the seizure and abduction of aborigines from the territory of one Power to that of the other, and such as are thus violently removed shall be restored to the respective frontier authorities as soon as demanded.

XXXIX. The River Treaty of the 22nd October, 1858, is hereby cancelled, and the present Treaty is substituted therefor.

XL. The present Treaty will remain in force for five years, entering into operation ninety days after the exchange of ratifica tions. On the expiration of the five years the Treaty will continue in force until one of the High Contracting Parties shall notify to the other its desire to terminate the same, and it will determine and cease in all its effects twelve months from the date of such notification.

XLI. The Government of Brazil will procure the approval of all such Articles of this Treaty as, according to the Federal Constitution, are within the exclusive competency of the Congress of the State of Amazonas.

Only after approval of such Articles by said Congress will the present Treaty be ratified in accordance with the legislation of each country, the ratifications being exchanged at Lima, Rio de Janeiro, or other place which may be appointed.

In witness whereof the Plenipotentiaries of the Republics of Brazil and Peru have hereunto affixed their signatures and seals. Done at Rio de Janeiro, this 10th day of the month of October, 1891.

(L.S.) JUSTO LEITE CHERMONT. (L.S.) GUILLERMO A. SEOANE.

DECLARATION entre la France et la Russie pour régler le Payement des Salaires dus aux Marins Français et Russes, ainsi que la remise des successions des Marins décédés des deux Nations. Signée à Saint-Pétersbourg, le 1891.

Novembre,

LE Gouvernement de la République Française et le Gouvernement Impérial de Russie, ayant reconnu utile de régler dans certains cas le mode de payement des salaires dus aux marins Français et Russes, ainsi que la remise des successions des marins sujets de l'un des deux États, sont convenus des dispositions suivantes :