112 AVES ISLAND. 



Testimony in the case of the claim of Philo S. Shelton and Sampson & 

 Tappan, against the government of Venezuela. 



Interrogatories to be propounded to Captain Nathan P. Gribbs, a 

 witness in the matter of a certain claim against the government of the 

 republic of Venezuela, preferred to the Department of State of the 

 United States of America, by Philo S. Shelton, aud George R. Samp- 

 son and Lewis W. Tappan, merchants of Boston, in relation to 

 "Aves," or "Bird Island," now called ""Shelton's Isle," in the Ca- 

 ribbean sea, and in respect of the guano thereon, in December, 1854, 

 and of the eviction of said claimants therefrom, by order of said 

 government of Venezuela, in the month and year aforesaid, and of the 

 taking of the property of said claimants thereat by the same govern- 

 ment, and of their damages and losses sustained by the same. 



I. Are you, or not, a citizen of the United States? Where were 

 you born, and where is your residence and domicil? What has been^ 

 and what is your occupation? and what is your age? and in what 

 employment and where have you been employed for a year past? 

 Please state fully. 



II. What was your employment in the year 1854, and where were 

 jou employed? State fully. 



III. Were or were you not employed by said Philo S. Shelton to 

 go on a cruise of discovery in the Caribbean sea for guano islands ? 

 If so, state fully ; and if you sailed on said cruise, when and where 

 from, and wliat you discovered, and your conduct and proceedings 

 thereupon ; and please state the particulars fully, and especially in 

 relation to Shelton's Isle, if any of them relate thereto; and to your 

 taking possession thereof, if you did so, and describe said isle. 



IV. What were your proceedings on your return to the United 

 States; and did you, or did you not, make arrangements for returning 

 to said isle for said claimants, or either of them; and if so, what 

 arrangements were made? State fully. 



V. If you did leave the United States for Shelton's Isle, when did 

 you so leave, where, and in what vessels, and for whom, and when 

 did you arrive at the isle; and who, if any one, did you meet there, 

 and in what vessel? and state all the particulars fully, and likewise 

 jour proceedings after your arrival at the isle, and the reasons there- 

 for, and how you were employed the first week or ten days there- 

 after. 



VI. State if you did, or did not, continue in the undisturbed occu- 

 pation and possession of said isle and of the guano thereon, for some 

 time, and whether you were or were not employed in the gathering 

 thereof without molestation for some time, and if so, how long; 

 and how much guano was there shipped, if any, during said time, and 

 by whom ; and what vessels, if any, were sent thither by claimants 

 during said time for guano ; and all the particulars of your occupation 

 of said isle, that may be material in this matter ; and whether you 

 were visited by any foreign vessels of war, and if so, what vessels, and 

 when, and what occurred during their visits; and whether your occu- 

 pation was ever objected by any, and whether other vessels visited 

 the isle? 



