5o8 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



appoint one, and that these two should decide upon 

 a third member of the board ; the decision of this 

 commission to be final and binding upon both 

 parties to the question at issue. Mr. Allen, the 

 United States Consul, chose to represent me in the 

 matter Mr. Seth A. Pratt, a gentleman of standing at 

 Zanzibar, who had formerly been United States Consul 

 at that port. The Government of Zanzibar entrusted 

 its interests to a Mr. Wilson, at that time its legal 

 adviser. 



Mr. Pratt suggested eight men, from whom a third 

 arbiter was to be chosen, the list embracing English, 

 German, Italian, and French gentlemen. As the ques- 

 tion at issue required the introduction of a large 

 quantity of native testimony, Mr. Pratt, knowing from 

 long experience the impossibility of getting a correct 

 translation of answers through a native interpreter, 

 had nominated men who understood and spoke the 

 Swahili language, and had also counted length of 

 residence in Zanzibar as important, and consequent 

 accjuaintance with the character of the people whose 

 testimony was to be heard. 



The representative of the Government flatly refused 

 to consider any one of the eight gentlemen suggested 

 by Mr. Pratt ; but demanded and insisted that the 

 third member of the board should be one of three 

 whom he named, two of whom in the hearing of Mr. 

 Pratt had expressed opinions hostile to my interests, 

 and the third had just received a decoration at the 

 hands of the Government of Zanzibar for services ren- 

 dered them. Mr. Pratt laboured long and earnestly 

 in order to bring about an agreement as to the third 



