'File 35/85 III A 10 French Flag Question' [‎47v] (105/610)

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sions of the Shariat, and did not really accept the compromise made by you in ^
tne mattpr. Now the loss of the buggalow Large trading vessel. has been fully proved to you, and
the injustice which the man has received is obvious; and the Kazi's decision
which the oppressor was prevailed upon to accept was for a trifling sum,
whereas the vessel was worth 2,000 dollars. I therefore now ask you to be
good enough to let me know what measure of justice you propose to dispense,
and whether you are prepared to oblige the aggressor to pay the value of the i i
dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. which was wrecked. I request an early reply. ®
(Signed) R. LARONCE.
ai above is the translation of the original letter addressed by M. Laronce
to the Shaikh of Debai.
(Signed) P. Z. COX.
Muscat, March. 23rd, 1905, V
APPENDIX 3.
Extract from a Despatch from Mr. Sinclair to the Marquess of Lansdowne.
Zanzibar, May 11th, 1905.
(Extract.)
An incident has just occurred here which is of interest in that it seems to
show that we cannot yet relax the precautions which have been taken in past
years for the prevention of slave trading.
On the 5th instant Captain Baker-Baker, of His Majesty's ship " Ternsi- V I -
chore, the Senicr Naval Officer of this station, told me confidentialIv that he JtSfk
had received reliable information that a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. called the " Fath-el-Keir
sailing under [French colours, which had arrived here from Sur in the Persian
Gulf on the 22nd ultimo, intended leaving the harbour the following evenimr.
bhe was then to anchor off a place called Bu-bu-bu, about 7 miles north of
tie port, at which place the nakoda, or captain, had previously arranged with
some of the natives that ho would call and take on board their cocoanuts so
enabling them to evade the payment of duty. By holding out this induce
ment he hoped to get about twenty-five of them on board, when it was his
intention to confine them below deck and set sail on his return voyage to Sur
where it is commonly reported that slaves still fetch from 100 to 200 dollars'
that is about 121. to 2U. a-piece.
Captain Baker-Baker's difficulty lay in the fact that he could not board
a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. flying the Erench flag without disobeying his instructions from the
Admiralty, and, after consideration, we decided that, although the wisdom of
the course was doubtful, yet it seemed to be the only plan to take the Erench
Consul, with whom our relations have lately been of a very friendlv nature
r 11 ^ 0 m 7 c0Ilfidence » ail(i *0 obtain his consent to the boarding of the vessel'
I therefore saw M. Ottavi, who readily promised his co-operation.
The next day, however, I received a letter from M. Ottavi stating that he
had discovered some irregularities in the dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. 's papers which gave him the
power of refusing to renew her licence to fly the Erench flag, but that he had
not then decided what action to take.
Unfortunately, that morning, i .e., the 6th instant, Captain Baker-Baker C
received a telegram from the Admiral directing him to proceed at once to ^
Durban, and he was, therefore, compelled to place the matter in my hands but
left his native interpreter behind, so as to keep me supplied with information.
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