46 [No.86 HISTORY a commercial treaty with the Sultan . But German trade , like other European trade , was conducted through the medium of the Banians, and the German flag was much more rarely hoisted by native vessels (endeavouring to elude British naval vigilance) than was the French. In 1874 the Sultan made overtures to Germany , which Bismarck refused. But next year German political aspirations first took shape .

In 1875 Vice -Admiral Livonius wrote a memorandum urging a German Protectorate over Zanzibar and East Africa. Bismarck prevented its publication . Similar German schemes were promulgated in 1879 and 1882 . Towards the end of 1884 the new German Consul, Rohlfs , was sent to Zanzibar in a man -of -war, and the British Government became uneasy . But Bismarck , in answer to enquiries , assured it that Germany was not endeavouring to obtain a Protectorate over Zanzibar. In a few months the German intention to appropriate the mainland possessions of the Sultan became mani fest . Count Münster, in a Note to Lord Granville (Feb. 6, 1885) stated that he was unacquainted with the amount of direct influence which the United King dom and the Indian Governments have exercised over Zanzibar during the present century: And the Ger man Government claimed precisely the same rights in Zanzibar as were exercised by Great Britain .

Finding the attitude of the British Government sympathetic, Germany proceeded to apply the doc-' trine of " effective occupation ” (as enunciated in the Berlin Act of Feb. 24 , 1885) to the Sultan's mainland possessions, and with great success. That Zanzibar was not a signatory to the Act made little difference.

The Sultan's pretensions to sovereignty reached as far as Tanganyika. His actual authority hardly reached beyond a coastal strip , and , at least in the northern section , was not continuous even there. The German penetration of the interior, actively pursued in 1884 and 1885, reaped its reward when the German East Africa Company , founded by Dr. Peters, obtained, on Feb. 12 . 1885 , a Schutzbrief from the Emperor, who placed