British Guiana alleging that the judges on the tribunal acted improperly as a result of a back-room deal between Russia and Great Britain. The British Government rejected this claim, asserting the validity of the 1899 award. The British Guiana Government, then under the leadership of the PPP, also strongly rejected this claim. Efforts by all parties to resolve the matter on the eve of Guyana's independence in 1966 failed; as of today, the dispute remains unresolved. Robert Schomburgk's 1840 commission also included a survey of the colony's eastern boundary with the Dutch colony of Suriname, now the independent nation of Suriname. The
Skepi Creole Dutch Dutch creole language. In contrast to Berbice Creole Dutch, however, Skepi—which name derives from "Yskepi", the first Dutch name of the Essequibo River—was not actively spoken anymore during Robertson's fieldwork. The sample sentences and a Swadesh list compiled by Robertson were thus based on the memories of non-native speakers of the language still spoken by their parents or grandparents. After Robertson published his material, some older sources emerged. In the memoir of reverend Thomas Youd, who was a missionary in British Guiana, it is asserted that British missionaries learnt Skepi in the 1830s and that they used this language in