CHWAKA, DUNGA AND THE WAHADIMU 



them. Sultan Hassani came over to Zanzibar from 

 the mainland and nominally was ruler of the old 

 inhabitants, the Wahadimu, who were driven to the 

 west of the island by the Arabs later. 



He, Sultan Hassani, built a house at Bweni 

 which has now tumbled down. These people for 

 some time remained independent of the Arab rulers, 

 and when Seyyid Said brought his court to Zanzibar, 

 their ruler still continued to be looked upon as head 

 by the original inhabitants, and received annual 

 presents from the Arab Sultan. 



Sultan Hassani was succeeded by his so-called 

 brother. Sultan Hamadi, who became a man of more 

 importance and had more influence with the Waha- 

 dimu. He built a stone house at Dunga, with a 

 mosque, bath-rooms, etc., and had a large household 

 of slaves and retainers. 



He was tax collector for the Seyyid, and also 

 supplied him with labour for the clove picking. 

 His ambitions increasing, he began the present 

 Dunga house, which took ten years to build ; how- 

 ever, he did not live in it long before he died. The 

 house is supposed to be haunted ; some natives saw 

 a black dog, and came running to the European 

 then in residence, to know what dog it was. Also 

 one or two Englishmen have said that on different 

 occasions they have seen an Arab lady and an Arab 

 man. Certainly times were primitive in those days, 

 many slaves were murdered for slight offences ; 



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