42 EARLY EAST AFRICA 



occupying strongly fortified houses, their positions 

 were not unlike those of the feudal chieftains of the 

 middle ages, and they even made war upon each 

 other from time to time without reference to the 

 constituted authorities of the period. 



Then came Changamira. Who this chieftain 

 was, or whence he came, is not clear. He is 

 believed to have been a headman of the last Mono- 

 raotapa, but be this as it may, by his wars and 

 descents he darkened the opening years of the 

 eighteenth century to such an extent that the 

 Portuguese had great difficulty in holding their 

 own. Fighting was almost continuous until, shortly 

 after the rebuilding of the fort of Sao Marcel at 

 Sena, by Dom Joao Fernandes d'Almeida about 

 1720, a peace was concluded. Almost as grave, 

 however, in their consequences upon the solidarity 

 of the government system, were the disorders 

 caused in Sena by the Dominican priests, and by 

 some of the powerfully established Portuguese 

 prazo-holders to whom allusion has just been made. 

 But for these, it must be confessed, the instability 

 of the commercial policy of the government was 

 largely responsible, monopolies and privileges of 

 every kind being granted and withdrawn with an 

 air of irresponsibility which would have been start- 

 ling had it not indicated the deep-rooted corruption 

 which had eaten into the heart of the administrative 

 system. In 1755, after numerous singular fluctua- 

 tions of regime, commerce was again thrown open 

 to all Portuguese subjects, and two years later a 

 decree was published which restricted officials from 

 following commercial pursuits. 



