The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia - Forgotten Books

THE ANCIENT RU INS OF RHO

THE

ANC I ENT RU INS

OF RHODES IA

(MONOM OTAPE IM PER IUM )

R . N . H ALL

AND

W . G . NE A L

W ITH OVER SEVENTY ILI US'

I RATIONS . MAPS AND H ANS

METHUEN CO .

36 E ssE x STRE ET w . c

LONDON

1902

DEDICATED, WITH PERMISS ION

THE HON. A . W ILMOT,K.S .G

sum or runucxsu'mmcouucu. or can cowmrAUTHOR or uonouowum(momma) : r t s uouuunr r s AND r r s nus-

row nonnutnon mcum'

r nuns 10 runPRESEN‘

I‘auw nv ”

AS AN EXPRESS ION OF

THE DEEP AND W IDELY SPREAD FEELING OF GRATITUDEEXISTI NG AHONG SOUTH AFRICANS

FOR H IS EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCHES INTO

THE ANC IENT H ISTORY OF RHODES IAAND FOR H IS DIS INTERR ING

FROM THE FORGOTTEN RECORDS INTHE ARCH IVES OIr THE VAT ICAN AND LISBON

INFORMATION CONCERN ING THE ANC IENT RU INS OF RHODES IA

AND THE MEDLEVAL RACES OP

HONOHOTAP/E IMPER IUM

PREFACE

H IS work is presented to the reader as a contributiontowards the preparation of that brief, which , when al l

the possible evidences forthcoming from the hundreds of

ancient ruins in Rhodesia have been secured, shal l be submitted to acknowledged archaeo logists and antiquarians fortheir final pronouncement as to the origin of those ancientpeoples who have left such substantial evidences of pastcivil isation and industry in the territories known M ay asSouthern Rhodesia.The authors are forced to admit that the theory of thesuccessive occupations of Rhodesia by Sabm Ambians ,Phcenicians, and Arabs has , so far as researches have beenmade, exceedingly strong claims for acceptance.W ith reference to Rhodesia being the land from whichthe gold of Ophir was obtained , it may be not iced that therecent d iscoveries in Rhodesia of a vast number of massiveruins, beyond the few mentioned either by Mr. TheodoreBent‘ or Dr . Schlichter ,1' with additional

“ finds ” furtherevidencing the practice by the ancients of Phal lic worship,the arguments in favour of the theory of Rhodesia beingthe source not only of King Solomon’s gold , but also of thewealth in gold possessed by the Sabman nation and theTyrian and S idonian kingdoms, references to which areso frequent in Holy Writ, have been very cons iderably

mRuined Cilia”Mar iana/mud, byJ . Tampons BENT,

with or ientationand mensurntionof the temples by Mr . R. M. W. Swan(London: Longuuns, Green. and

[cur t-ck.

w have beenuected com both prev iously and subsequently, that per iod during which scri ptural referencesare made to the gold of Ophir.The undoubted fact of many millions of pounds sterl ingpresent value of gold having been extracted by the ancientsfrom these territories—some accredited authorities placingthe value. onaconservative estimate of portions of the gold

bearing districts only, at over £75.00Q000—d uring the sameperiod

,which covers the per iod during which bibl ical refer

ences are made to the gold of Ophir , and the admission byauthorities that no part of the then known world , I ndiaincluded , yields such overwhelming evidences of exten sive,continuous

,and successful ancient gold - min ing operations

having been carried on as are found on every hand inRhodesia, leaves much substantial argument to be d isposedof by the opponents of the theory.

The authors , in Chapter iii , have contented themselveswith merely stating the views of the various wr iters on theRhodesia - Ophir theory, without expressing any defin iteOpinions concerning it. For this reason , Professor A . H .

Keane, late V ice President of the Anthropologicali nstitute of Great Britain and I reland , “ in a series of fourscholarly articles on “The Gold of Ophir :Whence Broughtand by Whom ?"has given a new impetus and a neworientation to aperennial controversy. No one can ever saythat the final word has been spoken in any d iscussion , andProfessor Keane would certainly not claim finality for hisjudgment in a matter where we may hope shortly to haveso much additional evidence at our d isposal. But he hasrendered service which the scholar and the practical manof affairs willal ike recogn ise in boldly proclaim ing that if

Published inRbalzm'a, August and September , 1901 , I3, Devomhire Street ,lilbhopqutc Within. E C.

Southern Rhodesiabe not indeed the land of Ophir , it is

yet the land from which Ophir drew its precious treasures .“

Professor Keane, in the course of courteous correspondencewith the authors of this work , has most generously giventhem perm ission to reproduce his conclusions , the argumentsin support of which

,Professor Keane informs them,willshortly

appear in a more elaborated form in a work to be published onan early date, and adds, “The two books— the volume prepared by yourselves and my monograph— shou ld thus be com

plementary of each other. Between us I hope we shal l succeedin settli ng this question in al l its bearings once for all .”

Professor Keane, in summing up his arguments, states“We thus arrive at the following important conclusions,which I trust may now be considered fairly well established ,and may therefore legitimately take the place of the manytheories and speculations hitherto current regarding the‘gold of Ophir,

’ its source and forwarders.l. Ophir was not the source, but the distributor of thegold and the other costly merchand ise brought from abroadto the Courts of David and Solomon .

2 . Ophir was the emporium on the south coast of Arabiawhich has been identified with the Moschaor Portus Nobil isof the Greek and Roman geographers.

3. Havilah was the auriferous land whence came the ‘goldof Ophir,

’ and Havilah is here identified with Rhodesia, themineralised region between the Lower Zambesi and theLimpopo—Mashona, Matahili, and Manica lands.

4. The ancient goldworkings of this region were firstopened and the associated monuments erected by the SouthArabian Himyarites, who were followed, not before the timeof Solomon , by the Phoenicians, and these very much laterby the Mos lem Arabs and Christ ian Portuguese.5 . Tharshish was the outlet for the precious metals and

PREFACE

precious stones of Havilah , and stood probably onthe siteof the present Sofala.6. The H imyaritic and Phoenician treasure- seekers reached

Havilah through Madagascar, where they had settlementsand maintained protracted commercial and social intercoursewith the Malagasy natives. W ith them were associated theJews

,by whom the fleets of H i ram and Solomon were

partly manned .

7. The Queen of Sheba came by the land route, and notfrom over the seas , to the Court of Solomon . Her kingdomwas Yemen , the Arabia Fel ix of the ancients, the capital ofwhich was MaraiabaBahramalakum. Her treasures werepartly imported (the precious metals and precious stones)from Havilah and its port of Tharshish to Ophir, and partly

(frankincense and myrrh) shipped at Ophir from the neighbour ing district of Mount Sephar.8 . Sephar was confused by the Alexandrian authors of

the Septuagint with Ophir, which was the chief emporiumof the SabreanEmpire.

9. In a word,the ‘gold of Oph ir ’ came from Havilah

(Rhodesia), and was worked and brought thence first by theH imyarites (Sabazans and Minaeans), later by the Phcenicians,the chief ports engaged in the traffic being E z ion- gebe r inthe Red Sea, Tharshish in Havi lah, and , midway betweenthese two, Ophir in South Arabia.

to. This central position of Ophir explains how it becamethe intermediate emporium whither the fleets of H iram andSolomon sailed every three years from Es iom- geber for thegold imported from Havilah and for the spices grown onthe slopes of the neighbouring Mount Sephar, not far fromthe deep inlet of Moscha

,round which are thickly strewn the

ru ins of Ophir.l l. These and the other H imyaritic ru ins of Yemenshow striking analogies with those of Rhodesia, while thenumerous objects of Semitic worship and the fragments of

the Himyar itic script found at Zimbabye and elsewhere

south of the Zambesi leave no reasonahle doubt that theold gold - workings and associated monuments of this regionare to be ascr ibed to the ancient Sabcans of S

outh Arahia

I n one point only, however , have the author s formulatedatheory, but this does not relate directly to the inquiry as tothe or igr

"nal builders. This has refer'ence to the qm'

appear s, fromacons ideration of the plan and constructionof almost two hundred ancient ruins in Rhodesia to

naturally unfold itself. This is no novel theory , but amountsto a concretion of the opinions of several authoritativewriters on this question— opinions borne out by themalts

S till, until the arguments advanced inChapter xii havebeencarefully considered by the mder , or until the refer

ruins only, without reference to the suggected periods of

time and their sequence.

Mr. W. G. Neal , of Messrs. Neal and Johnson, has forfive year s beenengaged inexamining and explor ing the

ancient ruins inseveral parts ot odesiaand his investigations have beencar r ied oninthe light of discover ies madeby all the arehaaologists wbo have visited this cormtry to

inquire lnto the questionof the ancient ruins. His investigations cover avery largenumber of ruins ofmajor importanoewhich had not previously beenexamined , many of which

he and Mr . Johnsonwere the fi rst to discover and locate.The fund of informationgained inthae prolonged researches

firming fromaltogether new sour ces many of the opinions

advanced by Mr. Theodore Bent, Dr . Schlichter, Sir John

W il loughby, Messrs . Maund , Phill ips , Rider Haggard , andother writers, and brings to l ight very many fresh factswhich must be weighed by arche ologists in deal ing withthe question of the original bu ilders of the ru insTo this mass of new information is added

,by permission

,

the records of investigations by many leading Rhodesianswho have long devoted considerable time to the study of

this fasc inating subject,while Mr . R N. Hall suppl ies

descriptions of several ru ins of various types of constructionwhich he himself has carefully examined . He has alsocol lated and arranged the information supplied by Mr .

Neal and other local explorers of the ruins,and the historical

por tion of the work is from his pen .There is still a large field open for further explorations

,

as not a single ruin,notwithstanding months of continuous

work within its walls, canbe said to have been exhaustivelyex amined , while many ru ins are altogether unexplored andothers are constantly being discovered .

Palgrave wrote the following after making his researchesamong the ancient ruins of Arabia : “We must give it up

,

that speechless past ; whether fact or chronology ,doctrine

or mythology ; whether in Europe, Asia, Africa, or Americaat Thebes or Palenque

,on Lycian shore or Sal isbury Plain

lost is lost gone is gone for ever.”

But so long as any of the ancient ru ins in Rhodesiaremain unexplored , so long the words of Palgrave cannotapply to the en igma which these ru ins now pr esent, andthe possibility, and even probability, of reconstructing thestory of their past is by no means remote. During the lastfew years some of the mystery of the ru ins has been translated into defi n ite fact, but the ru ins and relics have yetmuch to reveal to the archeologist and antiquarian.The authors consider their efforts in the preparation of thisvolume will have been amply rewarded if the book serves towiden and deepen interest in this most fascinating subject.

THE Authors'acknowledgments are due to the fo llowing

Sir John Wi lloughby, for permission to reproduce from M M

Exmnah’

onr “ Zimbabwe plans of the Zimbabwe ruins andany portions of the text.

Mr . Franklin White, Mining Engineer , for permission to reproduce

Anthropological Institute of Great Br itain and I reland, for permission to reproduce Mr . FranklinWhite’s descr ipt ion andillustrations of Dhio-dhio Ruins.

logical Institute, for permissionto quote from “The Gold ofOphir :Whence Brought and by Whom

Br itish South Africa Company, for several illustrations hithertounpublished and information.

Ancient Ruins Company, Limited, for permission to search the

Cornpany’s books and papers for information.

Mr. W. L. Sclater, Curator South African Museum, Cape Town,for permission to photograph and sketch all the ancient relicsdiscoveredat Zimbabwe byMr . Theodore Bent and others.

Rhodesian Scientific Amociation, Bfilawayo, for publishing for

graph allancient relics inthemuseum.

The late Mr. Telford Edwards, MJ J LE , of Bulawayo, for

ancient ruins .Mr . Nicol Brown, Chairman, Resende, Limited, London, forsecur ing information as to ruins.

Messrs. Har ryand Willie Posselt, Zimbabwe ; Messrs. F. Leech,J. Campbell, and Rowland Buck, Bulawayo, for informationas to cerg nruins.

The Revs. C. D. Helm, Hope Fountain; D. Carnegie, Centenary,and G . Cullen Reed, Bulalema, for information.

Mr . Leonard G. Pusey, of Bulawayo, interpreter to Dr . Kar lPeters’expedition to the Mount Fura distr ict of Zambesia in1 899, for information with regard to ruins inthat distr ict.

Mr . J . Withers Gill, Bulawayo, for plan of Khami Ruins

Messrs. W. Dawn Copley, R. L. McDonald, 8. P. Mellor ,Bulawayo, and C. W. M’Kecknie, Edinburgh, for photographs oi ruins.

Mr . S . B. Barnard, Adder ley Street, Cape Town, for permissionto reproduce photograph of ancient bowl which forms thefrontispiece in Mr . Bent’s work .

Mrs. Rausch, Mr . Turner , and Mr . L. Pedrotti, photographersat Bulawayo, for permission to reproduce any photographs ofruins or relics.

Messrs. David Ferguson, u. r.as , J . Cour tenay Mance, MiningEngineer , and Robert Adamson, Bulawayo, for assistance inpreparation of plans of ruins.

Mr . F. R. Williams, Bulawayo, and Mr . Nigel Lewis, Penarth, forsketches of several ruins and decorative patterns.

Mr . Alfred Bromwich, London, for assistance with information,maps, etc.

Also to several Native Commissioners, Mining Engineers, andProspectors, who kindly obtained special information requiredby the authors.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CONTENTS

CHAPTER Vllluse

Where were the ancients bur ied i— Methods of ancient burialdescr ibed—Bur ied treasure—Old Kadir bur ials—Ancient garments

CHAPTER lX

tecture, ancient history,and present conditions

CHAPTER XThe ancientsandmodernnatives

CHAPTER X lAncient relics and finds ” discovered inthe ruins

CHAPTER Xll

Architectureand constructionof ancient ruins inRhodesia

CHAPTER X I ]!The Great Zimbabwe—Der ivation—Early references— Explorers

S ituation Per iod lmportance Extent Ornamentation

CHAPTER X IV

Khami ruins

CHAPTER XVRuins inthe M’

Pateni distr ict, Belingwe

CHAPTER XVI

Ruins inEast Belingwe

CHAPTER XVll

Ruins inNorth Belingwe

CHAPTER XVlll

Ruins inFilabusi distr ict

CHAPTER Xix

Ruins inUpper lnsitadistr ict

CHAPTER XXRuins inGwandadistr ict

CONTENTS xvn

CHAPTER XX I

Ruins inGwelo distr ict

CHAPTER XX I ITatiand North Bechuanaland ruins

CHAPTER XX I I IRuins inMatabeleland located but not descr ibed

CHAPTER XX IVRuins inMashonaland

CHAPTER XXV

Ruins inlnyangaand Mount Furadistr icts

APPEND IX

Someancient hammers found inthe Tati districtDescr iptionof anancient copper mineAncient copper -workings

The Clay ZimbabweFind onMount Hova

Mashonas and gold - extraction

Ophir”and India

t nicianenterpr ise

The late Mr . Thomas Baines’ sketches of ZimbabweTo Archaeologists inRhodesia

Messr s. Nealand JohnsonMorning P ost on P rofessor Keane’s ar t icles on

Gold of Ophir

lunax

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ConicalTower , Elliptical Temple, ZimbabweSections of Ancient Gold - workingsWedzaor Baden- Powell Ruins, showing Her r ing - bone and Check

Patterns

Native labourers clearing out anancient working on the B. P .

Reef, Filabusi

Gold Ornaments and Pottery discovered by Messrs. Nealand Johnsonat Dhlo - dhlo and M’TelegwaRuins

Gold Beads and Bangles discovered at Mundie Ruins by Messrs. Neal

and JohnsonBaobab Tree

Soapstone Beams with Birds, ZimbabweFront, side, and back views of Soapstone Birds , ZimbabweRelics discovered at ZimbabweWoodenbowlwith signs of Zodiac, found near ZimbabweFuko-

ya- Nebandge,”

the Mashonaland Relic, discovered nearZimbabwe by Mr . Har ry Posselt

Relics inMuseum, Bulawayo ( t )Relics inMuseum, Bulawayo (2)Soapstone Beamdiscovered by Mr . Edward Muller at Dhlo - dhlo

Ruins

BrokenWallat Zimbabwe showing bonded courses of First Per iod

Architecture

Rounded Entranceat Lotsani-Limpopo RuinsSectionof Wall, Lundi Ruins, showing Check and Sloping- block

Patterns

Decorative Patterns—Check, Dentelle, and ChevronChevronPatternonwall of EllipticalTemple, ZimbabweHer ring -bone Pattern formed of large tile- like stones, Little Um

ankwanaRuinsThree views of ZimbabweConicalTower , EllipticalTemple, ZimbabweThe Passage, ZimbabweDivisionalWalls, inside EllipticalTemple, Zimbabwe

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

23. Wallat Khnnxi, showing Check Pattern24. C M No t RuinnKhamh looking north25. No. 2 Ruins, Khami, looking west26. No. 3 Ruins, Khnmi, fromsouth -enst, showing Squared Entnnce

Rounded Entrance, No. 8 Ruins, KhamiPortionof west wall, witt eck Pnttem, No. to Ruins, Khami,

east bankot ami River39. No. 9 Ruins, Khami. Inter ior View, showingboulder over whichwall

is car r ied

Oblo-dhlo Ruins, Upper InsizaRuins of Dhlo dhlo (I I)

(I II)

( IV)

(V)

Meewee Ruins, West Gwanda. View of outside wall, with Check303

308

36. Ancient “ Slave Inside View of Entrance 364

Meewee RuinnWest Gwanda. k ofmsidemmwith ller r ing

MAPS AND PLANS

Tbe East of the Egyptians and Phaznicians

Nos. 1 andaRuins, ZimbabweEllipticalTemple, and No. 3 Ruins, Zimbabwe

Planof UmnukwanaRuinsPlanot lo -dhlo Ruins tllPlans of Check, Chum, and Thabas ImambaRuinsPlanof Mundie Ruins

Plans of M’Tendele, Lundi, and Little Zimbnbwe Ruinslarge Map ot odesia, showingareaof Ancient Ruins

ANCIENT RUINSDEALT W ITH IN TH IS worm

Great ZimbabweKhami Ruins.

UmnukwanaRuins. Jombi Ruins .

Little UmnukwanaRuins.

Gombo’s No. 1 Ruins.

Gombo’

s No . 2 Ruins.Three unnamed ruins in

M’Pateni district.

Mundie Ruins.Nuanetsi Ruins.

Little Nuanets i Ruins.

Essengwe Ruins.

Little Essengwe Ruins.Escepwe Ruins.

Little Escepwe Ruins. M'

Wele Ruins.

Two unnamed Ruins in M'Wele Tr ibutary Ruins.

Belingwe district.Wheel of Fortune Ruins. Evans’ Store Ruins.Bala- balaRuins.

Two unnamed Ruim in

Dhlodhlo Ruins.

N’

Natali Ruins.

Tuli Ruins.Lumeni Ruins.

GoluluRuins.

Little Go luluRuins.

Thabas Imamba or MamboRuins. UmvungaRuins .


903. Arabs knownto be settledat Sofala(Wilmot).

1 000 (cira). Arab wr iter Albyrouny describes the commerce of

1 1 50 (cirm). Edrisi, Arabiangeographer , dacr ibes Sofalaas “acountry of gold,

"and mentions that gold inabtmdance

1 2 50. IbnSayd also describes Sofalaas acormtry of gold.

1 403 .

1 403.

1 480. Covilhams visited Sofalaand heard of the goldmines.

1 486. Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by Dias.

1 497 Doubling of the Africancontinent by Vasco daGm who

anchoredat Sofala.

becomes tributary to Portugal.

1 55 3 . De Barros mentions Zimbabwe1 560

- 1 750. Portuguae Jesuit Missions flourished inMonomotapa.

1 56 1 . Murder of the prom-martyr of Monomotapa— FatherSilveira.

1 570. Father J . Santos described the south-east coast of Afr icaandMonomotapa.

1 572 (July). Portuguue expedition started inland for Monomotapato avenge themurder of Father Silveira, but diseaseanddeath preventedmore than a temporary success .

1 588. Livio Sanuto described Monomotapa.1 590 (circa). Hordes of Gascmbe from nor thern Zambesia ravage

1 59 1 . Position of Portuguese on south-east coast precar ious(Captains Lancaster and Guillain).

1 59 1 . The Moumbos (Momboa) were at this time not vassals ofthe King of Monomoupabut assisted Portugueseagainsthim(Diego de Conto).

THE ANCIENT RUINS

OF RHODES IA

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

Nmany senses canit bemostmrly said of khodes iatlmit is The Land ol

'

Romance. lt is inRhode-iathat the

David I i vingstoneb lies bur ied ln the awfi rl solitnde of

I lala,in Chitambo’

s Vale, near Lake Bangweolo, he bmthed

his last while on his bended kncs praying for the regener ation of the dusky sons of Africa.I n 1 855 Livingstone discovered the great Zambesianwonder— the Victoria Fal ls'— but exactly forty years to the

were leascd by the Char tered Company to alimitcd liability

uti l ised for supplying electrical power to the gold - miningindust y ot odesie while the shr-iekof the railway engine

girafl'

es, z ebras, and wild buck, and the hundrcds of rhinos ,

hippopotami, and crocodiles that swarminthe vallcys of theZambesi ; and coaLl

'

rornwhat is believed to be the largestknowncofl areainthe world, willbc t rucked fromnear theFalls down south to the Bulawayomarlret .

M M . Héghts d papendicuh r cliL irmnz g ieet w fl leet

”W M . Height of papo dicnh l difl'

, 167m Width d lloue-choe

Fat md Amaica afls,B

4 ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODESIA

But the romance of deep mystery and awe is the al lengrossing romance of Rhodesia. Whence the more than fivehundred ancient ruins of temples and forts which are to befound scattered all over Rhodesia, and which Sphinx - l ikehold back their hidden secrets ? We fear these Cyclopeanwalls will be bombarded with whole arsenals ofmetaphysicaland scientifi c phrases of high - sounding import before thesecret of their presence is wrung from them. Al ready havesome modern globe- trotting Don Quixotes tilted againstthese grandly silent walls

,and have placed their puny quad

amt demonstrandamto their most original and dogmaticconclusions concerning them.

Fortunately such men as Baines, Mauch, Mofl‘

at,Bent

,

W i lmot, S chl ichter, Holub, Condor, W i l loughby, Selous,Maund

,Phill ips

,and others

,have admirably paved the way

for archaeologists and antiquarians, with the advantage of

additional and later di scoveries to carry the so lution of theproblem presented by the ru ins a stage nearer to author ita

S ince the days when David Livingstone, journeying on hismissionary tours through the territories which long yearsafterwards came to be known as Northern Rhodesia, calledthe attention of the world to the existence of the numerousand extensive ruins of ancient cities in this country

,much

has been written on this interesting subject. From RobertMofl

'

at, the missionary pioneer of the fifties, to Dr . S chl ichter

,the arche ologist of the very late nineties, is a long cry,

but the period intervening has beenpr olific in men more or

less conversant with the sc ience of antiquarian research, whohave done much to translate the myths and traditions concern ing these massive ruins of a bygone age into somethingapproaching historic fact.TomBaines, once the companion of Livingstone

,with

his inherent love of investigating the secrets of the pastand with the quick and appreciative eye and enthusiasm of

atruear fi st was the fi rst to commenoe the workof reducingfromchaos to method the informationconcerning the ruinsof which Livingstoneand Mofl

’at had only givengeneralandcasual , but none the less accurate descriptions. The effort sof Baines in this directionshould never be forgotten He

prepared the way for the tr oops of archz ologists who have

Dr . Mauch in 1 87 1 may be almost considered as the

Mashonaland contemmrary of Baines in Matabeleland andMashonaland. Though Mauch knew little of this countryand his theor ies as to the history of the ruins have beenshown to be far - fetched , yet the marvellous exactness of hisdescript ions of the ruins and the reliabil ity of his information give him a high place among the early pioneers of localresearch.Mr. Theodore Bent is so far the Trojan of antiquarians

who have written on this question. He ranks first as givingthe greatest volume of information and descr iptive detailconcern ing the ruins. His work, taken in conjunction withthe surveys, orientation, and mensuration of the templesobtained by Mr. Swan, constitu tes a valuable text- bookwhich every student of th is subject must peruse. H is

quotations from the writings of professors of Arabian andEgyptian archaeology are not on ly intensely interesting, butare to the point. H is arguments in favour of the theory ofthe Sabte0~Arabianand Semitic origin of the ancient go ldworkers in this country are accepted in the main by manystudents of arche ology as being far the most probable.Major Condor, the Syr io- Arabian Savant, in his referenceto our ancient ruins throws a vast amount of l ight on thetheory

,while its worth can be inferred by perusal of the

Arab writings of the n inth and tenth centuries.Mr. W ilmot’s investigations in the archives of Lisbonand Rome resulted in the bringing to light of the lettersof the Jesuit missionaries ( 1 560- 1 750, these are altogether

motapaand Mombo. H is narr ation of trad itionpr evail ingthenamong the Arab traders of the coast and also amongthe local races of that per iod, br ings us nearer to the historyof the ancients, between whose occupation and that of thevarious success ive kings , who each assumed the dynast icnames of Monomotapaand Mombo,many if not very manycenturies must have intervened. The d iscovery of cannonat Dhio—dhlo Ru ins, together with the personal articles ofthe Jesuit miss ionary, and of the Portuguese fort to thenorth of the Chicago - Gama mine, and those scores of othersthroughout the country are interesting, but thw e relate to acomparatively modern period. Mr. W ilmot‘s work containsi nformation so descriptive of the times of the MonomotapaMombo dynasties that one can almost see in one’s mind’seye pictum of the life of those partially civilised andpowerful Makalanga peoples, whose influence was utterlydestroyed when the northward march of the Amaswaz ibegan ; when Mombo was sk inned al ive at his royal k raal ,which was buil t within the ancient ru ins which crown the

Reverting once more to the ruins of the Z imbabwe periods,

we can mention the works of S chl ichter, Holub, Phil l ips,Mound. W illoughby, Selous, Professor Bryce, and some

INTRODUCTORY

sets of ancient bu ildings, which altogether include barelyfifty ru ins out of the five hundred at least which are bel ievedto be scattered over Rhodesia. Our partial acquaintance withsome fifty ru ins, and our lack of any publ ished informationconcern ing some four hundred and fifty others, left much tobe accomplished before our knowledge of these monumentsof the past could be said to be complete. But a vast amountof hitherto unpubl ished information relating to some twohundred and more ru ins is to hand

,the work of accumulating

which has occupied the attention of several whose mindspossessed the natural bent for this particular study, anda considerable portion of whose leisure has been devoted tosuch research . Further, Messrs. Neal and Johnson , the lesseesunder the several grants to Messrs. Gifford and JeffersonClark,of the right of investigating the ancient ruins south of theZambesi, have gathered an additional quantity of mostinteresting and most important information since they commenced operations in May

, 1 89 5. Their information, togetherwith the unpublished information secured by others, is nowgiven to the public. The work does not pretend to ventilatemere theories, but it is brimful of facts arranged in sucha way that he who runs may read .

S ir Henry Rawlinson , President of the Royal GeographicalSociety, delivered his Annual Address on the 22nd May, 1 876,and referred to Mr. Baines’ career and death in the followingmanner 1

Thomas Baines, the wel l - known African traveller andpainter of African scenery, died at Durban , Natal , onthe 8thMay, 1 875 , whilst preparing for another of his numerousexpeditions into the unexplor ed interior of the Continent.He was amanof marked individuality of character , a bornartist and explorer, a lover of w ild l ife, and skil led inall theshimand resources of an explorer’s career. Few men wereso wel l endowed with these and other qual ifications for suc~cessful African travel, and perhaps none possessed greater


mission with which he was entrusted,namely

, avoyage ina schooner from the Victoria River to Java to pr ocure freshprovisions for the Exped ition, after their traverse by landfrom the Victoria to the Albert R ivers. The large series ofsketches in oilmade by Baines during this, as wel l as thesubsequent Zambesi Expedition, were afterwards d ividedbetweenthe Kew Museum and our Society. Onthe termination of the Expedition in 1 856, Baines returned to England ,and on revisiting his native town was presented with thefreedom of the borough by the corporation .When the Zambesi Expedition , under Dr . Li vingstone,

was organised , early in 1 858 , Baines was selected to mmpany it as artist and storekeeper. Anunhappy disagr eementwith Mr. Charles Livingstone, the brother of the greattraveller, led to Mr. Baines’ retirement, much against hisown wilLand he proceeded to the Cape. H is love of ex

ploration was at this time as keen as ever, and havingbecome wel l versed inthe use of astronomical and surveyingins truments , under the supervision of S ir Thomas Maclear,Astronomer Royal at the Cape, he accepted the invitation ofhis friend , Mr. Thomas Chapman, an ivory- trader, to accompany himon a journey from the south - west coast to theVictoria Fal ls of the Zambesi. Anaccount of this journeywas publ ished by him in 1 864 on his return to England ,under the title ofM icro fi ber inS our/1 West Afi r

’

ar beinganAccount af ar /W 131 1 86 1 Walv rkce ay toLakeNgawt

'

and dc: Victor iaFalls . Besides a complete route

IO ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODESIA

survey and very numerous sketches , Baines made on thisjourney a collection of objects of natural history. He spentseveral weeks at the Victoria Fal ls, making drawings andmeasurements ; and published , besides the narrative justmentioned , a folio volume of coloured l ithograph s of thisremarkable cataract.

“The years 1 864 - 8 Baines spent inEngland , employinghimself in bringing out the works above mentioned , lecturing,writing, and drawing il lustrations for various periodicals. H is

industry was without l imit. Early and late he was to befound in his painting- room

,or at the desk

,and his time and

abil ities were at the service of anyone who needed them ,

with or without payment ; for among his most striking characteristics was an utter indifference to worldly considerations.At the end of the year 1 868 he again went out to Africa,under engagement with a company to explore the goldfieldsof the Tati , recently discovered , or re discovered , by CarlMauch and Mr. Hartley. He succeeded in obtaining thefriendship of Lo

’Bengula, the successor of the celebrated

Moselikatz e, the paramount chief of the region in which laythe goldfields. From himhe obtained valuable concessionsfor the company he represented but nothing came of al l histoilsome journeys and successful diplomacy ; the distanceswere too great and the company had no capital . Baineswas never reimbursed his expenses , and had, on his return toNatal , to toi l again as an artist to obtain a livelihood . The

results of his explorations inthe gold regions were, however,of considerable importance to geography. He mapped verycarefully the country and the route thi ther from the capitalof the Transvaal Republ ic, and wrote a description of theregion, which is now about to be published under the editorship of his old and tried friend, Mr. H . Hall , of Cape Town .

A reduction of his map was published in our j ournal, vol . xli.,in il lustration of an abr idgment of his journals by Dr . R. J .Mann . I n 1 873 our Counci l recognised the value of Baines

’

geographical services by presenting him with a testimonialgold watch. He undertook, subsequently, other journeysinto the adjoin ing Cafl

'

re countries, always mapping most

I I

carefq his routes and sketching scenery and people. Aftera visit to Port El izabeth he planned a new journey, almostalone, to the gold d istrict north of Tati , taking with hima small quartz- crushing machine

,and had prepared all his

outfit and waggons for the journey when he was struck downwith the old enemy of so many African travellers—dysentery—at Durban, and died ,as before stated , on the 8th May, 1 87

The fol lowing obituary notices are extracted from thejournals of the Royal Geographical Society .

I t is with much regret that we record the prematuredeath of Mr. J . Theodore Bent, wel l known to the geographicalworld for his archaeological ex plorations in various partsof Africa and South -West Asia. Mr. Bent had but recentlyreturned from his last expedition to Sokotra and SouthernArabia, on which he had suffered severely from malarialfever. A chill caught on the way home brought about arelapse , and pneumonia setting in , he succumbed after ashort il lness on May sth, at the early age of forty - five years.

“The deceased traveller was the only son of the late JamesBent, of Baildon House, near Leeds. H is schooldays werespent first at MalvernWel ls and afterwards at Repton ,whencehe proceeded toWadham Col lege,Oxford . After studying forthe Modern H istory S chool, he graduated with honours in1 875 . I n 1 877 he married Mabel, daughter of the lateRobert Westley Hall~Dare

,D.L. , of County Wexford and

Essex, who subsequently became his companion on all hisexploring journeys. To escape the rigours of the Engl ishwinter, Mr. and Mrs. Bent annual ly left their house in GreatCumberland Place to proceed to a more genial clime, and inthis way they soon became thoroughly acquainted withmanyof the countries of South Europe. Mr. Bent had a remarkablefacility for acquiring languages, and he was a fluent speakerboth in Ital ianand modern Greek . I n 1 885 he embodiedthe results of his journeys in the Archipelago in a volumeentitled Th Cyclades, or L572 among tlw Insular Greeks.

His taste for arche ological research led himfrom 1 889

onwards to choose for his scene of action such districts as

1 2 ANCI ENT RUINS OF RHODESIA

by their antiquarian remains presented problems relatingto the history of the ancient nations or races of the East.I n that year he visited the Bahrein I slands, in the PersianGulf, the result of his investigations being to show thegreat probability that the group was a pr imitive site of

the Phcenician race . After a visit to Cil icia Tracheia in1 890, he, during the fol lowing winter, set himself to so lveone of the most interesting questions connected with theancient history of Eastern Africa and South -West Asia,viz. the origin of the ancient remains which had beendiscovered at Zimbabwe, in Mashonaland . A careful exploration of the ruins led him to conclude them to be thework of pre - Mohammedan inhabitants of Southern Arabia,who are known to have been an enterprising commercialpeople in very ancient times. Mr . Bent described theresults of this journey in a book cal led Tire Ruined 612121: qfMas/10114 111 1111

At the end of 1 892 Mr. and Mrs. Bent again set out forAfrica, th is time to investigate the extensive ru ins in thenorth of Abyssin ia. This journey threw much new lighton the ear ly connection between the people of Abyssin iaand those of South -West Arabia, whence both the writingand language of the old Abyssinians must have beenderived . I t is described in Mr. Bent’s volume, TIn Sacr ed

of tire I n the winter of 1 893-

4 SouthernArabia, the mother country of both the peoples whoseantiquities had been examined in the two preceding years,was visited and a considerable addition made to our knowledge of the little - known Hadramut country. This wasrevisited dur ing the succeed ing winter, whilst that of

1 895—6 was devoted to exploration on the African coastof the Red Sea. The last, fatal journey is said to haveresulted in the discovery of fresh archaological matter inSokotra and Southern Arabia, in the latter of which somenew ground was broken .

“ Mr. Bent’s kindly and genial natu re had endeared himto a wide circle of friends, by whom his loss wil l be keenlyfelt. To our Society, of which he became a Fellow and

INTRODUCTORY

Member of Council in 1 890, he always read ily communicated the results of his journeys, and both the P roceedingsand j ournal bear witness to the wide range of his travels.Besides the works mentioned above and various magazinearti cles , Mr. Bent in 1 893 edited a volume on 5 11 10Tmud:inwe Levant for the Hakluyt Society.

"

“ I t is with great regret that we record the prematuredeath, from the results of malarial fever, of Dr . HenrySchlichter, well knownto our readers as a zealous student ofAfrican geography, past and present. We believe that Dr .

Schlichter never fully recovered from the efl'

ects of i llnesscontracted during his exped ition to South Africa in 1 897

- 8,

but though he travelled in the hope of benefiting by a changeof air, he finally succumbed at Waibl ingen , Wur temberg, atthe beginning of April last.

Dr . Schl ichter was bor n and educated in Germany, butafter graduating at S tuttgart University he came to thiscountry and eventually became natural ised as a Britishsubject. For some years he held the post of consultingscientist to the Jaeger Company, but he devoted much of

his time to study and research on geographical questions,especially those connected with Africa and the history ofgeography general ly. I n 1 89 1 he read before our Societyan important paper on Ptolemy’s Topograpby of Eas ternEquator ial Afr ica, i n which he showed that the descr ip

tions of that geographer were quite capable of being fittedin with the facts brought to l ight by modern discovery, andwere therefore based on actual knowledge. A nearly alliedsubject to which he paid special attention was that of theruins indicating the existence of ancient gold - mines in SouthEast Afri ca, and onthis he contributed several papers

,both

in PmmaxmM itta’

lxngmand in the Geograpbical j ournal,after the expedition of Mr. Theodore Bent had red irectedpublic attention to the problem presented by the ruins ,throwing valuable l ight on the ancient commercial intercourse between Arabia and Eastern Afr ica. About the

at present to argue against this theory), yet the brief forthe view of Rhodesia being Ophir is incomplete, and someproofs have yet to be added before a perfect case could besubmitted for final judgment.To build up a theory based upon the investigation of one

or two ancient ruins only would be as fatal,absurd, and

valueless,besides being misleading

,as an attempt to theorise

concerning the astronomical system upon the examination ofone or a few stars.Ancient ru ins, as defined below for the purposes of thiswork

,vary greatly in the style of their architecture, designs,

construction,elliptical character

,radi i of curvature, orientation

of points, extent, situation , per iod , evident purpose of erection

,and other points .

For instance, in architecture we have, it is held , at leastfour recognised varieties

(a) Best or first Z imbabwe period .

(6) Second Zimbabwe period .

( c) Decadent Zimbabwe period .

(d) Period when local races endeavoured , with ill success,to adopt Zimbabwe style of architecture.While in many ruins are found two or more styles ofZimbabwe architecture together, evidently showing reconstructions or additions of the later periods.Again , the designs vary, and include the (a) Chevron ,

(a) Dentelle, (c) Herring- bone, (d) Chess- board or Check ,and other patterns.Nor need every article discovered in an ancient ruin benecessari ly ancient, for investigations within the ru ins, insome instances to a depth of fifteen feet, have proved thata succession of races, with long periods of time intervening,have occupied these bui ldings, and in some instances as manyas four occupations are known , and al l at d ifferent level s.Our definition of an ancient ru in is : Rainoffor t, temple,

or other Ami/dig; « 1mmmaple: of ar r/nur tur e of one

or m of tdr l r’mkbmpn

’

ods.

RUINED TEMPLES AND PORTS 1 7

bifildings built of stone with mor tar to be found inMaw e

and Man icaland , as well as those built of piled-up, unhewnstonmwithout mor tar, which exist all over Rhodesia, mostlyonkopjes, built, as is conjectured, by one of the two or moreraces of Abolosi ( the latter race or races of conquero rstaking the name of the fir st),also the ruins of old Portuguesebu ild ings found in the north and east ofMashonaland and inparts of Matabeleland, and also the circular stone buildingsof the Makalangas.

’

I t is estimated that in Rhodes ia there are very consider

ably over five hundred distinct sets of ancient ruins , asdefined above, all bui lt during the Zimbabwe periods, andpr es enting the recognised features of Zimbabwe architecture. Of these over five hundred groups of ruins almosttwo hund red canbe b camd onthemap canalso be specified

by name and also described. A further number cannot at

present be located oneventhemost recent map, owing to

the positions of rivers, kopjes, and kraals in the remoterdis tricts being ill-defined, and in some instances altogetherincorrectly given, though particulars as to where such ruinscan be found , together with some descr iption of the buildings

,are ready to hand. These latter ruins are so far

unnamed , the natives calling all such ruins Um-Tafiala”

(wal ls), or else Zimbabwes.”Many of the ru ins of major importance, probably of towns ,

comNetely cover immenseareas insome casesasmuchas one

clearly discernible inmost. Others are of minor importance,

without temple or goldo smelting furnace, and from theirscattered and outlying situations are considered to have beenfor ts, or places of refuge, for the defence of the workers in

the various gold - reef d istricts, or when found in chains,

Allv dteuagmthunone time the lh h hngubuih cireuh r hmofm“ Chapter s .


CHAPTER I I I

SUPPOSED SAB/EO - ARABIAN OR H IMYARITICOCCUPATION OF RHODES IA CONS IDERED

N giving an outl ine sketch of the arguments support ingthe hypothesis of the Sabmo - Arabian or H imyaritic

occupation of Rhodesia,it should first be stated that this

branch of the Semitic family was, at the earliest dawn of

history,occupying Yemen or Southern Arabia.

The Phoenicians,antiquar ians believe, found their or igin

in the land of Chaldaea, whence, according to Herodotus,Justin

,and Renan

,they migrated to the Persian Gulf

,br ing

ing west their marvellous knowledge of astronomy and thezodiacal science (some say of electricity, other s say also of

alphabetic wr iting), as also their nature worship, stoneworship being included in nature - worship. They spreadover Arabia as far as the Med iterranean coast, the Sabazanand H imyaritic branches of this Semitic race occupyingYemen or Southern Arabia. These two branches of thePhoenicians— Sabaean or H imyaritic— may be treated andmentioned as one ; in fact, the most renowned archaologistsand antiquarians speak of them as Sabezo - Arabians, Sabmans,Himyar itics, and Sabeeo - H imyar itics.

The Phoenicians proper finally ( 2000 B.C.) establ ished theirkingdom of Phoenicia on the eastern shores of the Mediter

tanoan and became a separate nation , while the SabmoArabians remained settled in Southern Arabia, with theancient Marib as the capital of the Sabaean kingdom.

From the Phoenician kingdom on the Mediter ranean off

shot the Phoenician colonies of Carthage, Sardinia, Malta,S icily, Cyprus, H ippo, Marseil les, Utica, Pelusium, Cicilia


(Tarsus), Memphis ( in Egypt), and those in most parts of

the Mediterranean. These were the people who worked fortin in the British I sles

,who, it is believed , left the memorials

standing to this day of their nature - worship in I reland ,Scotland, England , and even in Iceland , and who gaveSpain its earl iest history. Whether they were the samepeople who erected the stone temples, circles, and monolithsin South America and the South SeaI slands is a questionnot arising in connection with Monomotapa. Later we shallnotice the connection of Rhodesia with the MediterraneanPhcenicians.

Some of the arguments advanced as to the Sabeo -Arabianshaving occupied Rhodesia may be stated as follows

1 . The almost identical resemblance pointed out by Profossor Muller, the great South Arabian archaeologist, of

Z imbabwe to the Temple of Haram of Bi lkis, or Queen of

Sheba, which is near Marib, the capital of the old Sabaankingdom of Southern Arabia.’

Z IMBABWE.

Plan , system of curved Practically the same.wall s, geometrical building,orientation .

I nscription on Marib is in Two rows of chevron pattwo rows, and runs round a tern run round a fourth partfourth of the circumference. of the cir cumference.Half of el l iptical wal l on The same at Zimbabwe

,

the side of inscription is well where the pattern side of thebuilt and wel l preserved, but wal l is well built. The otheropposite side is badly buil t portion is rough.and ruined .

Temple was dedicated to H ighly probable that Zimthe goddess Almaquah ( the babwe was a Sabatan Almastar Venus, which is called quah tcmme,as it is or ientated

Burgeuund Schlosm"

(11. so).

SABZEO-ARABIAN OCCUPATION 23

inH imyaritic tongue Ialma and geometrical ly bui lt for

quah, or Almaq- illuminating). astronomical purposes, as inal l cases of such bui ldingsused for the worship ofA lmaquah. S acred birds found atZimbabwe are said to reptesent Venus, the morn ing star

This argument by analogy can also be appl ied to almostall the Zimbabwes in Rhodesia which were built during thefirst Zimbabwe period .

2 . Herr Brugsch emphasises the Sabaan occupation of

Monomotapa, but believes the images of the birds found atZimbabwe represented the zodiacal light, the previous andthe after - glow. M . Naville is especial ly of opinion thatthere exists a strong connection between Venus

,the star of

the Sabaans, and the goddess worshipped at Zimbabwe.

3. The historical fact that the Sabz an nation was enormously rich ingold .(4 ) I n x700 D.C. ,

on the monuments in Punt, were depictedostrich feathers

,leopard skins

,giraffes

,l ions, cynocephalous

apes , elephants’ tusks, and ingots of gold, al l essentially

products of South - Eastern Africa. Aristeas,Agathar cides,

and Old Testament references— such as “The merchants ofSheba wer e thy merchants ; they occupied in thy fairs

[markets] with all precious stones and gold (Ezek .

xxvii. 2 1 , 22)—all testify to the enormous gold - holding ofthe Sabe ans, who suppl ied the then known world with themetal .

(6) There is common agreement of authorities that inArabia itself li ttle

,if any

,gold was to be found . The gold

must therefore have been imported .

(c) Aristeas states that the gold brought to Rome did notcomefr omArabia, but was brought by the Arabians.4. The great majority of recogn ised archaologists and


antiquarians of Europe who have written on this questionexpress views favouring the hypothesis that the first occupation of this country was that of the Sabz o-Arabians , orH imyar itics of South Arabia, while the minority of suchwriters do not argue against the suggestion .Herr Glaser, the Arabian traveller and decipherer of Him

yaritic inscr iptions, states : “ So much is absolutely certain ,that H imyar (Arabia) then possessed almost the whole of

East Africa. S uch a possession , however, was not won ina night, but rather presupposes centuries of exertion.

"Dr . Schl ichter, in the Geographical j ournal (July,ful ly descr ibes the commercial relations of the Sabe ans withSouth - East Africa, and deals with the analogy of the ancientArabian rel igion and the worship practised by the ancientsat Zimbabwe.Mr. W i lmot, in Monomotapa(p. writes : So far as itis possible to judge

,it seems probable that it was the people

of Saba ( the Sabe ans) in A rabia Felix who landed on

the coast of Sofala, penetrated to the mines, and establi sheda colony there.” To concrete Mr. W i lmot’s concl usions

(pp. 86, 89) in condensed form,we find he is of opin ion

that most probably the Sabe o -Arabs of Yemen,who were

the traders and marine carriers of the Southern or I ndianOcean (Oceanus E thiopticus of the Romans) and held themonopoly, first discovered the place and erected the templesfor their stoneworship, similar to those raised in Arabia, andworked for gold.Periplus states that the Sabz an king Kharabit was in

AD . 35 in the possession of the East Coast of Africa to anindefin ite extent.Some writers note a connection betweenthe name of the

Saba, or Sabi River, in Rhodesia, and the kingdom of Saba ,or Sheba, in Arabia. The Saba,

or Sabi, forms the greatnatural outlet to the coast for the populations of Rhodesiabetween the Zambesi and Limpopo Rivers.

Inthe Prefamto Mr . Baines’ v ork it is stated tlnt ‘Saha

and is supposed by some w thaifiq huiuding j osephmandno la apasonage thanthe autbmof the Koramto be theancient kingdomof the queenwho visited Solomon. This

Dr . KarlPeters finds inthe name Massapa(or Massaba)

near lnjakafuraagmt number of betyli'mch as formed anobject or emblemcf religious wor ship intbe oldest Semiticcults, and among these betyli he found aphallus , such as

He descr ibes the ruins of lnjakafuraas being built iuprecisely the same style as those of the Semitic races.

The vexed questionas to whether the land o mmotapa(Rhodesia) was the land of Ophir canbest be stated

by considering the Sabe o- H imyaritic occupation, for we find

of Sheba(South Arabia) who, in addit ion to being the goldmerchants of the whole world ,also ex ported to the t ni

quantity of gold those wealthy cities required, and which

history aver s they possessed—‘MTyre heaped up . fine

gold as themire of the streets”

(loch ). I t is admittedthatthe gold mines of the Ural Mountains could not have eontributed more thana frection of the quantity of gold

possessed by the Phwnicians. Old Roman and Grecianhistor ians are unanimous instating that the Sabaeans were

M fg - m p0 “ .

24 ANCIENT RUINS OF Ill"antiquar ians of Europe who haw

express views favour ing the hypc

t ion of th is count ry “us that

Ilimyar it ics of South Arab:

writer s do not argue againlIer r Glaser , the Arabia] .

yar itic inscr ipt ions , s tat"that li imyar (Arabia

East Afr ica. Sur hanight , but mthm1

,

Dr . S Cllllt’

h i t ‘l ,

ful ly ( lcscr ilw

South - liu- J.

Arabian 1 : l'

at Z imlml’

\lr

is pus

possess as to the lt ter disoover ies of

y, the same per iod ' (Biblical Ophir per iod)the exploits of themanwho first explored I ndia,

Among his follower s weremanynews about agoldo belt inlndia,

ludmo st reliable souroe of informationabout tbe campaignspf Alexander the Gresh states as emphatimfly as poss ibleas follows z

Alexander and his army has refutedmost of the stories

in this direction, with the exoeption of some who have

m ummrm w m wfimmmy of them) have no gold.

’

Therefore it is evident thatlndiaeannot pos ibly be the Ophir of antiquity.

”

All the impor ts brought by Hiramfor King Solomoncould

occupied no longer fi xan three yw s (see later ), and only

man’

s“com”

pr incipalexport of Ophir .

Q'fi mmnl 0 o

ina

].

tk lo

lo

(M ainto be the Ophir of Sa'ipture. Mr . Wilmot


unrking for gold inRhodesiaha\ e covered both previously

I ( 600—1 64 B.C.) inwhich bibl ical

lpllir .

the Phcenicians of theMediterranean,r ianper iods, are known to have sai ledllercules (S traits of Gibraltar ) round

1nd to have brought back gold.

of Monomotapa were known to the-

ram's time. (Note the ancient Grecianuyages for gold descr ibe what may have

gee round Afr ica to the Monomotapagold

1 h. myage from Tyre for K ing Solomon’s gold,

occupied three year s, and compar ing the

that of the argonauticalex peditions ofmore recentmes , H iram would have requi red about three year saccompl ished the voyage to Sofala, the MonomotapaInany event, the gold for ex por t awaited h im, and"wt to be obtained and after wards taken down to thet after his arrival . The gold obtained in the single

5.age ( I Kings ix . 28) was four hund red and twenty talents,apresent value of fou r mill ion pounds sterlingxl

'

n. Per iplus states that Rhapta (also ment ioned by

Mr . Telford Edwards, one of the leading mining engineers inRho desia,m 1 897 estimated the value of the ancient output of gold fromthis countrywt £75 ,ooo,ooo sterling at least .

t lRawus soninPkwnia’

a.

OCCUPATION

all theat present- l ona very partial

t ted by the ancients,

xt ionof the value per-

1t over the mill - plates ,. e ex t racted very manyf go ld from the Rhodes ian


Ptolemy) was a dependency of Sabaeaor Yemen , and DeanVincent imagines Rhaptato have been ten degrees south ofthe Equator ( near Quiloa).

1 2 . Arab legendary trad ition largely associates SouthEast Africa with Ophir and the Queen of Sheba. For

examme, Conto, a Portuguese writer, referring to MountFura

,in Rhodesia Fura ” is bel ieved by some to be a

cor ruption of where there are very extensive andCyclopean ancient ruins, states that the Kafi r s cal led it Fur ,and the Moors , Afi mHe fixes Rhodesia, and mentions theMasouvo River (Mazoe) and Tete, on the Zambesi .

H IRAM’

S IVORY .

”

S ince the Night ofTime Africa has always been recogn isedas the ivory- producing country of the world . Here elephantshave no value as beasts of burden ; all are wild . Ancienthistor ians al l allude to the enormous quantity of ivoryannually exported from Africa

,and of the trade with South

East Africa in ivory. E lephants are sti ll found in Rhodesia,but now mainly in Northern Rhodesia, where the ivory tr adestil l flou r ishes.

mama’s smvssThe slaves brought by H iram to King Solomon camewith the same expedition as the go ld and ivory. I t is mostprobable that the gold and slaves came from the samecountry and by the same port. Tradition associates theseslaves with negro id peoples

,and all bar relief r representing

the per iod of the building of King Solomon's Templerepresent slaves with negroid cast of features.The “ Apes were, accord ing to bar relic/Zr , cynocephalous,a species common to South - East Africa. Precious stonesmight have been diamonds, for which South Africa is famous.“ S andal - wood"is a generic title, and many woods foundin South - East Africa can fairly come under this title. Pea


Indian Ocean can come into consideration , and Arabiaand equatorial East Afr ica have been mentioned in connectionw ith the Ophir problem.

“ But against this assumption stands the clear text of thethree most reliable and oldest passages of the Old Testament,viz. Kings ix . 26- 28 and x . 1 1

,22. I t seems unintel l igible

how anyone who compares these passages in a literal andcritical translation (for instance , that by Professor Kautsch),could assert that the passage in chapter x . verse 2 2 did notal lude to Ophir. I t was emphatically stated that we hadto deal with a sea navigation which ex tended to remotecountries— in fact, to the end of the then known worldand it is therefore clear that this gold land of antiquitycould neither have been on the coast of the Red Seanoron that of equatorial Africa or Arabia. One thing whichappeared to be established beyond doubt was that theterritories known to- day as Southern Rhodesia were, onethousand years before the Christian E ra, a gold - producingcountry of a large extent, and colon ised by the ear lySemitic races round the Red Sea, viz. by Jews, t nicians ,and Western Arabians.”

Huet, writing early in the eighteenth century on thevoyages of Solomon , declares that he feels compelled toaccept the fact that the place cal led “

Ophir ,"from which

gold was fetched by the combined Jewish and Tyrian fleet,was unquestionably on the south - east coast of Africa, inthat part known under the names of Mozambique andSofala ; that at the time when K ing Solomon reignedthe Hebrew and Phoenician navigator s traded with theseshores ; and that this commerce was anterior to the ex actperiod referred to in S cripture. For the gold of Ophirwas known to the Idumeans before the time of David

,and

the Book of Paral ipomenon (the Chronicles) records thefact that this prince received a portion of it. To seekout the origin of this commercial movement we must goback to those hardy pioneers (probably the Sabmo- Arabians)

SABE O -ARABIAN OCCUPATION 33

who were able to show the Phcenicians the geographicalposition of Ophir and lead them to the mines of gold .

”

Mr . Wi lmot observes, This is indeed true. The fleet ofK ing Solomon and H iram never discovered Ophir. I tstreasures were known previously

,and we are therefore now

confronted with the fact that some of the Zimbabwesof Monomotapawere built more than one thousand yearsbefore the Christian Era.”

Dr . Karl Peters, in stating his case for the location ofOphir in Monomotapa, quotes, inter alia, the fol lowing

And H i ram sent in the navy his servants,shipmen that

had knowledge of the sea,with the servants of Solomon .

And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold ,four hundred and twenty talents

,and brought it to k ing

Solomon ( 1 Kings ix. 27,And she [the queen of Sheba] gave the king an hundred

and twenty talents of gold,and of spices very great store

,

and precious stones : there came no more such abundanceof spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to kingSolomon . And the navy also of H iram, that brought goldfrom Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almugtrees, and precious stones ’ ( 1 Kings x . 10,

“ ‘And all k ing Solomon’s drink ing vessels were of gold ,and al l the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanonwere of pure gold ; none were of silver : it was nothingaccounted of in the days of Solomon . For the king hadat sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of H iram : onceinthree years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, andsilver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

’

I n 1 Chron icles xxix . I have given ,’says David , “eventhree thousand talents of gold , of the gold of Ophir, andseven thousand talents of refined si lver, to overlay the wal lsof the houses

He observes, “The best- based theories are three, of which

the one places Ophir in Arabia, another in I ndia, and thethird one in South Africa,” and adds, I , personally, since


I have been studying S is problem , have always been of

opinion that we have in the Semitic word ‘Ophir ,

’ or‘Afer

,

’ the root of our present name of the continentof Africa

,

‘Africa ‘ being the Latin adjective of ‘Afer,’ by

which name the Phcenicians cal led the native inhabitantsof Carthage. This purely philological derivation led me tobel ieve at once that we must look for Ophir not in Arabiaand India

,but in some part ofAfrica.”

Ophir has been placed in Armenia, in Phrygia, in Spain ,in Peru

,in the Malayan Peninsula, in Ceylon , and in

S umatra. Christopher Columbus, says Dr . Peters, was firmlyconvinced that he had found Ophir in the West I ndies, andreporting to the King of Spain on his third voyage, hewrites

, The mountain Soporo (the name for Ophir, whichin the Septuagint is written Sophora “ which it took KingSolomon’s ships three years to reach, on the isl and of Haiti,has now come with al l its treasures into the possession of

their Spanish majesties.BenJonson’s lines show where he thought Ophir to belocated

Here’s the r ich Peru,

And there, sir ,are the goldenmines,Great Solomon’s Ophir .

”

The above- stated arguments in favour of Oph ir being thepresent Rhodesia by no means exhaust the tale of “proofs"advanced by those authorities who favour this theory. Un

fortunately,when this question was raised in the principal

papers and scientific journals in Europe a few years ago,there was practically l ittle or no evidence from Rhodesiaforthcoming. Mr. Bent ( 1 89 1 ) had only visited some tenancient ruins

,and he speaks of thi rteen others he was told

of,and several of the ru ins mentioned by Mr. Bent were of

minor importance, and of the later Zimbabwe periods.Even Professor Bryce, who in 1 895 visited Rhodesia, says :“ I have heard of ten or twelve pieces of wal l in differentparts of the plateau (Mashonaland and Matabeleland)

PHCENICIAN OCCUPATION 3 5

probably others exist.” All the late writers, excepting Dr .S chl ichter, mention a less number of ru ins than Mr. Bentrefers to, and the majority of them are the same identicalruins.The most able, exhaustive, and rel iable arguments areundoubtedly those advanced in the works of Dr . Schl ichter,on the question of the ancient ru ins in Rhodesia

,whi le Dr .

Karl Peters has many further proofs gained in the MountFura‘ district, which place very few writers on this subjectappear to have visited .

But from the more than five hundred ruins known to existin the Rhodesian portion of Monomotapa, of which ( thanksto the discoveries of Messrs. Neal and Johnson

,the sole lessees

under the grant to explore all ancient ruins south of theZambesi)we pr opose in this work to give particulars concerning some two hundred ru ins, further proofs may probably beforthcoming to strengthen the theory advanced by thosewho already thoroughly bel ieve that Rhodesia is the Ophirof the Scriptures. Additional evidences are also probablyforthcoming from the many known ruins scattered over thepresent Portuguese portion of Monomotapa. However

,it is

beyond the sphere of the writers of this work to indulge inany theories on the Ophir question , their prov ince being tostate al l information of authoritative character concern ingthe actual ru ins themselves, and al low these facts to tel ltheir own story.

rm; sucoasr snsusssouenr occupanouor Monomoram(anonssm) av THE rammcums.

Having stated in outl ine the arguments in support of thetheory of the S abao- Arabian occupation of Monomotapa,we come to consider , also in outline, the arguments in favourof the subsequent occupation of Monomotapaby the Phcenicians of the Mediterranean.

”goldminaof Mount Funwue in 1 7at , knownto the Por tuguese u


PHCENICIAN OCCUPATION 37

extensions are of various periods, with the features of suchperiods prominent.But in several parts of Rhodesia and other portions of

Monomotapa there have been erected on the slopes or

summits of the kopjes massive structures which, wh ilefollowing generally the fir st Zimbabwe type, have been bui ltin three or more high - terraced tiers rising to the summit ofthe hill s, surrounding them ,

and sometimes completely covering them . This “ wedding- cake ” feature, as it has beentermed

,is absent in al l Z imbabwes built in the first period .

Yet al l thw e later Zimbabwes present al l the evidences ofhaving been erected by nature- worshippers

,and contain the

orientated temple “open to heaven

,

” the sacred ci rcle , theconical towers the high places the monoliths, and everyevidence of Phal l ic worship. This class of Zimbabwe isrepresented

,among many others, by Dhlo- dhlo, Regina,

Meteme, and Khami .There exists a marvellous simi larity between these laterZimbabwes and many of the three thousand nauraghes , orterraced fortresses which cover the island of S ardinia. I nboth the Rhodesian and Sard in ian erections evidences of

nature- worship are abundant. “The age,"writes Mr.W i lmot,of the Sardinian nauraghes goes back to a remote antiquity— to the Bronze Age— to a time when the Romans were notknown onthe Tiber.” Gerard (p. 6) writes :

“ I have no hesitationin considering the numerous round ed ifices of Sardinia,which are known under the name of nauraghes, as monuments of the worship of Baal .” Moreover, among the greatauthorities on this question

,it is conceded that these ruins

were erected by the Libyans, for the monuments of

Phaznician worship are to be found in the Sardiniannauraghe ru ins, both monoliths and stones, with the mostunmistakable emblems representing a religion so viciousand debasing that in Palestine it incurred the righteousdenunciations such as were hurled against Tyre and


S idon and the “ high places of Samaria where Baal was

Some of the arguments advanced in support of the theoryof the Phoenician occupation of Monomotapamay be mentioned , as follows

1 . The known absorption by the Phoenicians of the influence and commerce of the Sabzeo - Arabians in theSouthern Ocean and its coasts , which occurred during theperiod in which Monomotapawas worked by the ancientsfor gold.

2 . The erection of later Zimbabwes in Monomotapawhich,while adhering to the type of the first Zimbabwe period , yethad a development in architecture pecul iar to itself

,and their

marvellous similarity in this respect to the nauraghes of

Sardin ia, bui lt, as is conceded by many authorities, by theLibyans.

3. The exact representation of the same form of worship ,with Phall ic emblems

,both in Rhodesia as wel l as in Sar

d in ia or other Mediterranean colonies of Phoenicia, whichare admitted by high authorities to be Phcenician. Betyla:

( sacred stones), as found so plentifully in Rhodesia, havebeen discovered in al l countries once subject to Phaanicianinfluence.

4. The discovery at Zimbabwe of the soapstone cyl inderof quern shape

,with rings of rosettes on the top and sides,

which rosettes are bel ieved to represent the sun , and arecommon in Phallic decoration . This cyl inder, which is considered as undoubtedly Phoenician , is similar to the onefound at the Temple of Paphos

,in Cyprus, which was once

a leading Phceniciancolony. The rosettes are also similarto those onthe sacred cone of the great PhcenicianTempleof the Sunat Emesa, in Syria, and also to the rosettes onthe Phoen ician sepulchral stelae in the British Museum .

5. The discovery of the soapstone birds at Zimbabwe,

pronounced by authorities sim ilar to the hnages of the birds

39

sacred to Astar te, wor shipped hy the Pharnicians ; also of

Phallic emblems distinctly t nician.

6. The discovery at Zimbabwe, by Mr. Bent, of the soapstone ingot mould corresponding exactly to the tiningot, ofundoubted t nicianmanufacture

,discovered at Falmouth,

and which is now in the Truro Museum.

’

7. The discovery of true Phalli.8 The presence of cones and conical buttresses. The

corner at Z imbabwe is held to be a facsim ile of the sacredcone in the t niciantemple at Byblos.

9. The historic records of the voyages of the Phasniciansboth round the south of Afr ieaand direct from the Red Seato the coast of South - East Africa (Monomotapa).

These arguments could easily be enlarged upon andadded to, but sufi cient is shown to satisfy one that, at anyrate, some substantial grounds exist for believing that thePhoen icians once settled inRhodesia and worked upon itsvast areas of gold reefs.All the aid that Portuguese records can render in elucidating the mystery which enwraps the ruins is most ablysummed up in Mr. W ilmot’s book, Monomotapa. The Portuguese hold of these inland territories (sixteenth andseventeenth centuries) was singularly weak and tentative,far from permanent, and only comparatively br ief. Not

being colonists,they were compelled to keep by force of

arms what they had conquered. They never completelysubjugated the native tribes of these parts, and consequentlywere always at war with warlike people. Too timid to

journey far from the rivers which served as their l ines of‘ W C. Le NevaFoster , states that Injalmfun, near the

Zambai. where Dr . Peter: locates Ophir ,meant “agreatmine,” cor respondingto the nameWbealVor . inCornwall. The old tin-smelters of Cornwall were

W admoe the natim ofmedh vd hdonomoupaand of khodesiaofto-day. thquedquius for holding themnquanfi ty of gold obtained intheir

‘l SeeDr . Schlichta’

s works for desaiptions of conical towers inArabia.


communication with the coast,they did not penetrate to al l

parts of Monomotapa Coming along the Mazoe andUmfuli Rivers, they occupied the northern portions of

Mashonaland,and with the aid of their roughly bu ilt and

loopholed forts,they held for a short time territory extend

ing in a south - wester ly direction as far south as Sebakwe,where they established themselves for a time at their settlement, about eight miles

’ distance in a direct l ine N.N.E. of

the Chicago Gaika Mine, on the north bank of the Sebakwe '

River. Here their last known southerly fort, the ruins ofwhich now cover fifty acres of ground , with loopholed wal lsl inking several kopjes on both sides of the river, was built.The two cannon, one bronze and the other iron , found atthe ancient and important ruins at Dhlo- dhlo, in the UpperI nsiza district, and which bear the Portuguese coat of arms,may have been bought, through the medium of the Jesuitmissionary, from them by Mombo, whose kraal was builtamong the ru ins at Dhlo—dhlo ; this Mombo being the son ofMombo who l ived in a kraal built among the ancient ru insof Thabas lmamba

,and who was skinned al ive when the

invasion by the Amaswaz ie took place.Jesuit missionaries and Por tuguese traders

,however

,suc

ceeded in penetrating much farther into the heart of thecountry. Jesu it missionaries are bel ieved to have resided inor near N0. 1 Ru in at Khami. The territory being so precar iously held , it is not at al l surprising the Portuguese didcomparatively l ittle goldomining. There are evidences of

their having continued some of the workings of the ancients ,especially at the Bonsor Mine, and the discovery of theirdouble- pointed iron picks

,from which the wood handles had

rotted away, once perplexed the prospectors of Rhodesia.Onthe Zambesi they appear to have been far more successin] , as the number of their ruined forts and settlementsalong the river banks seem to testify.

PHCENICIAN OCCUPATION

NOTE.

Selected extracts fromMonomotapa by theHon. A. Wturor .

(p. xvii. ) Mr. Rider Haggard wr ites : “Mr . Bent proved to the

satisfact ion of most archwologists that the ruins of Zimbabweare undoubtedly of Phcenicianor igin . There are themassive andfamiliar t nicianwalls, there the sacred birds, figured, however ,not as the dove of Cypr is, but as the vulture of her S idonianrepresentative, Astarte, and there inplenty the pr imitive and un»

pleasing objects of nature-worship, which in this shape or thatare present wherever the Phoenician reared his shr ines. Therealso stands the great building— half temple, half fortress—containing the sacred cone in its inner court, as at Paphos, Byblos, andEmesus. Although some testimony is lacking, themanyexternalevidences force the student to conclude that these buildingsmust have been constructed and that the neighbour ing gold mineswere worked by Phoenicians, or by some race intimately connectedwith themand impregnated with their ideas of religionand architecture. ” Mr . Rider Haggard debates the statement of MM. Chipiezand Per rot, that no inland Phoenician town is known to history.”

(pp. 36, 37) Mr . Wilmot wr ites : “The builders of the Zimbabwes inSouth- East Afr ica and of the nauraghes inSardinia werenaturevworshippers of the ear ly Phoenician cult, when stone-worshipwas one of the leading features of that religion.

”

(3A) The arguments of MM. Perr ot and Chipiez point to thefact the nauraghe builders (inSardinia) came fromLibya.”w. ) Wemay venture to attr ibute a very remote antiquity

the Bronz e Age—to both classes of buildings. Cer tainly we canscarcely be wrong inconcluding that the oldest of the Zimbabwesof South-East Afr ica were erected before the ninth century ac .

There is little doubt that some of themexisted whenH iram, Kingof Tyre, obtained gold for the Temple of Solomon.”

(p. 89)“Most probably the Sabmo-Arabians of Yemen(South

Arabia) discovered the place and erected temples for their stoneworship, similar to those raised inArabia, and put up their Himyaritic inscr iptions and worked for gold. This people were the tradersandmar ine carriers of the Southern Oce an, and held themonopoly.

”

“The preponderance of evidence is decidedly in favour of thepr incipal Ophir of Scripture having been inland from the Sofalacoast in the country of Monomotapa.”


Lebanon , Mount Hermon,

to the exodusthe Phoenician

of coast land,English county,and yet it became

xiv. 1 8) and Abimelech ( is. xx. 3 )deities of the polytheistic

Astoreth, and( 1 Sam. v. a;

towers, and “ highreferred to by the

the tribe of Zemarites (Gen. 11 . Gehm(Joshua xiii.m. 7 ; Ezek. xiii. s) ; Baal-Zephon, a Phoenician porta, Elath, a Phoeniciancolony ( 1 Kings ix. 26

(Judges L Tyre. “astrong city”

(Joshua xi:Lgroup of Phoenician colonies in Spain (Gen. x. 4 ;

Isa. lxvi. migration of t nicians westward- 1a) ; intermar r iage of Jews and Phoenicians ( 1 Kings1 ; 2 Chron. ii. Gideon destroyed the sacred towermites (Judges vii i. Phoeniciantrade with Hebrews9 ; Esra iii. Phcenicians obtainwheat, honey, wine,mthe Hebrew“ (Ezek. xxvii. Phoenician luxury1 6, xxvii . 3- 3 5 , xxviii . Tyre, t niciancapital

Tyre wealthy ingold (Zech. ix. violence of

(Each. xxviii. Phoenician slave- traders (Each . xxvii .tnt houses ”onre (Each. xxvi. Phcenicianmininglob xxviii . 1 H iramfurnished David with cedaron. xxii. H iram’s father a Phccnician, his mother athe tr ibe of Dan (2 Chron. ii . joint fleets of

Id Israel onMediterranean and IndianOcean ( 1 Kingst. 1 5, as) ; H iramsupplied Solomon with mater ial for( 2 Chron. ii. 3 - 1 0) Phoenicianartisans employed inof the Temple ( 2 Chron. ii. 1 7, H irammanufacients for Solomon’s Temple ( 2 Chron. ii. Solomondistrict of Galilee to the Phcenicians ( 1 Kings ix. 1 1 ) ;

Jews build “high places” to Baal (Jer . room. 35 , xix. Ahab buildsTemple of Baal inSamar ia, also atw (2 Kings xxi. 7, xxnChr ist converses with a t nicianwoman (Mark vii. t niciareceives the gospel (Acts ix. Phoenicia nourished fromPalestine (Acts xii. so).We also read in Scr ipture that Solomon mar r ied a Phcenician

pr incess, that he worshipped in the Temple of Baal at Sidon, thatthe daughter of the King ofTyreand H igh Pr iest of Astoreth (Phreniciandeity)mar r ied Ahab, King of Israel, that Athaliah, daughterof Jezebel, a Phoenicianpr incess, ma. Led Ahaziah, King of Judah,whenthe t nicianworship bmme the State religion of Judah.

The monotheistic Hebrews despised their polytheistic kinsmenonaccount of their worship, hence we read that “

the Jews had nodealings with the Samar itans ” who had accepted the Phoenicianworship. The good Samaritan"was most probably a t nicianinreligion, hence his kindlyaction to the distressed Jew was remarkable. Note also the argument of the Syro- t nicianwoman as tothe place where God should be worsh ipped, the religionof the Phcenicians being purely mater ial, while that of the Jews was spir itual.

“The Temple of Solomon, though modelled in some respectsUponthe ‘Tabernacle of the Congregation,

’must be regarded asessentially a t nicianbuilding, at once designed by Phoeniciansand the work of t nicianhands (Rawlinson).The two pillars are considered to have beenidentical with the

sacred pillars reared inthe Phoenician Temples of Baal.See also Religionof Me Sw im, by Robertson Smith.As to t nician and Carthaginian influence, both ascertained

and conjectured, in Demerara, Mexico, Peru, Yucatan, NorthAmerica, Polynesia, and Europe, see Wilmot’s Monomotapaandvarious works onPhoenicia.

Professor A. H . Keane, London, dealing with Dr . Peters’theory

connecting the ancients of Rhodesia with EgyptianHamites, states :“Nothing so far has been advanced to upset the viewput forward bythe late Mr . Theodore Bent that the first colonisers and exploiters ofSouth Zambesi were not EgyptianHamites but ArabianSemites,most probablyHimyar ites (Sabmns) or t nicians, or both.

”Pro

feasor Kane cites Her r B. Movitz inthe Ver hand/ungender Gael!sr/rqfi fi r E rdkwrdc, Berlin, 1 896, pp. 2—9, who strongly opposedDr . Peters’ conclusions. Dr . Peters has since been converted to

the theory of the Sabmo- Arabian or H imyaritic occupation of

Rhodesia.

CHAPTER IV

AREA or ANCIENT RU INS AND ANc1sN'

r WORKINGSMATOPPA, ZIMBABWE , AND sorALA MAIN ROADS

THE MATOPPAS AND THE ANCIENTS—KINGMON’S ROAD— “THE WALL or GOD ”— LO 'BENGULA'S

IVORY—WAS THERE A NORTHERN MAIN ROAD

SOFALA.

N defining the area covered by the ancient ruins and goldworkings in Rhodesia

,identically the same d iffi culty

presents itself as is experienced by the cartographers whoprepare even the most recent maps of Rhodes ia in definingthe l imits of the various gold - belts. At some points certainly, owing to the nature of the formation of the rock, thel imits of gold - belts may be absolutely determ ined , but atother points there are strong probabil ities that some of thepresent accepted boundaries may be extended where theformation is favourable, but this can only be decided on

when fuller prospecting work has taken place. Mr. JohnHays Hammond , reporting in 1 89 5 on the Rhodesian goldbelts , writes : Unti l more detai led investigations have beencarried out it is impossible to define the boundaries of thegold - belts.So it is with the area of our ancient ru ins . A l ine drawnround the outlying ru ins so far discovered wi l l provide awell-defined area, but just as there are outside our presentascertained gold belts “ favourable but unprospected formations

,

”so outside the l ine embracing the outlying ru ins are

there favourable prospects of discovering stil l more ruins and

4S


workings. Accord ing to old Portuguese and Arab writings,the kingdom of Monomotapaextended much further to thesouth than that point (Murchison Range) in the TransvaalColony shown onthe map we have prepared, but evidencesin the shape of ancient ru ins have so far only been actual lydiscovered to the point so marked .

Mr. W i lmot states that Monomotapais the great interiorempire said by some writers to ex tend from Mozambiqueto the Cape of Good Hope. In reality it extended onlybetween the Zambesi and the Limpopo Rivers , althoughit is possible that tributary kingdoms south of the Limpopomay have existed .

”Father J . S antos , writer of the H istory

of E thiopia states, The coast of Eastern Ethiopia

extends to the Cape of Good Hope,"while a map of Africa

dated 1 528 shows the Oceanus [EthiOpicus to extend alongthe east coast of Africa as far as the most southerly part ofthe continent, and it makes “ Monomotapa Imper ium ” tooccupy country almost extending from slightly to the northof the Zambesi above Tete to within a short distance of theCape of Good HOpe, and covering the central land betweenthe Atlantic and the Indian Ocean with the exception of thelow coast land on al l sides .Johnstone ( 1603) states , I n the residue of Ethiope raignedivers powerful princes as the kings of Adell, Mononungi,Monomotapa, Angola, and Congo. Monomotapais mightierand more famous than the rest. This kingdom stretchesto the Cape of Good Home. for the viceroys of thathuge tract do acknowledge him for their sovereign andsuperior governor.” Duarte Barbosa ( 1 5 16) also statesthat the kings of al l countries between Mozambiqueand Cape were subject to the King of Benemotapa.

Old Arab and Portuguese writers include in Monomotapaal l the region south of the Zambesi, extending to the countryof the Kahrs (Pays de Cafl

'

res) even to the banks of theOrange River. I n La: 671m) : d ’

0r ( 1 89 1 ) the author states,

AREA OF ANCIENT RUINS“ Opposite Tete (to the south) commenced Mokaranga, orMonomotapaproperly so cal led ,” thus confirming the Frenchmap of 1 705 , which shows E tats duMonomotapa” as southof the Zambesi and practically along its whole length.But to return from the mediaeval area of Monomotapatothat of the ancient builders of the Rhodesian Zimbabwes :it must be borne in mind that it is reported that ProtoArabian inscriptions have been found in Bechuanaland

,while

old workings ex ist at the Monastery Diamond M ine,in the

Orange River Colony ; and these workings are believed bysome to be ancient, bronze spear- heads with skeletal remainsof men of huge stature having been d iscovered here. On

the north - eastern border of Natal, and on the hill s formingthe precipitous banks of the Tugela at Ingoberu, materialevidence has been found of working and occupation byanc ients, but the era of these ancients is very diffi cult tofix. There is al so a hil l on the borders of Zululand

,which

,

accord ing to the oldest native trad ition,has always borne the

name ofThaba I’Suliman. Old workings have been discoveredeast of Mafeking, while the name of Namaqualand has, bysome writers, been associated with Almaquah , the goddessVenus, worshipped by the Sabaans. But these districts donot present any tangible evidences of ancient occupationinthe shape of massive ruins, such as are so numerous inRhodesia, and therefore we exclude them from the ancientareaas defined later.Again , the native nomenclature of certain kopjes andother places in Rhodesia is highly suggestive of there beingancient ruins on or near them , and it must not be forgottenthat these pecul iarities of nomenclature have in the pastfrequently led to the discovery of numerous unsuspectedruins, and the examination of such places which existbeyond the area so marked on the map has yet to be takeninhand .The northern limit is, for our prwent purposes, purely


SOFALA

north - west of Sofala, includ ing the Mount Fura and I nyangadistricts, in which ancient ruins are so numerous

,also ru ins

in Por tuguese territory to the northeast of I nyanga,and

known ruins much further south.There now only remains a boundary line to be fixed con

necting the southern extremity of the line from east of theLupata Gorge with the northern extremity of the l ine run .

ning up from the Murchison Range to the Lower Sabi , ad istance of some eighty or a hundred miles, on the length ofwhich lies the ancientand historic port of Sofala, which fromthe very earl iest days of definite history has beenrecognisedto have been the gold - shipping port of the country of Monomotapa(Rhodes ia).Inclomby this line, which runs paral lel to the coast li ne,and some seventy or more miles inland, are the rising seriesof plateaux which on their western side join Mashonaland,from the north of I nyanga down to the junction of the Lundiand Sabi Ri vers. These plateaux are in Portuguese territoryand form the watersheds of many rivers and streams. Hereare numerous ancient ruins, and maps of these parts aremarked as follows : “Ancient ru ins in thi s neighbourhood

,

"and Ancient ruins reported ,

”etc , while the existence of

numerous ru ins is within the knowledge of travel lers andhunters of repute.The hypothesis of many leading antiquarians is that

Sofala was the port used by the natu re- worshipping Sabz oArabians of Yemen (South Arabia), who are believed tohave first d iscovered the natural wealth of Monomotapa, andwho

,it is conjectured

,built its earliest Zimbabwes ; that it

was subsequently the port of the Phoenicians of the EasternMediterranean

,when Tyre and S idon wer e approaching the

zeni th of their fame, and when the go- ahead young Phoeniciancolony ofCarthage was commencing that newer-world growthwhich in later times overshadowed and altogether ecl ipsedthe influence of itsmotherv country ; these Phcenicians , so it


has been suggested , also build ing their Zimbabwes andextending the older Zimbabwes ; and that later it was theport of the Arabs (all these three races being members ofthe great Semitic family, which research avers was originallyfounded in Chaldea), who again , it is believed , builtZimbabwes, but somewhat different in style of architecture,though following on the main l ines of similar buildingsfound in Southern Arabia ; while it is not disputed thatSofala was the port of the old Portuguese, who built theirown forts and settlements in portions of Monomotapaonly.

This hypothesis as to the various occupations of Monomotapahas in some important matters a basis provided byresearch , history, and tradition , but its full and general acceptance would be injurious until all the evidence in its favou rhad been taken and examined . At the same time it isadmitted that argument against the acceptance of this hypothes is is extremely dii’ficult. Practical ly the bulk of theexternal evidences obtainable has been exhausted in itsfavour , but the internal evidences to be gained from theactual ruins themselves wi l l prove of vital importance intheso lution of this problem

,and from the more than five hundred

ruins in Rhodesia, and the large number in Portuguese territory, it is more than possible that such evidence may be soonforthcoming.

Were the hypothesis shown to be well founded , we shouldat once have a satisfactory explanation of the varying stylesof the Zimbabwe periods of architecture, and, for instance, asan il lustration , we might fairly conclude that no discovery of

Saba-o- H imyaritic signwr iting could be expected except inthose Zimbabwes bui lt in the fi rst - period style.From the western extremity of the Matoppas and stretching through the distri cts of Gwanda, F ilabusi , M

’

Pateni,Belingwe, Victoria (also M

’

Tibi), Lundi and Sabi in Rhodesia,and following the Sabi River over the boundary into Portu

5 1

guese ter r itory. till it reaches withinabout seventymiles of

the coasg is aline of ruins some of which rank as highin importance as any yet known, excepting, oi course, theGt imbabwe which li ne is so clearly defi ned that onedraws the only conclusion, that along it was the southernM to Sofala, in fact , thc Matoppa~Z imbabwe and Sofalamain road of the ancients , of which oneither side lie the

The MatoppaRange, for some inexplicable reason, hasalways beenassociated in theminds ot odesianpioneersand settlers with the ancient gold - seekers. Perhaps thisconnection was brought about by the mere popular idea

of the Matoppas searched, some substantial evidences of

the ancients in the shape of treasure- caves might be dis

Perhaps a better knowledge of the MatoppaMatabeles’

trad ition concerning“The Wall of God,

” which is said torun through the range in its most inaccessible par ts,mightassist indiscovering what substrammof truth underlies thetradi tion ; or what, if any, element of fact, though muchobscuredand per vert ed by relationdur ingmanyages,may bebrought to light. Again

,when Colonel Baden - Powell re~

Tul i Gorge, his troopers, many of whom were men of repute

southwards from out the Matoppas, with ruts wor n deepdowninmthemck, and with large trees gmwingup betweenthe ruts, which they called “ l( ing Solomon

’s Road.” AboutB.C. uoo wheeled char iots with horses were counted by

thousands inAssyr ia. Probably the difi culties of transportof borses over sea, the tet z e fly, and diseasemay havemili.


these an imals."But it is known that the ancients possessed

Further, the alleged existence of ancient signwr iting onthe face of a kopje on the northern side of the range, andwhich some have declared resembles the H imyaritic signwriting

,may have originated the whole idea. All these

points may be intensely in teresting, but without substantialevidence to confirm repor t it would be unwise to carry thespeculation further.This popular idea may have been encouraged by the factthat LO ’

Bengula’s large store of ivory, which he was known

to possess before he fled northwards, has never been se

counted for . Before both the war and the rebell ion, thenatives conveyed to the Matoppas large quantities of grain ,which were stored in caves in almost inaccessible parts of therange. The popular mind conjectured that there also wasstored the ivory for safety, but wherever it may have beensecreted

,the exact location remains a mystery. The fear of

the spiri t of LO ’Bengulawould in itself be suffi cient to

compel the Matabele to rel igiously keep the secret from thewhite people. Certain is it that immediately after the rebell ion was over

,when the Mat0ppaMatabele were known

to be starving,some tusks were brought out of the h ills and

exchanged for grain food . One of these tusks,measuring

four feet, was brought to the Rev. D. Carnegie, then at theLMS . station at Hope Fountain , and exchanged for food ;which tusk Mr. Carnegie handed over to the Administrator.However, the possible discovery of L0 ’

Bengula’s ivory has

no connection with any of the Zimbabwe periods.Before leaving the question of the area occupied by theseancient ruins and workings, it m ight be wel l to state thatthere has been no evidence of ancient mining for gold atBarberton and the Rand , or of working for diamonds in theKimberley district ; and the utter absence of any d iscovery in

SeeChapter xi.

ANCIENT MAIN ROADS

ins inRhodesiaof any precious stones forces one to

eonclusionthat the ancients were not aware of the existe of the valuable gold and diamond fields south of theaas we have defined it in this chapter.'ossibly there existed a northern road through Hartley andwe, in Mashonaland , and along the Pungwe, Busi, andme Rivers towards the coast. At the western end of suchne there is not the slightest evidence as yet of any suchh ooting ruins as would lead to the fix ing of a line of road ,in the north - eastern parts of Mashonaland ruins and

rkinggs are so numerous that when these have beenperly located and marked on the map one might probably

ge whether a northern road existed . At present the prosixties are that it did ex ist

,for the Pungwe

,Revue, and

ii Rivers, which enter the sea above Sofala, would providems of communication inland for some considerable disce from the coast. This probabil ity is further strengthenedthe position of the ru ins in the I nyanga district

,and

end on the Portuguese plateau, which, it is obvious, couldwell have been served by the southern route to Sofala.Portuguese

,in comparatively modern times

,entered

Rhodesian portion of the country at the north - east ofshonaland.

Lofala is the name givenby old geographers to the seard or coast region lying between the I ndian Ocean andhigh plateau country of Sabia, or Monomotapa. The

he val historians and geographers also descr ibe this terrir and portions of Monomotapaas Sabi, Sabae, or Saba,:r the river to which is indiscriminately given these names

,

Iwhich forms the natural outlet to the coast of the countryc known as Monomotapa. Sofala inArabic signifies acountry.iofalais also the name of the port on this coast, butether the present town and harbour of Sofala actual lyupies the exact location as the ancient

5 2 ANCE NT RUINS OF RHODESIA

these animals."But it is known that the ancients possessedoxen .’

Further,the alleged existence of ancient signwr iting on

the face of a kopje on the northern side of the range, andwhich some have declared resembles the H imyaritic signwriting

,may have originated the whole idea. All these

points may be intensely interesting,but without substantial

evidence to confirm report it would be unwise to carry thespeculation further.This popular idea may have been encouraged by the factthat L0 ’

Bengula’

s large store of ivory,which he was known

to possess before he fled northwards, has never been accounted for . Before both the war and the rebel l ion , thenatives conveyed to the Matoppas large quantities of grain ,which were stored in caves in almost inaccessible parts of therange. The popular mind conjectured that there also wasstored the ivory for safety, but wherever it may have beensecreted , the exact location remains a mystery. The fear ofthe spirit of L0

’Bengulawould in itself be sufficient to

compel the Matabele to religiously keep the secret from the

white people. Certain is it that immediately after the rebell ion was over

,when the MatoppaMatabele were known

to be starving, some tusks were brought out of the hills andexchanged for grain food . One of these tusks

,measuring

four feet , was brought to the Rev. D. Carnegie, then at theL.M.S . station at Hope Fountain , and exchanged for food ;which tusk Mr. Carnegie handed over to the Administrator.However, the possible discovery of LO '

Bengula’

s ivory hasno connection with any of the Zimbabwe periods.Before leaving the question of the area occupied by theseancient ruins and workings, it might be well to state thatthere has been no evidence of ancient min ing for gold atBarberton and the Rand

,or of working for diamonds in the

Kimber ley district ; and the utter absence of any discovery in

See Chapter xi.


CHAPTER V

ANCIENT GOLD - MINING—OLD WORKINGS- ENORMOUS

GOLD OUTPUT BY ANCIENTS—THE IR D ISCONTINUANCE OF MINING OPERATIONS—WAS IT SUDDENi

ANCIENT MINING A SOVERE IGN VENTURE.

XCEPT in those parts of the gold - belts of Rhodes iawhere the lines of gold - reef do not show themselves

conspicuously above the surface, as in the Bembesi district,where the reefs rarely outcrop, the gold areas are l iteral lycover ed w ith lines of ancient wor kings more or less extensive ,continuous, and well defined, and around these workings arestil l the dumps of quartz which the ancients left behind them .

Each of these old workings extends from fifty to twohundred yards in length, sometimes to as much as twelvehundr ed yards, as on the Ki l larney Mine, and fifteen hundredyards, as on the S urprise Mine. Their depth usually is fromthirty to fifty feet, many have reached seventy feet, andsome exceed one hundred and fifty feet. There are alsomany adits driven by the ancients into the sides of the hil lsto very considerable distances along the reef. Onthe Globeand Phcenix Mine there is an ancient incl ine ad it, which thePortuguese miners evidently have extended . Onthe BonsorMine the ancient step - l ike workings up the face of the reefto the height of one hundred and twenty feet were comweneed by the ancients, but extended by the Portuguese.The timber roofing, which remains good to this day, musthave been erected by the Portuguese in the seventeenthcentury.

5 6 ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODESIA

Diodorus, S trabo Herodotus, Posidonius, and Pliny describe fully the min ing operations of the ancients, especiallyof the Phoenicians who worked at Mount Pangatus, nearPhil ippi

,also between S uez and Mount S inai for gold, in

Spain for silver, in Sci lly and Cornwall for tin, and so onin many countri es of the world . Professor Rawl inson statesthat Job (xxvi i i . 1 - 1 1 ) also desen

'hes Phcenician mining.

Both from history and from examination of the oldest knownmines, we find that the ancients, certainly the Phcenicians,could sink shafts, drive adits , and , according to Pliny,support the roofs with timbering. Rhodes ia is not the onlycountry where the ancients

,on reaching water - level , were

prevented sinking deeper. The Archimedean screw was notinvented ti ll 2 20- 190ac.

Of the registered gold claims now current

(September, 1 900) in Rhodesia, considerably more thanhalf have been pegged on the lines of ancient workings.Ancient workings have always been a guide to the pros

pector , and the best accred ited mining engineers in Rhodesia,in their publ ished offi cial reports as to their companies’

properties, make constant references to the ancient workingsontheir claims ; in fact, there are very few out of the morethan four hundred properties dealt with by them in thelatest Repor t on M r

'm'ng in Rhodesia issued by theChartered Company in August, 1 900,

in which referenceis not made to the existence of ancient workings on theirproperties. So far does the fact of ancient work ings beingon a property enhance its value, that we find brokers advertise claims for sale as “ with old workings.”Dr . Hans Sauer, president of the Rhodesia Chamber ofMines, said in 1 899, Our experience in this country nowamounts to this, that, given a regular and extensive runof old work ings on a block of claims

,it is almost a certainty

that a payable mine will be found on development of theground . Mr. Walter Currie, also stated that his

ANCIENT GOLD -MINING

experience has invariably proved that where old workingsexist, they indicate more or less accurately the length of

the pay shoot below.

”

I t is notorious that many of the most successfu l of

Rhodes ian propositions are those which have extensiveancient workings on their properties. This is but one of

the many evidences that though the ancients ex tr actedenormous quantities of gold from the reefs of this country,practically the more than overwhelming bulk of its greatwealth l ies to- day vi rgin and untouched .

New finds of ancient workings are sti ll being made,and

as the present known limits of the gold - belts are being insome directions extended with the knowledge gained byfurther prospecting work

,so the area in which ancient work

ings are l ikely to be discovered is relatively increas ing. The

traces of some of these workings in some cases have beenentirely obliterated by the subtropical rains. For ill ustration ,slightly to the west of a l ine drawn from the Administrator’scfiice in Bulawayo to the Public Library an ancient workingon the outcrop of the reef was Opened up to a depth of

some ten feet or more for the inspection of geologists andantiquarians who were visiting Bulawayo at the time of theopen ing of the rai lway

,which took place in 1 897, at the

commencement of the rainy season . Owing to there beinghigher ground in its vicinity

,the heavy rains that season

washed dirt into the excavation to such an ex tent that byJune hardly a trace of the working was discern ible, whi leto day it is only to be found by first locating the untouchedoutcrop.

But the ancients did more than work on the quartz reefs.InManicaland and parts of northern Mashonaland theywashed for all uvial gold , while in many other parts of

Rhodesia they washed for shed gold. Mr. John HaysHammond

,whose extensive experience of gold - mining in

California, Transvaal Colony, Rhodesia, and other gold

demonstrat ingt t eas, and that its

-t smong the chief

t v tl this notw ith

t'si t tv , which is but

t . ”0 . s amount of gold

t-

c -mfromthe reefs in

1 Onacer tain

A t . cw'

: of over 10 dwts .

x us only estimated,

at . t une roof, wh ich is to!ne.

ac ancient workings

ancientx“

. c‘ dlb I l’lCI

w themfor

near the

Mine. ands demons t rate

TO the

and lack of

to prove that

ANCIENT GOLD -MINING 5 9

are in s ize not above the average of those general ly found .

One chamber or length of one of these numerous workingson the property gives an aston ishing result. Taking thelength , breadth , and depth of the reef extracted by theancien ts from this reef with the assay values of the reefuntouched , disregarding altogether the possibi l ity of theancients having also worked rich leaders (and these arenumerous on the property), and making l iberal allowancefor loss caused by crude methods of recovering gold , wefind that the gold extracted from this one chamber out ofmany on the property was , in presentday value, not lessthan sterl ing. Mr. Swan also calculates that theancients took no less than one and a half mill ion tons ofore from the old gold - workings at Mtopota, in westernMashonaland , alone. Mr. E . A. Maund , speaking of theancient workings in the ’

Inswezwe district, states that tensof thousands of slaves must have been employed to turnover the mill ions of tons of reefs in the ancient search forgo ld in that locality. If we considered the hund reds ofsquare miles in several parts of Rhodesia which are coveredwith ancient workings, and the parts that contain workingsof above the average length, continuity, and depth , and alsothe al luvial and shed - gold areas, we can safely arrive at aconclusion that gold to the value of at least very manyscores of mil l ions of Engl ish pounds ster l ing was won bythe ancients from Rhodesia. Mr. J . Hays Hammond , in theearly days of 1 894 and after, as he admits , only partialexamination of some few of our d istricts, expresses the

opinion that an enormous amount of gold has beenobtained fromthese workings in the past is. however, nuquestionable. Mill ions of pounds sterl ing worth of goldhas undoubtedly been derived from these sources.But the nature of the successi ve occupations of Monomotapalends itsel f to a conclusion as to the vast amountof gold obtained here by the ancients. Be the apparently


6 1

extent and very inadequately, the vast amount of goldwhich must have been won to have given cause for sucha lengthmed occupation among hosti le natives.Where else than Rhodes ia d id the ancient Sabaeans obtainthe main and principal portion of the vast supply of goldwhich they purveyed to Phcenicia, Rome, Egypt, and therest of the then known world The on ly answer possible atpresent is : Rhodes ia ; and the later d iscoveries in Rhodesiaonly serve to str engthen and emphasise this answer. And

until those who may d isagree with this conclusion find otherarguments than those already advanced by them onwhichto str engthen their case— and the am pmbandi now restswith them— the probabil

’h/ that Rhodesia was the main

goldfields of these ancients can at any rate be tentatively,

though not dogmatically, accepted .

Of the subsequent periods, viz. the transition or bastardperiod , and the stil l later Monomotapatimes , followed bythe period of late Arab influence (not occupation), and themodern occupation by the Portuguese, nothing now need besaid, save that the Portuguese first vis ited Sofala in 1 505 ;

and in 1 575 , Lopeza writes that he was informed by theArabs at that port that innormal times . when the industrywas not hindered by native war s, the value of the gold exported from Monomotapawas two mill ions of meligaesevery year in English money), and that this wastaken in ships from Sofala, being also col lected in smallboats from adjacent ports and sent to I nd ia, Mecca, and

There are numerous theories advanced to explain why theancients ceased to further develop their workings on thegold- reefs

,of which the following may be stated

1 . That in many workings they got down to water, andthis obstructed further development, as they possessed nohydraulic pump. Pliny, indescribing the mining operationsof theancients and of the Phcenicians inother parts of the.


world,states the water diffi culty in some mines prevented

sinking operations below certain levels.2. The refractory character of the ore at lower levelsprobably made mining with primitive tools impossible.3. Possibly the apparent pinching out of the reefcaused them to desist, for working on our true fissure veinsthey would be altogether ignorant of the chief characteristicof fissure veins, via. their liabil ity to “ pinch ” and Openout

,

” and improve at depth. But this pinching out theorycould only have had a limited application .

4. That the ancients in al l parts of the wor ld appear tohave been ignorant of what we understand as deep- levelworkings.

5. Some of the workings may have been abandoned byreason of the low - grade value of the ore in those particularspots. Yet these ancients worked on lowgrade ores , for byofi icial report we find that the reef in workings where theyhad done a considerable amount of work was of very lowgrade, while higher grades have been found in the vicinities ,as, for examwe, Ancients- Bur l ington , lowgrade ; Bernheim ,

6 dwts. 1 2 grains ; S usie No. I South, 5 dwts ; Rowdy Boy,

4 dwts. Northern S tar , low grade, etc.6. But perhaps the most cogent reason that actuated theancients in d iscontinuing work was the rising of the nativepopulations against them, as their tools, still lying at thebottoms of the workings

,suggest their evident intention to

retu rn to work— the rising that many have coa wasthe final wiping out of the ancients by savage hordes , whodrove them to their metropolis at Great Z imbabwe, where, itis al leged , they made their final stand before being driven outof the country.

‘

Sir JohnWilloughby states : “ At the bottomof some of theoe old workings earthenware panning dishes. stillshowing traces of gold, and rough implements have occasionally beenfound, whichmay perhaps be takenas evidence of

ahuty encuation. [ therefore hold to the opinionthat theancientminenwereswept awsy byasuddenand overwhelming tide of innsionfl hat ruincd by one

ANCIENT GOLD -MINING

Conclusive evidence ex ists that the abandonment by theancients of many of their workings was of a suddencharacter. I n some instances the ancients left the work onwhich they were engaged at the time of their leaving incomplete, and we find cakes of gold stil l remaining in thecrucibles, quantities of gold , some in amalgam , some insmelted cakes

,and the rest in valuable gold ornaments

( independently of that which has been found in ancientburial - places). Their crushing- stones stil l have the smallp iles of quartz lying beside them, while on some of theirdumps may be found quartz showing visible gold .

Again , when the reefs on some ancient workings wererecently Opened up to the point where the ancients had leftoff work , the assays of such reefs showed high values , proving that the ancients were satisfied with the reefs, especiallyseeing how in many instances they persistently worked lowgrade ore.

That they were in most cases satisfied with their reef,the

following few instances as il lustrations taken from many of

such notes made by mining men and published in the lastMin ing Reports issued by the British South Africa Companyfor Rhodesia will overwhelmingly demonstrate. We findfrom this offi cial record that immediately where the ancientsleft off work ona reef it panned as fol lows Maloney

, 3 029 .

3 dwts. to the ton ; Morton Pinkney, 1 3 dwts. ; J uly, 8 to1 4 dwts. ; Atlas , 1 7 dwts. ; S usanna, 5 025 . 8 dwts . ; LeTresor ,39 dwts. ; Sabi, 16 dwts. to 1 oz . ; Main , 9 dwts. ; S tandard ,1 466 dwts. ; Juno, 2 ms ; Edgar, 1 8 dwts. ; Al l iance,

dwts . ; Vesuvius, dwts Cumberland , 1 oz . ; and onthe Ayrshire

, Chicagoo Gaika, and Yankee - Doodle they leftoff while very rich quartz was being worked . Quartz from

fells op their thenexisting gold industry. There is no evidence of any revivalof this industry having taken place before the recent British occupation of

Mashonaland.

” Mr . FranklinWhite suggests that the ancients abandoned the

country in the same manner as the Romans left Britainwhen their mothercountry was inthe last stqeaof its existence. This Opinionwas also exprenedby Mr . Scions.


ancient dumps has shownassays as follows : Leslie, 1 oz . tothe ton; Canna, 26 dwts. ; Bernheim, 6 dwts. to 1 7 dwts. ;

Queen’s Prize, 58 42 dwts. ; Urangwe, 1 5 dwts. Theseinstances could bemultiplied admmm.

I n connect ion with this branch of our subject there aretvo or three points worthy of consideration .(a) Mr. J . Hays Hammond remarks : “ I t is no t improbabh infi ct the consensus of opinionis that these reefs haveinmost cases beenworked at different periods.” How farM M M B t by that of many miningm q nestionof the difi

'

erent pefi ods ofM W mnot at p eaent be stated, but rt

M anh hk chz for theuchnologist to follow up.

(b f k ancienb w ui themselves to be most skilful

these they were wont to disregard the ord inary quar tzwhich was payable, and quartz from some of their olddummwhich they discarded stil l pans 10, 16, and moredwts. of gold to the ton. In Rhodesia it is general lyfound that the footwallof the reef is the richest part , and inthe majority of instances the ancients . where this has beenthe case, have taken down the footwal l and left the hangingwal l of the reef untouched .

(c) The gold - mining industry of the early Zimbabweperiods appears to have been one sovereign venture, theundertaking of the home government of the Sabmo- Arabiansand Phcenicians successively. H istory is very clear on thispoint so far as other ancient peoples are concerned. S lavesworked for their imperial masters w ithout hire or reward , andit was not until the later days of Rome and Greece thathiring of slaves was known to be practised . Ancient miningin Rhodesia being a sovereign venture, may assist to explainthe wonderful method shown in the distribution of thevarious Z imbabwes throughout the country. The ancients

that to- day, with greatly immoved facilities of mining andmilling, is only just suffi ciently payable to work. Unless theancients had the forced labour of slaves, these low- gradereefs could not have been worked. The ancient slave pits inI nyanga prove uponwhat a great scale slave- labour wasemployed , while the accounts given by Diodorus of thecustom of the ancients to employ great gangs of slaveson the gold - workings in long, dark shafts, into which theydescended for the precious ore, fi ts in exactly

,and without

ex ception, with the description of the ancient remains foundon the gold - workings of Rhodesia to- day.

The following is an extract from an article by the lateMr. Telford Edwards, mus , etc , who was one ofthe most prominent mining engineers in Rhodeeia, onGold Production in Matabeleland,

” which appeared in theB it/aware Clxr om

'

de on June a6th, 1 897.

To say that Rhodesia presents the most abundant andwonderful evidences of having been largely worked for goldby the people of a bygone age is an assertion which, I takeit, would only be disputed by a person saturated with thei nsidious creed of the Little Englander, and who consequently hates the country and any favourable remark thatm ight apply to it. At any rate, while the futur e gold - production of the country is stil l a problem of the future,it cannot be altogether unprofitable to consider its goldproduction in the past.

“ I think it would— from all i nformation obtainable—bea fair thing to say that, for every ten square miles ofRhodesia there is one ancient working. Taking the areaat square miles

,and taking into consideration the

area and the number of the d istricts which are known tobe more or less auriferous, it wil l, I should think, be readilyconceded that ancient workings (or old holes) ex isti n the country as a whole. Now I feel sure that to take


the average ancient working as representing an extractionof ore of a cubic contents of g,o f 50 tt. x 3 ft. is a moderateand warrantable estimate. Again, at thirteen cubic feet to theton ( for ore inr ite), this works out to nearly 577 tons—that isto say, every ancient stope represents 577 tons of oreextracted . Further, considering that the ancients workedthe best parts of the outcrops of the veins only, it mustbe regarded as conservative to estimate every ton of oremined by the ancients as being worth 10 dwts. per ton .

Therefore, taking an old stope at an average size of

so ft x 50 ft. x 3 ft. , and cal l ing that an average extractionof 577 tons of ore, we have tons of ore, which,at 10 dwts . per ton , is ozs. of gold , which , at3 105 . per oz . , represents a value of 50.

“Considering that the ancients have invariably attackedthe best portions of the veins, the estimate of 10 dwts .

per ton is surely conservative, and it is also pr obablethat the ancient workings have produced on an averagemuch more than 577 tons of ore each.

But whi le it is likely that the gold gone out of thecountry in the past vastly exceeds the foregoing figures,stil l we have excellent warranty for saying that that amountat has:has gone

,viz. worth

Of course, a thousand and one arguments can be quicklyadvanced to show that any estimates as to what gold thecountry has produced in the past are quite valueless asto what it is l ikely to produce under the absolutely differentconditions of the future, but putting for a moment on one

side al l the geo logical,economical , metal lurgical , and other

practical considerations which have to be duly weighed andviewed in an estimate of the future

,it is surely a rather

comforting reflection that what has been done before mightbe done again , and with all due deference to the enormouspotential ities of the Randt, even worth of golddoes take a l ittle getting."

[See Ancients and Copper M ines in Rhodesia, Appendixto this work.]

WEDZA OR BADBN'POWELL RU INS , SHOW ING HERRINC -BONEAND CHECK PATTERNSmay 0, 0mm:manh unt.

NATIVE LABOURERS CLEAR ING OUT AN ANC IENT WORKINGON THE REEF. F ILABUS I


NED IN PUBLISHED

MDES IAN GOLD- MINING ENGINEERS.

hacients abst racted rich shoots of gold .

feet in length and 60 feet in depth.down to 2 1 feet, and reef carries 5 to

Reefs. Very extensive ancient workworked low - grade ore.if ancient workings, bottomed at 60 feet

Ancient workings, bottomed at 50 feet.Line of ancient workings.

noient workings, bottomed at 1 45 feet ondwts. on assay.arge old workings on a payable reef.ensive ancient workings.T{mes Rec/fr. One of the largest ancient{undi district. Length feet

,width

ow that ancients also worked for copper.ted shafts on this property.

Two very large ancient workings, 350

length. Some very rich patches left by

y large ancient workings.ama. Very extensive ancient workings.nsive old workingsVery large ancient workings.

Outcrop vein worked by ancients.Ancients worked this district for what

'

wo large ancient workings.Ancients left pil lars in workings which

fient workinp” and “ old workings new


Eagle-HawkRaf: Ancient workings.F ind Ree/I Mass of ancient workings, some visible goldquartz on ancient dumps.F red

's LuckRee/Z Old workings.

F iery Cr oss Reefi Ancient workings.Good HopeRoof Two separate reefs worked by ancients.Geelong M ine. Ancient workings, 108 feet deep.Ger tie Regfi Ancient workings

,varying in length from

800 feet to feet.GoldenValley Ree/I Ancient workings, not numerous butdeep.Grand Mania:Reef Two l ines of ancient workings.GuineaFowlRaj ? Ancient workings on valuable reef.Germain}:Reef . Ancient workings, extensive.GoldenVeinRee/f Ancient workings, fairly extensive.GraceDar ling Rog? Ancient workings , of fair extent.GolcondaReef . Large ancient workings.GaikaRog? Ancient workings.Globeand Pkamr'x M ine. Ancient workings.GlandoreRee/Z Large ancient workings.Good Luck. Ancient workingsGoldenButterfly Ree/I Ancient workings.H iberniaM ine. Numerous ancient workings.Har vester Reef: Extensive ancient workings.Har old Rog: Very large ancient workings.Hard T{mes Ree/I Ancient workings

,feet long and

1 50 feet wide.Howard Roe/Z Large ancient workings

,footwal l of reef

taken only.

HomeRule Ancient workings, extensive.I rwimbi Ru}: Ancient workings.Imma'M ine. Ancients have wor ked valuable quartz.IntabaRegfl Line of ancient workings.[madame Raj : Very extensive ancient workings.IlaRee/I Ancient workings.I r onMarkRec/Z Ancient workings.1m Ree] : Ancient work ings .Inm'

otaRee/i Ancient workings.

ANCIENT GOLD -WORKINGS

[30Roof . Ancient workings extend for 700 feet withoutbreak . Three samples from ancient dumps panned 8 to1 4 dwts.

j arkallM ine. Twenty- five ancient workings.j uno Reef: Reef left in ancient workings pans 2 025 .

lumbo Reef. Extensive ancient workings.j amBug Rafi Ancient workings.j enny Rot/i Ancient workings.Killarney M ine. Ancient workings

,one being yards

in length.KakaRu}: Exceptional ly fine run of ancient workings.Kimber ley Ree/i Large and deep ancient workings, extending inan unbroken line for feet.Kameel. Extensive old ancient workings.KingstonRee/I Ancient workings.Koiar Red: Ancient workings.King S olomon’s Ree/Z Ancient workings.Leslie Raj ? Line of deep and large ancient workings.

Ancient dumps pan richly.Lao? M idas Mine. Ancient workings. Ancient dumpsshow visible gold quartz.Leopard Rod . Old workings.LondonReef. Line of important ancient workings.Lily Rec/I Two paral lel l ines of ancient workings,ex tend ing 500 feet.Le Trlr or Reg: Old incline shaft ( 50 feet). One stoneon dump gave 39 dwts.

LmbdaleRee/I Ancient work ings.Lirs ieRoe/i Old workings on reef panning well.Last ChemRay: Old workings .Lady Roe/I Ancient workings.Little Wanderer Rm: Ancient workings.Left Bower ReetI Ancient workings.LionRoe/Z Ancient workings.Mac aMac Reef . Good line of ancient workings, withgood results from ancient dumps.Malone] Raf Bottomof one ancient working showed

reef assaying 3 oz s 3 dwts.


ANCIENT GOLD -WORKI NGS

Nor tlzern S tar Rafi Ancients worked quartz of lowgradeNonpara

’

l Rafi Ancient workings,fairly continuous.

Ancients abandoned these, but reef is very good, and visiblegold quartz on dump.

Nantw ich Rafi Large old workings.Nauleb GirlRafi Ancient workings.Nor rienfi lt Reefi Ancient workings.Nor th moer lami Rafi Ancient workings .Omega Red: Ancient workings , numerous. Ancientsworked small payable seams.Old NickRafi Ancient workings, extensive.Olympus Rafi Ancient workings.P er eg rine Rafi Ancient workings, on very satisfactory

P ear lRafi Old workings.P r inoeBlock. Extensive and deep ancient workings.P r imr oseRafi Very fine line of old workings. Ancientshave removed over tons of ore from this property.

P ionar Rafi Ancient workings.Paradox Rafi Ancient workings.Queen

's P r iz e Rafi Old workings are large, deep, con

tinuous, and numerous. Rich quartz sti l l l ies about dumpsParts of reef left untouched assayed dwts .

Royal Somer set Re¢ Continuous and extensive ancientworkings.RacialRafi Old wor kings.Rock Rafi Ancient workings are extensive and con

tinuous, and quartz from ancient dumps pans well .Red Willow Rafi Two l ines of old workingsRose of SkaranRafi r. Extensive ancient workings.Red Kerk/ct Rafi Ancient workings.Rowdy Bey Rafi Ancient workings run from end to end

of this property. I n one working ancients had worked on a

RemdeM ine. Ancient excavations and drives.Red ReaReef. Ancient work ings.Rigbt Bower Rafi Ancient workings.


Rfiodes Rafi Ancient workings.RobinsonReef: Ancient workings.SusannaRafi Ancient working, from which rich quartzhas been extracted. The pillar left in this stope showed areef assaying 5 023 . 8 dwts. Driving through this stope hasdisclosed sol id reef panning nearly 10 to the ton .Sans Red . Ancient workings, extensive and continuous,and quartz from ancient dumps pans well.Sabi (East) Rest: Ancient workings. Some sammes fromancient dumps gave 16 dwts.Sabi (Main) Rafi Ancient workings extend 700 feet and

900 feet. Ancient débris quartz gave 1 7 dwts .

Sabi (M iddle) Rafi Extensive ancient workings. Someancient débris quartz assayed 26 dwts.Sabi (West) Rafi Ancient workings

, 600 feet in length.Some quartz from ancient dumps gave assays of 1 oz . , alsolow returns.Spmlator Rafi Fairly large ancient workings, with payable gold quartz left on dumps.Surpr iseM ine. Ancient workings

,large and extensive.

Scouts Rafi Ancients worked very extensively throughout the length of this property.Snanrr oelr Rafi Extensive ancient workings.Satiety Rafi Good l ine of old workings.S intaeRafi Broad ancient workings

,with high dumps.

S idney Rafi Ancient workings.SusieRafi Ancient workings.Sh

’

tawaroo Rafi Large and deep ancient workings.Ancients”dumps pan well.S ontlternS tar Rafi Ancients have worked this property

S tandard Blocks . Contin uous line of deep old workings,onreef yielding, over plates only, 1 466 dwts.S t. KildaRaf (Tate). Ancient workings

,extensive.

SednlineRafi Large old workings .S overeignRafi Large and extensive old wor kings.SebakweReef. Ancient workings

,extensive and numerous.

Sussex Rafi Ancient workings.

ANCIENT GOLD -WORKINGS

Super bRafi Ancient workings.S tanley Rafi Ancient workings.S imonaRafi Ancient workings.SunbeamRafi Ancient workings.Tuli Rafi Large and extensive ancient workings.TyneBlocks . Ancient workings.Tuli River Rafi Good run of large old workings.Trger Rafi Ancient workings, on a reef assaying over

8 dwts.

TebekweM ine. Ancient workings.Tuli River Rafi Ancient workings.Umfasi Rafi Old workings.UrnyookaRafi Ancient workings on fifty- five claims.United KingdomRafi Ancients have extracted a con

siderable quantity of gold from numerous and large old

workings.UnknownRafi WelLdefined ancient workings, onvaluable

UmngweRafi Some of the most extensive old workingsinRhodes ia, running through five blocks (fifty claims),yards. Ancient dumps showed pannings from 4 to 1 5 dwts.

Urntali River Rafi Ancient workings.Urn/into Rafi Ancient workings.Umeltabes i Rafi Ancient workings.Veraeity Rafi Ancient workings extend in a l ine forfeet, greatest depth 90 feet.

Victor iaBlock. Ancient workings.Vesuvius Rafi Most extensive ancient workings, con

sidered among the largest yet discovered . One samplefrom ancient dumps gave 9 42 dwts.Vermaaés Soutlt (Tati ) Ancient wor kings run throughoutthis property.

VultureRafi Ancient workings.Waterway Rafi Old workings.WashingtonRafi Ancient workings, extensive.WindfallRafi Ancient workings, numerous.c alof For tune. Ancient workings, fairly extensive.WhiteRoseM ine. Ancient workings.


CHAPTER VI

ANCIENT cow - causmnc AND cow - suavrmcANCIENT MORTAR HOLES, CRUSHlNG STONES,CRUCIBLES , AND FURNACES

O far as carefi il investigations of themins of khodeeiaseems to be no doubt that the

ancients invar iably crushed tbe gold quartz at the narest

water to tlxeir workings on the reefland not at any of the

beendiscovered of the ancients having crmhed ior gold atany one of themajor ruins which formthe eApital towns of

disnicmnor at any one of tbeminor ruins wbich protecoedand served as bases for the worker s intbe sub-d istricts.lnno ruin, so far diseovered. have the ancient mortan,

at the side ofalmost every r iver which passes inthe vicinityof ancient workings inany distr iet throughout the country.

r iver has beencbanged,may be found hundreds ofmortarholes bored into the level portions of the tops of the granite,diofi tq or basalfi c rocks along its bankg and oftenonprominent boulders inthe river itself. Many hundreds of these

heleewifl be fomrd at one spot frequently inbatches of ten

intwo rows of five each. At one point onthe elo River

therearenot leee thansit idred ofmch holes.Theeemortar - holes vary insh e fromB inches indepth to

20 inches,and from6 t0 8 inches indiameter . To -day theystilleontainpieoeaof par tinlly pormdefl qM and ponnings

77


judged by the number of holes, and also bymarks of tools inthe holes being present or completely worn away. Thereare Isafubagame stones, and closely resemble the Pullangpolyof India, a game played with the counters or balls after thestyle of Fox and Goose,” or “ Sol itaire ” ; but in I ndia andwith the Makalangas the moves require considerable mathematical calculation . This game is also played with holesmade in a clay floor

,or on the open ground .

Doubtless the game was brought over during the Zimbabweperiods

,when the Sabe ans, and after them the Phcenicians,

monopolised the trade with Africa and India. The oldstones have as many as fifty holes in them, those of theKafi nMonomotapaperiod a few less , those of the prwent

have a poor imimtionwith only a very few holes. This isthe game principal ly of the old Makalanga, a people who intheir former semis civilised state were the dominant and mostcultured of all South African tribes, and who wer e alwaysnoted for their skill in mathematics, evidently acquired fromthe Semitic gold - workers, and who to -day among native tribesstill retain the preeminence inmatters requiring any calculation.

But to return to the ancient gold - workers. We havenoticed that al l crushing and washing operations were conducted in the sub- districts in the neighbourhood of the waternearest to the workings. The gold - dust thus washed forwould natural ly be temporarily stored in the fort whichprotected the worki ngs in that particular sub- district ti ll acertain quantity had been accumulated , when it would be removed to the capital town of the main district of which thesub- district formed part, where alone are distinct traces ofgold - smelting operations. I t is in the capital towns only thatfurnaces and crucibles are to be found, all the minor ruins representing the protecting forts of subd istricts being absolutelywithout the sl ightest trace of gold - smelting operations.

ANCIENT GOLD - SMELTING 8 1

This use of the capital towns as centres for smelting thegold from all its sub- d istricts is confirmed by the discoveryin capital towns of raw gold of several distinct standardqual ities that would not very probably have been obtainedtogether from the workings of one sub- district. Probablynot al l the gold was smelted , for some was taken in dustform to the coast, for small quantities of gold - dust canbe found in the road - protecting forts far from all goldworkings and without evidences of smelting operations.This must have been lost in course of transit. Traces of

gold - dust are to bemet with in most ru ins.Each of the capital towns would contribute its quota ofsmelted gold and gold - dust to the metropolis at Zimbabwe,where it would be stored . A considerable portion wouldbe retained for local manufacture

,for at Zimbabwe, during

al l the Zimbabwe periods,an ex tensive industry of manu

facture of gold ornaments, jewel lery and plating is knownto have been carried on, and the rest would be retainedtil l some caravan set out for Sofala on the coastTake, for instance, a few of the many capital towns,such asDhlo- dhlo, for Upper Insiza,Umnukwana, for South Bel ingwe ,Tuli, for Gwanda,Tati, for Macloutsie and Shashi,M’Tendele, for Sabi,Thabas imamba

,or M'

Telegwa, for Lower Shanghani,Khami, for Bulawayo district,

each of which capital towns is surrounded by gold - reefdistricts , near which are numerous minor ruins of protectingforts extending near and far over an area of some milesfrom the capital town , and altogether distinct from the setsor rings of minor ruins surrounding other capital towns.I n transporting the gold from the capital towns to themetropolis

,the caravans would necessari ly have to pass


ANCIENT GOLD - SMELTING 83

portions are of red or yellow clay, which have been subjectedto such great heat as to have made them resemble in appearance, hardness, and weight pieces of stone, the segmentsapparently of a furnace. These pieces are generally foundon the surface of the present earth - floor ins ide the ruins, orare discovered at a depth of not more than one foot from thesurface. These segments bear the impress of wood supportshaving been used in their construction . The furnaces fromwhich these segments have been taken belong either to theMakalanga iron or copper workers of modern days or else tothe Barotsi, who are celebr ated for their artistic copper andiron work,who occupied Matabeleland for a considerable timebefore they crossed northwards over the Zambesi and settledin what is now known as Barotseland. I n construction andmaterial they are identical with those used to day by theMakalanga and Barotsi. These furnaces which are so foundin the ruins are sprinkled with iron and copper slag, whileiron and copper slag and ores, pieces of molten iron andcopper

,ashes

,and charcoal are always to be found near them .

Taking into consideration the condi tions in which the charcoalis found, the stage of its decomposition , or preservation , maybe some guide in roughly fixing relative periods of age ; andthe charcoal in and about these iron and copper- smeltingfurnaces is altogether modern. I t must be borne in mindthat while the ancients sank their furnaces into the floor , theMakalanga and Barotsi built their furnaces rising from the

(6) Dr . Schl ichter, who has done so much to elucidate themystery of the ancient ru ins in Rhodesia, fal ls into one errorwith regard to gold - smelting furnaces at Dhlo-dhlo (which,by the way

,he wrongly calls Mombo ru ins, the Mombo ruins

being at Thabas lmamba, where K ing Mombo was skinnedal ive by the Amaswaz ies), when he says

’

he discovered in theCentral Ruinfurnaces , portions of blow- pipes, and crucibles,which can leave no doubt that gold - productionwas the object


of the furnaces just described.” These furnaces have sincebeen carefully examined, and there is no trace of their havingbeen used for gold - smelting. They are comparativelymodern, and were used for smelting copper and iron, copperand iron slag and molten metal stil l lying in and about them .

These furnaces and the blow- pipes are not “ made of thesame cement as the platform ,

” but of a coarser material,as in

al l Makalanga and Barotsi furnaces. At present no traces ofgold - smelting furnaces or gold crucibles have been discoveredat Dhlo- dhlo,

notwithstanding several months'exploration ofthese ruins by Messrs. Neal and j ohnson subsequently toDr . S chl ichter’s visit. I t is highly probable that when thelower and original floors are opened out, gold - smeltingfurnaces will be found.(e) Mr. Bent states that at Zimbabwe, on a certain debr ispile which he locates, he found rejected casings from which

extracted after being sub

jected to heat prior to crushing.”Later examination has

of exploration of Rhodesian ruins, might have bee n unawarethat in almost all Zimbabwes the whole of the spaces within

ANCIENT GOLD - SMELTING

each interior bu ilding this flooring was terminated by abevelled edge exactly similar to the illustration given inMr. Bent’s book, and these edges, always bevelled , acted inthe same way as the skirting- board in modern rooms, exceptthat these edges were outside the building instead of beinginside. These edges protruded from the walls about threeinches,’ but sometimes even to sixteen inches.We have stated that the ancient gold - smelting fumaces, so

far as they have yet been discovered , are not found on thepresent floors of the ruins, but on the original floors, which insome instances are many feet below the cemented floors asseen to day. But at the Mundie Ruins, which are describedlater, where five gold - smelting furnaces have been discovered ,the furnaces are onthe present level

,for the most interesting

fact concerning the Mundie Ruins is that these ruins, unlikeall Zimbabwes so far discovered, have never been reoccupiedand filled in , and the original floor still remains the present

The materials used in the gold - smelting furnaces do notserve as an absolute gu ide in identifying these furnaces,except when one examines the cement, for the best and finestgranite powder cement was used , and this was smoothed andpolished in splendid wor kmanl ike style by the ancients. As

time passed the later occupiers of the ruins ceased makingthe superior class of cement, and they neither smoothed norpolished it, or at least they only did so in a very rude fashion .The Makalangas, who still to- day retain the art of workingin metals , which they acquired from the occupiers of theZimbabwes, have inseveral respects fol lowed on the lines ofthe ancients, and also used powdered granite in making theirblow - pipes, but not of the highest quality.The flux remaining on a crucible used by the ancients willalways demonstrate its purpose, whether for copper or goldsmelting. I n the latter case the flux is of a greenish - blue

See


foend inthe old debdahapaat anapial townruine afi ll

These blow-

pipeaare about tenincheainlength, the largerM into whkh themouth of the beflows wuphw bemgthreaincheaindiameter , while the smaller end tapers downto adiameter of halfaninch. TheMakalangaironoworkers

al to-day follow vay cloaeiy, both inpattemandmater ial,the blow-pipe model of the ancients.Themd ty ofandent blow-pipq incompar isonto the

numbuofmdent cmcibiadiwovM is explained by thefact that present native metal- smi ths have frequently beenfound using ancient blow-

piper ,as they were saved to someextent the trouble of making them .

The crucibles of the ancients are very shallow.and rangeinaiz e fromtwo to eight incheaindiameter . These weremade of granite and granite cement Almost everyancientcrucible shows gold visible in the flux. Some deeper cruciblesfound, which resemble more the pattern used in the goldsmelting operations of to - day, may be concluded as usedduring per iods later than those of Zimbabwe One ancient

gold crucible discovered shows the marks of the pincers usedto take it out of the furnace. The flux onthe edges wasdepressed while it was in amolten state,and the gold in theflux shows how it was blunted by the tongs of the pincers.Outside themain walls of almost every capital town ruinsare to be found. débris heaps ful l of portions of ancient goldcrucible: and blow- pipes. From their positions these musthave been thrown over the tape of the wal ls, and pieces ofthem sti l l remain fixed in the joints of the masonry and onthe broad - surfaced tops of the walls, just where they werethrown inthe old days.The tools of the ancient gold -workers so far discoveredincludeasmall soapstone gold- beater’s hammer and burnish


ing stones of water- worn rock, with gold still adhering tothem . An ingot mould was discovered at Zimbabwe byMr. Bent, and is described by him (pp. 2 1 6, Mr. Bentalso stated he discovered near the smelting furnace at Zimbabwe pincers and several iron tools, but was unable to sayconfidently that these belonged to the Zimbabwe periods.Much has been written concerning the possible Phoenicianorigin of this ingot mould. Four years ago so many supposed ingots were reported to have been found in differentparts of the country, all of which were shown to be anythingbut genuine ingots, that the mention of the name “ ingothas since been discreetly allowed to drop.‘One strikingly noticeable feature with regard to ancientgold - working is the apparent waste by the ancients of theprecious metal . We do not refer to the vast wealth interredwith their dead, nor to the frequent discovery of very valuablegold ornaments on the original floors of their bui ldi ngs, butthe waste exhibited in their smelting operations. The re

jected l inings of their furnaces are smothered with goldspurted out from the crucibles. The crucibles are thicklycovered with gold , and small cakes of gold can sti l l be foundin them. Gold in a molten state has frequently been foundin goodly quantities in the form of pellets as large as buckshot al l about the vicinity of the furnaces

,and also thrown

away on to the debr is heaps outside the buildings.

See Mr . Selous’ statement, that identical ingot moulds to that found byMr . Bentare to bemet with inKatangadistrict (see Industries,” Chap .

CHAPTER VII

THE ANCIENT GOLDSMITHS

Over 025. of ancient gold ornaments discovered Gold wiredrawing—Gold beads—Beaten gold—Gold nails and tacks—Gold

HERE are indubitable evidences in the finds made inopening up the original floors of the builders of the

ancient ruins, that these ancients, at any rate those of theearlier Zimbabwe periods, carried on at the major or capitaltown ruins an extensive industry in the manufacture of goldornaments and articles of use.We advisedly say the earliest ancients were pre- eminentlyworkers in gold and clever in ornamental metal lurgy, whilethe ancients of later times

, to some extent, were also goodsmiths. I n Chapter x ii , in stating some of the argumentsin support of the statement that there were distinct andsucceeding periods of Zimbabwe architecture and construetion , it is shown that the more solid and massive goldornaments and arti cles are only found on the original floorsof bu ildings of the earliest Zimbabwe period . These arehere found in the greatest profus ion

,further evidencing, as

stated in Chapter vi , the apparent disregard by the earliestsettlers of the full value of the precious metal.But the ancients who erected the second - period build ings,and who also reoccupied the bui ld ings of the first period , butonly on higher and later levels of floors, did not, so far as itcan be gathered from the character and amount of finds in

39


ANCIENT GOLDSMITHS 9 1

by Hiram was obtained at a period subsequentlythe Sabao- Arabian influence

of the secondgold work sois a question

South Africa Company toancient ruins south of the Zambesi ; 600by Mr. Burnham ; 208 ozs. were found in 1 895

Neal, Johnson , F . Leech, and J . Campbell , and

while working on the claims, have devoted anoccasional off- day to fossicking in some ruin which mighthappen to be in their immediate neighbourhood, wh ile othershave made, without legal authori ty, a bus iness of diggingi n the ruins for gold.I t would beno exaggeration to state that at least ozs.,

if not very considerably more, of ancient gold ornamentsuring the last five yearsportion of which was ofof a British sovereign.

of sterling, but a great partnsale betweenthree and ahundredowing to the intrinsic value of the

amount of gold or naments which isbeen discovered in Matabeleland, the fiveRhodesia, so far as finds of gold ornamentsmain practical ly virgin sources of buried gold ,


ANCIENT GOLDSMITHS 95

and on the debr is heaps, evidently swept away as unconsideredtrifle: not worth preservation .

Professor Rawlinson , in P luzm'

a'

a, states that gold beads weregenerally worn by Phaznicians of Europe anterior to 500BeatenGold — It was the practice of the ancients, so far asthe nature of the finds can be judged , to cover their furniture,as well as some of the articles used in their religious worship,with gold beaten to a marvellous thinness . For instance,many of the wooden pillows and other articles buried withthe ancients were covered with plates of gold fastened on

with sol id, wedge - shaped gold nai ls and tacks. The woodhas decayed , but the gold plates and nails remain . From theamount of beaten gold and gold tacks discovered on theoriginal floors a very considerable portion of .the householdfurniture of those who resided within the ru ins must havebeen overlaid with gold . The sun - images carved in woodwere also covered with gold , and the impress ion of thispattern , which is so frequently met with in the temples inRhodesia and in the countries where the Phall ic worship ofthe t nicians was practised , still remains intact. This sunimage, of which twenty- one have been found, is pronouncedby savants to be the trade mark ” of Phal lic worship. The

pieces of beaten gold so far discovered measured about3§ inches x 2 inches, 9 inches x I inch, and a piece of gold ofthis last- mentioned size was found round the head of ancientremains as if this had formed some head adornment.Gold Tacks—These tacks. used for fixing the beaten gold

onthe furniture, vary in weight from 5 grs. to 3 dwts. (thevalue of the latter being in these days about Theyare found in great numbers with skeletal remains and on theoriginal floors of the ear liest ancients. Some copper tackshave also been found, but these are not at al l numerous.Gold Permian—These were in al l probabil ity the ends

of rods or sticks, and averaged six inches to eight inches inlength, and about one ounce inweight.


CHAPTER V I I I

ANCIENT BUR IALS

Where were the ancients bur ied —Methods of ancient bur ial descr ibed—Bur ied treasure—Old Kafiir bur ials—Ancient garments.

ITH the patent evidences of vast populations ofancients having resided round about the ruins of

Rhodesia during successive periods, each embracing manycenturies of time

,it is the most natural question to ask,

“Wher e were al l these ancients buried Many theories,both probable and improbable, have been enunciated toexplain the inabi l ity of modern explorers of these ru insto discover the burying- places of the ancients.Over forty skeletal remains of the ancients have beendiscovered in and close to the ruins, and these had beenburied ; also some twenty remains of ancients who had notbeen buried , and these are described later. But supposingthe ruins had been wholly devoted for purposes of ancientburials, and this is not the case, not one thousandth partof the ancients could have received sepulture in them . We

have still to search for their cemeteries, and , perhaps, thesemay be found at some distance from each ruin , hidden invalleys among the kopjes, where the modern prospectormaynot have trodden, or where the sub‘tropical rains of verymany centuries may have sil ted the surface soil, or thefalling of debr is from the summits may have completelycovered them out of sight.The conditions of the burials of the two score ancients

97


so far discovered demonstrate beyond question that theancients, either for motives of personal veneration of theirdead or of religious fai th, were exceedingly anxious topreserve the remains to the utmost and to provide againsttheir resting- places being easily desecrated and despoiled .

This anxiety, it may be reasonably argued, was a nationalinstinct

,applicable to the general mass of the population,

as well as to the few skeletal remains so far discovered. The

first thought,even of the poorest Chinese labourer in foreign

countries,is to save sufficient money to pay for the removal

of his dead body to his native land , and well - to- do Chinesetravel l ing abroad take their coffins among their luggage.This anxiety for burial , either in their native land or inthe vicinity of some celebrated shrine, or in some particularlysafe spot, is a characteristic manifested by many ancientpeoples. The Arabian kinsmen of the ancients of thiscountry removed their dead to the Bahrein I slands, in thePersian Gul£ This custom of deporting the dead to someunfi'equented local ity pr evails li kewise among the Mohammedans of Persia, I ndia, and elsewhere.However , it does not seem probable that, at such a greatdistance from the sea as is Rhodesia, and in a cl imate whichcauses the decay of dead bodies to be so exceedingly rapid

,

the remains of the ancients could have been taken tothe coast for deportation to Arabia or any other country,especially as the discoveries so far made fail to show thatthe practice of embalming their dead was adopted by theold occupiers. Possibly there were certain shrines amongthe many tw ples in Rhodesia which might have been heldby them in pecul iar reverence, and that in the vicinity of

these temples may be found the main burial - places of theancients, for, as their temples evidence, their rel igious faithshad strong hold upon their habits and customs. But atpresent the location of the burying- places of the ancientpopulations remains a mystery.

ANCIENT BURIALS

Some writers have suggested that as the periods of occupetion by the ancients of this country cover the period whenit was the practice of Mediterranean nations to cremate theirdead , th is practice of cremation might have been in voguein Rhodesia, but so far there has been no evidence of such

Mr. Bent considered that the ancients were but a garrisoninthe country,

” and consequently their number was not considerable, and so an attempt is made to explain the paucityof buried ancients. But the later knowledge of the ex istenceof over five hundred ruins in Rhodesia, as against the twentythree described and mentioned by Mr. Bent, some of whichfive hundred ruins being of large size and major importance

,

some consisting of whole groups of ru ins occupying areas ofover a square mile, altogether destroys this argument. The

ancient population was by no means but a garrison.” We

have already shown that the results of the examination ofthe vicinities of the larger ru ins proved that large populationsof ancients, apart from any slave or native race peoples,dwelt round about the ruins. But so far inland, and at such

great distances from their base at the coast, no mere garrisoncould both have held its position in the country and havesuperintended and guarded the many and extensive goldmining districts scattered between the Murchison Range, inthe Transvaal , in the south, to Tete, onthe Zambesi , in thenorth, and from Penda- ma- tenka in Wankies, on the west, toSofala on the east.

( 1 ) The ancient gold - workings, especial ly those of lowergrade, must have been worked by huge gangs of slaves , aswas the custom in all the ancient countries of the world .

( 2) Huge gangs of slaves must have been employed in thetedious methods of crushing quartz by hand, and with crudeimplements. (3) Many of the five hundred Zimbabwes must

“ Cremationm not practised hy the Phenicians."

i. p. 385.


entrance at Umnukwana ru ins in the crevices of hugeboulders. Certainly only a very few of the inclosures ofsome scores only of all the ru ins in Rhodesia have beenpartially opened out and explored , and as ruins frequentlyhave from six to ten inclosures, the possibil ities of coming onother ancient remains are very gr eat.But the remains so far found within the ruins were, in allprobabil ity, those of the proconsuls or overlords of the districtin which the sovere ign industry of gold - mining was carried on,or of the chief stewards and taskmasters, or of priests, who,as is shown in Chapter x ii , most probably resided within theruins, while the bulk of the populat ion of the ancients residedoutside in the immediate vicinity. Therefore it is reasonableto expect that the cemeteries of the bulk of the ancientpopulation wil l be found outside the ru ins.Little hesitation need be experienced with regard todefinitely fixing the identity of ancient, or Mombo-Monomotapa, or recent and present skeletal remains. The

conditions of burials of al l these periods are so very clearand distinct that skeletal remains can easily be assigned totheir proper periods. A general description of the variousmodes of burial wil l explain this at once.Ancients found in the ruins are buried at full length andalways either on the right or left side. Ancients were alwaysburied under the original cemented floor or under the first orsecond floors above the original floors, each floor being abouteighteeninches above the other. The mediaeval and modernKamr peop les wer e buried near the surface and many feetabove those of the ancients , between whom there are alwayscemented floors and several feet of soil . Again , the presenceof a cons iderable amount of solid gold ornaments, with theold Zimbabwe patterns, is an unfail ing feature of ancientburial, while with the MombOoMonomotapaperiod remainshave ornaments of iron and copper, only slightly and butin few instances banded with gold at intervals, while the


remains of past and present races of more modern Kafiirsonly have copper

,iron

,and brass ornaments and glass beads

of an altogether modern manufacture. I n the same way thepottery invariably buried with the dead of all these periodsgreatly differs in design , glaze, ornamentation , and material ,deteriorating with each succeeding period till it becomes identical with the coarse articles made by the nat ives of to- day.

The fol lowing are the places, with the numbers, at whichthe remains of undoubted ancients have been discovered :M’Telegwa (eight), Chum ( four), Upper Longwe ( two),Mundie (five), Longwe ( three), Isiknombi ( three), Umnukwana ( seven), M

’

P0poti ( two), while several were foundat Thabas Imamba and Dhlo- dhlo

,making a total of about

forty ancient remains which had been buried.But at Mundie over twelve other ancient remains, as wel las the bones of ancients scattered about the floors, werefound , and at Umnukwanaseven undoubted ancients werefound who had not been buried . These were lying under thesoil outside the entrances, evidently just in a position inwhich they had been slain , and with them were found theirweapons

,also broken bangles of sol id gold , and torn bangles

of gold wire, all of Zimbabwe manufacture and design,and worn in the same profusion as by the ancients. Thisevidence of conflict and defeat of the ancients

,for their

bodies were never buried by their compatriots,is dealt with

elsewhere as one of many instances showing that the ancientswere final ly driven out of this country by the rising of eitherthe bastard races

,the slave population, or the hostile natives

of the country.

No gravestones, no marks on the floors or on the wal lsdenote the spots where the ancients were buried, the inferencebeing that there was anxiety to keep their resting- placessecret. Certainly the decorative patterns on the wal ls werenot intended to act as guides to spots where the ancients lay,for the patterns were built into the walls when they were first

ANCIENT BURIALS

erected and before any burials had taken place. Nor is therea single instance known during five years’ exploration workin many ruins, of either an ancient or a Kafii r having beenburied in the walls themselves, nor, for that matter, has anytreasure or gold ever been found buried in the wal ls. Vandalisms galore have been perpetrated on some of the ruinsbecause of the idea that either ancients with gold or somesort of treasure, were wont to be secreted in the wal ls. Thisfalse idea has been the cause of considerable damage to ruins,especial ly at Thabas Imamba and Tati .All ancients being invariably buried under the powderedgranite cement of the original floors, it is perfectly safe toconclude that all skeletal remains found elsewhere are eitherof the Mombo-Monomotapatimes or of those of recent andpresent KaFfir races.Onthe death of an ancient a grave was sunk through thecemented floor, apparently under his own dwelling, and thegrave was made apparently without any reference to thepoints of the compass. As al l original floors have a layer ofashes underlying them , the ashes in the grave were removedand replaced by some sort of red earth in which the bodywas laid always on one side or the other. H is gold ornamentswere buried on his person

,and his cakes of gold stil l re

mained in the pouch on his waist, while, as in ancient Egyptian and presentday Kaffi r burials, earthenware pots, probablyonce containing grain , were placed beside him. These potsof the ancients were of the finest clay, beautifully glazed,very thin

,and engraved in the best style with the oldest

Zimbabwe patterns. H is head either rested on a pillow ofwater- grooved stone, as at Chum ruins, or ona wooden pil lowvery similar to those seen in Egyptian museums and inancient paintings of Egyptian tombs, resembling inshape andpattern the best sort of pil lows used by the Katfi r s of to- day.

The wooden pil lows were frequently covered with beatengold fastened on by solid goldmcks weighing 3 dwts. each,


ANCIENT BURIALS

floors, which are again buried , owing to the filling- inprocessof later occupiers, in some instances to a depth of fifteen feet.At Umnukwana and Chum ruins were discover ed thetiny sol id gold bangles of children

,too smal l for even a

youth to wear. The ancients advanced in years have theirarm , wrist, calf, and ankle bangles of sol id gold , considerablyworn, as i f with years of friction, among the bunches ofbangles, caused by movement of the l imbs Probably theleg or cal f bangles were placed there in early years and neverremoved even at death. This is oftenthe practice with thepresent natives.The giant found at Chum ruins, inWest Gwanda,measuredfully seven feet in height ; ‘ one shin bone recovered wasover two feet in length

,while the bangles round his ankles

were of an immense size. We read in Scripture that therewere giants in those days

,

” but whether the ancients ofRhodesia approached the “ sons of Anak ” in height is impossible to say. The builders of the nauraghes in Sardiniawere always called giants, and to the present day their burialplaces are known as the “Tombs of the Giants.” At theMonastery Diamond Mine, in the Orange River Colony, havebeen found giant remains of great age, but so l ittle is knownof this find that it would be impossible to connect that racewith the giant remains found in Rhodesia. However, it isimmr tant to remember that the Prophet I saiah refers tothe people of Saba (the suggested first occupiers of thiscountry) as of high stature. S trabo, Pliny, and Diodorusalso speak of the Sabe ans being physically robust, whileProfessor Rawl inson states that the Phcenicians were ratherover than below the average standard of height.I n the chapter describing the gold - smelting operations of

The skull, anarm, and aleg bone of this ancient were takento Englandby the Hon.w Profe- or Thene Univut ity COUege London, but no infmmtion. oo fuum be discomed, lns beenmde knownu to the recultnof their


the ancients we mentioned the great waste of the pr eciousmetal which is so noticeable on every hand. We mightalso al lude to the fact that gold

,in the form of broken

bangles, tacks , and pellets, has been found on the originalfloors of the ruins just as plentifully as nails can be pickedup from the floor of a modern carpenter’s shop. The debr is

heaps, as we have already shown, contain gold pellets sweptfrom the ruins, and four months

'working with a small drycrushing machine on the debris heaps at Khami produced ,on an average, over sixteen ounces of gold per month, andyet the debris heaps at Khami are practically untouched , asmany thousands of tons of debr is stil l remain unexamined.The same apparent disregard of the value of gold soshown by the ancients is also demonstrated in al l ancientburials so far discovered . We find that the greatest quantityof gold buried with any ancient was 72 028 . (present value

that the least quantity was I } oz s , while the averageamount of gold found with remains amounted to 1 7Every ancient had gold beads worn round the neck, forthese seem to have been the most favourite and generalform of adornment adopted by all these ancients. The

beads varied inweight from 1 } grain to I oz. 1 4 dwts the

larger beads going ten to fifteen to the ounce, some havingthe holes through them punched

,others being short lengths

of flat gold wi th their ends beaten round to meet. Banglesof solid gold were onevery anc ient. These varied in weightfrom 1 5 dwts . to é oz s , and were of difi

'

erent styles of

manufacture, being made of fine twisted wire, or of thesolid metal on which were the Zimbabwe patter ns. One

interesting feature concern ing these ancient bur ials is thatwith almost every remains were found, just at the waist,small cakes of raw go ld, which had evidently been carriedin a pouch on a belt. These cakes of gold weighed fr om2 dwts . to 1 oz. 1 7 dwts.Though the Mombo-Monomotapaperiod is of far later

107

date thanthomof the Zimbabwes, the examinationof theirbur ial'plaoes shows to what extent the customs of the ancientswere followed by the peOplcs of the Kafl

'

ir kingdoms. I nthese times the Makalangas, whose ances to rs had , under theinfluence of the ancients, become to a large extent civil ised,still showed in their commercial capacities, their industries,arts,and religious faiths, the imp ressions left upon them bythe former settlement of the ancients in this country, impr essions that in some departments of life can stil l be noticedin the Makalanga of to—day. I t is known that, duringthe Mombo - Monomotapa period, these Makalanga, or

“ People of the Sun,” worked for gold and bartered it to

the Arabs for copper,apparently placing a much less value

upon the precious metal than did the ancients.‘ So we learnthat some of the Makalangas , while burying their dead ina sitting posture

,and close to the surface of the soil, or

in crevices among the rocks, buried them with al l theirpersonal ornaments, and laid beside them pots of poormaterial

,make

,and design, which once, it is bel ieved , held

gr ain. But, with the exception of the Mambo chief buriedin the rudely constructed stone circle at M’Telegwa, veryfew of the Mombo skeletal remains had gold ornaments ofany value

,the gold generally being in bands at intervals on

iron bangles,or gold beads at intervals oncapper bangles.

I n these periods copper and glass beads appear to have beenthe favourite ornaments.At M’Telegwaru ins was found with the Mombof chief thecloth or blanket with fine go ld wire woven in the pattern.

Livio Sanoto, writing in 1 58 1 of Monomotapa, said “ thepeople wear cotton worked with gold thread.

”Seeing this

was worn by these Kaffir people, and also that Chalde a wasfamous for gold - worked cloth, it is natural to suppose thatthe ancients also wore l inen and cloth worked with gold, and

i


CHAPTER IX

THE AGES OF THE ZIMBABWE S

Approximationby or ientation, architecture, ancient history,and present conditions.

NE of the chief characteristics of the Rhodesian temmeforts or Zimbabwes is orientation .

“The appropriatetime,” says Mr. Bent, for the greatest of the festivals of thesolar- wor ship would be at midsummer.” At these Zimbabwesthe ancient nature- worshippers have orientated their templesto the summer solstice, beside fixing their marvellously exactgeometrical lines

,so as to enable them to observe the passage

of the seasons,and the hel iacal rising of certain stars, as in

the temples of Arabia, Egypt , Chaldz a, Assyria, and China.The age of any Rhodesian Zimbabwe—at least those of

the first period— may be approximately ascertained by itsorientation .

The geometrical and astronomical examination of a largenumber of ru ins leaves no possible doubt on this question,and there is common agreement with regard to this matteramong the ar che ologists, antiquarians, and scientists generallywho have either inspected the ruins or written concerningthem . The best- accredited savants of all the Europeannations who have considered the reports and descriptions ofthe Rhodesian ru ins arrive at the same unanimous conclusion.

Dr . Schlichter says : We have in the Great Zimbabwe anenormous gnomon (dial calculating point) before us, compris

w9

UmpOpo and the Zambesi. It is therefore reasonable to

suppose that theancients fi rst attacked the reefs that were inthe south - east portion of Monomotapa, which is now in andon the border of Por tuguese ter r itory, erected their forts forlocal defence as well as for maintaining lines of communicationwith the coast allstill inthe fi rst per iod, and onprovingthe value of the gold areas of that part just withinthe southeastern boundaries of Rhodes ia, gradually spread out towardsthe inter ior of the country their lines of for ts with largerbuild ings of capital importance as centres for the various goldarms as they became ascertained and their payabil ity assured .

So far as the orientations fixed and dates approximatedwarr ant, we can conclude that the fi rst - period ruins which areto be found inthe Sabi Val ley, and inthe present Victoria,Belingwe, M'Tibi, and Gwanda districts, and which cover anarea easy of definition , were standing in 1 100 B.C., many ofthem at a far anterior date, while some are bel ieved to havebeen standing 2000 RCProfessor Muller, the great Austrian authority on Southern

Arabian arche ology, describes the temple- fort ru ins of Marib,the ancient Sabi and capital of the Sabaean kingdom , andseveral arche ologists of repute, comparing this descript ionwith that of the Great Zimbabwe architecture, ar rive at theconclusion they were both bu ilt by the same people. The

general features of the fi rstperiod Zimbabwes are also thoseof the ruins to be found in South Arabia, where was the oldSabcankingdom. This, taking the history of the Sabazansinto account, could wel l have been 2000 ac. to ”00 D.C..atwhich latter date the commerce and influence of the oldSabe ans appear to have become absorbed by their youngerand more enterprising kinsmen of Phaznicia.Should the suggestion , made by many authorities, of thesubsequent occupation of this country by the Phe n iciansprove to be well founded, as it appears to be. we mightthus be able to explain the prwence of the later clsn of


AGES OF ZIMBABWES 1 1 5

and business instincts, thevogue, and knowledge ofc faiths learned from the

its of the later per iod whenpolytheismhad givenplaceinewer creed. Mr . Selous is of opinionthat theancientas of Zimbabwe were not first destroyed and thensated by an infer ior race, but that they became graduined with alower mce which still bears traces of its

xture with the more intelligent people. But this viewit precluded by the suggestionof several writers of ang-out of the original ancients by their bastard fol lowingythe Kafl

'

ir s led by the bastards.us e: clues to the period inwhich the ancients eitherfind the country, or were exterminated , or driven outtt afl

'

ir tr ibes, or became fused with native races,i be nofi ced.

hebaobab- tree (adanrom’

adigitalis) is a native of Africa,is known as the monkey- bread tree, or African calabash,

oeéthwpiansour- gourd tree, of fantastic look, its stem beingof l ittle height compared to its great thickness, averagingfromtwenty feet to thirty feet in diameter. I t is frequentlymet with in Southern Rhodesia. This tree grows insidesome of the ruins, particular ly at M’Tendele, Chiburwe, andBaobab Kop ru ins, as well as at other ruins, in all of whichthey have done considerable damage by spl itting up andthrowing down walls. These trees are known to requiregrowth during several centuries to attain their maturity, andsome are considerably over a thousand years old . Portions,at least, of the M'Tendele ru ins are believed to belong to thesecond Zimbabwe period, which did not commence untilmany centuries after the older Zimbabwes had been built,and as the second period also covered several centuries, andas these trees would not have started their growth until afterthe depar ture of the ancient occupiers, and after a suffi cientquantity of soi l had silted into the interiors of the build ings,


1 1 7

Zimbabm were laid, if we are to accept the statements of

many arche ologists and savants concerning their age, whatepochs of the world

’

s history have beenwitnessed ! The

cities of Babylonand Nineveh have become but pi les of halfburied débr is. The Phceniciankingdomof the Mediterranean

the then known world it has sunk into complete obli vion .

Egypnwhich was then flour ishing , has decayed . Moses hasled the children of I sr ael towards the Promised Land .

Carthage, Rome, and Greece have in turn risen and decayed ,and well -nigh twenty centu ries of the Christian E rahave

While all this world - history has been made, this countryhas contributed gold in enormous quantities to people,thememory of whom is but a dream. What food for reflectiondo the old ruins, with their nature- worship emblems, notprovide for the Rhodesian prospector outspanning during theglaring noontide heat beside these eloquently silent wal ls, andhow brief does the span of human life appear in comparisonwith the hoaryage of thwe ruined bui ld ings !All the Zimbabwes, or temme forts, or forts in Rhodes iaare in ruins. The altars are broken down , the orientatedfi nes, “

open to the ligbt of heaven,”once sacred to the

vot ive worship of sun, moon , and planets, and the forces ofnature, have become desecrated, and “ the snake and owlinhabit there,”while the very emblems of the gods have gone.No longer the cruel, bestial , and licentious rites and piousorgies comm- ised in Phallic worship stain the temme floorswith blood, or make its walls ring with a shame that disgracesthe name of man , for the “ high places ” have been almostdestroyed by the ruthless hands of time, and the righteousmaledictions hurled against Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre andS idon , and Samaria and its “ high places,

” have been morerigorously executed m the ruined temples of Rhodesia thaneven insome of the cit ies directly mentioned inthe S criptures

1 1 8 ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODESIA

is blotted out and themany placeainRhodesiathat once

knew themnow know themnomore for ever . Well-nigh alltraces of these ancient peoples of Semitic race who once

toiled inSouth - East Afr icataking scores ofmillions of poundssterling worth of gold fi

'omthe reefs of these ter ritories, have

of the ancient Aztec kingdom,the old Mexicans , Peruv ians ,

Polynes ians, I ndians, Javanese, and not least , the people whobuilt the round towers of I reland, the pagan temples of

set up the“sacred

circles” in England as at S tonehenge, and scattered thousandsof their monoli ths and temples over all the Mediter raneancountries, and all other par 3 0f the world which were in~

fluenced by the old Phoenician world - wide faiths which had

Land of the Easter n Mediter ranean.

CHAPTER X

HE ANCIENTS AND MODERN NATIVES

prospectors inRhodesia may, for the gift of aket, be guided by a Matabele or Mashona to the

site of an ancient working on a gold - reef ; and, as wasextensive ancient workings have most

dicationof the existence of a

Payable reefi

But the endeavour to obtain from the natives informationas to there being any ancient ruin in any particular districtdoes not always so easi ly meet with success. Whether thisreticence onthe par t of thenative is the result of distrust ofthe white man , or on account of some of the ruins having inmoder n times been used as burial - places of native chiefs, orbecame of the awe in which the natives regard the ru ins, itis difi cult to decide.Should a native be persuaded for a substantial present todivulge the location of a ruin , in all probabil ity the prospectorwill be conducted more often than not to an Abolosi fort,erected, as it is contended, some two or three hundred yearsago ; not to one of the ruined forts or temples of the ancients.

To the Matabele and Mashona al l these ruins,whether ancientor Abolosi, pass under the name of TMala(walls), and whenasked to state who bu ilt these “ wal ls ” will unconcernedly

the books of the white mensay ?"resident natives appear to have no traditionruins. They do not know, or even wish to

r ig


m a mmmm wnmm u

as they only came up fromthe soufl i inwfi The redundant populafions of soudrernmces havq inthe course of

time passed on to the nor th. The Amaswaz ie branch of

h rrgas or Morcangas as Dos Santos calls them.

The Makalangaaor'Child ren of the Sun,

“who had

Santos wrote in 1 602,“the best and most polished of all

upontheir race by the ancients and the succeeding bastardraces, also to alarge extent civilised and cer tainly wellversed and expert invar ious ar ts, such as those ofmetal~


working and textile manufacture ; were admirable men ofbusiness, possessing the power of calculating money, andcommercial instincts beyond those of any other tribes, and ,according to Arab writers of the thirt eenth century, themselves mined and washed for gold and traded it with theArab merchants at the coast.lt is held by several authorities that the Makalangas werethe dominant race inSouth Central Africa, with vassal kingdoms extending beyond Monomotapa' itself from Congo,and Zambesiato the Orange River if not to the Cape of

Good Hope. Durato Barbosa ( 1 5 16) states that “ the Moorsof Benemotapasay there is much gold in a country very farsituated in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope, in

another kingdomwhich is subjected to this King of Benemotapa—a very great lord having many kings under hisvassalage. His country runs through the deser t as far as

from Mozambique to the Cape of Good Hope.” Johnstone( 1603) states that the Ki ng of Monomotapawas superiorlord toall the kings of the countries ex tending to the Capeof Good Hope (see also Chapter iv. as to the limits of the

medieval kingdomof the Monomotapa). De Barros ( 1 532)says that the natives of Benemotapahad more intel ligencethan the coast natives of Mozambique, Kilona(Quilva),andMelinde, and that among them theft and adultery werepunished van-y severely. W ith reference to the recordedtextile industry of the

’

Makalangas, it is interesting to learnfrom this writer that the K ing of Monomotapawould onlywear such cloth embr oidered with gold as had been manufactured in his country, les t something obnox ious to himmight be introduced if such clothing were obtained fromabroad. We also learn from Livio Sanuto ( 1 588) that theclothing of the Makalanga of the Monomotapakingdom'Mr . Baines stateathat “ Monomotapc si@ifies aplace where something

valuable is found.

"Other wr iten state itmeans “ Lord of the Mines,”but all

agree thct it conveys the idec of aplace wherefromgres tminenl wed th isobtained.

ANCIENTS AND MODERN NATIVES 1 23

wasmade of linenand cloth interwoven with fine gold wire.

Thismater ialso interwovenwas found onthe remains of theMambo chief in the M’Telegwaruins.But what a contrast do we see in the present Makalangasof Matabeleland and Mashonaland, for the Mashonas, saysMr. Bent, are the descendants of the people of Monomotapa!They are stil l here, but it is d iffi cult indeed to recognisein this timid race of slaves the bold and warlike people whofor centuries were the superior and most powerful race of

Monomotapa. The transition in their case is a vast one,and can be explained. Their dominance and cohesion wereutterly destroyed when the northward march of the Amaswaz ies began. Hunted, persecuted, and taken for slaves bytheir conquerors, they sank from the position of the mostsuperior Kafi r people to being “ dogs of slaves ” (M

’

Holr'

- slaves and Amam’

naa dogs), timid, cowardly, and servi le,taking refuge in kopjes

,and hardly daring to show their faces

even to till the small patches of ground close to their stronghold dwellings.Later on the country was ravaged by the people of

Cazembe, and later still the present Angoni crossed theZambesi from the south, after having occupied large portionsof Southern Rhodesia for a considerable period . S ti l l laterthe present Barotsi from the south temmrar ily occupied thecountry and then crossed the Zambesi to their present territory, wh ile in 1 838 the Matabele, or as they style themselves,the Amandabele, came up from the south and conqueredthe country.Toall these successive conquerors the Makalangas, who tothis day sti l l form a large proportion of the native population ,were the slaves and ti l lers of the ground. Their cohesionwas so completely destroyed, and their past arts and ihdustr ies so entirely forgotten during four centuries of per secution and slavery

,that what is seen of them to- day is but a

sorry picture of a past glory, and the people who once boasted



by their forefathers to extract the gold from the soil .” This

remark, judging by the context, appl ies only to quartzmining, which the natives have abandoned . They stil l washfor gold in some parts of Mashonaland . This abandonmentof quartz mining appears to have commenced as far back asbefore the days of Manoel Barreto, for he states : The Kaffirsof Monomotapaprefer the gold taken from the rivers to thattakenfrom the mines.”

Yet are there intheir pursu its some traces of their formerdays of enl ightenment, some germs of a forgotten knowledge,some insti ncts above the environments in which they arenow placed , a latent for ce that, with contact with the civil isation of the white man, may cause them to awake and springinto some newer li fe with a far prouder name and historythan they to- day possess. Several authorities , judging themental capacity of this people, bel ieve that when theMatabele race shal l have died out and been forgotten , theMakalanga— the ancient Children of the Sun— will , savedby their Semitic connection , once more become a potentforce among the peoples of South Africa.Mr. Bent, speaking of the Makalangas, observes : Someof them are dec idedly handsome, and not at al l l ike negroesmany of them have a distinctly Arab cast of countenance,and with their pecul iar rows of tufts on the tops of theirheads looked as pr o/$1 l ike the figu res one sees on Egyptiantombs. There 15 certainly a Semitic drop of blood in theirveins ; whence it comes wi ll probably never be known , butit is marked both on their countenances and intheir customs.Mr. Selous affi rms that “ the native races of Mashonalandat the present day belong to the Bantu family, who arecertainly not a pure race, though the negro blood predominates with them . The infusion of foreign blood , which undoubtedly runs in their veins, must have come from a l ighterskinned people, for I have noticed in all the tribes of Kafli rsamongst whom I have travelled that good features, thin l ips,


and wel l - shaped heads are almost invariably correlated with al ight- coloured skin .

” Mr. Bent and Mr . Selous, in expressingthis opinion, but concrete the opinions of almost every writerof authority on the questionof the Makalangas.

Particularly is this the case with the Melembo tribe, whichis only met with in the mountain districts of Bel ingwe, inMatabeleland. This tribe is very small in numbers, andexclude themselves very rigorously from contact with othertribes, even to such an extent that they are only known tomarry within the circle of their own tribe. The marriage of aMelembo woman with a member of another tribe is consideredby them to be a disgrace. Many authorities bel ieve theMelembos to be the direct descendants of the ancient Semitics ,or

,at least, the descendants of the bastard races which existed

at the time of the voluntary, or more probably the ih

voluntary, exodus of the ancients from this country. To agreat extent they practise Jewish rites and customs, especially regarding swine, which they wi ll not eat, nor wil lthey, though starving, partake of the flesh of an an imalunless its throat has been cut before its death. The rite ofcircumc ision is with them most rigorously practised

,though

this is also a custom prevaili ng among several other Africantribes.In cons idering the impressions made upon the race of

Makalangas by the Semitic ancients who bui lt and occupiedthe Zimbabwes in Rhodesia,many interesting features presentthemselves. The stay of the ancients in this country can beshown to have been so lengthy and so extended that someevidences of the ancient impress upon the mental andphysical conditions of the present Makalanga are noticeableto this day, notwithstanding well - nigh two thousand yearshave flown since the influence of the ancients was withdrawn .

Certainly contact with the Arabs of the coast may have insome degree tended to the preservation of this impress,still the fact remains undisputed that among the Makalangas


can still be found links connecting them with the ancient

I . P lryr z'

azlflattens—Their Semitic cast of countenancehas already been referred to. Arched noses, lighter- colouredskin , thin lips, and refined type of face are very commonlymet with among these people.2. InkliW .

— Inmental capacity they are more advancedthan any other tribe in South- East and South- Central Africa.This fact is mentioned by almost every Portuguese writersince 1 5 16, some of whom declare the Makalangas to havebeen far more intelligent than the natives of the coast, who formany centuries had the advantage of contact with civil isedpeople. Their commercial instincts and shrewdness are theirpre

- eminent characteristics to this day. Their facility incalculating is beyond that of any other tribe. Matabeleboys receiving their wages will appeal to a Makalanga tocount the money and to assure them they are receiving thestipulated amount of wage, while the Makalanga play theIsifubagame, which is a game of calculation, in a far morecomwicated form than any other tribe. Possibly their superiorknowledge of astronomy may be a rel ic of their contact withthe ancient sun and star worshippers. I n their musicalproclivities they exhibit ideas of harmony which are quiteex ceptional among South African peoples. The “Makalangapiano ” is of complicated construction , requiring great skill ofmanipulation , and resembles similar pianos found in Egyptand represented in the British Museum ; while from a concet tina a Makalanga will evolve chords and combinationswhich, though decidedly monotonous, are often somewhatsurprisingly musical and correct. I t may be noted thatMakalanga children are particularly intel l igent

,but this

3. [W inks — The Makalangas are a nation of copperand iron workers, in which industries they are true artists.Formerly they worked very ex tensively in copper, and to


ANCIENTS AND PRESENT NATIVES 1 29

5. Tom —Every tribe has its totem , and as the l ion wasthe totem of Judah and the bull of Ephraim, so the lion, thecrocodile, buffalo, or one of the buck tribe, forms the totem

states that the system of totems originated with tribes inArabia. The totems of the I ndians of North America havebeen suggested as resultant of Punic influence, Carthagehaving been a Phoenician colony.6. Dm k—The Makalanga beer, wh ich they call doorah,dowra, or doro, has the same name as the beer made inAbyssin ia and Arabia, and is made in exact ly the samemanner. Zenophon

's descript ion of beer made in the moun

tains of Asia Minor fits in with the manufacture of Kafli rbeer as made to- day. This beer is called ’Mtwalain Matabeleland and southern Mashonaland.

7 . Food for Me dead— Pots of grain and beer are placednear the corpse. A similar practice was employed in Egyptian burials.8 . P illow: and ro¢tm.

—Mr . Bent points out that theMakalanga pillows , both in pattern and decoration, closelyresemble the ancient pillows found in Egypt

,and now in

Egyptian museums. The iron sceptres borne by Makalangachiefs have, says Mr. Bent, their paral lels in the north of theAfrican continent.

9. S tone “W ing‘s—Authorities agree that at one time the

Makalangas were in the habit of erecting circular huts ofstone. This pr actice is shown in the inferior bu ildingserected on the present floors of many of the ruins, thestones of which have evidently been removed from theancient walls. The art of building with stone is bel ievedto have been a heritage from the ancient Semitic occupiers.

to. Rd rkrom— Indeal ing with the religious faiths of theMakalangas we are faced with some little difl

'

iculty, for thewriters on this subject may be divided into two distinctcamps

,each maintain ing diametrical ly opposite opinions.


As mese are men of undoubted authori ty on native questions, being intimate with the natives and well versed intheir customs and traditions, this may appear strange, but itis not so. Each authority has accurately described theMakalangas as he has found them in particular districts, andal l these writers are absolutely correct in their statements .The Makalangas were once a powerful nation , but they canhardly be called a nation to day

,for after centuries of slavery

they have become separated and spread over vast ex tents ofcountry

,though the bulk of them are stil l to be found in

tribes of the same race with varying dialects, and in someinstances with customs entirely distinct ; but, as Mr. Selousobserves, the blood of the ancient worshippers of Baal sti llruns in their veins.”

Onthe one hand, De Barros ( 1 532) says : “The people ofMonomotapa(Makalangas) believe inone God, whom theyname Mez imo, and adore no idol ,” and “ they possessed adistinct idea of the Supreme Being.” Mr. Bent writes : “ I nreligion they are monotheists ; that is to say, they bel ieve ina Supreme Being called Muali, between whom and themtheir ancestor s,’ or moz imos, to whom they sacrifice, act asintercessors. They lay out food for their dead ; they haveaday of rest during the ploughing season , which they callMuali’s Day ; they sacrifice a goat to ward ofl

' pesti lenceand famine, and circumcision is practised.” This Opin ion issuppor ted by several authorities on local natives.On the otha band we read that the Portuguese mis

sionaries ( 1 63 r ) state : “The people of Monomotapaare nearlyal l pagans, and are without knowledge of rel igion ” ; whileS ir John Willoughby asserts : “Throughout the country(Mashonaland) the natives know no God. The ‘Mual i ’ ofthe south and the ‘Molemi ’ of the north is merelyavague

“Ancestor -worship, forbiddenby the prophets, was commonto the Hebrewsalong with allthenations ofantiquity.”—Pauor and Carma.

ANCIENTS AND PRESENT NATIVES 1 3 1

sort of spirit of both good and evil repute, who is supposedto be the prompter of every action—good , bad, or indifferent.They neither reverence nor bel ieve in the shades of theirancestors, beyond a superstition that the ghosts of somefolks’ fathers and forefathers are able to annoy their descendants. Witchcraft obtains throughout the country asthe ch ief and almost sole belief of the people.”

Herr Mauch ( 1 87 1 ) describes a sacrifice which took placeamong the natives at the conical tower in the ellipticaltemme at Zimbabwe. Mr. Baines gives a sketch of a sacrifice of black oxenat the base of this cone. The cone

appears to have been held in some sort of superstitiousregard by natives, at any rate up to the eighties. Mr. HarryPosselt, who resides near Zimbabwe, states that before thelate Z imbabwe chief was expelled from the ruins he was inthe habit of offering up sacrifices of black oxen. Thesepractices appear to confirm the statement of Santosthat “ the people of Monomotapamake great owequies totheir ancestor s.” The sacrifice of bulls to Baal was a generalpractice of t nicians (Rawlinson). Mr. Bent also relatesthat sacrifices of bullocks to defunct kings took place in histime at Mangwendi

’

s, also at ’Mtoko’s, where the worshipperswere spr inkled with the blood,as also does Mr . Selous, whileseveral writers mention the sacrifice of oxen in the ninetiesat Lutzi. These sacrifices took place in or about the monthof February in each year. I n certain parts, in the ploughingseason, the Makalangas only wor k for five days together, andon the sixth day they rest in their huts and drink beer.This day of rest, Mr. Bent considers, may be of Semiticorigin . He also alludes to the fact that the Makalangasemploy the same custom of obtaining labour as sti l l availsinAsia M inor and the East—by brewing large quantities of

But it may truly be said that other Kafi ir tribes locatedmuch further to the south abo have certain customs which


ANCIENTS AND PRESENT NATIVES 1 33

time these Arabian merchants gained a footing in the landand taught the black aborigines to mine for them . Theirprincipal station was at Zimbabwi, where they built, with thefor ced labour of the aborigines, a temple for the worship of

Baal and a strongly- bui lt and well - situated fortress. But Itake it that, l ike the Arabs in Central Africa at the presentday, these ancient Arabians brought few or no women withthem, but took a very handsome allowance of wives fromamongst the aboriginal blacks . For a long period intercoursewas kept up with Arabia, and during this period the goldseekers spread over the whole of South - Eastern Africa fromthe Zambesi to the Limpopo

,everywhere mixing with the

people and teaching them their own rude arts ofwall - buildingand gold - min ing. I n course of time we will suppose thatevents happened in Arabia which put an end to all intercourse with the distant colony in Mashonaland, and as timewent on, as the alien race were still in smal l numbers compared with the aboriginal blacks, and as they had none of

their own women with them , they gradually became com

pletely fused and national ly lost amongst the aborigines .The mixed race called the Bantu had been formed , whichspread in course of time northwards as far as the Congo andsouthwards as far as Cape Colony. At any rate, I amabsolutely convinced that the blood of the ancient builders ofZ imbabwi sti l l runs ( in a very diluted form ,

if you l ike) inthe veins of the Bantu races

,and more especial ly so amongst

the remnants of the tribes sti ll l iving in Mashonaland andthe Barotsi of the Upper Zambesi, who are, there is l i ttledoubt, a branch of the Barotsi tribe who were destroyed bythe Matabili in Mashonaland , though the separation tookplace long prior to this event.I make this suggestion after much thought, a close study

of the rel ics unearthed at Z imbabwi, and a knowledge of thenatives of South - Eastern Africa gained during many yearsof travel ."

With reference to the Abolosi forts, a Barotsi, who has notcome down south at a very early age, can say much concern


ing these rude walls which are to be found in such largenumber s on the kopjes of SouthernRhodesia. These as

already explained , are lines of unhewn stones forming rudelythrown -up rammr ts so as to form inclosures which conformto the contour of the summits of the kopjes. F rom thisBarotsi we learn that even in the days before his people

crossed the Zmbesi these walls were here, and that theywere erected by the Abolosi. There appear to have been

two races of conquerors styled Abolosi : one of these, it isbelieved , was the Cazembe of the present Northern Rhodes ia,who

,according to Diego de Conto, devastated the country of

Sofala, and entering into Monomotapa, entrenched themselvesand conquered the country.

The old Barotsi, Makalanga, and Mashonas have veryfrequently utilised the ancient ruins of Southern Rhodesiafor purposes of carrying on their copper and iron- smel tingoperations. I n almost every ru in canbe seen on the presentfloors the sites of their furnaces, while portions of the clayfurnaces l ie about inall d irections, together with copper andiron slag and Cinders.The Rev. G. Cullen H . Reed , of the London Missionary

Society’s station at Bulalima, in Matabeleland, who haslaboured for some years among the Makalanga of thatdistrict, writes to the authors as follows

I n al l descriptions of the Makalanga customs it must becarefully borne to mind that there is no tribe, existing as one,which bears this name, but the people to whom it is appl iedconsist of many tribes having their own pecul iar traditionsand customs more or less al l ied , but with considerabledifferences most confusing to the inquirer.

“ So far I have not got one of the old men to say therewas a definite meaning to the term ‘Zimbabwe,’ save as tothe name of the old capital of Mamba. I t may, however,be der ived from the words ndn

'm and ibgwaand meana ‘spirit of the rock.’ Monomotapaand Benomatapaare,


1 38 ANCI ENT RUINS OF RHODESIA

and trouble is credited to the malice of the spirit s of theirancestors (unless due to witchcraft), and these must beappeased by gifts of food. I n every family residence there isa place under a raised platform of poles where three stonesare set inatr iangle. Theseare dedicated to theancestor s ofthe residents. Here, at times of sickness or at the sowing or

suck it up as it flows. This is repeated as often as

snnfl'

is bmiedat tbe b d. A chief vonld be bnried inthe

“ If annnvue kflled inh tfi e the reh fim tnokabnll

and killed it onthe vd dt. T‘

hemeaawas thmcut ofl'tbe

buded inthe t afbu'hich all vashed as after afurml.

Tbe tips of the horns ofmch animals were wornas chums

be buried.

“The fifl oving remh ’

s cencaof hhmbo's timemay be ofinteres t. Whenever llambomoved about he was sur roundedby yomboys and if anyone were seencrossing the pathahead he was seiaed and brenght to hlamhqwho demandedwhy he was committing so great acr ime whenhe knew

Mambo was the owner ofaherd of tame bufl'

aloes, elephants,

suppose it is needlees to remark that Mambo is onlydynastic title like that of Pharaoh.

’

NM —Most of the Por tuguwewr iters of the sixteenth centnry speak of the people of Monomotapaas “Mocarangas.

”

Later wr iters, while employing the name “Mocarangas” for

on native language have always contended that the morecorrect title of Mashonaland is “Makalangaland.

”


RELKB AND “ FINDS 1 4 1

InlSSQMmaWiilie and Hany Posselt o imbabwe.discovered at theminsmSmpsmone cyiinder of quern shape, with r ings ofmsettes onthe top and sideg which r

osettes are believed to

repr esent the sun, and are common in Phall ic decoration .This cylinder, which has a diameter of about nine inches, isconsidered as undoubtedly Phtenician, and is simi lar to thecne fonnd at the Temple of Paphos, inCypms which wasonce a leading Phe nician colony. The rosettes or knobsare similar to those onthe sacred coneof the great t nicianTemple of the Sunat Emesa, in Syria (Herodian, bk . v. s).and also to the rmette on the Phceniciansepulchral stcla: inthe British Museum. (This is in the possession of the SouthAfrican Museum , Cape Town.)

Mr. Edward Muller discovered in a cave ten miles fromZimbabwe

‘9 Wooden platter (see frontispiece of Mr. Bent‘s work) or

dish, thir ty- eight inches in circumference, showing anumberof zodiacal and other astronomical signs—Gemini,Leo,Virgo.Libra. Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricomus, Aquarius, Sun- image,Orion, Taurus, with a crudely carved crocodile in the centre,which latter is bel ieved to indicate the northern circumpolarconstellation . (This is in the possession of the Right Hon.C. J. Rhodes.)

Mr. J .Theodore Bent and Mr. H. M .W. Swan , in June and

July, 1 89 1 , discovered at Zimbabwe‘M . 20. Soapstone birds, pronounced by authorities to be

similar to the images of the birds sacred to Astar te.and anemblem used inPhoenician worship.M

. 2 1 . Soapstone ingot mould, corresponding, so Mr. Bentaver s

,to the tin ingot of undoubted Phoenician manufacture,

discovered at Falmouth, and which is now in the TruroMuseum.


Mr. Selous states that “ in Katanga the form of the mouldin which the molten copper is run is almost identical inshape with the soapstone mould found by Mr. Bent atZimbabwe.”

M . 2 2 . A large number of soapstone objects representing,both real istical ly and conventional ly, the Phallus, but alwayswith anatomical accuracy, one being marked with rosette, “ asort of trademark by which we can recogn ise as Pheznicianall such objects as bear it ” (MM . Perrot and Chipiez.)M . 2 3. Soapstone beams decorated with bands of geometricpatterns

,and rosette , one pattern being chevron. One beam

measured fourteen feet three inches in length. These beamsare simi lar, only larger, to the beam in the museum of theRhodesia Scientific Association at Bulawayo,wh ich was foundat Dhlo- dhlo.

M . 24. Smal l carved stones of altogether foreign rocksmarked round with curious l ines.M . 2 5. Fragments of decorated and plain soapstone bowls,the patterns depicting zebras, a hunting scene with straightprocession of an imals represented in Phcenicianstyle, ear of

corn , sign - lettering, cord, herring - bone, double herringbone,

M . 26. Glass beads , Celadon pottery, Persian pottery, andArabian glass, one bead is believed to be Egyptian of thePtolemaic period .

M . 27. Pottery, glazed and unglazed, with chevron, herringbone, and dotted patterns.M . 28. Clay and shell whorls, pronounced by Messrs. Bentand Bryce to be simi lar to those found in great quantities inthe ruins of Troy.

‘

M . 29. Assegai or spear, and arrow- heads both of ancientand modern designs.

Sir JohnWilloughby wr ites : “ Mr . Bent mention: some clay whorls andaho spuh of wh r dhmbut whether refer r ing to the same objecuor not lcannot say. I found x vad hard day dhmhaving asmall hole inthe centre,but theune without doubt nothingmore or les thanpordons of h fiir spindlu,

used by thenatives of eventhe present day inrpinning hark fibrel and threadmade fi omthewild couonwhich isw be found indifl'erent pamofMuhondmd .

”



genuinely ancient, and by its smell it has Men buried inmoist earth (not in an Egyptian tomb), and has not beenkept long by an Arab. All this agrees with the account ofits finding.

”

Professor Keane writes : Such an object might in thecourse of years find its way through a dozen channelsthe Phceniciantraders, for instance, or the Sabazans, Minazans,Axumites— to any part of the east coast, and thence tothe interior.”

Mr. H . Rogers discovered at Dhio- dhio

40. Soapstone bar 20} inches long, 4 inches across frontand back faces

,and 2§ inches onthe sides. This bar tapers

somewhat at the bottom end, which , according to Mr. Baines’paintings of similar bars,and Mr. Bent’s opinion , was insert edinto the t0ps of the wal ls, the bar thus standing in an erectposition . This bar is carved on all sides to half- way down itsheight with chevron, dotted, and other geometrical patterns.Mr . Bent and other writers bel ieve such bars to be smal lgnomons used by the ancients in making solstitial or astralobservations. This bar is now in the museum at Bulawayo.Several other similar bars have been discovered, but theirpresent possessors are unknown.

Messrs. Neal and Johnson have made the following discover ies. Their finds ” are mentioned under the heads of

the ruins inwhich they were found, and each “ find is placed,of course tentatively, under conjectured Zimbabwe periods,Monomotapaperiod, and Portuguese period respectively.

DHLO - DHLO Roms.

4 1 . Many ounces of al luvial gold, the largest piece weighing 6 023 . This was in al l probabil ity brought here fromsome distance.



70. Plain copper bangles7 1 . Copper bangles with herring - bone pattern.72 .

73. Ditto, threaded with copper beads.74. Lumps of smelted copper.7 5. Bars of copper.76. Copper plates.77 . I ron arrow- heads ( fused).78. Large and small copper beads.79. I ron spear- heads.80. Ivory beads.8 1 . Ivory cylinders with Zimbabwe patterns82 . Copper needles.83. Bar of iron with gravitating holes for drawingwire ; piece of gold wire sti ll remaining inone hole.

84. Lead bullets.85. Three old barrels of fl int- lock muskets.86. Portion of brass bugle or trumpet.87 . Two cannons : one bronze breech - loader, one ironmuzzle- loader , both with Portuguese coat - of- arms. (TheRight Hon. C. J . Rhodes.)88. Gold coin or medallion , size of five- shi ll ing piece

,

embossed on one side with two birds fighting over a heart(Last in the possession ofDr . Jameson .)89. S i lver twisted - wire bangles.90. S i lver, threaded with silver beads.9 1 . Many pieces of raw silver.92 . Large lumps of smelted lead , 60 lbs. in all.93. Large elephant tusk.94. Portions of bar silver.95 . Portions of clay- pot l ids, with handles.96. Ostrich egg, bored .

97 . Section of bronze bowl , size of ordinary washing basin .

(Captain Rixon .)



1 24. Portions of gold crucibles, showing gold in flux.1 25 . Portions of blow - pipes

,with gold on nozzles.

1 26. Two gold bangles, child’s size.

1 27. Pieces of gold chain .1 28. Pellets of gold1 29. Gold - dust.1 30. Portion of soapstone bowl, with single herring - bonepattern .

1 3 1 . Portion of soapstone bowl , with double herringbone

1 32 . Clay lid for a pot ; exact shape of a maiden’s breast.

1 33. Soapstone game board .

MonomotapaP er iod (P).Copper ingot.C0pper beads.Copper wire.Copper bangles , wi th herringbone pattern .

Copper crucibles.I ron hoe.Rubbing or polishing stones.Com- grinding stones.Copper needle, two inches long.

iron punch,four inches long.

Copper chain l inks.I ron chain.I ron arrow and spear heads.

MUNDIE RUINS.

Twelve gold bangles,average weight 6 023.

Gold bead carved with chevron pattern , weight 1Gold bead, weight oz. (Dr . Sauer.)S ix ty- seven gold beads, fifteen to an ounce.Small go ld beads.Gold tacks.F ifteen pieces of beaten gold.

WOOU I‘SN BOWL W ITH S IGNS OF ZODIACFOUND NE AR ZIMBABWE

“ FUKO YA-NEBANDGK,

"MAS HONALANI ) RELIC,

DlSOOVERE l) NI'JAR ZIMBABWE


1 50 ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODES IA

1 80. Gold pellets.1 8 1 . Blow - pipes, showing gold on nozzles.1 82. S ix square- shaped gold beads.1 83. Portion of wooden pil low worked with gold wire inchevron pattern.

1 84. Pieces of pottery found with ancient skeletal

Copper wire.Copper- wire bangles, with copper heads at inter vals.

Porfi ons of iron bangles, with gold bands at intervalsI ron hoes.Potta'

y of later date.

CwmRums.

195. Golds beads, smallw t 3 1 : 1 dwt. each.1 96. Two small double- twisted goldwire bangles .

1 97. Poru'ons of gold crucibles, showing gold in the flux .

198. Portions of gold chain.199. Go ld tacks.

201 . Eatengold .

202 . Goldd ust.3, Go ld a

,.g in several stages of manufacture.

Pim of smelted gold.

Pottery of best manu re andwfia. S tone whorls, with Zimbabwe patterns.

RELICS IN MUSEUM BULAWAYO ( I )

1 . SW M “ a: ( quart: M : M af raudmag/«tn uua” V enom”!

3 . dam- I amm: Mum?

CA M m l



B. 23 1 . Diorite and granite balls and grinding stones .A.B. 232 . Pottery (some probably ancient), with Zimbabwdesigns.

233. Large piece of copper al loyed with gold .

A. 234. Pieces of smelted tin .A. 235 . Fused tin beads.B. 236. Copper beads.B. 237. Portions of copper bangles.238. Copper finger - r ing (unwelded).B. 239. Bronze finger - r ing.

B. 240. Piece of bevelled jasper, evidently from signet r inB. 24 1 . Clay whorls.242 . I ron wedges or chisels.243. Portions of copper crucibles.B. 244 . Portions of i ron bangles.245 . Several complete i ron bangles.246. Copper needles, one threaded with copper wire.247. Porcelain heads.248 . I vory and bone cylinders

,with Zimbabwe markings

249. Comparatively modern pottery,probably of Portugue

period .

B. 250. Quantities of pottery of all qual ities and designZimbabwe patterns being predominant.

REGINA RUINS .

2 5 1 . Gold beads , gold chainwork, gold bangles, smeltugold, 1 5 023 . of alluvial reef- gold in nuggets

,weighing fro

one quarter to half an ounce each , discovered at Regi1Ruins in 1 894 by Messrs. H . Sauer, W. SM pson, andBradley.

252 . Isafubagame- stone (see Chapter253. Phallus.2 54. F lint ( conjectured axe- head).

InMuseum, Bulawayo.

RELICS IN MUS EUM. BULAWAYO ( I I)n.

1 7.


1 5 4 ANCI ENT RUINS OF RHODESIA

been found, one being obtained in the Maz oe distr ict by theRev. Father Richardt, and one was found in 1 89 1 nearVictoria and handed to Dr . Ruther foord Harris. I t shouldbe borne in mind that the Arab writers of the thirteenthcentury state that copper was extensively brought to thecountry for purposes of exchanging it for gold ; further, theancients are known to have mined for copper in several partsof Rhodes ia, and also that even recently natives have alsoworked for copper. At any rate, these copper bars are tb~centre of scientific controversy.‘

POTTERY.

W ith regard to the pottery d iscovered , it would hardly besafe at present to theofi se except with regard to that of

undoubted Phanician semblance which has been found atZimbabwe. The red and blackcolour s of the potteryappearto have beenobtained by the employment of hernatite and

plumbago. The quality of the clay and the wor kmanship ofthe geometric patterns vary considmbly, but it must beadmitted that the finest specimens have always been discovered onor close to the original iloors of the ruins.

All the pottery appears to be hand - made, there being

wheel. I n the majority of instances the primitive ceramicart is crude, harsh, and lacking proportion , as if painfullytrammelled with conventional ity, and exhibits a povert y of

’ TheRwofl of th Adminir tutor ofNorth EutanRhM Mamh y r tugoo,states :from10 to 1 5 lbs .

,are commnmicles of tnde, snd point to tbismineulbeingMr .

at Knunganlmost identicd insh pe with the ingmmonld diseovaed byMr . Bent

onbehnlf of tbemtbomand though powerful gh suwemused, nom d its

Inving beennsed ior rnonlding gold could be discovered uponit. (See p t z fl.



happened to be near these part icular hi lls col lecting labour forthe Chamber of Mines , and conversed with a chief l ivingthere. He asked the chief the native name of the hills, andthe chief told him about the pot containing the beads He

further told him that long ago a native went out hunting onthe hil ls, and found the pot with the beads in . The chiestory was to the effect that the native seeing the pot wantedto take the heads out, and putting his hand into the pot, thepot got hold of his hands and he could not shake it 05 , andbe was obl iged to car ry the pot poised onhis head with hishand stil l fixed inside it. When he arrived at the kraal hispeople prevented him entering it, as he might bring evi lupon the tribe. He was consequently compelled to encampona stream near the kraal until his hand dropped off. He

was fed secretly by some of his people. After his death ,instead of being buried in the usual way, they pushed himwith long sticks into a cave.The pot was left there for some cons iderable time afterwards, and it was eventually discovered in another cave inthe same hills, and was regarded , and stil l is to this day, bythe natives as a mystery, and held in awe by them , and theirbelief was that if anyone approached the cave he would die.I f the pot changed its colours to dark red it meant certaindeath.After he had secured the pot the natives came from nearand far to see it. One old native then told him of anotherpot, made like a mare zebra, and that female pot

” contained beads that glitter ed, and that the pot in his (Mr .

Posselt’s) M onwas the male pot.” The native was

ignorant of what gold was. The two pots, so he stated, usedto travel by themselves from their cave to Fulachama, adistance of eight miles, to obtainwater from the streamwhere they drank, com ing and going so often as to makea path. The name of Mr. Posselt's pot is, accor ding tonative tradition , Fuko- ya- Nebandge, which means

“ the king’s

FUKO - YA -NEBANDGE 1 5 7

favourite adviser.” This Kafli r asked where the “ femalepot ” was, well knowing Mr. Posselt had not found it.After his discovery he went to a chief who lives close byto where the pot was found. This chief used to l ive inZimbabwe. He said that the chief who now l ives in Zimbabwe was an enemy of his, and had supplanted him,

andthat he had all the relics. To compel him to disclose theplace where the relics were hidden he resorted to torture,cutting off women’s breasts and putting nose reims throughmen’s noses. Before the ex- Zimbabwe chief was expelledfrom Zimbabwe he was in the habit of offering up sacrificesof black oxen, and on each occas ion used to col lect anddisplay relics taken from the ruins. These consisted of

yellow metal with sharp points ” brought down from thetop ru in, also a yel low stick about three feet six inches longwith a knob on it, also a bowl or dish, by information mostprobably of silver. The stick is now stated to be in the

possession of the chief.


(c) I n many ruins trees and roots are bulging out orwedging apart the wal ls. This is specially noticeable atZimbabwe, Khami, M

‘Tendele (wrongly named Matindela),Chum, Umtelekwe, Umnukwana, Zeer i, Lotsani, and BaobabKop ru ins.(4 ) Most probably earthquakes have ass isted to a greatextent in the destruction of these buildings, for some of theenormous masses of mmnry which have evidently beenhurled enbloc from the walls of some ruins suggest the effectsof earthquakes This suggestion is strengthened by the traditions mentioned by Arab historians, that a severe earthquaketook place in South - East Africa during the fifth century.

(a) The vandal ism of prospectors, transport- riders, andvisitors

, who,in search of supposed treasure, have pulled

down whole lengths of walls with decorations. This isspecial ly noticed at Tati, referred to by the Rev. Dr . Mofi

'

att

some years ago, where every passer - by has done some littleamateur exploration work ; also at Thabas imamba, whereacts of vandal ism are manifest ; also at Khami, where inNo. 8 Ruin a whole length of herringbone pattern

,together

with an ancient rounded buttress of the first period, havebeen wilful ly and utterly destroyed during the last fewmonths. Ruins on summits of precipices l ikewise suffer,for visitors appear to delight inhurl ing the ancient blocksover the edges of the precipices to watch them boundinginto the depths below. I n th is way the stone cross, laidprobably by the Jesuit missionaries, on the flat boulder inNo. 2 Ruin at Khami, has almost disappeared .

(f ) Though the present natives do not use stones fortheir build ings, yet, in some cases, they have done a considerable amount of damage to the walls. For instance,when bees have built inside the crevices or some smallanimal has taken refuge inholes in the walls, they havepulled down portions of the wal ls to obtain the honey or tosecure their quarry.



built portion while risking a fal l . I n one case the wallsare built in regu lar courses, and Me stones aremost carefully

sometimes having the exterior courses laid with someregularity, aremost car elessly built intlm

'

r inter ior .

”

construction Wkick —Taking into consideration that inRhodesia we find two distinct classes of ancient architectureand construction, apart from those of any of the decadentperiods, it may naturally be asked if these are but differingstyles of architectu re employed contemporaneously by theancients of the same period , or are they distinct from eachother in point of time ? “

This question , so far as the examinations of some twohundred ruins have been made, can be best answered asfol lows

( 1 ) That, admittedly, there are two principal styles of

architecture and construction as defined later , each possessingits peculiar characteristics not met with in the other.

(2) That the original buildings of these two types ofarchitecture and construction occupy almost distinct areasin the medie val country of Monomotapa(a) The fi rst - period buildings are found on the east

,south

east, and south of a l ine drawn from the north of Zimbabweto the north -west of the Matoppas, with the exception ofa few ru ins overlapping on the western side of th is l ine, as,for instance, the ruins described in Chapter xx i , and No . 8

and other ruins at Khami . This area extends to a point onthe Sabi R iver within Portuguese territory.

(5) The or iginal bu ildings of the second or terraced typeof architecture are to be found to the north, north - west

,and

west of th is l ine, extending from and including I nyanga

( if not as far north as to include the ruins of Mount Fura

SeeAuthors’ remarks onPeM inthe Prefsce.

ARCHITECTURE OF RUINS

district), down in a south - westerly direction to the westernborder of Bulalemadistrict, south west of Bulawayo, in~

eluding on its way the large number of important terracedruins of Upper I nsiza, Khami, and Bulalema.(c) The second - period architecture is also to be found inthe shape of most obvious extensions of, and addi tions to,the fi rst - period buildings in the area in which the originalbuildings are only those of the first period, and these '

additions and extensions, as wil l be seen in the descriptionsgiven later of the respective ruins

,are generally built over

and upon the original erections.

(3) The area occupied by the fi rst - period buildings is thatnearer to the coast, and would in all probability be the firstportionof the country to be occupied by the ancients.

(4) The absence of any original buildings presenting together the features of the architecture of the first and secondperiods, or buildings with architecture of an intermediateor transitional period.

( 5) There are also other evidences that the terraced buildings, beside being as arule inferior inconstruction , as shownlater, are of a subsequent period to those built at the GreatZimbabwe

(a) Every archaeologist who has written on the subjectof the ancients emphatical ly asserts that ruins seen by themand which they mention by name show several, or at leasttwo periods, if not three periods of architecture and con

struction and the terms “ best per iod,” “

originalM"

“ later per iod of nude”: bum,

"“ decadent pmbd,” andsimilar terms to describe differences of architecture andconstruction are very frequently eniployed by them . Mr.Bent further suggests that in the later period the ancientsdid not practise solar worship, or did not do so { Jag/w


or iginal forms. Further, Mr. Bent states, “We find two

pm'

od r u'

de by r ide at tbe Great Z imbabwe, alro we M e

th anscattered over tbe commy ”

; also, “ later waas are wanting insome of the essential features of tire or iginal walls.

"At the following ruins ( inter alia) there are additions ofsecond - period buildings built over and upon and also extending the original erections of the first period : Thabasl mamba, Lower Longwe, Copper Ruins, Tagati, Ch umRuins, Lumeni, Dhlo- dhlo, N

’

Natali, Choko, Mudneeero,Wheel of Fortune, M

’Tendele, portions of Great Zimbabvm,

and several unnamed ruins in M’

Pateni. Mr. Bent alsopoints out that M’Tendele was “ constructed by the samerace ( the builders of the Great Zimbabwe) at a period of

decadence,when the old methods of build ing had fallen

into desuetude.” Here, he believes, the superstructure of thedecadent period rests onfoundations of an early Zimbabweperiod. Mr. Bent also says, S ir John W illoughby madeit abundantly clear that at Z imbabw tire building: are ofmany different per iod s, for they d rawmore recent wall: super

posed onolder ones .

”

(b) The gold ornaments found on the original floors of thefi rst - period buildings are massive and absolutely sol id , andare found in far greater profusion than in the second - periodbuildings. Gold ornaments with Zimbabwe patterns have,so far, only been found - inthe fi rst - period bu ildings . Copperand iron ornaments have not hitherto been found in fi rstperiod buildings

,except those extended during the second

or later period .

(c) Both in the original buildings of the second period, andon the higher floors of fi rst - period bu ildings which have beenadded to by buildings of the second period , the ornamentsare much scarcer and poorer in make and .

value ; for instance,copper and iron bangles with gold bands or gold beads atintervals. Smal l gold beads may sometimes be found. No

gold - smelting furnaces have so far been discovered in any



Rhodesiaand it is fi'om“the original portions

”of this

temple that the style of the fi rst period of Zimbabwe archi»

tecture is deduced. Messr s. Bent and Swan , also Dr .

S chlichter and other writers , in all thd r descr iptions of ruinsalways compare each to the standard of planand construction employed in the building of the Gmt ZimbabweTherefore inthis work we follow on the lines of other

speekof these two classes or types ofarchitectnre as belonging to two difl

'

erent periods of the ancients , viz . as the fir st

(a) Maseive solidity and symmetry of the buildiings , the

to fih enfeet aecording to the size of the building , with tops

wenging fromtluee feet six incha to sevenfeet inwidth,

(”Decided betteb back of walls at least oue foot insix

W ‘md h mw y casos have bumm the passagesinto tbe inter ior being intr icateand defended inmany ruinsof this puiod by otber buttresses.

(Q Walls are built oncul-ved lines or onelliptical plan ,straight wells. except divisional walls, being almost alwaysabsent.

(c) Foundations ofmainwalls all go downto rockformadonand follow the sur face outline.

-ofl'

entrancet belong to the oldeet

BROKEN WALL AT Z IMBABWE, SHOW ING BONDED COURSES

OF F IRST PERlOD ARCl'll'

I‘

ECTURE



(d ) Walls, both main and div is ional, are buil t upon comparatively straight lines.(a) Foundations of main walls frequently do not reachrock formation, though the rock is within a possible distanceof two or three feet. I n the terraced walls the foundationsare laid on rough gran ite blocks, not more than eighteeninches to two feet from front to back.(f ) Right angles in main walls are prominent and general.

(g ) The workmanship in the masonry, though on thewhole good , does not equal that of the first period. The

outside walls show good work, but the inside walls are mostinferior and are without decoration. False courses are frequent.The courses are not bonded, and the interior of the walls arecarelessly built ; the stones between the two faces seem tohave been thrown in anyhow. (Messrs. Bent and Swan andall later writers allude to this feature.)(Ir) The presence of the rising - terrace plan of building,general ly tiers surrounding and often completely covering thesummit of a kopje. Numerous retaining walls of a very shelll ike construction

,the withdrawal of the facing block generally

showing the rubble thrown in behind to fillup. The foundations of these retain ing walls most frequently rest on the soil .( 1) A greater profusion of decoration on the outsides ofmain walls and on the faces of the terraces, which is mostelaborately carried out, this being mainly check pattern .

(j ) No drains have so far been found in second - periodbuildings.(b) Steps made of granite blocks and cemented over are acommon feature of th is period almost every terrace appearsto have had at one time its flight of steps.(I) Second - period buildings are most frequently located onthe summits of high kopjes.(m) During the second period many bui ldings undoubted ly

of the first period have been added to and extended by buildings representing all the features of the second per iod.

ARCHITECTURE OF RUINS 1 7 1

I t must be bor ne inmind that in deal ing with the buildings of the third and fourth periods we can only verytentatively classify these in accordance with their apparentsequence in age.

1 1 . Tlu'

rd per iod—True circular and octagonal build ingswith comparatively plumb walls buil t of larger blocks ofstone. These are mainly protecting forts, and were evidentlyerected later than the other protecting forts in the samedistrict , probably as the mining districts extended beyondtheir first known l imits. Mr. Bent believed these to havebeen of later date than the first Zimbabwes, and cites severalru ins in illus tration . He further refers to ruins where thecircular system of construction has been abandoned .

1 2. Four tkor decadent per iod—Small circular stone buildings, smal ler inclosures often made of blocks taken from themore ancient walls, but altogether a poor imitation of theworkmanship shown in the earlier periods. The cementis also of a very much coarser qual ity. These buildings havebeen very frequently erected on the cemented floors laid overthe filled - ininclosures of first and second period ruins, whichfilling- inprocess is bel ieved to have been the wor k of thethird or fourth period , probably that of the bastard racesleft in the country on the departure or wiping- out of theancients ; or of local races upon whom the impressions ofthe ancient methods of building sti ll remained. There areci rcular stone huts in the Marico district in the TransvaalColony ; the Basutos (see Chapter x.) are known to be skilledin stone bui lding. Messrs. Bent and Selous state that at onetime the Makalangas built circular huts of stone blocks .There are Makalanga stone buildings at Chipunza

’s kraal ,

also in Mangwendi’

s country , and at Umtasa’s town, whilmany are seen on the filled - ih floors of anc ient ruins. '

1

build ings at Umtasa’s town are cornparatively modern.


r 3. Location— Practical ly all the Zimbabwes of majorimportance are built upon the granite formation , while onlya very few are onthe diorite and gold - belt formations. The

major or capital town ruins are built some miles distant fromany gold - reef, while the minor and protecting forts are builtnear or upon the gold - belt formation . Road - protecting fortsare always si tuated on the summits of kopjes overlookingdr ifts and guarding neks or passes in the hills or poor ts

on the rivers, or occupying other strategic positions.‘ The

first Z imbabwe period ru ins usually occupy low knolls of

granite in val leys, while the second - period ruins of theterraced plan of building most usually crown the heights ofkopjes , and are most frequently bu ilt upon areas largelyartificial , the natural areas being extended by retain ing wallsand the bu ilding up of crevices between the boulders

,thus

making irregular areas regular. I t may be interesting to notethat Professor Rawl inson ( in P iram'

a'

a) states that thePhoenicians frequently built up onall sides from the irregularsur face of the natural rock, so as to form a nearly levelspace

14. Building .

mater ials—All Zimbabwes are built ofgranite blocks save a very few on the diorite formation

,

which are built of diorite blocks, and some though built ondiorite are constructed of granite which must have beenbrought from long distances, there being none in thosedistricts . I n some few instances courses of diorite blocks,white quartz, and ribbon slate and ironstone have been introduced in the granite walls, perhaps for

.

decorative purposes,while at Bala- bala Ruins a course of quartz has been introduced all round the bui lding. At No. I Ruin, Khami, dioriteblocks are introduced apparently for the same purpose, andin the temple at Zimbabwe the walls near the tower have

Umz ingwani chainof sevenfor ts ; Umtelekwe (Sabi) chainof for ts ; and InwerSabi chdnof famChapter xxiv.



the joints are cleverly made. False courses only appear inruins of the second, thir d, and fourth periods.

16. Cement—The ancient cement was made of the finestgranite powder, the manufacture of which deteriorated duringeach successive period. This was used in covering the stonesof stairways, flooring the raised platforms, the cou r tyards,inclosures, and spaces between the different dwellings, andfor flooring caves ; and in later periods was used for the internal and external linings of the buildings

,when it was built up

inside the stone walls to the width of sometimes a foot. I nthe earl ier Zimbabwe periods the cement was beauti fullysmoothed and glazed and subjected to heat, while in thelater periods it was left not only unpolished , but also witha rough surface. The cement floors of later periods are verymuch thinner than those of the ear ly occupants, and do notappear to have been subjected to heat. The difference betweenthe two floor ings is very patent.

I 7 . Tools—The ancients were fully acquainted with theuses of iron, and both inRhodesia and in other countries of thesame times, iron tools were used, though iron may not havebeen in very general use. The sculptures of the ancient ruinsof Assyria, Chaldaea, Arabia, and Egypt, and the tables ofstone found in Assyria, onwhich are the celebrated recordsverifying the history given in parts of the Old Testament,show that the ancients employed edged tools. In Genesisiv. 22 it is stated that Tubal Cain was “ instructor of everyar t ificer in brass and iron. Ezekiel xxvii. shows that ironwas supplied to the Phaznicians by Babylonia and Assyria.Ancient tools have been found in the ruins of Nineveh. I ronwas known in the earl iest days of Rome, while it must havebeen known inI ndia before that period . I ron is said to havebeen discovered by the ancient Greeks at Mount Ida,1 406 B.C., but most probably it was known in Asiatic count ries


long before that date. The marks of edged tools, though notoften seen on the granite blocks in the Rhodes ian ru ins, canstil l be seen distinctly on the diorite blocks. The sacred birdsand the Phal lic designs found at Zimbabwe and elsewherecould not well have been sculptured with flint tools. The

most ancient gold crucible found in Rhodesia shows theimpressions on the flux of the metal pincers which liftedit out of the furnace. But we have also indubitable evidencethat the ancients in Rhodes ia wor ked most extensively foriron

,especial ly inthe districts of Naka Mountain Pass

, LundiValley, BochwaRange, and MuesaMountains, where is achain of ancient iron - workings extending in an unbroken linefor at least twenty miles, and which district is known to havecarried an immense population of ancients. Mundie and thesurroundi ng ruins in this d istrict evidently were the Birmingham, Walsall, and Wednesbury of the ancients in Rhodesia,supplying iron tools for the gold - workings in all parts of thecountry now known as Southern Rhodesia.‘I ron chisels or wedges, hammers,and trowel - shaped instruments have been found at great depths in ancient workings

,

and also on some few of the origi nal floors of the builders ofthe ruins. The iron tools used by the Portuguese are altogether difl

'

erent from those used by the ancients.There is evidence that at one time ironwas of ahigh

standard value. I ron ornaments banded at inter vals withgold , and spear- heads once thickly plated with gold, have

The ancients also used stone hammers, especially in thereduction of the quar tz ? These, which varied from llb.

to so lbs. in weight, can be found by scores near many of the

“ Tbe Phcnichm, so fur as we know them, were wellacquainted with theme of iron; inHomer we find the war r ior s e1readyarmed with ironmpons,and the toob used inprepar ing themater iah for SOIomon’s Temple were of this

metal. Evenafter the iutroductionof irontools stoue tools were stillusedfor nr iour purpocee “ .

- Smj ouuLonoclt. f SceAppeudix. Note A.

1 76 ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODmIAold workings, and also at depths where they discontinuedwork. S tone axes and stone wedges have beendiscovered.

F l int tools have also been found at Khami and nearOld Tati.

1 8. Approach : and mtmm .— In locating the positions

for the entrances into many of the ru ins the ancients appearto have taken into consideration the protection of the

entrance provided by the natural features of the ground andthe presence of huge boulders, which could be util ised forscreen ing the approach or for making it most dangerous forthe invader. At Tuli and Bochwaparallel walls runoppositethemainentrances at afew yards’ distanceas if to provide ascreenor shelter . Theee are quite detached fromthemainbuilding. I n some instances, especially onhigh kopjes withprecipitous sides, the ancients located the entr ance to sui t themost accessible point in the ascent of the kopje. as atZimbabwe Acropolis, Thabas lmamba, Mundie (No. 1

Ruin), M’Telegwa, Umnukwana, H ill of Shields, Wainz i,

and Ingangase Ruins, etc , where the approaches for somedistance l ie between huge boulders, through which the paths

Possibly the entrances of many ruins were fixed in accordance with some principles of orientation and occidentation

,

but entrances are fixed facing all points of the compass, butmainly facing points extending from the north - east roundthe north to the north - west. Mr. Bent avers that mostentrances are built on the north side of the ruins. I n manycases this is so. But he could only speak of less than twentyru ins, and some of these of minor importance and without



eighteen inches to drree feet six hrchaand in the early

one or two defender s oould keep back scores of invader s,while the buttress es inside the entranoe passages wouldenable agood defence to bemade afher the outer entrancehad been forced. At Mundie Ruins the outs ide of the

muanoe is three feet six inches widq but at the inside of

opens out to awidth of twelve feet.

Holes indwmys and passages of enbanminthe side

walls, only so far seen at Zimbabwe, Lotsani- Limpopo Ruins ,and alluded to by Mr. Bent as being purposely made by theoriginal builders

,are now considered to have been made at a

comparatively recent date. The recesses in the entrancewalls as if intended for por tcullis are, of course,as old as thewalls themselvesThe second - period entrances most usually have stone stepscemented over

,and these steps rise to the height of the tops

of the ter race, and inlater per iods the steps led up to the

floors laid over the filled - ininclosu res.

19. [fulcrumand cour tyard r.— Every ru in , not that of aroad or gold district protecting fort

,is divided by wal ls into

inclosu res, and in addition to the inclosures there is in almostevery case a large courtyard also paved with cement. The

internal walls are substantially buil t, and at one time werelevel with the main outside walls, and these wal ls are notbuilt into the main walls

,but are built up against them. The

larger ruins general ly have from six to ten inclosurm,

‘ toreach which labyrinthine passages paved with blocks mustbe traversed. I n the Acropolis at Zimbabwe there arecovered - inpassages

,while at Umtelekwe a narrow passage,

l ike that at Zimbabwe temple, runs from end to end ofthe building. It is only on the original floors of these

The ruins of Umtelekwe (Sabi) haveasmanyasnineteeninclosures.

ROUNDED ENTRANCE AT LOTSANI'LIMPOPO RUINS



M'Telegwa it faces southwest, and at Ingangase it faces

At Chum Ruins the base of the conical buttress, which ison the south - west side and faces the southwest, is eight feetin diameter and four feet on the summit, and is approachedby stepsAt Umtelekwe (Sabi) there are two rounded buttresseswith granite steps leading to the summits .The rounded buttress in No. 2 Ruin at Khami, which

commands a view of the whole length of the gullyapproach ,

may have been a look - out. At any rate,its purpose is

doubt ful .S ir JohnWilloughby, in Far t/ref Excavation: at Z imbabwe,describes a curious conglomeration of buttresses on the southside of No. 1 Ruin at Zimbabwe, which leads up to, andapparently culm inates in, the highest point of the outsidewall, which commands a view of the inter ior of the temple.The buttresses, S ir John says, are carefully built on the outside, but their interiors are simply fil led in with a mass ofstones piled one upon the other.The high platform at Thabas Imamba Ruins, which isapproached by a fl ight of twelve steps, is believed to be thesummit of a conical tower, but owing to the ruins havingbeen fi l led in , it is at present impossible to make an examination .Descriptions of the cones at Zimbabwe and elsewhere areincluded in the descriptionof each ruin .

Each ruin of the first Zimbabwe period so far discovered,

and which is situated on a kopje or on a precipitous bluff,has a natural platform onthe summit of the rock protectedon the outside by the precipice only. These are bel ievedto have been sacred inclosures used for the purposes of

Phal lic worship,and would have held a large number of

worshippers.


2 1 . Cedar s—These cellars as seen only, so far, in Matabeleland at the Mudnez ero, N’Natal i, and Regina Ruins,appear to have been the work of the period , probably thethird or fourth, when the fi ll ing in of the inclosures wascommonly practised. These are built of the usual graniteblocks, without mortar, and in the usual Zimbabwe fashion,have cemented floors

,and are domed or arched over with

stonework, and have a smal l aperture left in the centre of

the top. These cellars vary considerably insize. The threecel lars at Mudnez ero Ruins are nine feet in depth and sixfeet in diameter. The cellar at N’

Natali is six feet in depthand four feet in diameter

,while the cellars, if they are cellars,

at the Regina Ruins, though more numerous, are very muchsmal ler . I t has been suggested that those at ReginaRuinswere merely large drains for carrying the rain - water from theupper terrace past the lower terraces and so out of thebuilding.

These cellars, being built on the lower and original floors,are bel ieved to have been erected immediately before theinclosures in which they stand were fi lled in . The aperturesof these cellars were covered by large stones, and the cementfloor

,up to which they almost reached, was laid completely

over them . There was no “ find in any of these cellars.Treasure chambers were concealed under the floors of thePhceniciantemples (Rawl inson).The so- cal led slave pits in the I nyanga district are of anenti rely different plan and construct ion to the cellars found inthese ruins.Caves in rocks inclosed withi n the main wal ls were flooredwith cement and probably were used as cellars for storing

2 2 . Drains— Both at Zimbabwe and at Mundie a drainruns through the main outer wall on the north - east side ofthe ru ins. I n no other ruins so far discovered have similar

1 82 ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODES IA

drains been found . These are flush with the cementedflooring and incline outwards and slightly downwards. S ir

John Willoughby discovered a small drain in No. I Ruin ,Zimbabwe, underneath one of the inner passages, with anoutlet in the centre of the step runn ing across the passage.There is only a very sl ight fal l in the cemented floors ofal l ruins, and it is possible that these drains carried off thetropical rains fal l ing within the inclosures of the ru ins, asthese inclosures and courtyards, as explained later, werenot roofed in . I n No. 1 Ruin , Zimbabwe, the floor inclinesslightly to the northeast to where the drain passes throughthe wall .These drains, it wil l be noticed, are only in fi rst - periodbuildings , where the main wal ls are from ten feet to six teenfeet in width, and through which the rain - water might havesome little diffi culty in passing, notwithstanding their beingbuilt of dry masonry. I n walls buil t during the secondZimbabwe period , which usually do not exceed three to fourfeet in width, the water would percolate from the floorsthrough the dry masonry almost as quickly as it fell inthe

All the interior buildings on the cemented floors have araised edge, general ly from about three inches to sixteeninches wide, of the floor inclosing the bottom portion of theiroutside wal ls and reaching up to about one foot inheight.The top edge is rounded off onthe outside. This raisededging would prevent the rain - water percolating into the

buildings.

23. Incomplete: buildings— In several parts of Rhodesiathere are foundations only of true Zimbabwe buildings.These foundations have no debr is of gran ite blocks aroundthem

,and the upper portions of the foundations are clean

and level, offering strong presumptive evidence that theywere incompleted buildings.



being reserved for each family, while the general populationl ived in dwell ings of the same type grouped round the mainruin, evidently covering, at least in some instances, very largeareas of countryside. ’

25 . Omammtation.— In the Rhodesian Zimbabwes there

are five principal patterns of decoration introduced into thewal ls of the buildings

,these being known as Dentelle, Chev

ron , Herring- bone, S loping - block, and Check.

Daniella—This pattern is formed by placing blocks of

stone of one or two rows edgeways or cornerwise to flushw ith the wall

,resembling chevron pattern laid flat. This is a

rare pattern , and so far has only been found at M’Tendele and

Zimbabwe, at which latter place it is present near the summitof the conical tower, where, writes Mr. Swan , it faces thesetting sun at the winter solstice. This pattern is also foundinthe steep passage- way of the Acropolis. At M’

Tendele

this pattern is in two rows facing W .N.W .

Chevr on— This decorative pattern is formed with ti le- l ikestones placed chevronwise, making a double row of triangleswith apices up and down alternately, the spaces betweenbeing sometimes neatly fi lled in with smaller stones. Mr.Bent supposes this pattern to be symbolical of fertility,and states that it resembles the Egyptian heiroglyphic

symbol for water,and that it is sim ilar to the symbol for

the zodiacal sign of Aquarius. On Phoenician coins representing a ship the sea is shown by chevron pattern .

This pattern has only been found in three ruins, namely,

Sir JohnWilloughby writes : “ Among the many problems ”nested by

the excavationof these ruins is that of how the inhabitants sheltered themselves.So far no trace of roofing has beendiscovered, and indeed, ubefmenid, l thinkthe size of the inclosures precludes the pouibility of their having been roofed,

added to which themajor ity formonly three sides of aquadrangle. Possiblythe inhabitants built their huts or house: withinthm inch sumone or morebeimoccupied by each family. It is unreasonable to suppose that tbey livedwithinthe openwalh without ahelter and expoeed to the trofi cal downpours of

“Thenaughewas but thenucleus ofalarge township.

”—Fanuor and Cumsz .

CNI CK’

VATTCR”

D‘NT‘LLl r lATTI Ru

CNl Vl UN 'ATTCRN

DECORATIVE PATTERNS



26. Pur imof omamenlatx'om—Arche ologists and antipquar ians place great importance on the exact position of thevarious patterns in ascertaining the orientation and occidtion of the Rhodesian Zimbabwes. Whether the ancientsadopted, as it is believed they did , any method in fixing thepoints of these decorative patterns, is a question for scientiststo settle, but as a basis for the further investigationof thisquestion we detail the positions of ornamentation of some fewof the ruins. So far as check pattern is concerned we mustadmit that this decoration has been ascertained to face allpoints of the compass. I n this l ist the patterns will bementioned as fol lows

Dentelle, D ; Chevron, C ; Herring - bone, H Check, Ck.

Ruins. Patterns.

Umnukwana C.

Little Umnukwana H .

Ruins (M’Pateni) H .

H .

Ruins (M’Pateni) Ck.

Mundie (No. 3 Ruin) Ck.

Nuanetsi Ck.

Bochwa Ck.

Escepwe Ck.

Ruins (near Essengwe) H .

M’Popoti Ck. and

Wedza (Baden - Powell) Ck. andM’Wele H .

M’Wele tributary Ck.

Ingangase H .

N’

Natal i Ck.

Impanka H .

Mudnez ero H .

Lumeni Ck. and NE . and W.

Golulu . Ck. and W.

Meewe Ck. N.E .

H . S .W.

N.W. and S E .

CHEVRON PATTERN ON WALL OF ELM PTICAL TEMPLE,Z IMBABWE



the two former occupying an elevated position on the faces ofthe walls.At Zimbabwe the two rows of chevron pattern run round afourth part of the cir cumference of the wall of the ell ipticaltemple. Professor Mul ler, the great Arabian archaeologist, inpointing out several very striking resemblances between thetemple of Marib

,the ancient Saba of South Arabia, and the

temple at Zimbabwe, says that at Marib “ the inscription isin two rows

,and runs round a fourth part of the circumfer

ence."He also shows that the principle of orientation atZimbabwe is identical with that employed in the temple atMar ib.

I n the terraced or second - period Zimbabwes omamentations of check pattern are to be found onalmost all the facesof the outside walls

,while they are directed to every point of

the compass. Mr . Bent has suggested that the builders ofthe later Zimbabwe practised so lar worship under anotherform to that practised by the builders of the earliest Zimbabwes ante). The pattern decidedly peculiarto this period building is that of check

,and it can be found

anywhere on the wal ls between the foundations and thesummits. So profusely is this pattern employed during thesecond period that we find it introduced in the smallest ofthe many retain ing walls of this period. Dhlo- dhlo,

whichrepresents

,except the temple portion

,mainly the features of

the second - period architecture,Dr . Schlichter considers the

most interesting ruin , from an astronomical point of view,south of the Equator.I n the ruins of what is spoken of as the decadent period ,in which the buildings are obviously of very inferior workmanship, no decorative pattern has yet been discovered.

27. Absence of ornamentation— In more than two- thirdsof the ruins of Rhodesia no ornamentation can be found ,notwi thstanding that these are of the class of ruins in which

ARCHITECTURE OF RUINS 1 89

ornamentation might have been expected . All the otherusual evidences of orientation and occidentationare presentin the ell iptical plan, position of entrances, etc ,

and in al lprobabil ity the patterns once ex isted . Owing to the patternsof the fi rstperiod bu ildings

,espec ial ly chevron and dentel le

,

being so far only found in an elevated position,they have

disappeared with the dilapidations of the Upper portions ofthe walls, and in cases where fi rst - period ruins have beenfi lled in the patterns on the inside walls have become buried.Herring- bone pattern is very apt to disappear when oncethe row of blocks immediately above it has been removed .

For instance, at No. 3 Ruin at Khami the lower portion of aherring- bone pattern , which is believed to have once ex tendedfor a considerable length round the face of this building, isnow only represented by a few smal l slabs, and these arebecoming less in number every few months.

28. 0M” decorations— At some ruins of the first andsecond periods the ancients have decorated portions of thewal ls by introducing blocks of other stone than that withwhich the buildings are erected . These create a contrast, theforeign stone being most frequently laid in methodical pattern .

For example, in the temple at Zimbabwe, on two walls nearthe conical tower, there is a decoration of black stones alternating with the granite blocks ; at Dhlo- dhlo are two paral lellines of dark ir onstone introduced on the north side ; at Balabala a course of white quartz blocks runs round the wall,and at Khami and other ru ins d iorite blocks are introducedinto the wall among the granite blocks, evidencing the intention of the ancients to decorate the wal ls. These instancescould easi ly be multipl ied.

[For notes onthe construction of ancient ru ins inand Mount Fura districts see Chapter xx v.)

CHAPTER XIII

THE GREAT Z IMBABWE

Der ivation—Ear ly References—Explorers—S ituation—Per iod— impor tance Extent Ornamentation General Descr iption Cones,Towers,and Buttresses—Notes.

N the question of the derivation of the name Zimbabwe there are many and utterly diverse opin ions

,

to no one of which can we, at present, commit ourselves,though the one suggested by Mr. Bent would appear to bethe most probable.

( I ) Mr. Bent suggests that it is of Abantuorigin , andcame from the north, where, he says, it is general ly usedto denote the head kraal of any chief. Z z

'

, he argues , is theAhantu root for a vi llage,ums z

'

being in Zulu the term for acol lection of kraals. Z imbab would signify somewhat thesame

,or rather “ the great kraal

,

” and we is the terminaldenoting an exclamation, so that Zimbabwe would mean ,Here is the great kraal .” Some authorities state that theword “ Zimbabwe is used north of the Zambesi to describethe head kraal.

( 2) Other writers suggest a connection with one of theplaces cal led in the Scriptures “ Saba,

”of which there were

three,two in South Arabia and a third not located. The

River Saba or Sabi (Sabia in. old Portuguese records) flowsseventy miles to the west of Zimbabwe, and on the wholeof its watersheds and valleys ancient ruins of the ear l ier typeare exceedingly numerous. I t is contended that the name

we



Duarte Barbosa “ I n the interior ( from Sofala)fifteenor twenty days’ journey, is a great population namedZimbaohe.

“Among such people is very often the Kingof Benemotapa. (Benemotapaand Monomotapaare Nused indiscriminately.)Livio Sanuto ( 1 588) writes : “ I n the midst of the anc ientmines (of Monomotapa) that are known , Zimbaoe stands .The word ‘

Zimbaoe ’ sign ifies ‘court,’ and any place where

the Benemotapa(king) goes is cal led so. Ptolemy calls theplace Agesymba.Jesuit records ( 1 560 in referring to “ Zimbaoe in

Monomotapastate that Father Consalvo S ilveira, of theSociety of Jesus, entered Zimbaoe, where he was hospitablyreceived by the emperor that “ he presented theking with a silver statue of the Blessed Mary,” and describehow later he baptised the king and his head - men at Zimbaoe, and so rose the ire of the Arabs at Zimbaoe, whoendeavoured to poison the king’s mind against S ilveira andChristianity. The king was young, and his mother becameinfluenced by the Arabs.‘ Onthe Fourth Sunday in Lent,

Father S ilveira, the proto - martyr of Monomotapa, wasmurdered by Arab merchants, as the letters suggest, at somesettlement near the Mosengesses River, a tributary of theZambesi.The Portuguese column sent to make the gospelknown, (2) to obtain riches from Monomotapato support thegreat expenses of Portugal in India, (3) to take vengeancefor the murder of Father S i lve ira,

” communicated , July 1 572 ,

with the Emperor of Monomotapa“ at his chief place Zimbaoe

,d istant 280 leagues from Sena, where the rich mines of

Masapa are situatA lvarez ( translated in 1 600) states :

“ For here in Torvaand in divers places of Monomotapa are till this day

TheArabs were finally dr ivenout ot odesiaby Umpesene just previouslyto Moeilikatse’s invasionof the country. AnArab embaay toKing Lo ’

Bengulamet with adiacounging reception.

THE GREAT ZIMBABWE 1 93

remaining massive, huge, and ancient buildings of timber,l ime, and stone, being singular workmanship, the l ike whereofare not to be found in al l the provinces thereabouts. Here isalso a mightie wall of five and twenty spans thick which thepeople ascribe to the workmanship of the divell, being fromSofala, 5 10 miles the nearest way.

”

Dapper says : “ I n this country, far to the inland on aplain . stands a famous structure called S imbaae.

"These two last accounts were derived by the Portugueseonly from Arab sources.I t is impossible to state how far some of the referencesapply to the Great Zimbabwe, as the Jesuit letters mentionseveral Zimbaoes in different parts of Monomotapa, at whichthe king visiwd, and where were Christian missions, therebeing no less than fourteen missionary provinces in Monomotapawith a large number of churches. However, it isbel ieved that a Christian church existed at the GreatZimbabwe. One Zimbaoe, mentioned as one of the courtsof the King of Monomotapa, was north of “Massaqueca

”

Massi Kess i of to- day), probably Masapa.A F rench map of 1 705 shows “Vi lle Royale duMonomotapa” at a point which may or may not be that of theGreat Zimbabwe. ‘

All Portuguese accounts agree in stating that the residentsof the Zimbaoes or Zimbabwes and the principal portion ofthe population of Monomotapawere Mocarangas (Makalakasor Makalangas, or Bakalangas).MM . Monteiro and Gamitto, who in 1 83 1 made ajourneythrough Zambesia and Cazembe, speak of numerous Zimbaoes to the north of the Zambesi, as also does Dr . Living

'Solne portions of the country included in this map are fairly accurately

marked ofi', but the rnarkings of other portim remind oneof Swilt’s lines


stone at a later date, while Dr . Lacerda ( 1 83 1 ) states thatKing Caz embe’s court or Zimbaoe was at the south end of

Lake Moero,which is four hundred and fifty miles north of

the Zambes i.

Redi scover” of Z {Mafi a—These ruins were first rediscovered by Mr. Adam Renders, an American , in 1 868

j ournal, 1 89 1 , February, p.

Karl Mauch, visited Zimbabwe, and investigated these ruins.

His description of these ruins is considered careful andaccurate, but his speculations as to their origin were altogether discredited by arche ologists He makes referenceto a sacrifice which took place among the natives of thislocality in his day.

Mr. Thomas Baines, F .R.Gs the explorer, visited theseruins in the early seventies

,and his paintings of the

Acropolis ru ins, of the ell iptical temple, and of the sacredconical tower, the latter showing the native sacrifice of blackoxen , are considered to exactly represent the ru ins, and severalauthors of works on South - East African subjects include hispaintings of Zimbabwe ruins among their i llustrations.Messrs. Wil l ie and Harry Posselt

,who reside on their

farms close to Zimbabwe, and who were in this countrylong before the Chartered Commny had acquired thei rinterest in these territories, have frequently examined theruins

,and they discovered the soapstone birds and the cylin

der in these ru ins which are mentioned in Chapter xi.Mr. Edward Muller l ikewise has examined these ru ins, andit was he who discovered the wooden bowl with the zodiacalsigns

,an il lustration of which forms the frontispiece in

Mr. Bent’s work. This bowl was found in a cave onMount Victoria, close to the Cotopax i gold - reef, six teenmiles west of Zimbabwe.InNovember and December, 1 892 , S ir John Wil loughby



delivered on the 24th November, 1 890, at the Royal Geographical Society’s meeting, described these ruins.Mr. F . C. Selous, the celebrated African hunter, also visitedZimbabwe, and states his Opin ion as to the ancient buildersin Travel and Adventur e {aSouth - East AM (publishedby Rowland Ward and Co. , Ltd,London)

S ituation: 20‘ 1 6‘

30” south latitude and 3 1

°

10'10"east

longitude ; feet above sea - level. S ir John W i l loughbythus describes the local ity of Zimbabwe. “ Zimbabwe Hill

,

the principal feature of the landscape,is a rocky eminence

of granite, situated on the south side of the valley of theUmshagashi River, which flows south - eastwards a d istanceof about four miles from it. I ts elevation above the surrounding plain is 350 feet, crowned on its southern and westernsides by ruins, and on the north side by the extensive nativevi llage of Mgabe, named after its dynastic chief The valley,some fifteen miles long by ten miles broad

,is bounded on

the west by broken and th ickly wooded hills of quartz,iron

,

sandstone, and slate formation , which intervene between itand the plain surrounding the township of Victoria ; onthe north by a long range of similar formation

,cal led the

Besa Mountains ; on the east by a fine- looking group ofmountains ( the Inyuni H ills) ; and on the south by lowgranite hi lls, forming the fringe of a very broken granitecountry separating the high plateau of Mashonaland fromthe low country and the valley of the Limpopo River.

“The principal ru in, forming the large elliptical inclosurewhich, since its discovery, has been termed the temple, l ieshalf a mile due south of Zimbabwe H ill ( the Acropolis), andfrom the walls and network of ruins one may suppose it wasat some time or other inclosed and connected with the hillitself. A smal l valley (‘the Valley of with manyclusters of ruins, intervenes between Zimbabwe H il l and thehigh ground occupied by the temme and numerous ru ins oflesser importance.



In the “Valley of Ruins there are build ings of the firstperiod and also of late periods, some showing the mostinferior workmanship of the decadent period .

Extent—The ruins stil l remaining occupy in a commform an area of over 945 yards by 840 yards, but beyondthis a'rea there are traces of old foundations and debr is ofstonework so dilapidated that, until more exploration wor khas been done

,it would be diffi cult to define their plan or

to show their connection with the main ruins . This metropolitan centre must have carried an immense population ofancients

,and this seems more apparent when the evidences

as to the large populations of such smal ler ruins as ThabasImamba and Khami are considered . The Zimbabwe ruinsare practical ly unexplored

,and as silted soil has at so many

ruins completely hidden the foundation walls, so excavationsat Zimbabwe may show that the area occupied by the ru inswas once very decidedly more extensive.

IW W .— Zimbabwe

, so far as discoveries made to datedemonstrate the fact

,is the most extensive, massive, and

important group of ruins yet known in Rhodesia. Theycertainly are the chief ruins of the Sabi (Saba or Saba)area , and are believed also to have been the ancient metropolis of this country.

( 1 ) Several writers affi rm what recent discoveries at theseruins appear to evidence, namely, that gold from manymin ing districts was brought here in dust form , also stored,some being used inthe manufacture of gold ornaments andarticles known to have been most ex tensively carried on

here, and some taken to the ancient port of Sofala. Thisis evidenced by the quantity of gold - dust found in the soilon the floors of the road - protecting forts

,which are at con

siderable distances from any gold area. Gold of all qualitiesand standard values is to be found here, some of which musthave come from distant reefs. At Zimbabwe are also foundgold ornaments of every shape and design, whi le in many of

WALL 0 ? E LLI I’TICALmus SHOW ING CI I IsVIIUX ram s»:

m WIN !” RUINS A’l’l IMlIAIQW‘ WALL LARNIKD acm 8001.0m ( IMI A IIWC

THREE V IEWS Z IMBABWE



of the ancient architecture of this country. So far no build »

ing older in type than the ell iptical temple at Zimbabwe hasyet been discovered, though others may be of anterior datebut of the same period of architecture. Possmsome ofthe fi rst - period ruins which l ie between Zimbabwe and thelower valleys of the Sabi might have beenerected earl ier, asthe ancients, it is suggested, are not likely to have bu ilt theirfirst fort and temple at least two hundred miles from thecoast as the crow fl ies. Mor eover, the large el liptical templewas originally planned as seen to- day, and the plan, togetherwith its massive walls, suggests that the ancients, before thebu ilding was erected

,had arrived at the conclusion that the

mining industry would be permanently payable, and wouldjustify extensive and permanent buildings.

Omammtation.— lnthe elliptical temple decorative patterns

extend for about one hundred and twenty feet on the outerside of the main wall facing the south, southeast. and east.These consist of two tiers of chevron pattern , and are situateda few courses from the summit of the wal l.I n the large conical tower and near its summit is a courseof dentel le pattern ; a portion of this pattern was destroyedby Karl Mauch in 1 87 1 . This pattern, says Mr. Swan ,“ seems to have been orientated towards the setting sunatthe winter solstice."At the Acropol is a sort of dentelle patern is inserted inthe wall at the angle in the passage - way of the steepapproach from the bottom of the precipice. There are sixrows of herring - bone pattern in the wall of the small plateauimmediately below the summit of the hill. On the outerside of the south - west wall of the Acropolis temple andfacing the south -west, is a decorative pattern.

6mm! descr iption— The Great Zimbabwe comprisesseveral groups of ruins, including


with great evenness of cour ses. Theapproaches to the sacredinclosureare carefully defended with buttresses on either side.There is a raised platform immediately in front of the largeround tower, covered with a flooring of thick cement, supported by large stones, into which a monolith has been stuck.This platform was connected with the sacred inclosu re by aflight of cement steps, and was presumedly used for religiouspurposes. The symmetry of the courses in the two roundtowers is remarkable. The sacred inclosure was floored withcement The battering of the big tower is carried out withmathematical accuracy. A dentelle pattern is worked in theupper courses. This pattern was partial ly destroyed by KarlMauch in 1 87 1 . The tower was probably thirty- five feet inheight, with a summit level of about four feet in diameter.These towers are proved by Mauch and Bent to be of solidmasonry. The rest of the circular bui lding is divided off

into smaller inclosures.

( z )“VALLEY or sums.

”

The val ley between the circular ruin and the fortress onthe hil l is a mass of ruins, and includes at least ten distinctell iptical bu ild ings, also traces of very many others, also acurious angular inclosure d ivided into several chambers atdifferent levels. This is No. 1 in S ir John W il loughby’s bookand plan . Mr. Bent only casual ly mentions this ruin , but theplan in S ir John’s book gives measurements and ful l descr iptions. This ru in is situated sixty - three yards north of thelarge temple

,and was formerly connected with it on either

side by walls. I t has three straight entrances. Two, if notthree, round towers once stood in Ruin No. 1

, also severalmonol iths. A narrow passage from this ruin conducts onethrough a perfect labyrinth of ruins, some of which are ofinferior workmanship, and doubtless are of a later period .

These circular ruins repeat themselves for about one mile.


THE GREAT ZIMBABWE

( 3) acaorous AND TEMPLE .

The hill fortress is of labyrinthine character. The kopjeon which it is erected is itself of gr eat natural strength, beingabout 500 feet high, and having on the south side a precipice ofsmooth rock of seventy feet to n inety feet. Onthe only accessible side there is a wall ofmassive thickness

,being thirteen feet

thick on the summit with a batter of one foot in six feet, and inheight thirty feet in parts, with a fiat causeway on the top,decorated on the outer edge by a succession of small roundtowers three feet in diameter, alternating with tal l monoliths.The approach to the fortress is protected at every turn withtraverses and ambuscades. A fl ight of steps leads up from thebottom of the precipice (see description ofKhami No. 1 Ruinasto flight of stairs on the face of the precipice), and runs up anexceedingly narrow sl it between the boulders. Infront of thesteps a portion of the wal l is built in dentelle pattern . At thesummit of the hil l are large boulders fifty feet high, witha l ittle plateau approached by narrow passages and steps oneither side. The plateau was adorned with huge monolithsand decorated pillars of soapstone, the patterns on whichwere chiefly of a geometric character, one being eleven feetsix inches in height. The large semicircular space belowthis plateau contained an altar covered with cement. The

labyrinthine character of these buildings baffles description.The fortress contains several buildings with ornamen talpatterns on the walls. A flight of steps led from thetemple to the goldqsmelting furnaces and caves.

Mommies—These, as explained in Chapters iii , ix . ,and

x ii , are believed to have been gnomons for measuring shadowscaused by the sun , or for the observation of stars at theirculminations. There are several large monol iths on thesouth - east wal l of the ell iptical temple

,some of which have


fallen down . Evidences exist that they were equidistant.One of the largest standing was measured by S ir JohnW illoughby and found to be fourteen feet three inches inlength. This stands ten feet eight inches above the accumulated soil and twelve feet three inches above the top of theold cement floor. The foundations in which it once stoodstil l remain in good condition . The shadow of the monolithis bel ieved to mark with great accuracy the occurrence of thesolstice. I t is believed that the other monoliths erected atintervals on the wal l served to indicate the sub- periods of the

The plateau of the Acropolis was once adorned with hugemonol iths and decorated pil lars of soapstone, one beingeleven feet six inches in height. The curved wall at thewestern end of the Acropolis is surmounted with erect monol iths facing the sun at the winter solstice.A fractured soapstone beam eleven feet long was found byMr. Bent at the highest point of the Acropol is carved withchevron pattern , with images of the sun and other geometricalpatterns placed between the hands. This beam acted as acentre for a group of beams. Two other curved soapstonebeams were also found here.

Cow s, tower s, and buttresses— Inthe elliptical temple is acircular tower just inside the south wall . and which is bel ieved tohave original ly been thirty- five feet high. The diameter of itsbase, which is below the cemented flooring, is 1 7 1 7 feet, and atits present level summit is thirty- one feet high, with a diameterof four feet. Messrs. Mauch and Bent and others have provedthat this conical tower

,which has a battering of excellent

workmanship and courses wonderft true, is perfectly solid .

The foundations of this tower do not reach the formationrock. Unfortunately Karl Mauch inexamining this towerdestroyed a por tion of the dentelle pattern which runs roundpart of the tower near its summit.


THE GREAT ZIMBABWE 205

A few yards to the north -east of this tower is a smal lerone, also proved to be solidly bui lt.The foundations of what apparently were conical towersare also found in No. 1 Ruin .

“ I n the ruin (No. 1 Ruin), sixty - two yards to the northof the ell iptical temple, is,” says S ir John W illoughby, “ acurious conglomeration of buttresses on the south side

,which

leads up to, and apparently culminates in, the highest pointof the outside wall , which partially commands a view of theinterior of the temple. The buttresses referred to are carefully built onthe outside, but their interiors are simply filledin with a mass of stones piled one upon the other.”

I n the Acropol is Mr. Bent counted seven round towers, andothers had been destroyed. These towers alternated withmonoliths on the summits of the walls.Buttresses of another class to those mentioned above form agreat feature in the temple and other build ings

,and are

evidently designed for the purpose of protecting entrancesand passage - ways

,especial ly in the Acropol is. The west

entrance to the temple has large rounded buttresses on theinside on either hand

,and several of the divisional entrances

stil l show by their foundations that they also were buttressed,while the entrances into the sacred inclosure, in which standthe conical towers, are also carefully buttressed. I n thenarrow ascending passage of the Acropol is are six buttresses,rendering the passage zigzag and tortuous, and thereforeeasy of defence.

ZIMBABWE NOTES.

Soapstone—A soapstone quarry is about fifteen milesnorth -west of the ru ins. This was, most probably, the quarryfrom which the ancients took the soapstone of which some ofthe monoliths, beams, bowls, game stones, and the emblemsof Phallic worsh ip discovered here were made. This stoneis found in several par ts of Rhodesia. I t is still employed


by the natives in making pipes for smoking I - dalm(hemmit lends itself easily to the tool of thear tist,and is very durable.

(“

W ig wam—The H imyaritic writing once alleged to havebeen carved on the outer wal l of the temple has now beenshown never to have existed , at any rate, there are no signsof its having been destroyed or removed.Gold fi rmness—The ancient gold - smel ting furnaces werenot built up from the ground, but sunk into the floors.S ir John W i l loughby found three of these holes close together in the floors of an ell iptical ru in (No. 3 Ruin on hismap) lying very sl ightly west of half- way between theell iptical temple and the Acropolis. The built-up furnaceswhich Mr. Bent found on the Acropol is, and which heal leged were gold - smelting furnaces, have since been shownto be old Kaffi r iron furnaces (see Chapter but portionsof ancient crucibles showing gold in the flux have beenfound by several explorers on this hil l.Native fumam.

—Portions of the ru ins have for manysucceeding generations of natives been used for their ironsmelt ing industry, and debr is heaps of their slag, smeltediron , and ashes are found in abundance. The local nativesaffirm that the Barotsi, who now live north of the Zambesi ,and who are known as a nation of ironworkers, once occupiedthese ruins. The remains of Kafiir furnaces are still to beseen in several of the ru ins.Carma—Caves within the ruins have been ex tensivelyutil ised by the ancients and floored with cement. Thereis a cave under the largest and highest rock in No. 3 Ruin

( in S ir John W i l loughby’s plan). There are two caves at the

extreme south and south - east parts of the Acropol is, andothers may possibly be discovered. There are also caves insome of the kopjes beyond the area of the ruins, and in thesecertain ancient rel ics have been discovered .

[nick A r chaeological S cary —Mr . King , representative of

th is society. visited Zimbabwe with Mr . Bent.



Ear thquake—Tradition prevailed among the Arabs of theeleventh century that Zimbabwe was destroyed in the fifthcentury by an earthquakeA cor rect ion—The gold stated in Monomotqoa (Chapterxvi.) to have been found by Mr. Bumhamat Zimbabwe wasactually found by him at the Dhlo -dhlo ru ins.

jams? M el—No haces of the chapel of the Jesuit

Parallel walla—No other ruin than the ell iptical temple,

in Rhodes ia, so far discovered , has an inner wall running

Roofer!passages—At one point on the south side of theAcropolis, between the precipice and high bouldm,

theinternal mason ry

,which is very huge and massive, is pierced

with roofed - ih passages. Thwe are the only examples of

this work yet found in Rhodesia if we exclude the longenhance through the front wall of the Umnukwanaru ins.Aim Wilson Mew —The remains of Major AlanW ilsonand his companions, whomre ki lled at the Shanghaniwhilst pursuing the fugitive king Lo ’

Bengula, were removwfrom the Shanghani and interred between theTemple and theAcropol is at Zimbabwe, and a monummt now mmks thespot.Wake—Water can be obtained from a spring near the

temple or from a stream on the north - ww t side. There isalso a good stream six hundred yards to the east, and thisdrains the valley between the Temple and the Acropolis.There are also pools in marshy tracts along the tributaries

emof Zimbabwe, and is about one and a halffrom the ru ins.T[M min: end gold - r eefs.

—Zimbabwe is bull»i


granite formation, and is distant between five and twelvemiles from the nearest points of any gold- reef. This d istancefrom a gold area is the greatest yet known of any ruins, savethose of road - protecting forts, being from the quartz formation . One pecul iarity has struck several writers who havevisited these ruins, namely, that on the gold - reefs of thisdistrict there have been no traces so far discovered of anyancient workings for gold . Notwithstanding that goldwinning was the primary object of the ancients, and thathere must have been a large population interested in goldmining, the reefs in this district are absolutely vi rgin.The fol lowing reefs in this district on wh ich claims havebeen developed show no signs upon them of having oncebeen worked for gold by the ancients

Scotchman.

Victoria.Northumber land.Zimbabwe.Birthday.

Natal .Natal ia.Horse Shoe.E l leslie.

S tandard.

Possibly the reason for theof this distr ict lies in

o

the fact that the country round about is

prol ific and profuse. The large population of ancients,together with the enormous gangs of slaves, would naturallyconsume a vast quantity of gr ain , and this necessity wouldcreate a large agricultural class, who for their own safety andfor the protection of their crops and frui ts wouw naturally



carry on their operations within such an area as could bes afeguarded by the fortresses of Zimbabwe.‘ I n almost everypoint in connection with the ancients the evidences of motivefor protection are most patent. The Victoria district

,in

which Zimbabwe is situated, is tod ay admittedly the premiergrain district of Rhodesiat

“ Mr . FunklinWhimspenking of the locs tionof ruins genenlly, states

knd h and seettered bouldumwould best comply with thele requirementa.”i Sir JohnWilloughby writes : “ Wi th Mr . Swan’s suggestion, that the inhabi

tants of Zimbebye obtained their gold fromthe recently dilcovered gold-belt of

Vietoriafl entirely dingree. Thongh the gold-bd g now knownto extend for etM eightymfleg with abresdth nryhufiomtento fifi eenmflq hn itsnw est

whm thrmghoot iuvhokm and iureefi up to their reoent disoovery were‘virginreeb .

’ Therefore theZimbsbye peoplemust have obuinedall their goldfromthcmny old workings of themore remote gold belts, though thq mypod hly hsve obmd somemll por tioo fromwuhings inthe beds of the

CHAPTER XIV

KHAMI RU INS

HESE groups of ancient ruins are situated on theKhami River, and with the exception ofNo. 1 I Ruin

,are

on the Hyde Park Farm , which is owned by Colenbrander’sMatabeleland Development Company, Limited . They areabout twelve miles west of Bulawayo. The road passesthrough the Br ickfields and over the ridge of land beyondtil l the valley of the Khami is reached. The road descendsinto the valley in a north - westerly d irection ti l l it comes closeto the river, when it follows the right bank till it strikes thedrift. Several roads lead off to the left

,but the right - hand

road must always be fol lowed.Visitors to the ruins cancamp either on the east or westbank of the river. All the ruins, ex cept No. [0 Ruin, are onthe west bank of the river. If the east bank is to be reached

,

a waggon - tr ack to the right, leaving the road two hundredand fifty yards the Bulawayo side of the drift, must befollowed for a mile. This track passes close to the nor thside of No. to Ruin and leads to some broken gr ound nearthe waterfalls and a hut, directly facing the main ruins, whichare on a high kopje on the opposite bank of the river.Should visitors wish to M p on the west side of the river,which is general ly cons idered the more convenient forinspecting the ruins

,the drift on the main road must be

crossed , when an old waggon - track must be taken leading


KHAMI RUINS 21 1

north - west for about a mile,passing between

8 Ruins and close to Nos . 6 and 5 Ruins unti l theon a high kopje are neared , on the west of which

tive kraal with mealie gardens.ru ins are situated in a most picturesque district

,finer

my other part of the country within the same distanceBulawayo. The granite kopjes are many and romantic

,

There are very fine Open park- l ike spaces interamong the kopjes .

The ruins of major importance number eleven, and areeimted on separate kopjes, while numerous minor ruins are

the larger ruins.

are on other kopjes sections of walls of Zimbabwe construefi onand also debr is heaps. Debr is four feet and five feetdw p covers scores of acres of ground in the open valleys atvay cons iderable distanca from any of the ru ins. Any largeant- bar hole shows pottery with chevron and herring - bone

mm buried at three or four feet in the sides of the hole.I t is quite probable that other ruins may yet be discovered

[W e—These ruins must have formed an importantcentre for the ancients in this part of the country, andevidently were the capital town for a large gold - miningdistrict

,extending probably from the northw est of the

Matoppas on the south towards Shiloh on J


importance lying around Khami in an extended circle, forwhich Khami would serve as a centre for worship and forbusiness. Probably the gold won within this area wasbrought to Khami, as it is only at Khami that there areevidences within this district of goldsmelting operationshaving been carried on . The traces of gold - smelting atKhami are distinct, especial ly at No. 3 Ruin .

There are evidences in the many large buildings and inthe numerous m inor ruins at Khami that this place musthave carried an exceedingly large population . The debr is

heaps outside the various ruins are enormous, notwithstanding much of them must have been carried away by the river .Some of these heaps extend for several hundreds of yards,and are still fifteen feet deep in the places opened out. The

lower and older debris heaps have been built over during oneof the later Zimbabwe periods, and are covered over withflooring made of granite- powder cement. Bits of the moreancient pottery are not on ly discovered in or near the ruins,but canbe found anywhere in great quantities at considerable distances from the ruins. I t is highly probable that thegeneral body of the population occupied all the valleys roundthese ruins, as signs of their having been occupied areplentiful .

Construction—All these ruins are built on the graniteformation and of gran ite blocks. Insome places, notablyin Nos. 2 and 3 Ruins, dior ite blocks have been inserted bothsingly and in whole courses. The bu ildings are far lessmassive in character than those at Zimbabwe. There havebeen numerous reconstructions and extensions of later periods.Each one of the four Z imbabwe periods of architecture isrepresented here, though ’ that of the first period is onlysl ightly in evidence . The workmans in the wal ls, courses ,and patterns includes the most elaborately finished masonryas well as that of the very rudest construction .


KHAMI RUINS

0mm :ation.—The only Zimbabwe patterns of ornamen

tationprwent in the walls are those of the herringbone andcheck or chessboard design , the latter largely predominating.

Herring- bone pattern is present in Nos. 1 , 3, 6, and 8 Ruins,while check pattern is found in almost every one of theseruins. Aninstance of gr oss vandal ism, committed since May,1 900, is noticed in No. 8 Ruin , where an almost entire courseof herringbone pattern , and also a rounded buttress of o ldesttype, have been demolished .

The ornamental patterns face the fol lowing points

No. 1 Ruin , Plateau A. Ck. W .

t C. Ck. S .E . and N.

C. H . S .W . (2) N.W.

Ck. and H . S .E .

Ck. W.

H . W. to N.W.

Ck. E .

Ck. W.

Ck. and H .

Per iod— Khami Ruins represent all four periods of Zimbehwe architecture.The first period is but sl ightly represented, and that only

inNos. 1 , 2, 3, 5 , 8, and 9 Ruins. Insome of these ruins maybe found the Zimbabwe batterback of wall , the roundedentrances , the foundation on rock formation, curved l inesof plan of building without angles or stepping- back of walls,with the same care both in masonry and decoration in insideof wal ls as outside, and a general mass ive character of thebuilding, though all these features are not found togetherin one ru in.The second period is represented in al l


wall plan of architecture, with comparatively straight mainwalls

,square ends of wal ls and right angles, square entrance

walls, much less batterback of wal ls, and frequent steppingbacks , superior workmanship on outs ide of walls and veryinferior wor kmanship on inside of walls

,foundations not

always on rock formation, though this may be within a fewfeet, while the massive character of the buildings and widthof foundations are not so marked as in the ruins of the firstZimbabwe period . The ru ins at Khami of the second periodpresent exactly the same features as are seen at Dhlo- dhlo ,

the architecture of which,except that of the temple, is be

lieved to be of the second period.

‘

The third and fourth periods of Zimbabwe architecture arepresent in the extensions of almost every ruin, the styledeteriorating til l a very crude imitation of the true Zimbabwebuilding alone is noticeable. I n these per iods the olderwalls have been pulled down to provide building material forsmaller buildings, while the reoccupiers during these laterperiods have promiscuously fi l led in the main buildings wi thstones taken off the top of the walls till the spaces insidewere level with the reduced walls, when floorings of cementwere laid over them, altogether covering over the originalfloors of the ancients, which are sometimes fifteen feet belowthe present floors. This filling- in process is a commonfeature of late Zimbabwe period . I t is on the original floorsof these buildings at a considerable depth below the presen tfloors that the gold furnaces, gold ornaments, large go ldbeads

,and cakes of go ld of the ancients are to be found.

Gold on the higher floors is far less plentiful and of mor erecent manufacture. No large quanti ties of gold have everbeen obtained on the higher floors, except at Dhlo- dhlo ,

Messrs. FranklinWhite, Pofbam, and Pingatone repor ted (May, i 900) tothe RhodeaiaScientific Asaociationat Bulawayo :

“ The centre of the walls atKhami is filledup with fiagmenuof granitemme or lealooaely thmvntogetha.

"This ii the ordinary feature of theuoond per iodmethod of eonstmction.


KHAMI RUINS

where was found the gold belonging to the Portuguese j esuit

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

Main Ruins —These are situated on a long and highgranite kopje, which runs parallel to the river , from westofme waterfalls, and comprise Nos. I , 2 , 3, and 4 Ruins.This kopje along its summit is divided by a shallow gully ordefile into two parts, the larger and higher part being on theeast side. The gully was evidently the main approach toall the ruins on this kopje. Another gully runs up fromamong some kopjes onthe western side, and joins the firstgully at right angles just at the main entrance of No. I Ruin.The main gully averages about twenty feet in width , andascend ing from the S .S .E . end of the kopje are No. I Ruinsrising in three plateaux , A, B, and C, and Nos. 2 and 3Ruins, all on the eastern portion of the kopje. Guardingthe two gull ies at several points are ru ins of forts which musthave rendered the main ruins almost absolutely impregnable.The main gul ly is so straight that from a rounded buttressj utting out of No. 2 Ruin one can see along its whole length.

The gull ies leading up to the main ruins have been pavedwith cement throughout, no less than five pavements beingone on top of the other. The lower cement is superior andthe top floors inferior.

No. i Reba—This occupies three terraces or plateaux , A, B.

and C,rising from the S .S .E . end of the eastern portion of

the kopje to the summit, and are partly natural and partlyar tificial , retaining walls having been built and the spacesfi lled in level to the tops of the walls. The work of fi l l inginthese spaces is that of a late Zimbabwe periodP lateauA .

—On the right - hand side offifty or seventy feet from its S .S .E . ea

paratively straight wal l rounding very sl’

i

north - east. The highest portion of ti:


seven inches in height, and has check pattern facing west.About two feet in front of this wall on the gully side is alower terrace or retain ing wal l with the space between thetwo walls fi lled in . Onthe north - east end of this wall isa passage - way with some few steps built of large stones stil lremaining, and this passage- way leads to the top of Plateau A,

which has an area of about eighty feet by fifty feet.The eastern side of the plateau is naturally protected bya precipitous fall of about two hundred feet down to theedge of the river. Great debr is heaps extend along th isdeclivity, and have a depth, where opened out, of from two

to fifteen feet. The débris includes bones, ashes, charcoal,pieces of pottery with oldest Zimbabwe patterns

,and also

pottery of later date, portions of unmanufactured iron, manycopper bangles, rings, beads, spear- heads, gold beads, goldtacks, gold wire and beaten gold, gold bangles, and smeltedgold in pellets and cakes, also many clay whorls and pieces ofivory carved with herringbone pattern . The top of portionsof these débris heaps on the edge of the plateau overlookingthe river is level with the top of the front wall which facesthe gully, and this has been cemented over in Zimbabwefashion with granite - powder cement, on the top of whichcan be seen the foundations of either very late Zimbabweor of medie val Makalanga buildings.The surface of Plateau A shows floors of several circularbuildings of granite blocks laid in true Zimbabwe style.Round the circular foundations on this plateau are to be seenthe raised edges of the cemented floor of the plateau . Theseare about twelve inches in height and about twelve to fourteen inches in width, and are rounded off onthe outside ofthe tops

,as in many ruins throughout the country. These

rounded - off edges form part of the cemented floor betweenthe circu lar buildings.‘ This plateau shows several periods ofar chitecture, and evidences of reoccupation are unmistakable.

'See p wz .


KHAMI RUINS

B.—This plateau (sixty feet by fifty feet) is onund immediately adjoining the northern side ofA terrace or retain ing wall overlooks Plateau A,

been fi lled up to the level of the top of the wallapproach to this plateau from Plateau A is on the south

s ide at the west end of the terraced wall. The wal l is aboutnine feet high and fifty feet long, and shows check pattern .On this plateau are circular inclosures of Zimbabwe workmanship, and these have been filled in with stones to thepresent level of the wal ls and cemented over. Round eachof these buildings are the raised edges of the cement floorrounded off onthe top outside.This plateau , l ike Plateau A, is naturally protected ontheeastern side by the prec ipice. S igns of general conflagrationare noticeable, and gold beads of various sizes and patternsto the number of twenty were here found partially fusedtogether, also smal l nuggets of tin fused.Leading a portion of the way from the river- bed up thesteepest part of the precipice to Plateau B is a flight ofsteps , evidently extending for at least sixty feet upwardsto this plateau . Below the lowest point of the steps is anatural causeway leading to the edge of the river.P lateauC—This is the highest portion of No. I Ruin

,

and adjoins the north side of Plateau B, where is a long,terraced wal l seventeen feet high, with check pattern overlooking Plateau B and facing south - east. The approachto th is plateau is on the south - east side of this wall, whichhas immediately in front of it no less than seven retainingwal ls rising in tiers. The wal l at this entrance is considerably broken down . Probably the fl ight of steps fromtheriver might have again ascended to th is plateau. To theright of the top of this entrance is an upright stone, aboutone and a half feet high, built into the top of the wall. Thisis bel ieved by some to be a monolith, but nothing definitecanbe said regarding it.


On this plateau , which has an area of one hundred andeighty feet from north to south by eighty feet from westto east, are several circular inclosures, the protruding wallsof which show the herringbone pattern facing two differentaspects— south - west and north - west. The architectureshows three periods of Zimbabwe style, with extensiveadditions. The east side of the plateau is naturally protectedby the steepest portion of the precipice, which runs alongthe side of the kopje, but though so natural ly protected, theface of the precipice is terraced with several rows of tiersof walls . From this plateau it is possible to throw a stoneright into the river- bed .

On the corner of the north - west wal l of this plateau , inwhich is check pattern

,are inserted several blocks of diorite.

The main entrance from the gully passage-way to this ru inis on the northwest side, and on this entrance the gullyfrom the S .S .E . and the gully from the west converge.The wall on the north front has square corners with checkpattern . Added to the north - east wal l is a later extensionof the original building built of very roughly hewn graniteblocks.

No. 2 Ruin—This is a ru in built on an elliptical plan ,and is situated about thi rty feet north of No. i Ruin atthe northeast of Plateau C. The diameter of this build ingis about eighty feet. The main entrance is on the southeast side and has steps leading up to the summit. The

left- hand side of the entrance is formed by a large boulder,

but the right- hand side has a rounded wall. Onthe westernfront are terraces of rising tiers, with about five or six feetspace between each tier. The lower tier is seven feet high,and the total height of the tiers is about twenty feet. The

spaces between the tiers have been fi l led in , and a cementedfloor has been laid on the top. On the south - west side ofthe lower tier is a rounded buttress extending out into the


KHAMI RUINS 21 9

gully or passage- way leading to the entrance of No. 1 Ruin,Plateau C.

Onthe platform of this ruin, and at the southwest corner,is a large, oval - shaped, flat boulder on which were laid stonesin the form of a cross, the upper portion of which was, ti l lMay, 1900, perfect. This was probably the work of thePortuguese Jesuit missionaries, about 1 560- 1 750, who penetrated further into the country than did the Portuguesegold - miners. Unfortunately some thoughtless visitors, wishing to throw stones from this height

,and unaware of the

purpose for which the stones had been so placed , have almostentirely destroyed the pattern of the cross.“

No. 3 Ruin—This ruin is situated on a low knol l aboutthirty feet north of No. 2 Ruin . I t consists of a wal l, aportion of a circle, a hundred and fourteen feet long, with anentrance from the S .S .E. in the middle of the wal l, the sidewalls of the entrance ( two and a half feet wide) beingperfectly square. At the entrance are the remains of threefl ights of steps lead ing toward the centre. The wall on theoutside has several rows of check pattern . Near the topthere are blocks of diorite in courses

,these blocks sti l l show

ing the marks of the tools. On the extreme top course,facing south - east, are four tiles of diorite, the remains ofherring- bone pattern ( in1 898 this extended three feet) whichprobably ran along the whole length of the wal l. Thisbuilding has several levels of separate floors. Here werefound two large pieces of copper on the lower floor belowthe soil , also portions of ancient gold crucibles found on thelowest and original floor. This ruin also has had severalcemented floors one above the other. The gully side of thisruin is natural ly defended by the drop of the boulders. The

'Ia mlqe (Wilmot) it is clearly shownfromJesuit records that the

Jesuit father s penetrated into themore interior por tions of Monomotapawithoutthe suppor t of soldiers or of Por tuguese settlements. Theadvent of Por tuguesetroop was far later thanthat of themissionar ies.


wall of this ruin is two feet six inches wide, the outer facesare built fair ly well , but between the faces the space is filledin with granite spl inters thrown in indiscriminately.

No. 4 Rafe—This is evidently the ruin of a fort protectingthe S S E . approach to the mainruins. I t is a type of otherswhich guarded the two defile approaches, only these are allin a far more ruinous state. No. 4 Ruinis situated on theleft - hand side going up the hill of the gully at the S .S .E. endof the kopje, and faces Plateau A, and overlooks both thegully and the valley towards the west. This bui ld ing isc ircular, and is constructed in the Zimbabwe style. Roundit' are rings of retain ing walls which onthe east side increasein height as the centre is approached . The inner buildinghas an inside diameter of twentytwo feet, and is constructedof granite blocks with a very rough gran ite- powder cementl ining about twenty- one inches thick which has beencoloured black. There is a recess with rounded edges andof a few inches deep in the cement work on the north side.This ru in has been partial ly cleared out

,and shows the

original floor three inches thick. The architecture isdecidedly of the second Zimbabwe period.

No. 5 Ruin—This ruin is about midway between No. 1

and No. 9 Ruins. I ts form is that of half a circle, and is builtin two and three terraces with low retain ing walls and stepbacks. Wall s still standing are on the outside aboutseventeen feet four inches high and two feet six incheswide. The masonry onthe inside of the wal l is almost asgood as that on the outside. Onthe north - western extremity is an extension of later period with blocks of varyingsizes mostly unhewn. On the west side there is checkpattern . The southern end of the wall ends abruptly. The

east side is perfectly Open , and is natural ly protected , exceptat intervals where there are remains of wal ls , by a precipice


N.N.W. This inner wall is about fifty feet long and six fed

six inches wide onthe present top. Onthe outside wallandfacing the N.N.W. are her r ingv bone and check patt er n, and

of these have beenexcavated. No skeletal rernains were

found. I n this ru in nuggets of tin have been discomed.

Trees and bushes are doing considerable harm to the walls,

someone has almost destroyed one complete leng th of

herringbone pattern on the inner wall facing the northentrance, and has also destroyed one of the r ounded en

trances. The excavations showed a portion of a par tit ionwall , and owing to the ru in having been filled up we areunable to give a detailed plan of the compartments , of whichthere may possibly be more than six.

No. 9 Ruin—This is an important ruin situate on akopje on the edge of the river to the east o f No . 8

Ruin , between which ru ins kopjes intervene . I t has anarea of two hundred feet by one hundred feet. To reachthis ruin from No. 8 Ruin the nek between the two intervening kopjes must be crossed. The position of this ruinis extremely picturesque. The front wal l facing the westis two hundred feet in length

,and is built in two tiers

, the

total height being about twenty- seven feet. W idth of topsof walls, two feet seven inches . This wall isin character, and along the entire face of

courses of check pattern , facing west. The entrance hassquare walls

,and there are remains of steps made of large

stones leading up to the platform . The east side is p ro .

tected by a precipice descending to the edge of the river.There are debr is heaps on the side facing the river. Onthe

north - west side of the platform is a large boulder inclosed in


226 ANCIENT RUINS OF

0

This chinawas found at adepth of o

larlyglazed china was found at Dhlo- dl

pattern.‘

One noticeable fact concerning th

amount of dest ruction to the ancientand bushes bulging out their sides amSome steps should be taken to proteinjury caused by the trees, and also tothe vandalism of visi tors, as shown in

The finds at Khami are described

The chinawhich experts have pronounced toalmostallpar ts of Rhodesiawhich wereoccupied byespecially intheMaceValley.


have served for the whole distri ct

by sixty feet.Construction—The foundations of this ruin are onblue

cemented floors is a thick layer of ashes. probably as aprotection against white ants. The layer of ashes is to befound under the original cemented floors of almost everyZimbabwe ru in .Omamrntarx'om—The only ornamentation in these ruins isin No. 2 inclosure,and this is of chevron pattern. I t ex tendsthe whole length of the south inside wal l and also for sevenfeet along the west inside wal l . This is about twelve feetfrom the original floor.General dcrm'

phhn.—The front of this ru in faces the

north - west and is about three hundred feet in leng th ,

seventeen feet six inches in height, with a base of thirteenfeet

,and the present tops of the walls are seven feet wide.

The mai n entrance is on the easterly end of the nor thwe stfront

,and is about five feet wide and has rounded walls. To

the left of this entrance the wal l is con tinued over andbeyond a large boulder, the inside of which slopes down int othe ground inside of No. I inclosure.



No. 3 inclosure is approached through aronnded en

at the southemend of the west side of No r ind ent

walls of which formits easternboundary. The soutlis formed byamassive wallof elliptic fomawufingto alabuts. The

standing are about nine feet high. lnthis rninwete

thc slceletons of awomanand child of the ad is t pwith whomwere buried fourteenounoes of gold omTwo very small baby’s bangleamade of gold were

found.No. 4 inclosure is twenty- six feet by fifteenfeet , anthree entrances, one fromNo. 2 inclosure with roundedanother from No. 5 inclosure also with rounded walls, inthird entrance is through thirteen feet of the mainfromof the ruins. The pecul iarity of this entrance is that i!covered entrance, similar inpos ition and constructiontcovered - lnentrance seen in the Ortu ruin of the nan:in Sardinia,and this is the only one of its sort yet fourRhodesia. This entrance at the outside is eighteen iiwide, and broadens out to three feet inside. The lintelmade of large stone slabs throughout its own length, awhich the main front wall is carried. This inclosure lcemented floor, which has been exposed all over theNo skeletal remains were found nor any discoveries rThe walls of this inclosure are all on the bare solidformation.Near the west side of this covered way is awide

separating this inclosure from No. 5 inclosure, from v

wall protruding into No. 4 inclosure is a prominent roubuttress. This buttress is tenfeet indiameter at basefour feet at summit, and is ten feet high. The top hascemented but insome placeathe cement has brolrenz

A fl ight of two steps leads from the floor of No. 5 incl

on to the summit of this platform, from which a good viewof the whole of the ruins and of the surrounding country can

No. 5 inclosure is to the west of No. 4, and at its broadestpart is thirty- two feet, but narrows both towards the frontmain wal ls on the north side of the inclosure and also towards the south side, which is the highest portion of thekopje, where is the south- western entranmto the ruins, which0 3 out into this inclosure. Th is entrance is not

tvmthe space between which is reduced by walls builtthe sides of the boulders to a height of five fat. Thisinclosure is bounded on the eastern side by the divisionalwall, which separatfi it from No. 4 inclosure, from whichthere is a rounded entrance. On its western side is No. 6

inclosure ; a very long boulder, also the wal l, eight feet high ,dividing of? the natural platform, described later, a secondlarge boulder, and a wall connecting this boulder with amird boulder. The entrance to the natural platform at the

an west of these ruins has a lintel made of a piece ofwood about five feet in lengt h, acrm which the wall is

1 along.

The south - west entrance, which has rounded walls, extendsinmrds for about twelve feet. On the west side of th is

cc is a paved recess in the wall going back to theboulder. This was probably a sentry shelter. The entrancewalls have been fully fifteenfeet high.No. 6 inclosure has an areaof twelve feet by ten feet,with a floor lower than any other portion of the ruins.i t has an entrance from outside at the watern end of thefront main wall, which entrance steeply inclines into the

inter ior of the building. This entrance has rounded walls.No. 7 by ten feet,

side and also onthe nor théi

232 ANCIENT RUINS OF RH ODESIA

the floor was found aconsiderable amount o f the- tuancient pottery, also ashes and bones. This débfi s passithrough the dry- cmshirig milh yielded afair result ingnbeads and pellets ; also a very large number of brocrucibles with gold in the flux and portions of blow- piwith gold on the noz z les werc found. Probably it was

west , end south sides of theee ruins down to the lomlevel of the ground surround ing the ruins. I n these heawere found portions of gold crucibles, blow- pipes, gold hasof all si zes, and much broken pottery.

The most interesting features of these ruins are

( t ) The covered entrance with stone l intels, this being tonly one yet discovered in Rhodesia.

( 2) The cone- shaped buttress with steps to the platforon the summit, similar to those found at Zimbabwe, MundChum, Thabas lmamba, and other ruins.( 3) The discovery of the double bells, gold rosette, wisun image, and copper ingot.

(4) The numerous groups of minor and dependent ruiiof the first and second periods in this local ity— not less th ithirty—some of these groups including several d istinct ruin

F inch — Z imbabwe per iods. F inely made gold bangletwo with chevron pattern , large gold beads weighing 2 dwteach, one bead weighing 1 oz. 1 4 dwts. , pieces of smeltegold— inal l 72 ozs. , certified to be of a higher standsvalue of gold than that in British gold coinage.Boss or rosette of beaten gold with sun image embossed

,

common object in Phal lic decoration and similar to th

knobs on the sacred cone of the great Phoen ician Templethe Sun at Emesa, inSyria (Herodian, bk. v. p. Th


234 ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODES IA

Per iod—The architecture of these ruins is of the firstZimbabwe period. The plan of the build ing is ellipt ical.the wor kmanship superior, and the same care has beenbestowed upon the inside walls as upon the outside The

entrance has rounded wal ls. The wal ls are fairly massiveInvar iance—These ruins are of minor impor tance, therebeing no evidence of gold - smelting operations having beencarded omnor apparenfly was thereany temple.

Erma—Ruins cover an area of seventy feet by thirty feet.Omamentatr'onP Decorationis onthe outside of the eastportion of the wall, and cons ists of a length of eight feetof herring - bone pattern , which begins and ends abruptlyin the wal l. This decoration is about five feet from theground. The pattern is composed of stone tiles twelveinches in length, and these are by far the largest stonesused inherring- bone in any ruins yet discovered . The usuallength of such tile- shaped stones is three inches.Damnation—Thewalls still standing measure one hundredand sixty feet al l round, the highest portion being nine feethigh, width of base five feet, width of top of wal l four feet.The entrance is on the west side. The north - east side isperfectly open. The ru in contains three inclosures whichhave been only partially fi lled in by reoccupier s. The

northern inclosure still shows the original floor of the

Notes—No finds of any importance have been made inthese ru ins.The interesting feature of these ruins is the unusuallylarge- sized stone tiles used inthe herringbone pattern .

CHECK RU INSS ituation—These ru ins are situated in a hollow on thetop of an isolated, bare, whale back, granite kopje, risingout of level country, from which a very extensive view of

the district can be obtained. Passing the kopje» it is impossible to see the ruin

,and even on ascending the kopje

it is not unti l one passes over the upper ridge that it can beseen . This kopje is on the head - waters of a western tributaryof the Bubi River, in the Belingwe distr ict, and is fourteenmiles southwest of the UmnukwanaRuins. A tributaryof the Bubi passes within three hundred yards of the kopjeon the west side. The best ascent to the ru in is on the east

Per iod— F irst Zimbabwe period. The walls are of massivecharacter, being five feet wide at the bases and three feetsix inches in width at their present tops. The highestportion of the wal ls still standing is about twelve feet. The

ruins are built on a system of cu rves,and the entrance walls

are rounded . All the walls have the usual batter - back, bothinside and outside, of the first Zimbabwe period , and showsplendid workmanship

,inside and outside, and in decoration

equal any work of the first period .

[Mar iana—While these ruins cannot be exactly describedas ofmajor importance, they were by no means of minorimportance. Their size, excellent workmanship, and exceptionally beautiful and extensive decoration, both insideand outside, and the fact that the original inhabitants wererich in gold ornaments, speak somewhat as to their importance. There are no temple remains as far as can bediscovered. Possibly when the lower floors are opened outboth temple and gold - smelting furnaces may be found.Ex tent —Area of ru ins, excluding foundations extendingbeyond the present walls, covers at least an acre. I n allprobabi lity the original area was very much larger.Ornamentatx'on.

—This is the only ru in so far discovered inRhodesia that is completely cover ed, both inside and outside,with decoration of the check or chessboard pattern . Theseare

, for decoration , the prettiest ruins, save N’

Natali, whichin this respect they closely rival.

and are built of granite blocks. Owing to their havingonly partially fi lled indur ing later per iods , the inclosure:inner walls canbe closely examined. No boulder s haveutil ised in the construction. The courses are very tmlyand the blocks are of very equal sice. Great pains a;to have beentakeninthemasonry of the decorafi oni

The floors are cemented throughout with the usualofashes on the bed - rock, which is foundundaall the or ifloors of the first Zimbabwe period. Probably. as we

said, this universal practice was adopted as a prone:against white ants.6mm!damnation—The front and main entrance 1the W.S .W. and has rounded walls, the passage beingfeet wide, and extending into the inter ior of No. 1 inclc

for about twelve feet. None of the inclosures havefi l led in by later occupiers, excepting Nos. 2 and 3.No. 1 inclosure is irregularly shaped, but at its ionpart is seventeen feet and at its broadest part is aboutfeet. This inclosure is bounded by Nos. 3, 4 , and 5 inclosnand by a wal l connecting Nos. 3 and 4 inclosures.No. 2 inclosure is about fourteen feet by ten feet andbeenfi lled up to three feet from the original floor.No. 3 inclosure is about twelve feet by ten feet, andbeen fi lled in up to the level of the present reduced wThis is approached from No. 1 by a fl ight of three rounsteps of a late period .

No. 4 inclosure is twelve feet by eleven feet.No. 5 inclosure is about thirty feet by eighteen feet.is an open courtyard and sti l l shows the original floor.No. 6 inclosure is twelve feet by six feet.Gem-ml note— The peculiar feature of this ruin isall the walls are profusely covered with check pat!decoration .


The whole country onthe MuesaRange is one cunmThis irondistr ict has beenthe chief irono

prodncimoenmh

is that of thenatives of to- day. This district most pr obablysupplied the irontools for the remoter par ts of the ancientgold -workings (see chapter “ Construction of Ruins,” section“Tools lt extends from the Naka Mounfi nPas s, crossesthe Lundi River to BochwaRange, and on to the MumMountains, pass ingunder these names.The ruins are three miles from any water , but water ouee

flowed in acreek close to the kopje, and this has since beendiverted by natural causes.Per iod—The first Zimbabwe period. The workmanship

shown in the wal ls is excel lent The walls are massive withrounded ends

,and fi rst - period batter of main walls inside and

outside. The foundations are on the bed - rock and followsurface outline. The faces of the internal wal ls are of thesame good masonry as on the outside.Impor tance—Apparently of intermediate order. This wasone of the centres of the ancients' i ron - producing industry,which was extensively carried on in and about these ruins,and doubtlessly suppl ied iron tools for themines in the goldproducing areas in other parts of the country. This was alsoa goldsmelting centre of the ancients, for a vast quantity ofancient crucibles with gold in the flux and blow - pipes withgold on the nozzles have been found here.Ex tent—The present area covered by the ruins is aboutninety feet by eighty feet, but this may have been larger.Construction—The ruins are on an elliptical plan of build~

ing. The bases of the main wal ls are seven feet wide andthree feet six inches wide onthe present tops the highest

portion of the walls sti l l stand ing being eleven feet. The

workmanship d isplayed in the building is excel lent, but the

I SIKNOMBO RUINS

material is mainly inferior, being the only stone obtainable inthe locality. Good stone for the more important parts of thebuilding has been brought here from long distances. Thereare seven inclosures with the usual open courtyard. Theseinclosures have not been filled up, nor are there signs of re

The bu ilding has a cemented floor throughout,

is the layer of ashes found under most floorsof the earlier periods.M utation—There is no decorative pattern in any ofthe walls now standing.

Descr iption.— The main entrance is on the east side, and

o butt resses. The entrance is aboutsix inches wide throughout. There is a steep incl ine

from the entrance to the highest point in the interior. The

courtyard is thirty feet by thirty feet, and the seven inclosuressize twelve feet by ten feet.notes — The chief feature of these ru ins is that

they formed a centre of the iron industry of the ancients,while gold - smelting operations were also very ex tensivelycarried onhere.Fr

’

M .— Z r

'm646we per iods. Three skeletal remains withthree and a half ounces of gold ornaments , principally ironbangles overlaid with gold bands. Each skeletal remains hada necklace of gold beads ranging in size from that of a pin’shead up to that of ordinary Egyptian lenti ls. A very greatquantity of ancient gold crucibles showing gold in the flux,also great quantities of blow - pipes used both for gold andiron - smelting furnaces. All pottery found here was of theoldest make and patterns. Gold beads and portions of beatengold and gold tacks were found in the debris heaps, alsocopper beads, but few innumber.



RU INS (UNNAMED)

S r’

taatr'm—Ona low granite kopje. ina densely populated

district, about eight miles southeast from Messrs. Weir andEdwards’s store, M’

Pateni . The ruins are surrounded bynative gardens and are best approached from the nor th - west.P er iod— F irst Zimbabwe period. Plan elliptical foundstions on rock. Main walls batter - back inside and outside,and good workmanship. Rounded entrance walls.Impor tance— Minor.Ex tent—Thirty feet by twenty - five feet.0mm kzh

’

om— Herring - bone pattern on the inside wal lof one of the small inclosures. The pattern faces the eastand is three courses above the original floor.Derm’

ptr’

on.— Present height of walls, five feet ; width at

base, five feet ; at top, three feet. There are two smallinclosures. The portion of the inclosu re Open on the eastside was probably a portion of the courtyar d The entranceis on the west side.F inds— PM doubgfid . S keletal remains close up againstthe wall immediately under the herringbone pattern , withgold pellets hammered preparatory to being made into beads,i ron bangles overlaid at intervals with gold bands, copperbangles and beads.

RU INS (UNNAMED)

S ituation—About one mile north-east of Messrs. Weirand Edwards’s trading store, M’

Pateni, at the south side ofthe M’

Pateni Range and ona low gran ite rise near a tributary of the Bubi River. The country is very hilly. The

best approach is from the south - west.P eriod— F i rst Zimbabwe period. E l l iptical plan of bu ild

ing, and for its size is correspondinglymassive. Usual batterback inside and outside of main wall, with excel lent workmanship, and wal ls are on formation rock.

RUINS (UNNAMED) 243

Impor tance—Minor. No traces of temple remains or ofgold

~smelting operations so far discovered .

Extent F - F ifty feet by forty- five feet.0m m .

—Herring - bone pattern ten feet to twelvefeet in length on the right- hand side of the only entrance,and faces west.BM W — Built of granite on the gran ite formation .

W idth of walls at bases , six feet ; at present tops four feet ;height of wall stil l standing, six feet There are two inclosures, and these have not been fi l led in. The entrance ison the west side. The building is open on the north - west side.F inds —Gmd- dust and pottery of the first period .

RUINS (uunmsn)

S ituation— Three miles south of Messrs . Beckman Bros}model farm in the M’

Pateni district, on a prominent andbolated gran ite kopje, somewhat similar to the kopje onwhich the UmnukwanaRuins stand . These ruins commandan extensive view of the surrounding country.

P er iod — F i rst Zimbabwe period. Plan of building ellip

tical walls massive ; fi rst - period batterback,with good

workmanship on both sides of main wal l ; foundations onbed - rock, and the entrance wal ls are rounded . Additionsof second period at the southern portion of the build ing.Impor tance— So far no traces of gold - smelting furnaces or

of temple remains have been discovered .

Ex tent—The ru ins cover an area of one hundred and fiftyfeet by forty feet.0mmentahbn.

—Check pattern on the northwest portionof inner inclosure wall

,and about three feet above the present

surface. Length of pattern about fourteen feet.Derm'

ptz’

on.— Bui lt of granite blocks. W idth of bases of

walls,sevenfeet ; at present tops four feet ; highest portion now

standing, six feet. The only entrance is on the north - east. and

The approach to this build ing is extremely dimcult owingto the steepness of the hill. There are no steps visible.

Debr is heaps are onthe north-east and south sides of the

hil l , and are extens ive.F iesta—Z imbabwe per iod. A few go ld beads, gold dust,

BURANGWE RUINS

S ituation—Two miles north of Lone Spitz KOp, which isalso called Burangwe Kopje. The I nduna of the districtImpendele—l ives near the ru ins. The best approach is fromthe northeast.Per iod— F irst Zimbabwe period . Walls fairly massive,with usual batterback

,on c ircular plan , walls on bed - rock ;

workmanship excellent.Extent—These ruins cover an area of about fifty feet in

Impor tance—These ruins were used by the ancients as agold - smelting centr e.

Description— H ighest portion of walls stil l standing, twentyfeet ; width of top, two feet six inches ; width of bases cannotbe stated owing to fi ll ing up during a later period . The

bu ild ing does not appear to have been divided into inc losures.Two entrances on the west side, the one with rounded walls,the other with squared wal ls.F inds —Gold crucibles, fine gold portions of torn and worngold bangles, amber beads, smelted copper, and copper beads.

IHURZ I RU INS

S r‘

tuarr'

om—Ona low granite kopje four miles north - westof Banlae River, Bel ingwe. The I nduna of the district isM

'Saltele. The ru ins command an extensive view of thesurrounding country. The best approach is from the west.



circalar in form and is about eighteen feet in diameter.The entrance faces to the north - west. B Ruin is oval inform and is attached to the south side of A Ruin. The

ent rance faces the west. Extending from B Ruin , at aboutone hundred feet distant on the south side, a semicircularwall runs towards the north and north - west for a distance of two hundred feet , the wall averaging four feet inheight. The space between the Ruins A and B and withinthe inside inclosing wall, has been floored w ith cement.W ithin A and B Ruins and the outer inclosure wal l twohundred and eight ounces of pure gold ornaments havebeen discovered . I n A Ruin the skeletal remains of anancient were discovered with seventy - two ounces interredwith him. Gold was found scatter ed about the floor mostpromiscuously in these two ruins and within the inclosure.This was in al l stages of manufacture. There were manygold -wire bangles pulled altogether out of shape as if tornor snatched at by violent hands

,and scattered beads and

charred remains of unburied people evidencing a fight anda defeat of the ancient occupiers. This patent evidenceof strife applies also to Ruins Nos. 3 and 4.

No. 3 Rain. This is built upon a low granite kopje, and isby far the most important ru in in this group and occupiesthe central position. The walls are built upon a circularplan and the diameter is about one hundred and sixty feet,the highest portion of the walls now stand ing being aboutfourteen feet. The main entrance is on the north side andhas rounded wal ls. The pecul iarity of this entrance is thatwhile it extends only ten feet towards the interior of thebu ilding it widens out from three feet six inches at theoutside to twelve feet at the inside end . The floor of thisentr ance is paved with long slabs cemented over. Onthe

south side there is another entrance which goes straightinto the building for six feet, when it takes a sharp turntowards the left.

MUNDIE RUINS 249

This ruinis divided by walls into eight different inclosures,which are built up against the inside of the whole lengthof the main walls, leaving a large open court in the centre.I n this court and on the south - west side were discovered fivegold - smelting furnaces of the ancients. These are describedinChapter iv. as being five basin - l ike holes sunk into thecemented floors in two rows, one of three and tbe other

of two holes, each being distant three feet fromthe others.

The holes are twelve inches in d iameter and twelve inchesdeep in the centre. Each of these holes has several layersof coatings made of granite- powder cement, and each layeris thickly studded with gold .

Debr is heaps contain ing gold crucibles and portions of

blow - pipes extend from the west side round the south to thew t side.Outside the south entrance are signs of conflict ; torngold- wire bangles, scattered beads, and skeletal remainsunburied apparently lying in the position in which theancients had been slain .

No. 4 Rain. This is distant about seventy feet to the southof the central ruin

, No. 3, but is smal ler. I t is divided intofive separate inclosures. More gold - dust has been foundinthe soil inside this ruin than inany of the other ruinsofmis group.General notes—The spaces between these four ruins arecover ed over with portions of old wal ls , and these are so

numerousand run in so many d irections that it is imposs ibleto prepare any plan of them .

Onthe west side of the ruin is a perennial stream runningin the creek below, and fromthis streamit is posaible to

wash

250 ANCI ENT RUINS OF RHODESIA

(2) The finding ofancient gold crucibles with the caloes of

(3) The discovery of five complete ancient gold - smelting

(4) The drainonthenor theast side of No. 2 Ruin, whichis idenfi cal with the drainat Zimbabwe and so far has notbeenfound inother ruins.

ornaments discovered in theee ruins was two hund red andthirty ounces. These incl uded gold bangles weighing upto six ounces each. One large gold bead weighed exactlyone ounce, and had chevron pattern al l round. Anothersmaller bead weighed half an ounce and had trellis- patternstampedall round. The other gold beads ranged inall siz esfromless thanapin

's head to that of anordinary pea.

Beatengold and gold nails. Portions of ironbangles overlaid at intervals with gold bands. Large quanti ties of goldpel lets spi lt from crucibles, these being found inthe ru insand in the debr is heaps outside. Cakes of gold found in thecrucibles. Cakes of gold near the waist ofmost skeletons asi f carried in a pouch on a belt (see Chapter vii i.)

NUANETS I RU INSS ituation—Onrising ground four hundred yards from thewest bank of Nuanetsi River. Belingwe district, three fromwhere river breaks through the M’

Pateni range of bills, andhal f a mile from S ouche’s trading road.P er iod— First Zimbabwe period. Massive character ofwalls. with fi rst - period batter - back . E l l iptical plan ofbui lding.Informant—Minor immrtance. No signs of gold - smel tinghaving beencarried on.0m m .

—Profiisely decorated with check pattern onnorth - east front wal l.


scriptionof MM M

LITTLE BOCHWA RUINS

this circular bu ilding, leaving a passageround it. Probably the circular building,M’Telegwa, will be found to contain the

remains of a chief of the Monomotapaperiod. The entranceis on the southeast side, and has rounded walls. No tracesof any steps were discovered . An entirely separate wallfifteenfeet long extends in front of the entrance at a distanceof ten feet from itNotes—W ith the exception of the Tul i Ruins, no otherrains so far discovered have a detached wall running at anangle across the front of the main entrance.No exploration work has been done at these ruins.PM s

—Fine gold, pottery of oldest material , design , andconstruct ion , gold and iron - smelting blow- pipes, and portionsof iron - smelting furnaces.

LITTLE BOCIIWA RU INS

S ituation—Three miles south - east of the BochwaRuinsand about three miles from the BochwaRange, on low groundwith a kopje onthe south - east side, up to the base of whichthe foundations extend .

P er iod — F i rst Zimbabwe period . E l l iptical plan ofbuild ing.bases of walls at least four feet wide, workmanship excellent.Impor tance— Possibly intended for a protecting fort ofmining distri ctExtent —D iameter about thirty feet. No traces of founds~tions having once extended further.M atriculation—None.Descr iptions—This ruin gives evidences of incompletion , as

local ity



road - protecting forts or stations on the ancient MatoppaZimbabwe and Sofala main trading route.Ex tent — Diameter about sixteen feet.M utation— Herring bone pattern , three feet long on

the northeast side of inside wal l.Dermptr

'

on.— Present height of walls four feet, width at

bases five feet, at present tops three feet six inches, withcommencement of usual fi rst - period batter - back ; workmanship oh face of inside and outside of main wal ls mostexcellent. There are two small inclosures. Entrance facesthe south - west. The building has been partially fi l led in byreoccupiers .

Note— No finds have been secured , as no exploration hasbeen done, but there are traces of gold - dust in the soil whichwas possibly lost from bulk in transit.

RU INS (UNNAMED)S r

'

tuahhm— About midway between the BochwaRangeand the Mundie group of ruins

,in the Bel ingwe district, close

to a tr ibutary of the Mundie River, and built ona low , ovalshaped granite kopje.P er iod— F i rst Zimbabwe periodImpor tance - Minor .

Ex tent— Diameter about fifty feet.Ornamentah '

om— None in wal ls now standing.

Omaha— Built of granite on the granite formation.

Height of walls, which are massive, five feet ; elliptical planof building, good workmanship outside and inside of mainwal l, with usual fi r st - period batter - back. Ruin partial ly filledin by later occupiers.Nauru—There are evidences of great confiagrationhavingtaken place within this ruin .

No exploration work has been done here, but it is bel ieved ,judging by certain indications

,that labour would be rewarded

by finds.”

CHAPTER XVII

RUINS IN NORTH BELINGWE

M‘POPOTI RU INSS ituation.

HESE ruins are four miles to the north of the I ngesiRiver, and are at the outside of the valley leading to

the M’Popoti Range, in North Bel ingwe. The kopje on

which the ruins are situated is fairly wooded, and standsabout three hundred feet above the level of the surroundingcountry. The ruins command an ex tensive view. The bestapproach is from the Nel l ie and Pioneer Mine

,or past

Mudnez ero Ruins on Darl ing‘s trading route. The bestascent of the kopje is from the west.P er iod — The ruins would appear to belong to the firstZimbabwe period , the plan being el liptical , the batter- backof walls the same as in fi r st - period buildings ; the foundations, so far as they can be observed , are on bedqock, andthe workmanship shown on both inside and outside of wallsequal that of any other ru ins yet discovered. The entances,however

,have squared walls. The ruins have been partial ly

fi l led in during later periods.Impor tance— These ruins are of major importance, andprobably were the centre for this portion of the Belingwedistrict. F rom the number of broken gold crucibles withgold sti l l in the flux, and the quantity of fine gold and goldornaments discovered, it is known that an extensive goldsmelting industry was carried onhere by the ancients. No

temple remains have been discovered.


E dam- The area covered by the ru ins is about onehundred and sixty feet by one hundred feet, but lowerdown on the west side of the kopje, at a distance of aboutfifty yards, are signs of further build ings having been erectedas if to serve for a first l ine of defence.Ornamentatr'om— Check and herringbone patterns areabout nine feet from the present surface on the outside of

the west wal l facing the Gwabl Range. The herring- bonepattern is made of ironstone slate. Probably there wasfurther ornamentation in the higher portions of the wal lwhich have fallen down .

Description— Built of granite blocks on the granite formation. The walls are massive, having bases of about eightfeet. The highest portions of the wal l now standing are fromtenfeet to twelve feet high and have a width at the tops ofthree feet. The large amount of stone débris lying aboutpoints to the walls having once been much higher. Thereare three entrances, the main entrance being on the westside

, two inclosures, and a courtyard . Portions of the southwest inclosure and north - east inclosure have been fi lled inat later periods. There are remains of a flight of stepsleading up from the main entrance.F inds — Charred remains of skeletons with the usual gold

ornaments, also gold beads, fine gold - dust, portions of ancientgold crucibles, and pottery of the best Zimbabwe designs,material

,and workmanship. Copper wire.

[The above is ex tracted from the diary of Messrs. J .Campbell and F . Leech, who co‘Operated for nine monthswith Messrs. Neal and j ohnson in the exploration of severalruins ]

LITTLE M’POPOTI RU INS

S ituation— Ona gran ite bluff two and a half miles northeast of M’

Popot i Ruins.P eriod— F irst Zimbabwe period. The tops of the original



near present tops of outside wal l, with two rows of checkpattern immediately below it.Descr iption—Walls about seven feet high, and where notpulled down intentional ly are in a wonderfully good stateof preservation.

M'WELE RU INSS ituation—Three miles south west of the Bel ingwe Peak ,on the west bank of the M’Wele River

,in the Bel ingwe

district. These ru ins are on the summit of a long rise andoverlook the surrounding country, while they are almost hidby trees. I t is approachable from almost any point.P er iod — F irst Zimbabwe period . The walls are verymassive in comparison with the size of the building, andare built on an elliptical plan, with the usual fi rst - per iodbatter- back of both inside and outside main wall, and of goodworkmanship, with the foundation on formation rock. Thereare no extensions of a later date, but partial fi ll ing in duringa subsequent period .

Impor tance—These ru ins do not appear to have been agold - smelting centre of the ancients, but probably were animportant road - protecting fort guarding an ancient roadleading from the main gold mines of Bel ingwe towardsthe Sabi River.Exw r

- Diameter about seventy feetOrnamentan'on.

— Herr ing- bone pattern both inside andoutside of the north - west wal l , each pattern being aboutfive feet in length and four feet from present top of wallDescription— Built of granite on the granite formation .

Width of wal ls at bases at least five feet, and three feetat present tops , and are n ine feet high at highest points.There are three inclosures , also the usual courtyard . The

entrance is onthe west side.Nata— No exploration work has beendone here.

M'WELE TRIBUTARY RUINS

M'WELE TRIBUTARY RUlNS

S ituation—These ruins are about twelve miles in a southeasterly direction from the Bel ingwe Peak, in a patch of

wooded country and on the north bank of the M’weleRiver, on a steep and rocky granite kopje directly overlooking the bed of the river. The best approach to theseruins is from the north side.P er iod — F irst Zimbabwe period. Plan elliptical

,wal ls

fairly massive, usual fi r st - period batter - back, wor kmanshipexceptionally good with true courses, and main walls onrock

Impor tance— Minor impor tance. No traces of goldsmelting operations. Probably a road - protecting fort.Ex tent — Diameter forty- five feet.Ornamentatz'om—Check pattern on outside of south main

wall,extending almost the whole distance of the wall imme

diately overlooking the river.Description— The width of the walls and the number of theinclosures cannot be ascertained on account of the buildinghaving been fi l led in and cemented over during a late period .

Height of present reduced wal l twelve feet , and twenty - five

feet above the level of the river. The platform is approachedfrom the north side of the ruin . The entrance is covered inand is indistinguishable. There are no traces of steps. The

platform shows the remains of a clay building of, perhaps ,Monomotapadate.Nata—There have been no finds, as no exploration workhas been done. No debr is heaps were noticed , and theirabsence is accounted for by the debr is having been throwndirectly into the stream which runs under the foot of themain wall, and so carried away.

HES E ruins are thnee hmrdred yEdkin

’

s Rmd at about nine mi

ex tensive view of the sur rounding cot

able distance towards the south. Accesbe obtained either at the east or west

Ancient workings are exceedingly numc

Zimbabwe per iods, with extensions of la

of their position and size. Gold - smeltvery extens ively can'ied onhere by tbe a

numerous debr is heaps containquantitieportions of gold crucibles with gold 5 1

Furnaces must have existed here,and the

ruins were the centre of a


and batter ~back on inside and oumide of walh mainanddivisional entrances rounded ; good workmanship on innerand outer faces of walls.

were carried on here by the ancients. The ruins wereevidently the protecting for t for the great number of ex tensive

The population could not have been extensive as debr isheaps are comparatively small.0m m .

— None inwalls now standing.Ex tend s

—The ruins have a diameter of sixty feet. Ther eis no evidence that they once covered alarger area.

and of dior ite blocks . The height of walls is seven feet ,

width at base five feet and width at prwent tops three feetsix inches. There are five inclosures averaging in area abouttwelve feet by ten feet, the divisional walls being of excellentworkmanship, and have rounded ends. There are twoentrances ; the one fromthe nor theast side , which is three

feet six inches wide, leads straight though two inclosur esto the south - west entrance, outside which entrance and downthe side of the kopje are the debr is heaps. No traces of anysteps were found. The floors are of burnt clay mix ed withgravel

,evidently obtained from the river close by. The

layer under the floor is made of water- worn quartz , granite,and other rock pebbles .F inds—Z imbabwe pen

'

odr . A small number of goldbeads . tacks, beaten gold, gold -wire bangles, portions ofgold crucibles, gold pellets, and gold - dust.Soapstone slab for playing the Isafubagame ( these game

stones were used by ancients, also by people of Monomotapa period, and are now used by present native tribes,and are described in Chapter vi ). This stone is now in the

RUINS (UNNAMED)possession of the Rhodesia Scientific Association at Bulawayo.Monomotapaper iod. Skeletal remains were dug up here,but only copper ornaments were found with them . The

dry- crusher produced a few smal l pel lets of smelted goldfr om the debris of the graves.

RU INS (UNNAMED)S r

'

tsah’

om— Infairly wooded country on the summit of amost prominent and isolated granite kopje at least threehundred feet h igh , four and three- quarter miles north of theDefiance Mine, and on the east bank of Ingangase River.P er iod — F irst Zimbabwe period.

Extent—Thirty feet diameter.

Dermytion.—These ruins are protected on three sides by a

pr ecipitous decl ivity , in some parts by sudden drops of fromtwenty to thirty feet. The approach is on the west side up asteep incl ine over and between large boulders. The planof building is el l iptical. I nside faces of walls are well built.H ighest portion of walls stil l standing twelve feet

,width at

base five feet, tops two feet six inches, and have fi rst - periodbatter of walls with rounded ends. The blocks are of

granite and rest on the granite formation . There are nodivisional walls. S igns of reoccupation during later periods.F inds— Z imbabwe per iod. Portions of ancient pottery.

Soil panned traces of fine gold.

Monomotapaor later periods. Copper beads and bangles .

RU INS

S ituation—Close to the R iver .about five and a


IW —m to have beendeser‘ted by

Description—The ru ins are built upon an elliptical plan.W idth of bases of walls five feet, height of wal ls five feet.Onthe east side the walls have disappeared, but the foundation crops out in places.adra—No exploration wor k has bw i done here. Some

fine golddust was found on panning soil on the floors.

INGANGAS E RU INS

S ituation—These ruins are on a pr ominent kopje aboutfour miles north , on the east bank up the Ingangase R iverfrom the Defiance Mine, and are near the junction of a smal lstream which runs into it, in the F ilabusi district. The rearor east side of the ru in is natural ly protected byanextremelyprecipitous decli vity, on the north side by huge boulderswhich rise considerably above the ruins and overlook them .

The main entrance is on the west side, and the approachis protected by large boulders , among which the path lies.Per iod—These ruins are of first Zimbabwe period architecture and are extremely well bu ilt and the courses very true.The plan of build ing is ell iptical . The walls, which aremassive, have the oldest Zimbabwe batter oninner and outerfaces of the wal ls, which are equal ly well built, and haverounded ends. The right- hand inclosure partly filled induring a later period.[W m.

—The massive character of these ruins suggeststhat these buildings must have been of some considerableimportance.Ex tent —The front por tion is sixty feet inlength, and thearea covered is a third of an acre. Ther e are no evidencesthat at one time they were larger.



Extent—The ruins occupy an areaof about forty feet bythir ty feet.0mmentatz’on.

— There is no pattern of Zimbabwe decoration, but half- way up the outside of the walls is a course of

white quartz.Descr iption—Owing to dilapidations it is impossible to fixposition of entrances. There do not appear to have beenany inclosures. The old débris heaps are now hardly traceable. No finds of any importance have been discovered.Pottery of a late per iod has been found.

CHAPTER XIX

RU INS IN UPPER INS IZA DISTRICT

DI-ILO'DHLO RU INS

S ituation.

N Upper I nsiza, fifteen miles south of Shanghani S tore,on the Bulawayo - Gwelo main road , four miles E NE .

of Captain Rixon’s farm and fifty miles east of Bulawayo.The position of the ru ins is very romantic, and extensiveviews of the surrounding country

,especial ly toward the

north,are obtainable from the ruins. The north and north

west sides are considered the finest portions of the ru ins.P er iod—These ruins, with the exception of what Dr .

Schlichter terms “ the temple,which is undoubted ly the

oldest portion , are bel ieved to have been built in the secondZimbabwe period . Unl ike the buildings of the first period ,these ru ins have some walls built in a comparatively angularform with straight corners. The outside work is muchsuperior to that on the inner wal ls. The entrance wallsare straight and not rounded, and the buildings are erectedon the rising - terrace system . Portions have been reconstructed

,and there are additions, these showing different

later periods of Zimbabwe architecture.Dr . S chl ichter was of opin ion that the plan of the templeportion of these ru ins was of the earl iest form , but heconjectured that the present build ing was a super structu reonwalls of a former period

,together with later additions.

Mr . F rankl in White, of Bulawayo,whose carefully pre

3 73

pared repor t'

on these ruins is by far the best descr ip

tive account of these ruins yet published, in descri bing in

which would appear to place theminthe second per iod of

Zimbabwe architectu re, as defined in Chapter xii. For

instance, he says : ( 1 )“There are no real foundations to

the walls, they just begin on any ground fi rm enough tocar ry them; ( 2) the batter of the walls var ies, but isgeneral ly sl ight ; ( 3) some walls are made wi th two faces,the interven ing spaces being filled in with rubble ; (4) thecourses preserve their thickness fairly well. I n some casesa course widens

,and in others d isappears.”

[Mar iana— From extent,must have been bui ld ings oftown of the district for al l thebuild ings that within d istances of several miles surround it.Probably the temple also served for the district in whichthese minor buildings are found, theseremains. Evidences are bel ieved towas also the gold - smelting centre for the district.Ex tent — The ruins cover about three acres of ground, butthere are remains of wal ls of inferior workmanship beyondthis area.Comtmd rbn.

—The ru ins are on the gran ite formation , andare built with the usual Zimbabwe - shaped gran ite blocks.I n size the ru ins are something less than the great Z imbabweTemple, and are not nearly so massive, while the walls arelower. I n a later period , probably the decadent period ,granite blocks have, it is bel ieved , been taken from wallsand used in erecting smaller build ings of Zimbabwe style

,

but of very inferior workmanship. Stones fromthe topsof the walls have also been thrown into the various com

vol. xxxi, . 1 901 , january to June, p. 3 1 .


DHLO-DHLO RUINS 275

partments which have been fi l led up to the tops of thereduced wal ls.Omammtatz'om—The ornamentation is far super ior to andmore interesting than that at Zimbabwe. The principalbuilding is l iterally covered with astronomical ornamentation

,having no less than twenty - three different ornaments

of best workmanship stil l existing. The decorations consistof the herring - bone, chevron , sloping - block

,and check

patterns, check pattern predominating. A smal l portion onlyof chevron is present, but dentelle pattern is absent.The omamentations on the terraces are as follows : Lowerterrace, check pattern ; middle terrace, single sloping- blockpattern with check pattern below ; highest terrace, singleherring- bone at the top and check pattern below.

The north - east wal l under the monolith is made up of

the following ornamentations : Four rows of stones laid inZimbabwe style at the top, one row of double herring- bonepattern , and one row of Zimbabwe- laid stones, six rowsof check pattern , one row of stones , one row of doubleherring - bone pattern alternating with check

,one row of

stones, seven rows of check pattern , with two rows of stonesat base of wall. In al l cases the herring - bone patternonly extends very l imited d istances, beginning and endingabruptly.

Or ientation— From an astronomical point of view, Dr .

Schl ichter pronounces these ruins to be the most interestingru ins south of the Equator. Solar worship

,he says

,was

practised here, also the observation of the principal planetsand stars . The walls of the temple form an ell ipse.Cent ralRum—This is a temple fort built on a low gran itekopje. The ru in rises in three high terraced tiers towardsthe summit of the kopje, which it completely covers. The

terraces are faced with check and herringbone pat téand they terminate abruptly on the north side, Wthe main entrance, the wal ls of which are squareé


The lengt h of the inside of the bdflding accord ing to

Dr . Schlichter , is about one hundr ed and thirty- seven feet,and its width some seventy feet and the shape is ellip tical.Mr. Frankl in White makes the total length three hundredand fifty feet and w idth two hundred and fifty feet, buthis are outside measurements. The building cont ains amonolith onthe north-easternside and acir cular inclosuresimilar to those at Zimbabwe, Khami, and many other ruins.A raised platform with cemented floor about fifty feetdiameter, on the western side of interior, is on the summitof the highest terrace, which opens onto a magnificent viewof the surround ing country, includ ing al l the ruins. The

platform is about twenty feet in height.Messrs. Neal and Johnson, who spent thr ee months in

1 895 exploring these ru ins, sank a shaft fifwen feet downthrough the centre of this platform , and came on the wallsand floors of the original ancients. These have been fi l ledin with stones thrown promiscuously off the tops of thebuild ings, thus reducing their original height. The floorof the platform was made of granite- powder cement a footthick. Onthe lowest and original floor go ld jewel lery

,con

sisting of beads,bangles

,etc. , was discovered. These were

of different style of manufacture to the gold jewellery foundon the platform floor. No silver ornaments were found on

the original floor as was the case on the platform floor. The

lower and original floor, also of Zimbabwe cement, wasdented and broken by the throwing in of the stones from thewalls. From the regularity of the t0ps of the walls it seemsthat the stone was thrown in

,and that it did not fal l in

naturally either by decay or earthquake. The originalinhabitants evidently l ived onthe lower floor. No skeletalremains were found in this shaft.This platform is approached by a narrow tw isting passagebetween walls of trimmed stone running in for one hundredfeet, with a width of from five to seven feet. Onthe right


278 ANCIENT RU INS OF RHODESIA

ruins. Masses of molten lead and copper and fused ironbangles and bronze arrow- heads have been found . This

swaz ies invaded the country.

Evidences exist of several successive occupations by theancients.The remains of clay huts are either qu ite modemorthose of the Mombo people, who, accord ing to Portugueserecords, bu ilt their kraal in these ru ins. Mombo’s son issaid to have resided here at the time of the Amaswaz ieinvasion .Dr . Schl ichter wrongly names these ru ins “Mombo Ruins.

The Mombo ru ins are those on Thabas imamba, which iswithin the old Kafii r Mombo kingdom

,at which place King

Mombo (variously written Mombo, Mambo, and Mamba)himself l ived

,and there he was skinned al ive by the

Amaswaz ie. Mombo,li ke Monomotapa, is a dynastic name

assumed by each succeed ing sovereign of those kingdomsrespectively.

Mr. W ilmot’s work, Monomotapa, gives particulars of theJesuit missionary stations ( 1650- 1 760) in the Mombo andMonomotapakingdoms.Messrs. Neal and Johnson discovered the rel ics belongingto the Jesuit missionary at about forty yards north of theCentral Ruin , in a smal l ruin on a low,

bald granite elevation ,where he is supp03ed to have resided . Here was found someseven hundred odd ounces of gold

,in raw and manufactured

and partial ly manufactured state. I t is bel ieved the priestmust have been murdered by Kafli rs, or the gold and hispersonal articles and those pertaining to the church wouldhave been removed . Only a very small portion of the sevenhundred ounces of gold so found included articles of

Zimbabwe period manufacture,and these the priest might

have acquired by ransack ing the ruins or by barter withthe natives . Among this gold was an alluvial nugget

DHLO-DHLO RUINS 279

weighing over six ounces. I t is highly probable that thepr iest combined trad ing with his sacerdotal functions.’

OB LO - OR LO RU I NS?Bv a xuuWarn

[Theauthors have great pleasure ineomplying with the requeat of the Directorsof the Br itish South AfricaCompany that Mr . FranklinWhite's interestingandpractical paper on these ruins should be included in this work. Mr . Nicol

Brown, of Rand t , Limited , London, has obtained Mr . FranklinWhite's fullpermissionfor its reproduction, and he has, with this object . also secured the

sanctionof the Anthropological Institute. The footnotes added by the authorsof this workare purely explanatory.)General Damptzbn.

— The Ublo- dl‘llo or Mambo Ruins :the subject of this paper

,are located some fi lly miles north

east of Bu lawayo, or, say, lgi degrees south and 20} degrees

The level above sea is about feet.They occupy a commanding position on a gran ite plateaubetween two streams forming part of the head - watersof the I nsiza River

,a tributary of the Limpopo.

The name “ Mambo ” is derived from the designation ofthe tribe of Kaffi rs who occupied this country before theMatabeles conquered it. §l was able to make a fairly accurate plan of the mostimportant part of these ru ins and to take some photographswhich show the construction of the walls and the differentstyles of ornamentation used by the builders.Some prominent bosses of bare granite were made use

of as base for the wal ls, and the bu ilders were fully awareof the tendency of granite to peel off in slabs under

For finds see Chapter xi.

Inland , vol. xxxi . , 1 901 . January to June.

1 The Mamba, Mambo, or Mambo Ruinsareat Thabas Imamba.QThe Mambo dynasty was “

wiped out"hy the Amaswaz ies at the end of the

fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century. though for aconsiderable timeafterwards aremnant of these people lived inthis district. and were theallies ofthe Portugueseagainst the King of Monomotapa(Wilmot).

elem inches in lerg th and tw and ahalef to five inches

larger blocks . Smih piceam w for the or namental

I. so the walls : they just

“a them. As

but the top was covered with a layuof claygranite.


DHLO-DHLO RUINS 28 1

were apparently preferred , stil l angular corners and straightl ines could be made when considered advisable.The batter of the wal ls varies

,but is general ly sl ight.

At one point the top actual ly overhangs the base.Some walls were made with two faces, the interveningspace being fi l led up with rubble.The courses preserve their thickness fairly well . I n somecases a course widens

,and in others disappears.

Boulders of granite lying on the su rface were made useof as part of the wall whenever possible.The most striking feature of the wal ls is the attemptmade to introduce some style of ornamentation. Intheseru ins the following variations can be seen

( 1 ) Lines of a d ifferent coloured rock (Pl. I I . fig. 2 ;

V. fig.

( 2) The chessboard , or chequered pattern .This varies (Pl . V. fig. 3) from the ord inary gap andstone in one to eight courses, and groups of three spaceswith th in blocks in two courses, separated by two thickerblocks.

( 3) The zigzag pattern (Pl . Ill. figs. 2. 3 ; iv. fig.

(4) The sloping- block (Pl . I l. fig. 2 ; I I I. fig. 2 ; IV. fig. 1

V. figs. 1 , 3) varied by alternating granite with red bandedironstone slabs.(s) The chevron or fi sh- bone pattern ‘ (Pl . ll. fig. 2 ;

I V. fig. 1 ) varied by alternating red and grey blocks, eitherin patches (Pl . fig. 2) or singly and in patches separatedby thick granite blocks.I t wil l be noticed ( in M. ll. fig. 2 ; IV. fig. 1 ) that thesloping blocks incl ine respectively to the west and to theeast

,or in different ways on the main

entrance.

is present at theaenuu.


As far as l have beenable to observe the ornamentedpatches commence and finish off

"inan arbitrary or capric ious

manner,and are not confined to any one part of the walls.

Descr iptionof ruins— To the south and south -west of themain ruin there are numerous and extensive inclosures thewal ls of which seldom exceeded six feet inheight and wereof somewhat inferior construction . As the grass was highno careful examination could be made. They were probablycattle- pens or locations for slaves.The large inclosure (R) on the western side of the ru in issurrounded by a wall considerably destroyed , but in partssti ll showing a height of seven feet. I t was well bu ilt, andwas ornamented wi th a band of red stone and also with acourse of sloping blocks (Pl . V. fig.

About one hundred feet to the north of themain entranceis a roughly built inclosure (M) seventy- five feet by n inetyfeet, with one entrance on the east side ( Pl . l. fig.

To the north - east of the main entrance and about onehundred and fifty- five feet away is a circular platform (N)considerably destroyed

,but apparently four and a half feet

high and thirty feet in diameter. Behind this there isanother inclosure (0) some eighty feet by sixty feet, withtwo entrances, one on the north - east and one onthe southwest.Onthe south - west side of the main ru in there is awellbui lt inclosure or platform (P) n inety- five feet wide by one

hundred feet long. I t is built up on a rather steep slopestrewed with granite boulders

,some of which have been

utilised as part of the walls. Only one entrance can nowbe seen—outside the main wal l. There may have beena communication w ith the main ru in

,but the wal l at this

point has been pretty thoroughly broken down,and no signs

of a doorway can be seen .

About one hundr ed feet from P is the large area (R) threehundred feet long by one hundred and n inety feet wide.


DHLO-DHLO RUINS

I t had clearly a main entrance at D, and others may haveex isted in the parts of wall now broken down. The groundhere is flat and good

,and this inclosure was probably a

garden or cattle- pen .Between P and R there is a mound of ashes, br okenbones

,potsherds, etc. I t is evidently the refuse heap of

the later Kaffi r occupants of the ruins,and is now higher

than the top of the wall of platform P. I t probably l iesover a smal l ridge or gran ite boss.Some three hundred feet north - west from the mainentrance is another stone construction (H) perched in acommanding position on the precipitous northern face of

a granite boss which slopes gradually southwards ( Pl . 1 .fig. The wall is wel l made

,but it apparently did not

form a complete inclosure There is a rather elaborateentrance at H ,

and some very regular ornamental work

(Pl. V. fig.Onthe east side of the main ru in there is a large inclosureone hundred and twenty feet along the wal l and ninety- five

feet in depth. I t had apparently one gateway on the southeast side. There are ind ications of intefior divisions orwalls, but the whole is too much destroyed and grown overby bushes to be proper ly examined without considerablelabour.Descriptionof the outer walls— The main approach wasevidently on the north side, where there is an arrangementof roughly built slopes and platforms lead ing up to whatis certainly the main entrance (C). This is seen in Plate I I .figure 1 as a dark gap, and one side is represented inPlate IV. figure 3. A long, narrow passage running to thecentre of a l ittle work


wal l. On the east side canbe seen similar recesses. The

open ing is eleven feet in width , and goes back fifteen feet,where there are signs of another pair of posts, and thepassage commences seven feet in width.The wall to the east of the entrance is still eight feet high,and is apparently nearly its original height. About twentyfive feet fromthe main entrance achessboard pattern oi

seven courses commences ( Pl . ll. fig. 2) in a somewhatirregular manner. Over this and separated from the topby three courses runs a l ine of dark ironstone, and threecourses above this there is another row of dark stoneschanging suddenly into a course of chevron pattern formedof white and dark stones in patches, the points being to theeast. Three courses above the chevron , and commencingover the western end , is a row of sloping blocks dippingto the west. Four courses above this, and more or lessover it, is a three- course l ine of chessboard pattern alsocommencing at the end of a l ine of dark stones. Two of

these bands of dark stones run nearly to the main entrance,

but this portion of the wal l is built in a somewhat sloven lymanner, although it cannot be said that there is distinctevidence that it has been pul led down and rebu ilt. The

ornamentation cannot be traced eastwards, as the wal l ispartial ly destroyed and partly hidden by the fallen stones.Onthe western side the walls attain greater height, beingin three tiers, the top being some sixteen feet above thebase. At about sixteen feet from the side of the entrancethe walls turn outwards for , say, five feet, and then run westfor thirty feet to a carefully constructed corner (Pl . I ll.fig. The first corner is partial ly fi l led up by a diagonalwal l roughly built.This section of the wall is ornamented as fol lows : Atthe base of the lower tier there is a row of chevrons spacedat? by thicker blocks. The chevrons are formed of alternatedark and white blocks, and point to the west. E ight courses


285

above this is a row of sloping blocks (white and dark) dipping to the east. Three courses over this runs a three- course

The upper tiers were no doubt ornamented , but the facesare much damaged now.

To the west of the second corner (Pl. lll. fig. 2) we seethe first piece of the zigzag pattern commencing near thetap and about three feet from the corner. I t can be tracedwestwards as far as the wal l is intact, but does not appearto have continued right round to the western face (Pl. ll.fi g. Three courses below the zigzag is a l ine of slopingblocks dipping east

,and three courses below this is a two

course chequer pattern . There is, therefore, no continu ity ofpattern to be seen inthe lower tier. The chevron pattern isalso missing to the west of the corner.The two upper tiers were ornamented , the upper one witha zigzag pattern apparently corresponding to that on thewestern face. There are patches of zigzag pattern in themiddle tier, but the wal ls are too much destroyed for me tobe able to trace if the patches on the upper and lower wallscorrespond at all.The western face ( Pl . ll. fig. 3) is very fine

,the tiers being

seven feet,five feet

,and four and a half feet high, standing

back each from twelve to five feet at the widest part, thusleaving broad platforms or ledges

,which, however, narrow

considerably at the turn (D).

The high western wall gradually alters beyond the corner.

The upper tier apparently turned eastwards,«ing the

upper platform ,about eighty feet in diametef

”


The second tier continues southwards for about fifty feet.thenturn ing eastwards to form the second platform.

The bottom tier runs on for about one hundred and twentyfeet thenapanturns east at r ight angles and forms anotherplatform and part of the inner l ine of defence Anextensionof it ran some hundred feet to the southwest, finishingoff at a huge gran ite boulder which forms one side of thesouthern entrance.At the western side of this entrance a wel l~built wal lcommences. I t is six to eight feet high and about five feetwide at the top. I t runs without a break round the sou thand eastern side until it butts up against the continuationof the north - eastern wall . I nside the wall is a passage, orditch

,eight to fifteen feet in width, blocked at both ends.

Apparently the idea was to catch the enemy between theouter and the inner wall s.Central passage—This commences at the northern ormain entrance and runs about due south (magnetic) for onehundred feet with a width of five feet to seven feet. It thenturns off a short d istance to the south - east. The two wal lsfinish with well - made square ends.The walls of the passage are now about six feet high, butther e is some rubbish on the bottom .

A large heap of stones blocks the main entrance. I t ispossible that it was original ly covered over with woodedbeams carrying a stone parapet.The recesses in the wal l in which the posts are partiallyembedded may correspond to what Mr. Bent saw at Z imbabwe and considered as groves for a portcull is.P latformaf— The top of the main platform was evidently

covered over with cement or fine concrete,made of clay and

Q

f Theae platforms are undoubtedly the work of avery late Zimbabwe per iod,or of the Mambo people. Mm Nealand Johnsonsankashaft through the

mainplatformto adepth of fifteenfeet and came onthe or iginal floors of the


DHLO-DHLO RUINS

ground -up granite. Treasure- seekers have dug a hole nearthe centre

,ex posing chiefly loose stones. Onthe top of the

platform are several raised ledges or benches of concrete.On the platform east of the main entrance there areindications of a large circu lar dwell ing which evidently hadhard wood posts built in a cement wall . The same thingcan be seen onthe platform to the south.I n the inclosu re P are the remains of a circular clay wal lten feet in diameter, with a smal l hole about two feet ind iameter in the centre.Onthe top of the granite boss at H are remains of threecircular clay walls or floors.I t is impossible to say whether these clay or cementstructures belong to the same age as the stone wal ls. Someare of much better construction than others, the better beingprobably older Kaffi r work. The stone -wal l builders mayhave used circular dwell ings, and the idea would be copiedby the natives of the country, although in an inferior classof work.In the Khami Ruins, near Bulawayo, are remains of asuperior class of circular dwel l ings, which I am told aresimi lar in character to huts in use at the present day byKaffi rs l iving near Lake Ngami ; on the granite hills nearKhami can be seen remains of very inferior circular mudhuts bu ilt by natives of the present day.

There is a notable absence in the Dhlo- dhlo Ruins (as inall others) of the remains of dwellings and of places of

bur ial corresponding to the number of persons who musthave been employed in their erection and occupation.Indication: of occupation— I was not fortunate to findanything of note in these ruins, except a piece of thin silverplate with an embossed pattern and a few o f brokenglass

,possibly parts of the widely die

partly calcined by the grass fires. I ansmall Portuguese cannon and a cons}


also found here chiefly round the inclosure (H). No doubtthesemins wereused as aeonvenient resfing-plaoqbut it eanbe infer red that the expeditionleft hur riedly.

Inthe large ash heap l was only able to find pieoes of

pottery of infer ior manufaaure pieoes of boneg and teeth of

as those which Mr . Bent disoovered at Z imbabwe The

DhIo -dhlo Ruin, therefore, seems to have beenafor tressmther thanatemple and was probably one of achainof

strongholds conneeted with the main route fi 'omthe east

coast. Sofala Bay was probably the port of entry , as Portu

guese records refer to it as being ooeupied by“Moors,

” a

term which is equivalent to inhabitants of Africa.”

But even if sacred emblems are wanting, it seems that ifpeople of Phoenician origin built these structures the pronounced character isties of style of build ing, of general des ign,

and also of the ornamentationused will be sufficient as

points of identificationwith such work in other parts of

Africa or Asia.One thing is clear, and that is that this class of build ingis only found in South Africa in the vicin ity of gold - bearingd istricts. Also worked go ld is found about them .

There are no definite indications that the occupants weredestroyed and any delib erate attempt made to pull downtheir buildings. The harm that has been done may be fairly'The Putngneeemiesionariee ooenpied stations inbfonomotapalong bd ore

thearr inlof the ill- fatedmilitary expedition. Itm the repomol rhemM wbo thmhedmentyotwo eoelesiutiul disuiets inMom oupmwith

many ehapels. that indw ed the Portugueee to attempt to eonquer Monomotapa.Baneto never sueeeeded inpenetroting the eounw, and the tide by which he is

hadmnlefi theTlgug whensetdng out upoo hh expedit iooueeM mfl ).t A earved soapfi one beamm found ac lo—dhlo by hi r . H . Rogut This

is now inthemnseumet BuIawayo (see illustration).


DHLO-DHLO RUINS 289

ascribed to the ordinary Kafi ir in search ofmaterialto makehis cattle kraal or base of his huts. If the Phcenicians werethe builders they may have abandoned the country in thesame manner as the Romans left Britain when their mothercountry was in the last stages of its existence. I f this theoryis correct

,these ru ins would be at least two thousand three

hundredmrs old.

’

I t is quite possible that the nativecountry would retain some of the

pants of theof building, of pottery

gradually die out.

gmt importance to the fo llowing points as seen in the Zimbabwe and other ruins

(a) That the patterns onthe walls were constructedwith aspecial having always the same aspect

,viz. south

east (p.

(6) The south - eastern wal l is much better built (p. 105)

(c) The chevron pattern coincides with the sacred inclosureinside (p. xto).

(d) The wal l in front of the sacred inclosure was decoratedof black slate omitted in the inferior continua

tion(p. t

At the Dhlo- dhlo Ruins we find

(a) and (6) The most ornamented and bettu constructedportionof the building was on the north and norm- west.

(r ) The chevron l pattern runs all round this portion ,probably in patches.

Black slate a are to be seen in all the mainwalls and also in the wal l of the outer inclosure.(e) The cum of the walls are appay zfly influenced


The front mainwall is about ninety feet inlength , anditS present heigbt is about thir teen ieet. At the nor thern

the southemextremity of the wall the top of the wall hascastellated battlementsmade by talring out fromthe or iginal

wide.and eighteeninches indepth, at intervals allalong the

wall, the sides and bops of the walls left standing being

behind themainwalLis aterrace or banquette built up fromthe ground to such aheight as would permit a man to standuponit and look over between the battlements, at the sametime to take shelter behind them. This defence was notthat of the original bu ilders of the ruins, nor is it a characteristic of the second period , nor of the third or fourth periods,but more probably stil l later.The main entrance onthe western side has rounded wallsand is five feet wide

,and is bel ieved to have had a flight of

steps of alater per iod leading up to the summit of the

northern portion of the minwhich had subsequently beenfilled in.F rom the northern and southern extremities of the frontmainwall walls curve round to the east to adistance of

seventy feet from the front wal l. Where these walls meetis the eastern entrance, thr ee feet six inches wide, which hassquare- ended wal ls.There are four inclosures bui lt up against the inside of

the southern curved wall, and these average insize fourteenfeet by fourteen feet, and have rounded entrances. Theseinclosures have not been fi l led up by reoccupiers. The

northern portion of the inside of the ruins has been fi lled

InRuinNo. t at Zimbabwe Sir JohnWilloughby discovered traces of a

panpet onthe top of tbe wall, with ter race or bt oquette behhrd it.



IMPANKA RU INSS inatra—Three miles north - east of the Mudnez ero

Ruins, in Upper I nsiza, on a low rise yet commanding afairly extensive view. The ruins are accessible from al l

P er iod— Undoubtedly first Zimbabwe period ; ell ipticalplan of bu ild ing. The walls, which are massive, are laid onformation rock , battered back on both sides ; workmanshipgood on both faces, inside and outside. The outer entranceshave squared walls, but inner entrances rounded walls.During a later period the inclosures have been partial lyfilled up by reoccupiers.[W h am—The massive character, extent, and or namentation suggest that these were important ru ins. Thereis every probability that when the original floors are openedout that both temple and gold - smelting remains will befound.Extent—The ruins cover an area exceed ing sixty feet

0mmmtatz’on.—Herring- bone pattern on the outside of

west wal l at the left side of entrance, about twelve feet inlength and three feet six inches from the present surfaceof the ground

,and l ike the herringbone pattern at Mudne

zero, is made of ribbon slate.Description—Built of gran ite blocks on the gran ite formation . W idth of walls at bases about five feet, at top overthree feet, average of reduced heights five feet. There arethree inclosures, with an unusually large courtyard . The

two smal lest inclosures average twenty feet by fifteen feet.The two entrances face the west and southeast respectively.Debr is heaps are extensive, and include debr is of severalperiods.Nata—These ru ins have not been explored .

CHOKO RUINS

F iad r .—Z imbabwepm°

oci r. Gold beads, gold tacks, portionsof gold crucibles, and oldest Zimbabwe pottery.

Mambo per iod. Portions of copper bangles,pieces of

copper, and pottery of later date.

CHOKO RUINS

S ituation— On the north - west side of the Choko H i l ls,Upper I nsiza, and about fifteen miles east of ImpankaRuins,on a high and prominent kopje

,commanding an extensive

view of the country towards Gwelo, Selukwe, and theShanghani and I nsiza Ranges.P er iod — Originally first Zimbabwe period , but additions

of second and still later periods. The oldest portions of thebuildings have been filled in and cannot well be examined

,

while a rising terrace of the second period with squareentrances has been built upon them. The fi rst - periodbuilding shows el liptical plan , massive building, goodworkmanship, true courses. F irst - period batter - back andfoundation on bed - rock. The in ferior workmanship of

second period is patent.Impor tance— Minor importance.Extent — Diameter sixty feet.0mmentatr'on.

—None on walls now standing.Descr iption— The ruins are built of granite on granite

formation . As the bu ildings have been fi l led in , it is impossible to give width of wall s or to state the number ofinclosures. Height of present walls

,including first and

second period wal ls, about seventeen feet, of which twelvefeet is the height of the fi rst - period wal l. The filledin

portion,on which is a platform with cemented floor

,is sim ilar

to the platform at Dhlo- dhio.Note— Owing to the steep declivity of the hil l al l debr ishas gravitated to the bottom levels and become distributedsti l l, panning showed traces of gold - dust.


FM .— No finds of any importance were made as no

exploration work has been done here. Copper beads andbangles were found with skeletal remains of a comparat ively modern period close under the top floor. This nativemust have worn at least four pounds' weight of copperornaments.

MUDNEZERO RU INS

S r'

tuatzbm—These ruins are situated four miles north - westofChilichani Kopje, on a tributary of the Upper M

‘Chingwe

River, in Upper Insiza, and are located on a low knollfacing towards the open country, and command an extensive view, including the Selukwe, Filabusi , and Belingwe

To reach these ru ins either one of two directions may betaken . There is no waggon track to these ruins. LeavingN

’

Natali, proceed south, hugging the east side of the insiza

Range, passing Lohela Ruins two miles, Shebona Ruins threemiles further on, and the ImpankaRuins a further two mi les ,from which the Mudnez ero are two miles further south. Theother direction is from the store opposite the Regina Ruins

,

proceeding north for four miles, hugging the east side of thelnsiza Range. Onthe west side of the ruins is the PioneerReef (Mashonaland Agency).Period— These ru ins, excepting the additions, are of the

first Z imbabwe period . They are built in an ell ipticalform

,have massive walls

,the masonry on the inside of

wal ls,so far as explored

,equals that shown on the out

side,the workmanship is of the best Zimbabwe style, the

entrances have rounded wal ls , the walls have the oldestZimbabwe batterback both inside and outside, and thefoundations of such older parts are onbed - rock .

There are additions of the second period and of the thirdand fourth periods, during which latter periods the bui ld ings


beyond the main ruins are of the fi r st l imbabwe per iodworkmanship. I t is at present impossible to examine theinterior inclosures owing to their having been filled in andcemented over. The original buildings completely crownedthe summit of the knoll .General dermption.

—The mainentrance is on the nor thwest side, and is three feet six inches in width, withrounded walls so far as can be seen. I n a later periodthe entrance has been fi lled in to about eleven feet inheight. This entrance appears to have had steps of alater period leading up to the summit of the filled - in platforms. The whole of the interior having been filled in,exactly as in the case of the platform in Dhlo- dhlo Ruins,and cemented over. it is impossible to give any descriptionof the inner portions of the building. The original floor ofthe builders is presumably about eleven feet below thepresent cemented floors. The finds at this ru in make ithighly probable that gold - smelting furnaces wil l be foundwhen the original floors are opened out.I n the filled - inportion of these ruins are thr ee cellars,similar, save in size and depth, to the cellar at N

’

NataliRuins. These are considerably larger than the five cel larsfound at the Regina Ruins. The three cel lars are n inefeet in depth and six feet in diameter, and are bui lt inZimbabwe style

,the roofs being domed over. I t is prob

able that these were erected just before the inclosures werefil led in .There are fairly extensive debr is heaps on the west side.Generalnote— The interesting features of this ru in areI . The three cel lars in the filled - inportion of the ru ins.2 . The introduction in the herring - bone pattern of ribbonslate as at the ImpankaRu ins.F reda— Z imbabwe pm

’

ods. So l id gold beads, gold tacks,beaten gold

,portions of gold bangles, pellets of gold

,and

pottery of apparently the oldest Z imbabwe manufacture.

MUDNEZERO RUINS

per iod. Copper beads, not solid and punched ,but beaten round ; copper bangles, both sol id and madeof one or two strands of wire twisted ; lumps of copper,and twisted iron bangles .

P or tuguese per iod — Glass and glazed pottery similar tothat found at Dhio- dhlo and at all ru ins in this district.


M i le. mm h fi d dfi M BM

M ah di- nemathe b e is abmet h fi flt nd

at the pluent topahout h - feet . l fi h the oementedfloor of Nash dn- e to the top of this bunms isafi h

d u m m hmd a the M bd m h g

uduwpmthe v idth d fi lem it d them The

M a w - t htne at l inh h g but thme amu m -mea nw mmm m

'

l'he mainwall of the buildings oo the nath side is

of the hill. judging by theammnt of the dar k thismnst

there is notasingle trace ofany l’ortnguese or Kafi r ar tid es

mch upiecuof pottely, etc . which are fomd insomanyruins. li ke the ruimof blundiq these ruins bave not beenW h uaM M W W mmthe originalfloorg tberdorq remaintbe pment floors. I t is

vide the beuduesmthemethods of theandents. lnthose

motapatimes ; and one is apt, insome cases, to confusethe finds of one per iod with those of otber per iods but inanunoccupied ruinwe only disoover the actual belongingsof theancient r . Again, inareoccupied ruinthe top wallshave beenotr ipped of stones foathe purpose of filling inthe

indoaures, which, whenfilled into the reduced level of thewalls.are covered with acemented floor . This vandalism,

beside making exploration extremely diflicult, destroys muchof the walls and insome cases we consequently find that

TULI RUINS 303

the Z imbabwe patterns have been pulled down and destroyed .

Reoccupiers also often removed stonework from the wallsof the original bui ld ings inorder to provide material forsmaller and inferior bu ildings erected within the ruins.FM P Z x

'mbabzve per iods A large quantity of portionsof ancient gold crucibles with gold showing in the flux.

Under the ancient cement floor in No. 1 inclosure werefound large skeletal remains of a man who must have beenful ly seven feet in height. These were complete and in aperfect state of preservation , and were in the possessionof the Hon. Maurice Gifl

'

ord, who informed Messrs. Nealand Johnson and others that Mr. W. Y. Campbell, sincedeceased , was taking these to England to be reported uponby experts. The shin bones were over two feet in length

,

and the gold bangles round his ankles were of an immensesize. Altogether sixteen ounces of plain gold ornamentswere found with this ancient. H is remains had been wonderfully preserved by the cement floor

,which had hermetically

sealed them from atmospheric conditions. Under thecemented flooring of inclosures Nos. 2 , 3, and 4 skeletalremains of ancients were found , each with plain gold ornaments. Two gold bangles , evidently belonging to a smallchi ld, and too small for a youth, werealso found.

TULI RU INS

S ituation— Onelevated ground five hundred yards fromthe Tuli River and on the west bank at five miles westfrom Doppie’s kraal , south of the MatoppaH i l ls, Gwanda.Country heavily wooded. The best approach is from the

P er iod—F irst Zimbabwe period . E l l iptical plan of building. Rounded ends of walls of outer and divisional entrances .Walls mass ive

,and on rock foundation. Batter- back and

good workmanship both on inside and outside of walls.


for all the ru ins inthe Gwanda d istrict. No temple remainshave been discovered , but it is probable that when exploredthese and traces of gold - smelting operationsmay be found.Extent—About one hundred and seventy feet by eightyfeet

are on the diorite formation,and

are bu ilt of diorite slabs of the size of the usual Zimbabweblocks

,but the detached wal l running at an angle in front

of the west entrance at a distance of five feet is bu ilt ofgranite blocks, which must have been brought from someconsiderable distance. W idth of bases of wall s five feet , attops three feet six inches, and present height ful ly twelvefeet. There are six inclosures, also a courtyard, which coversan area of fifty feet by forty- five feet. There are two en

trances,one on the south - west side and the other on the

north - east. There are no signs of any steps having ex isted .

Debris heaps.Note— The detached wall in front of the west entranceis the only one so far d iscovered , except that at BochwaRuins

,which runs at an angle from the main wal l.

F inds — A few gold beads and copper beads and bangles.

LUH ENI RU INS

S ituatr‘m—Two miles east of the main road drift over

the Lumeni River, on the left- hand side going towardsGwanda fromBulawayo, on a low,

ovals haped granite kopjeonthe south bank and some three hundred yards from theriver. The best approach to these ruins is from the west.P er iod— F irst Z imbabwe period . Elliptical plan of building. Walls massi ve, usual batter on outside of walls, insidebeing fil led in during a late period ; inside walls cannot be



the left side of the road going south.Period— F irst Zimbabwe period.Impor tance— Minor. Evidently this was a fort protectingthe local gold - reef district, where there are numerous ancientworkings.Ornamentatr'on.

— Check pattern on the outside of nor theast wal l. Herring - bone pattern inside and immediatelybehind the check pattern . The latter pattern not 'havingany courses over it owing to the d ilapidation of the wall

,is

fast becoming destroyed.

Ex tent—Diameter between fifty feet and sixty feet.Derm'

ptr'

om—These ru ins are bu ilt of granite on thegranite formation . Height of wall from outside level aboutseven feet

,width of base, calculated by the batter-Melt , five

feet. The plan is ell iptical and the workmanship both ins ideand outs ide is excellent. The ruin has been deliberatelyfi l led in with soil, as owing to the position of the buildingthe earth could not have silted inside. Judging by the walls,the floor of the bu ilding of the original occupants is atleast six feet or seven feet below the present level. J ustbelow the present surface, inside and almost buried , arethe remains of a Makalanga or Barotsi iron - smeltingfurnace.

ENS INDI RU INS

S ituation—Onthe EnsindiKopjes, in the Gwanda dist rict .These kopjes are often spoken of as the Cinder Kopjes, andare about one mile on the east side of the road lead ing fromBulawayo to the Mansimiyamastore, on the highest poin tof a rugged ridge where the road passes through the nek.The ruins command an extensive view. The best approachis from the north.P er iod— F irst Z imbabwe period . Elliptical plan of build

ing. Massive wal ls on rock formation.

out sioaWALL wimcuscx pumas . unaware sums,WEST swarms


CHAPTER XXI

RU INS IN GWELO DISTRICT

M'TELEGWA RU INS

S ituation.

N wooded country on a low gran ite kopje ten miles northwest of Thabas Imamba Ruins, in the M

'TelegwaH il ls,on the north bank of the Shanghani River, opposite its junction with the Longwe River.P er iod—These ruins evidently belong to the first Z imbab

we period . The masonry, both on the outside and insidewal ls

,is of the best Zimbabwe workmanship ; the main and

divisional entrance wal ls are rounded ; the batter of the wall sis similar to that at Zimbabwe ; the foundations are onformation rock, and are wide ; and the walls are of massivecharacter. S traight wal ls with angles are absent, and therising- terrace system of building of the second period ofZimbabwe architecture is not present.Impor tance— These are important ruins, with at least sixminor and dependent ruins surround ing them at distancesof from seven hundred yards to three m iles. These ruin sevidently formed the gold - smelting centre for the district.Extent — The ru ins cover an area of about two- thirds of anacre.Comtmetr’om—The build ing is of gran ite blocks on thegranite formation . The main outer wall is about five feet inthickness, the highest portion now standing being twelve



unlike that of the main ru ins, is decidedly of a much laterperiod . To the right of No. 9 inclosure is another inclosur e(No. 8) about seventeen feet in length, with walls about threefeet in width. Turn ing to the left from the entrance insidethe inclosure and past the huge boulder which forms partof the south wall is inclosure No. 7 , which is about twentytwo feet long and eleven feet broad . This is built upona natural ly raised rock platform so high that it overlooks theother lower inclosures of the main ruins. Onthe west of theinside of this inclosure some rocks rise to a height of sixtyfeet, and within these rocks is a passage- way to several cavesnaturally l ighted ; and these caves show signs of havingbeen occupied . The floors of the caves are made with th esame cement as is used in Z imbabwe buildings. Near thesummit of the kopje are five inclosures—Nos. 1 , 2 , 3, 4, and

5 . Nos. 2 , 3, 4, and 5 are connected by rounded entranceswith each inclosure, but the only entrance for these is inNo. 5, which stands on the highest ground . No. I is aseparate inclosure on the south side of Nos. 3 and 4 ln

closures. I n No. 1 inclosure was found the skeleton remai ns,with bangles onwhich were stamped the old Zimbabweherring- bone pattern .

General notes—Oumaking excavations in the chambernearest the top of the hi l l (No. 5) a thorn tree with trunkmeasuring three feet in circumference fel l over and exposeda skeleton and gold ornaments in termixed with the root s.Skeletons have been found in each of the inclosur es of theseruins. I t is bel ieved that during the Mombo period theseruins were used as the burial - place for chiefs. The skeletonwith the three pounds’weight of gold was buried inside thecircular inclosure (No. which was built in a poor imitationof Zimbabwe work of granite blocks taken from the surrounding wal ls.I n these ruins trees are forcing apart the walls, and havealready done considerable damage.

M'TELEGWA RUINS 3 1 3

Find : at M ’Telem—Z imbabwe per iod r. Gold banglestamped with Zimbabwe herring - bone pattern . Londonjewellers have pronounced this bangle to be stammd onwith one complete and perfect stamp. Many crucibles ofthe most ancient make showing visible gold in flux. Pieceof thin beaten gold about six inches long and two incheswide

,without pattern . This is pierced with holes inwhich

were large sol id gold tacks, weighing 3 dwts. each (presentvalue 1 25 . each). E leven caps of beaten gold withsun image embossed , one and a half inches in height andone and a half inches indiameter

,with solid gold tacks.

Two gold ferru les,six and eight inches long

,tapering to

a point, with solid gold tacks. Bottom portion of woodenpillow

,the support of which was worked on both sides with

three strands of gold wire into the Zimbabwe chevronpattern . The patterns on both sides were worked by thesame wire passing through the wood. Jar of pottery sixteeninches in height, circumference at widest part twelve inches.The make of the jar is of the best Z imbabwe workmanshipyet found in this country. I t is also the only specimen in acomplete state of preservation found up to this date. Thiswas last in the possession of the Hon. Maurice Gifford .

Three skeleton remains, each with an average of fourteenor fifteen ounces of gold in bangles and beads.Monomotapa-Month per iod Cloth interwoven with goldwire thread in pattern .‘ This was found in No. 9 in

closure. I n al l probabil ity cloth worked with gold threadwas al so worn by the ancients, as skeletal remains foundin No. 9 inclosure were stated by natives to have been thoseof a chief of the Mombo period. There was buried withhim three pounds'weight of solid gold jewel lery. Five goldbangles

,of Monomotapaperiod manufacture, we

arm , each bangle weighing from 1 02. to

Livio Sanuto, 1 58 1 , wr iting of Monomotapa.clothing worked with gold thrud.

”

hundred large gold beads, fifteen going to the ounce. The

beads were made of gold st r ips with the ends hammeredround to meet. Lumps of smelted copper. Gold~wir e wor kplaited as if amounting for astick. These have also beenfound in other ruins. Other skeletal remains with copperornaments and necklace of smal l gold beads.

THABAS IMAMBA RU INS ‘

S ituat ion— These ruins are on the north - west side of

Thabas Imamba Range, and overlook Hartley H ill Road ,

which is only six hundred yards distant The ru in s are on

the highest point of the range,commanding an extensive

view of many miles, incl uding the locations of the fo llowingruins : M'

Telegwa, Thabas I'hau, and Longwe.

P er iod— F ir st Z imbabweperiod These ru ins aremassive,with the first Zimbabwe period batter in both inside andoutside of main walls

,which are built in curved lines on

rock foundation . There are no angular corners in the mainwalls. The rising- terrace style of architecture is not present.The workmanship is also of the first period . There areadditions of the second, third , and fourth Zimbabwe periods,as at Khami and Dhlo—dhlo, etc.Impor tance—These are very important ru ins. Theyevidently formed a large centre for the gold - sme l tingoperations of the ancients, as portions of many thousandsof gold crucibles and blow- pipes of the very oldest pattern,with gold sti l l in the flux, were found under the presentfloors. There are indubitable evidences that a very greatpopulation resided at or near these ruins. King Mombo,in the Mombo perils

,l ived here

,and it was at these ruins

that he was skinned al ive by the Amaswaz ies.

Extent — These ru ins occupy an area of over twohundred feet by eighty feet.

Theseare theMombo, Mombc, or MambnRuins hee earlier chtm


rounded ofl'

to meet the bonlder s and fofl h s the r ight - hand

undoubtedly extends right into the building. Owing to thefi l l ing up of the ruins by the later occupiers it has not been

passage is formed by another wall running parallel with theother wal l, only without any boulder support on the outsideThe passage

,which is about two feet six inches in width

throughout, is floored with gran ite blocks, wh ich are againcovered over with finest granite- powder cement. The floor

ing is in a splendid state of preservation. The wal ls of thepassage were once h igher, and the passage iwelf has beenfi l led in to the general level of the upper floors and cementedover.In the south - west corner of the ruins is an open spacewith cemented floor, protected by the steepest portion of theprecipice and bounded on the north - east side by a walltwelve feet in height. This inclosure is approached by threesteps down from the upper portion of the main ruin. At the

top of these steps is another flight of over twelve stepsascending to the summit of a platform with cemented floor,which overlooks even the present filled - infloors of the restof the buildings. This platform is the summit of what appears to be a solid cone, the base being about fourteen feetin diameter and the platform eight feet in diameter.On the inside of the eastern main wal l now standing , ad ivisional wal l of a later period , and now only two feet high,runs with a curve towards the south in the interior of theruins for about twentyfive feet. I nside the inclosure formedby this wal l Messrs. Neal and Johnson removed the debristo the extent of twelve feet wide and three feet to n ine feetdeep. The debr is was composed of ashes, bones, brokenpottery of al l periods, portions of gold and copper cruciblesand blow- pipes, over which a cemented floor had been laid .

Onthe opposite side of this inclosure are two small com

THABAS I’BAU RUINS

par tments , the lower one being connected with the upperone by a short fl ight of steps. Each compartment is abouteight feet in diameter.Generalnote— Owing to the heavy nature of the work ingetting down to the original floors, further exploration wasnot undertaken

,especially as other unexplored ru ins offered

better facilities for examination.Portions of the walls have, within the last five years, been

These ruins are particularly interesting for the followingreasons

and

( 2) There are evidences that a vast population raidedhere during the Zimbabwe periods, and later.

I’HAU (KILL OF SHIELDS ) RU INS

S r'marzbn.

—These ruins are three miles south of Shanghani

S tation , or” Bubi, Shanghani, and Gwelo, to S innanombigold - belt, and are located on a high , precipitous kopje extremely difi cult to ascend. The approach is from the northwest through a narrow pass two hundred yards in length,among huge boulders, with a sharp turn ing to the left. The

in al l can be obtained .

batterback inside and outside of wal l of first per iod,

and built to suit contour of summit.


and strategic position and of the gold - smelting operationscarried onhere , must have been of major importance.Extent —The ruins cover an area of half an acre.M utation—None.Dmnjotr

'

om—These ru ins are built of granite blocks onthe granite formation. There is only one entrance

,and that

is on the north - west side,and it has rounded walls. Thewalls,which are of good workmanship, are seven feet wide at bases ,present reduced taps four feet wide, and highest parts aboutnine feet. Considerable portions of the wal ls have fallen onboth sides of the walls. The building contains six inclosures ,and also the usual courtyard

,which is at the lower part of

the summit. I t is probable that the remains of a conicalbuttress and temple may be found when the inclosures areopened up. Very l ittle exploration work has been carriedon at these ruins.Note— The debr is heaps are very extensive, and panninggave good returns.These ruins do not appear to have been occupied by

Fonda— Z imbabwe per iod. Gold beads, tacks, gold wire ,beaten gold , gold pellets , and portions of gold crucibles .

LOW ER LONGW E RU INSS ituation—On a high and isolated kopje, which is wel lwooded

,and is precipitous on its east side

,and on the west

bank of Longwe River, about three hundred yards from itsjunction with the Shanghani R iver.P er iod— F irst Z imbabwe period, with additions of secondand later per iods.Impor tance— Minor.Ex tent —One hundred and eighty feet by one hundred and

fifty feet.Ornamenlation.

—None in wal ls stil l standing.



beads of considerable size , two cakes of go ld, gold tacks ,

both sides,and ancient pottery.

Later per iod . Copper beads, portions of copper bangles,ctC.

COPPER RU INSS r

'

tuah’

om— Three hund red yards from the above junc tio nof the Umvungaand Shanghani Rivers , on a low grani tekopje in wooded country.

Per iod— F irst Zimbabwe period . Plan of bui ld ing ellipt i.cal . Walls massive, workmanship on inside and outside of

main wal ls excel lent. Evidences of reoccupation duringlater periods.[Worm —During the first period these build ings musthave been of considerable importance, as gold - smelting Operations were then carried on .

Omammtatiom—None stil l existing.

Ex tent.— Forty- five feet or fifty feet by seventy feet.Derm'

ph’

on.—Built of granite on the granite formation .

Walls : width of bases, five feet, pr esent height, seven feet ,and width of present t0ps four feet. The main and onlyentrance is on the south - west side. There are five separateinclosures, with the usual courtyard , which takes up a spaceof a third of the interior of the building.

’

Portions of theinterior have been wholly or partially fil led in during a laterperiod .

Nata—The pecul iar feature of these ru ins is the evidenceof most extensive copper - smel ting operations having beencarried on

,tons of copper slag , pieces of copper, blow - pipes

with copper stains,and portions of copper crucibles lying in

and about the ruins. I t is not known where the copper wasobtained , possibly in the d istrict, which so far has not beenprospected . No other ru in in Rhodesia shows such a vas tquanti ty of copper - smel ting remains.

UMVUNGA RUINS 32 1

Fade—Z imbabweper iods. Gold beads, gold tacks, goldpellets, and gold - dust.Later per iods. Copper crucibles, blow - pipes

,pieces of

copper, copper bangles, etc.

UMVUNGA RU INSS ituation—Ona granite kopje onthe south bank of the

UmvungaRiver, nine miles up the river from the HartleyH il l road drift. The best approaches are from the southand west.P er iod — F i rst Z imbabwe period . Plan of bui ld ing ellip

tical . Massive walls, workmanship excel lent, foundationson rock , entrance walls rounded , inside of wal ls well builtand battered .

Impor tance— Minor.Omam talr

’

om—None.Extent—Ninety feet by eighty feet. No traces of thisbuilding having been larger.Descr iptions —Width of bases of walls five feet, at presentreduced top three feet six inches

,and average height five

feet. Built of gran ite blocks. There are three inclosuresand a courtyard. The main entrance is on the south - eastside and has rounded wal ls. No traces of steps. Debr is

heaps.Note—These ruins have not been explored. Panningsshowed fine goldodust. Pottery of al l periods was found .

LITTLE UMVUNGA RU INS

S ituation—Ona smal l gran ite kopje commanding a goodview of the UmvungaR iver Val ley, and in well - woodedcountry and in sight of the M'TelegwaRuins, which arefive miles to the south

,and close to a small running stra

which flows into the UmvungaRiver. The best appn

to these ruins is from the Lower Shanghani - Gwelo road,which is threemiles to the west.Fermi — F irst Z imbabwe period. Plan of building eilip

tical. Massive walls on rock foundation , usual fir st - periodbatter, excellent workmanship inside and outside ofmainwal ls, and entrance has rounded wal ls.Impor tance— It is probable, owing to the “ finds,"thatat these ruins goldsmelting operations were carried on.Extent — About fifty feet by forty feet. No evidence of

their having once been larger.Omamentah '

on.— None now existing.

Derm'

ptr'

on.— Built of granite blocks. Width of walls at

bases five feet, at present tops three feet six inches. and

entrance is on the south - east side and has rounded walls ;no trace of steps. Debr is heaps.F r

'

ndr .— Z r

°mbabzveper iods . Gold beads, gold pel lets, finegold - dust

,pottery, etc.

LITTLE M’TELBGWA RU INSS ituation Three miles due east of the M’

TelegwaRuins,on a small stream runn ing into the UmvungaRiver, on a boldgranite bluff overlooking the surrounding country. The bestapproach is from the west.Per iod— F irst Zimbabwe period . Plan of build ing ellip

tical . Walls massive, with excellent workmanship and usualfi r st - period batter on both sides, foundations on rock , androunded entrances.Impor tance—The exceptional ly massive character of theseruins suggests that, though not ofmajor importance, they wereofmore than ord inary minor importance. So far no remainseither of temple or gold - smelting operations have beendiscovered .Ex tent—About fifty feet by forty feet.


prominent kopjes near the junction of the Sebakwe andUmnyafi Rivemin the elo dis tr ict. The two sets of

country is thickly wooded and rugged . A splend id view of

the surrounding country is obtained from both of thw

ru ins. The best approach is from the south - west.Period—F irst Z imbabwe period . Plan of build ing ellip

tical. Walls massive, batter - back and best workmanshi pboth on inside and outside faces of walls, foundations on

Impor tance—Minor.Dr eam —Ou the north - eastern side of the ru in,which is nearer the Umnyati River, there is check patternabout ten feet long and about four feet above present floors,and faces north - east.Descr iption— Built of granite on granite formation . W idth

of wal ls at base six feet, and at present tops three feet sixinches, with an average height of six feet. Thenorthw tern

ru in has four inclosures and is sixty feet by forty - five feet.The south - western ruin has three inclosures and is forty - five

feet by forty feet. No entrances can be located owing to thedamaged state of the wal ls.Note— No exploration work has been done here, but a fewpannings from each débris heap showed fine gold .

JOMBI aumsS itaratiom— On a low granite kopje in well - timberedcountry at the junction of the Jombi and Umnyati R ivers.The best approach is from the west.P er iod— F irst Zimbabwe period . Plan of build ing ellip~

TAGATI RUINS 325

tical . Excellent workmanship,rounded entrances, founda

tions on rock .

Impor tance— Minor.Omameutatiom—None.Ex tent .— Forty- five feet by forty feet.Descr iption—W idth of walls at base four feet, at presenttops three feet

,extreme height five feet, and built of granite

blocks . There are three inclosures and the usual courtyard.The entrance is on the north - east side. This ru in has notbeen fi lled in by later occupiers.

—Gold - dust and pottery of al l periods.

TAGATI RUlNS

S itnatrbn.—This group of over twenty detached ruins is

near to the Tegati H i lls, on high diorite kopjes, seven milesnorth - west of Gwelo as the crow flies.P er iod— Some of these distinct ru ins are undoubtedly ofthe first period , while others are of the second period , withadditions of later periods.Impor tance—These ruins, from their number, size, andarea cover ed , were of considerable importance. This wasalso a gold o smelting centre of the ancients .Extent — These more than twenty distinct ruins cover anarea of at least one and a half square miles .Ornamentah '

on.—None, owing to great reduction in heights

of wal ls and no exploration work having been done in theinteriors of the buildings.Dum’

ptz’

om— Inthe ruins of the first period the wal ls aremassive and well bu ilt, and the entrances rounded . Intherui ns of the second period the walls are not massive, butare roughly built

,and have squared ends. The present

height of walls averages five feet . while the highest wall isseven feet. Each ru in has several inclosures, varying 1

'

numbers from three to seven . S teps were only found


one ruin . The largest and best ru in of this gronp is at thesummit of the hill , and its measurements are roughly aboutone hundred and fifty feet by sevenmfive feet. No in

closures can be seen in this ruin owing to the filling upduring a later period. Diorite blocks have been used inal lthe buildings. Debr is heaps extensive.

crucibles, gold beads, gold tacks, gold pellets , and fine golddust and pottery. I n one small inclosure gold - dust wasplentiful.Lampen'

adr. Copper, copper beads, and wire and pottery .

UMTELEKW B RU INSS im — These ruins are on a h igh granite dyke or

protrusion out of the surrounding country rock , onthe northeast side of a range of hi l ls on the south bank of the Um~

telekwe River, and three miles south - east of the Mac-anMacReef. The best approach is from the north - west up a veryrugged and steep incline.P er iod— F irst Zimbabwe period . E l liptical plan of building, massive walls, excellent workmanship, also batter onboth sides of main walls

,and foundations on rock.

Impor tam.—No exploration work having been carried on

here it is impossible to state whether these ru ins have eithertemple remains or evidence of gold - smelting operations.Omamentattbm— Herring - bone pattern for about five feet

onthe outside of the north - west wall.Ema—About sixty feet by forty feet.Descr iption— The height of the present taps of walls is,roughly speaking, about eight feet. Walls at base five feetto six feet in width, at t0ps three feet six inches. Thesebuildings have not been fi l led in

,and several inclosures can

be traced. The entrance is onthe south - east side.


IMPAKWE RU INS

These ruins are fifty yards from the Impakwe River , intheTuli district. The Impakwe is a tributary of Limpopo River.Zimbabwe plan and construction. Herring - bone pauernlow down on the walls. The walls and foundations show anoctagonal plan of building. Mr. Bent found no evidences ofany temple at these ru ins. Dr . Mofl

'

at and Mr. E. A. Maundgive descriptions of these ru ins

,and they are men tio ned by

Mr. Bent and other writers.

SHASHI RU INS

These ruins are on the Shashi River and are described byDr . Holub in SevenYears inSaul/r Afi z

'

ca, also by Mr . Bent.

MACLOUTS IE RU INS

The Macloutsie Ru ins are close to old camp. The radii ofcurves were fixed by Mr. Swan . Plan and construction areof original Zimbabwe style. Described by Mr. Bent, andearly pioneers.

MACLOUTS IE AND LOTIAKANA RUINS

Onthe south bank of the Macloutsie River, a quarter of amile below its j unction with the LotiakanaRiver . Thisbui lding is of the oldest Zimbabwe period .

.

No decorationvisible

,as the walls are now only about four feet high .

The plan is ell iptical.

LIPOKOLI RU INS

I n Lipokoli H i lls, ten to twelve miles north of MacloutsieRiver. These are two distinct sets of ruins of the firstZimbabwe period architecture and construction . No templeremains have been discovered here. These ru ins are referredto by Mr. Bent, and described and photographed by membersof the 1 890 Pioneer Column .

RUINS IN TATI AND N . B'LAND 329

BAOBAB KO? RUINS

These ru ins are on Baobab Kop, north of the LipokoliH il ls and about eight miles south of the junction of theShashani and Shashi rivers and near the telegraph routebetween Macloutsie and Tuli.

LOTSANI -LIMPOPO RU INS

Near the junction of Lotsani and Limpopo Rivers. Theseruins comprise two distinct sets of bu ild ings. Messrs. Bentand Swan state that both these ruins are “ orientated towardsthe setting sun ."All the characteristics of the first Z imbab~we period architecture are present here, includ ing thebattering back on both sides of main wal ls, which haverounded ends and are bu ilt in very regular courses. The

holes in side wal ls of the doorways,simi lar to those at

Z imbabwe, are now thought to have been made duringa later period . These ru ins are mentioned by Mr. Bent,and are described by early pioneers.

S ELKIRK RU IN

Mr. R. C. Dowie, of Bulawayo, reports an ancient wall onthe Selkirk property in Tati Concessions. The wall is bui ltagai nst a sl ight eminence. There is l ittle of it left, and thestones have no pattern . He says, I t is just a piece of plainstonework similar to that of many ancient ru ins

,but still it

is interesting, as being perhaps the remains of a fort whencewatch could be kept over the surrounding country.

"This ruined wal l is in close proximity to an ancient coppermine.

Almost all the ruins in the Tati and Bechuanaland groupare bel ieved to have been erected during the first or earl iestZimh bwe permmuar afl h ckmq wmof second -M d mm” . In none of ( Inmine are


Mere any ter raced buildings . The only ruins which maynot belong to the first period are those of Impakwe, whichsome consider to have been ofmuch later date.The ruins of this group have been so often described that

it would be tedious reading were al l full details to be set

forth, especial ly as no one of these ruins presents anystriking pecul iarity

,all features being represented in a

description of any ruin of the fir st Zimbabwe period .

Reports as to the discovery of several portions of ancientwalls in different local ities in the Tati Concession are tohand , while the fact of their ex istence in the TransvaalColony, north of Murchison Range, has been established bywriters and prospectors.


are ex tensive ancient workings, and hund reds of end entcmshings tones are to be found here.

DAWNEY RU INS

These ru ins are si xty miles due west of Bulawayo, and arementioned by Mr. Thomas Baines to have been discoveredby the Hon. Mr. Dawney, who at that time publisheddescriptions of them. These ru ins are also spoken of asthe Upper Gwaai Ruins, but they lie to the west of thatI'

IVCI’

.

PANDA -MA-TENKA RU INS

These are important ruins near the source of the NatetsiRiver, in Wankie

’s d istrict and near the old Zambesi roadfrom Tati . The measurements of these ruins were suppliedto the Hon. Maurice Gifford . Photographs of these ruinsshow Zimbabwe construction , though some writers havesuggested that they were of later date.

DAKA RU INS

S ituated in Wankie’s district , and are three m iles eastof the Daka River on the footpath from Wankie’s to Pandama - tenka. Particulars of these ru ins were suppl ied to theAncient Ruins Company, Ltd., but appear to have been lost.

WANKIE RU INS

Several sets of ru ins are reported by Mr. Price (Messrs .Forster, Browne, and Rees

’ representative). These are onand near the coal area at Wankie's, owned by the Wankie

(Rhodesia) Coal , Rai lway, and Exploration Cornpany, Ltd .,

but no definite particulars of these ru ins are to hand .

LOW ER S HANGHANI RU INS

These ru ins are on the Lower Shanghani River, a few milesto the west of where Major Alan W il son‘s party made theirlast stand .

LOCATED RUINS

BULALEMA RU INS

I n the Bulalemadistrict are ru ins evidently possessingfeatures of the second period of Zimbabwe architecture, andare built on the rising- terrace principle. They are near theL.M.S . missionary station at Bulalema.

F IG TREE RU INS

OnS impson’s farm ,about three miles west of Fig Tree

old store and one and a halfmiles from S impson’s homestead ,on granite kopjes.

RU INS (NORTH MATOPPAS )

On the north side of the MatoppaRange are severalancient ru ins of smal l size, placed as if to protect the gorgesinto the hills. Several are altogether hidden by trees andmay be passed close to without their being discovered .

There is also a smal l ru in on Sauerdale, and one on theHappy Valley farm close to Mr. Van Rensburg

's homestead .

But this latter ru in is at present diffi cult of classification . I tis highly probable that more ru ins wil l yet be found on thenorthern side of the range.

UMVUTCHA RU IN

I n the Umvutcha d istrict, near Bulawayo, to the westof the Umvutcha Kraal . This ru in , which has check pattern ,was described in one of the earliest papers published inBulawayo. Probably this ru in was one of the minor fortsdependent upon the Khami Ruins.

LOWER KHAMI RUINS

Ancient ruins, with check pat tern , are reported to be fivemiles lower down the river than the main KhamiThese are known to exist

,but no descriptions are to


RU INED WALL NEAR CHRISTMAS REEF

Onthe Tul i road and about two or three hundred yardson one side, just before arriving at Christmas Reef fromBulawayo, are the foundations of a ru ined wall bui lt of

granite blocks on the Zimbabwe style. These foundationshave been practical ly covered over with silted soil , and smal ltrees and bushes completely hide them . One has to creepunder low branches to get to the wal l.

TULIKA RU INS

I n South Belingwe, three miles north of Ihuz i Ru ins .I nduna of the district is Hanhwe, who l ives two miles tothe east of these ruins.

UMS IMBETS E RU INS

I n South Bel ingwe d istrict, fifteen mi les south of Ihuz iRuins, on a granite kopje. Us itandz ie is six miles southof these ruins.

UMRONGWE RU INS

I n North Bel ingwe, six miles north east of BurangweRuins

,on Umrongwe spru it, running into Ingaz ie River.

KULUKULU RU INS

I n North Bel ingwe,thirty miles southeast of N’

NataliRuins .

MAS UNDA RU INS

I n North Bel ingwe, between the Sabi and Lundi rivers,about eight miles south of M'

BadzuluRuins.

M'EADZULU RU INS

I n North Bel ingwe,about ten miles south of Chugwa

Ruins.CHUGWA RU INS

I n North Bel ingwe, three miles west of Lundi River andten miles north of M’

Bad zuluRui ns.



LOBELA RU INS

These ru ins are situated about equal distance from Dhiodhlo Ruins, Choko Ruins, and Mudnez ero Ruins

,in the

Upper I nsiza district

DECHOW RU INS

Thirteen miles E .N.E . of the queen’s kraal, in the Bembesidistrict, on the right of the Zambesi road . Visitors shouldtake the road from the queen’s kraal to Chubichubi’s kraalfor ten miles

,and then go due north for si x miles. The

ru ins cover an area of half an acre. There is no ornamentation . The plan is el l iptical , and the highest portion of the

wal ls now standing is about seven feet S cores of ancientcrushing - stones have been found in a creek near theseru ins.

Nata—There are at least twenty other ancient ru ins of thefi rst - period type inMatabeleland which are known to be of

the oldest Zimbabwe architecture, beyond those descr ibed orlocated

,and particul ars of thwe wil l be given by the authors

in a future ed ition.

Further , several other ancient ru ins in Matabeleland , notdescribed or located in this wor k, were reported to theRhodesia Ancient Ruins Company, Ltd but al l recordsof locations, measurements , and other details have - beenlost,as the authors, on searching the papers of this company

,

failed to trace any notes concerning them , notwithstandingthat Mr. Neal was acquainted with the fact that they hadbeen so reported .

CHAPTER XXIV

RU INS IN MASHONALAND

M’TENDELE RUINS

EVERAL writers give the name of Matindela to

these ru ins. This is incorrect,thei r proper name being

M’Tendele,or Guinea - fowl , as these birds abound in this

districtS ituation—Approximately 1 9

°

30’23

” latitude and 3 1‘

5 1'

45” longitude

,and about feet above sea - level. The

ru ins are built upon a bare granite rock about a hundredand fifty feet high and occupy a strong strategic position.They are situated in Nyasando

's country

, Charter district ,twenty miles due west from the Sabi River, ten miles northeast of Mount Eveta, nine miles south of the curiouslyshaped Chiburwe Mountain feet), and fourteen milessouth of the Zeer i River Ruins.F er t

'

od Present building, but not the foundations, isbel ieved to be of a much later period than that of the GreatZimbabwe. The foundations are evidently of the first Z imbabwe period , and are laid upon an ell iptical plan, and arevery massive. The wall s give every evidence of the secondperiod architecture, including rough masonry, i rregularcourses, straight entrance walls, and practically plumb faces.Mr. Bent is of opinion that the foundations were built bythe same race as the builders of the original partie s o f the

Great Zimbabwe, only that the superstructureduring a period of decadence ( see P er iods, Chi

z 337

and eigh ty feet. judging by the nnmemus traoes of foundafi ons outside themine the buildings were inall probability

the building is toward the setting sun. Mr . Swandoes not

placc much reliance on the par ticular orientation of the

present building,which he believes is but areconsmiction

s t alate per iod‘and arough copy of the older structure

He also states : “The directionof the doorways also seemsto have somemeaning, for three of themlookeast z g° nor th,

and four east 25‘ south, thus corresponding to the direction

of the sunrising and setting at the solstices.”

Ornammtah '

on—On the outside of the western wall, andfacing the setting sun at the summer solstice, is herringbone pattern extending six feet above the entrance, alsoherring - bone pattern for a length of forty feet facing thesetting sunat the winter solstice, while a dentelle patternfaces the being two courses lower in the wall thanthe herring - bone pattern above the entrance. Herr ing- bonepattern in two lengths, one being thi rteen feet, are on theinside wall of one of the western inclosures and face theris ing sun at the summer solstice.Dr rr r rjotrbm—These are very fine ru ins, but altogetherinferior to Z imbabwe.The build ing is of granite blocks, believed to have beenquarried fromtwo depreos ions on the easternside of the

hill . The main walls on the south'm side are eleven feetsix inches wide at bases, and still stand about fifteen feethigh. The main entrance faces WS W. and has squarewalls with stone wal l carried over it. The ent rance was

DnSchlicluamnkeaasimih r remukwith regnd to Dhlo-dhlomins.


RUINS IN MASHONALAND 339

originally seventy feet wide, but has been narrowed oneachside by wal ls two feet wide ; and this narrowed entrancehas again been completely built up, and evidently was notwalled up in any haste. Mr. Bent (p. 1 38) suggests a possibleconnection wi th the wall ing up of the pylons of certainEgyptian temples in the Karnak . The building is perfect lyopen for a length of one hundred and twenty feet on thenorth - east side. There are six inclosu res to be seen stil lremaining. The divisional walls are laid on comparativelystraight l ines

,and al l the internal entrances are squared .

There is a loophole in the main wal l above the south- westentrance

,only a few feet more towards the north , which Mr.

Bent suggests was for admitting rays of l ight into the templeinclosu re for astronomical purposes. There are holes in thetops of the walls, evidently for the purpose of letting in monol iths

,as at Zimbabwe and other ruins. Onthe inside of the

front part of the wall is a banquette or terrace three feetshorter than the front part of the wal ls. This resembles thebanquet te work at N'Natali Ru ins. Outs ide the main wal ls aremany circular foundations bui lt of granite blocks and varying in d iameter from six to fifteen feet. These are built ingroups, and resemble the smal l ci rcular build ings to be foundat M‘

Telegwa, Bochwa, Zimbabwe, and other ru ins. Over adozen giant baobab trees are stand ing within these ruinsand doing very considerable harm to the wal ls . The presenceof these trees shows that the ruins could not have beenoccupied for many centuries.

ZEERl RIVER RU INSThese ruins, which are often spoken of as the Chiburwe

Ruins, are onthe Zeeri River, fifteen miles northw est fromSabi River, in ajs an ell iptical fort

CH ILONGA RU INS

InNyasando's country, Charter d istrict, eight m iles so

of M’

Tendele Ruins.

METERNE RUINSTenmiles north - west of Kutiarngi

’

s kraal, and threefour miles from Mount Eveta, and not far from LutMountain . These ruins are built on the top of a r ou ndgran ite hill and comprise three ci rcu lar bu ild ings. T

wal ls are hopelessly ruined .

Ckafn of for tr .—The ru ins of M

’

Tendele, Zeer i R iw

Chilonga, and Meterne form a group all within fi fteen miof each other. Several arche ologists presume themto bchainof forts

,not temples

,protecting an ancient trade r o

going north - east.

UMNYATI RU INSNear Umnyati posting - station

,eight miles sou t h

Charter, on the Victor ia Road .

LUNDI RU INS

S ituatr’

ox .— Oh a granite eminence five hundred ya rd s

the left bank of the Lundi River, within two miles of Lmposting- station

,onthe old Pioneer Road to Sal isbury.

ruins are situated in a very picturesque local ity,with h i

and rugged kopjes and wooded flats. The district is th iclpopulated .

P er iod—This is a ci rcular ru in,and Messrs. Ben t a

Swan bel ieve that the ci rcular bu ildings are those of a l adate of Zimbabwe architecture than those which are bupon an ell iptical plan or laid on a system of curves ( 5P er iod s, Chapter x ii ).


of ir regutar shapeand seemto be the largest stones usedin any buildings. The interior is divided into inciosures,the divisional wal ls being laid on straighter lines than thedivisional wal ls at Zimbabwe. There are two entrances,

squared wall s. The south - eastern entrance has been builtdur ing alater por tion of the per iod inwhich the buildingwas erected,as the workmanship is equally as good and isidentical in character . The floors are cemented inthe usualZ imbabwe style.Nata—Messrs. Neal and j ohnson examined this ruin in

1 895 , spend ing one week in the work.Finds— Smal l quantity of gold~dust, copper bead s, glaz edpottery.

LOW ER LUNDI RU INS

S z'

tuatzbn.— Fifteen miles east of Lundi posting - station ,

on the south bank of the Lundi River.E x emption—This is a circular ruin, very simi lar to the

Lundi Ruins. I t is d ivided into three inclosur es,which have

been fi l led in to the level of the present tops of the walls.Tenfeet of herring - bone pattern extend on the outside of

the south - eastern wal l .

MABETSA RUINS

OnMabetsarange of kopjes on the east side of Lund i

UMZ INGWANI RU INSThese consist of a chain of seven distinct ruins along the

Umz ingwani River, near the old Pioneer Road to Vict oria.Three of these are buil t in the best Zimbabwe period styl eon elliptical plans.

RUINS IN MASHONALAND

LITTLE ZIMBABW E RUINSThis ruin occupies a position in the centre of a fertilevalley eight miles south - east from Zimbabwe, and is builton a flat granite rock. I t is built upon a plan of curves , andhas five inclosures. The entrances are on the north andS .S .W . sides . I t has a diameter of between sixty feet andseventy feet Its construction is as intricate as at GreatZimbabwe, but is believed to be of later date, with irregularstones and courses .

MELS ET’

I'ER RUINS AND MONOLITHS

These ru ins are now scarcely noticeable,owing to their

d ilapidation . They are situated four miles east of a pointon the Melsetter and Umtal i telegraph route, about twelvemiles north of Melsetter.

UMTBLBKWE (SABI ) RUINSThese are large and important ru ins, situated on the eastbank of the Sabi River , in the Melsetter d istrict. Theseruins have no less than nineteen inclosures , of which severalhave been fi l led in to a height of fifteen feet. The mostextraordinary features in these ruins are the narrow passageswhich run from end to end of the building. The walls aremassive and are built upon a curved plan throughout, thehighest portion of the wall now stand ing being fifteen feethigh. Herring - bone pattern , ten feet in length , is on aninside wal l facing the west. The entrances are on the

and south sides. The finds included gold beads,pieces of gold wire. and portions of the best Zimbabwepottery . There are two rounded w mnite stepsleading to the summits ( see Cm terx ii ).

344 ANCIENT RU INS OF RHODES IA

SOVEREIGN No. I RU INS

S ituat iom—Onprominent kopje on the north bank of theUmnyati R iver, five and a half miles north - east of the

Sovereign Reef, in the Hartley H il l district. The bes tapproach is from the south.Per iod— F irst Zimbabwe period . E l l iptical plan of bui lding. Walls fairly massive , with usual batter and goodwo rkmanship on both sides of walls. Foundations followsurface outl ine of rock.Impor tm .

— Minor.0mmmtah ’

on.—None.

Ex tent— F ifty feet by forty - five feet.DerWa

'

on.— Built of both basaltic and granite blocks .

Width of wal ls at base four feet six inches , at present topsthree feet , and highest portion eight feet. There are fourinclosures , the side of the courtyard being Open on thenorth - east side for a space of twenty feet. Debris heaps.FM .

— Gold -dust, copper beads and wire, and old andcomparatively modern pottery.

SOVEREIGN No. 3 RU INSS ituation— On a fairly prominent whale- back kopje on

the north bank of the Umnyat i River, four miles north - eastof the Sovereign Reef, in the Hartley H il l district. The

ruins are some three hundred yards from the river on thesouth side. The best approach is from the south.Per iod — F irst Zimbabwe period . Plan of build ingel liptical . Wal l massive, with batterback on both inner andouter sides workmanship good , though material poor.1mm .

— Minor.m utate—None.Ex tent—S ixty feet by twentyfive feet.Dermphbm— Built of basaltic blocks on basaltic forma



INYOTA RU INS

InlnyotaMountains, Mazoe, a fewmiles from Chipad z i’s .

Ruins of a circular wall round kopje, with a diameter fromone hundred and fifty feet to two hundred feet. The wallsare very ruined, and are only four feet inheight, with cour sesas regular as those at Zimbabwe.

CHIPADZ I RU INS

Near Chipadz i’

s vil lage, twenty- fi ve miles south - east of

Mapandera’

s kraal, Maz oe. Remains of ancient fort. The

wal l was evident ly intended to defend the most accessibleside of the kopje and formed a stronghold. The stoneworkis an imitation of Zimbabwe style.Makon i, whose personal name was Chipadz i, is buried here.

Close to 'Mchwesa, Lo’

Bengula’

s assegai - maker, l ived, andhe and his people were al l killed in 1 888 by Lo ’

Bengula’

s

order.

WAINZ I RU INS

These ruins are situated in South -West Mazoe, near theboundary of Lomagundi, seven miles north - west of Mapendera’s kraal, on the north bank of the Wainai River, on flatcountry surrounded by kopjes. These ru ins cover an area offive or six acres. The bases of the walls are about seven oreight feet wide, the highest portion now stand ing being fourfeet. The plan of building is that of extended oval shape

,

the longest portion being three hundred feet in length. The

majority of the walls can only be traced by their foundations.There is no ornamentation remain ing. The entrances areon the north - east, north - west, and south sides, and thereprobably was one on the west side. The approach to themain entrance, which is on the north side, is through a mazeof huge boulders through which the path zigzags. There

RUINS IN MASHONALAND 3 47

many inclosures, but these appear to have been fi lledin . The debr is heaps are extensive and contain portionsof pottery with Zimbabwe patterns. Gold beads have beenfound in the river close by. Trees are growing in the wallsand causing d ilapidation .

UNNAMED RU INS

InTraw!and Adventure inS outh - East Affl'

caMr. Selousgives an il lustration of an ancient ruin in Maz oe which is notone of the above ruins.

CHAIN OF S EVEN FORTS ‘

Inthe Mazoe district is a chain of Zimbabwe forts leadingfrom south of the Garamaputz i River to the UmvukweMountains. These are bel ieved to be road - protecting forts.No. I Ruin is five and a half miles south of the Gamma

putz i River. This is a circular ruin with a diameter ofbetween twentytwo feet and twentyfive feet, and is situatedon an isolated gran ite kopje ris ing out from level country.

The entrance is two feet in width. There is no ornamentation in walls stil l standing.

No. 2 Ru in is two and a half miles further south of Garamaputz i River and three miles further north of No. I Ruin .This is also situated on an isolated kopje rising out of levelcountry. The wal ls, which are from four feet to seven feetwide, have rounded ends and are battered on both sides. theinside being as wel l built as the outside. Boulders havebeen uti l ised in the building of the wall . I t is a steep cl imbup the kopjes to No. I and No. 2 Ruins, and each of thesehave wild figs

,black and yel low

,growing near them .

No. 3 Ruin is one and a half miles north of the Gammaputz i River, on a small kopje in a pass through a gran ite

Theoe puticulars were furnisbed to the authors by Mr . Rowland Buck , “Bulawayo . who huvisited these ruins

ridge This pass is inthe direct line of allme sevennfins

This ruin is somewhat hidden by trees.No. 4 Ruin is five miles north of Garamaputz i Riventmakopje.No. 5 Ruin is eleven and a half miles no rth of Gam

putz i River and is situate on a low kno ll in the middle ofswampy ground covered with old rice gardens . This ruin isslightly to the west of the line or chainof fo rts , but pr obablythe ancient road was diverted so as to avoid the swamp.No. 6 Ruin is in the centre of apass in the UmvukweMountains, twenty miles north of Garamaputz i R i ver , and isbuilt of granite blocks on metamorphic sandst one.No. 7 Ruin is six and a half miles north o f No . 6 Ruin,and is bu il t of gran ite blocks on a slate kopje. Owi ng to thequantity of timber growing here these ruins are hidden fromview

,and can only be seen when closely approached .

BAMBARARI RUINS

These ruins are three miles north of Chi undo Mountains

, Lomagunda, and twelve miles north of KijukumboMountains.

ONAVE RU INS

S ituated sl ightly to the west of half- way between Ch i undoMountains and Kijukumbo Mountains.

STONE DOOR RU INS

Mr. Harry Posselt has advised the authors that he hasheard at several d ifferent times from different natives thatlarge ruins w ith a stone door are to be found on the leftbank of the Sabi, near Portuguese territory. All the r eportsof these ru ins appear to agree in detail

,especially with regard

to the stone doorway and to a carving of a man on the


RU INS IN INYANGA AND MOUNT FURA

INYANGA RU INS

H IS title for these ruins is scarcely a compopular ly these ru ins are knownas the Iny z

for they lie between I nyanga, Katerero’

s kraal,W i lhelm district.Dr . Schl ichter, Messrs. Telford Edwar ds, PKG .

etc , L. G. Puz ey, interpreter to Dr . Karl Peters'

1 899, Mr . N. MacGlashan, Commissioner of M

wayo, Mr. C. H. Temple , late of Umtal i, and aGovernment offi cials and prospectors, have vd istr ict, and their repor ts concern ing them,

notwi

that most of these gentlemen were altogether t

what the others had written onthe subject, coincirespect. The reports of Messrs. Telford Edv

Pusey follow. Dr . S chlichter’s views are contapaper read by him on February a7th, 1 899, atGeographical Society. The authors of this workobtained from the fi les of Rhodesian newspapeconfi rmatory information given by travellers and p:Numerous photographs further confi rm the writtetions of these ru ins.But between the ruins of Zimbabwe constructionin the previous chapters and the I nyanga Rushown -

ih all reports of the latter,a very decided

in the construction, a difference so palpable that e

INYANGA RUINS

who has inspected any Zimbabwe ruins draws attentionto the fact. Equally emphatic is the division of the I nyangaRuins into two distinct classes, ( 1 ) H il l Terraces and (2)Val ley Ruins. Both of these types of build ings are described

To the H i l l Terraces Dr . Schlichter does not ascribeantiqu ity. He and other writers bel ieve they were bu iltfor horticultural purposes, in the same way as the vineterraces on the sunny slopes of the Rhine and otherEuropean rivers. Dr . S chl ichter states that horticulturalpursuits played a very important part in the mode of l ivingof the old Bantu tribes. This appears to be borne outby the quantities of wi ld vines, wild figs

,and wild lemons

found in the vicinities of various Zimbabwes descr ibed inthe foregoing chapters. If this opinion be the correct one,the soil from behind the retain ing or terraced wal ls has,in the course of only a few hundred years, become to avery large extent washed away

,leaving only the retain ing

walls on the hi llsides.The “ Valley Ruins

,however

,unmistakably indicate a

civi lisation many centuries older,

“ belonging to the Z imbehwe period of antiqui ty (Dr . S chlichter) ; but withmost important modifications which give some substanceto the generally accepted belief that the I nyanga “ ValleyRuins are of a late Z imbabwe period . Dr . S chlichterstated that “ indications of the ancient Semitic stone andsolar worship are numerous.”

With reference to the Valley Ruins the following pointsshould be noted

( r) Absence, so far as discoveries have been made, of

elliptical plan and orientation .

( 2) No massive foundations.

( 3) Plumb, rectangular wal ls, only a cobuild ings being circular.

(4) Build ings general ly are decided ly it

852 ANCI ENT RUINS OF RHODESIA

Zimbabwe con struction. Inmany instances the stonesunhewn

,of all si zes , and are bui lt in irregular courses. I n

some instances the stones are sl ightly faced and the cou rses

( 5) Dr . S chlichter asserts that the ru ins are pre- Mohammedan .

(6) The builders were not the Portuguese of the fifteen thand six teenth centuries, the plan and construction bei ngaltogether different from those of the oldest ex tant Portu

guese buildings in Tete or on the coast.I t has been suggested that the H i l l Terraces were thework of ( 1 ) the Arabians of the Moguedchoukingd omnorth of Sofala, who, according to De Barros, reached Sofala

( 1 100 exploited the gold mines, and formed a m ixedpopulation between the Arabs and Kaffi rs ; ( 2) the Arabsof Quiloa, who secured as suzerain power Sofala and Mono.

motapaand enjoyed the monopoly of the gold traffi c inthose regions for a long succession of years (Wilmot) ; andof ( 3) the original Bantu people. Abd -er - Rachid ( 1403)reports that the vine flourished in South - East Africa, andDos Santos ( 1 570) is particularly struck by the fact of vinesflourishing extensively in the gold regions of Sofala andMonomotapa, the wild growth of which can be found inabundance in these parts to this day, and is frequentlymentioned by travellers and prospectors. The conjectu reas to the Arabs of the Moguedchoukingdom being thebuilders of the h il l terraces is strengthened somewhat bythe presence of the large areas of wild fruit trees— lemons,figs

,vines, and bananas, etc ,

not indigenous to the country .

I n contrasting the ruins of known Zimbabwe periods withthe ru ins north of I nyanga, the distinction appears sopalpable that the authors have kept the descriptions of thetwo styles of buildings separate ; and the correctness of thiscourse will , they bel ieve, be even more justified as furtherinvestigations of both types of ruins are entered upon.


“ Concerning the ancient work and mins they are asfol lows : After leaving S tradem’

s the country is pract icallygran itic and dioritic, and the most ex t raordinary extentof ancient works is observable these old wo rks mlring theformof ter racesmademthe sides of the kOpjeg and formcdof the granitic and dior itic boulder s and st ones found in thevalley.

“ November For fourteen miles after leavingS tradem’

s the extent of these ancient terraces is simplyastonishing, and there is every evidence of the pas t existenceof an ancient community, which must have had hundredsof thousands of inhabitants. Some of the town s owed theirex istence unmistakably to working the ground for alluvialgold. Large quanti ties of quar tz debr is are everywhereobservable and also old ground sluices.

“Nor/M 6 0 Country covered with ancient workings

(old terraces, etc.) and heaps of quartz debr is . Belts of

schistose rock prevai l, and many indications of the existenceof quartz reefs are observable. Ancient terraces inastonishing abundance and of peculiar character. The schistoserocks about here are evidently derived from intrusi ve igneousrocks

,etc ,

etc. ( remarks not generally interest i ng here)Saw some quartz outcrops, decently promising. See noreason why there should not be gold around here.

“November From Nani Police Camp to Katerero's.Most of the country to- day has been granitic, w i th theexception of smal l portions. Total d istance fromUmtali toKaterero's kraal, taken by trekeometer , one hund r ed andtwenty and a half miles (Umtali to Meikle

’s S tore notmeasured).

“November 1 3113. Left for Ruania River.After this date notes refer to private properties, and do

not apply further to ancient terraces. I may remark onthedistances , however. The distances from Umtal i to Katerer o’swere as follows

INYANGA RUINS

Umtal i to Meikle's S tore ( said to be) miles.Meikle’s S tore to Forty - mile S toreForty - mile S tore to Inyanga S toreI nyanga S tore to S tradem’

s S toreS tradem’

s S tore to S l ippery CreekS l ippery Creek to NaniNan i Camp to Katerero’

s kraal 5

Total d istance to Katerero’s kraal

“ Measur ed by trekeometer , omitting first distance only,

or say, from Umtali to Katerero’s, about one hundred andthirty miles approximately

,and after leaving Inyanga a

pretty rough road it is, too.I t would be quite impossible for me to convey to you in

a necessari ly short description any adequate idea of theimmensity of labour impl ied in the enormous number of

these ancient terraces. In the hilly country south of

S tradem’

s,on my own passing observation, l saw at least

one hundred and fifty square miles of country composedof kopjes ranging in height from one hundred to fourhundred feet

,l iteral ly covered on their slopes with these

stone terraces, and the valleys literal ly strewn with the ru insof the ancient dwell ings of a former teeming population .To endeavour to describe the old ruins

,ground sluices

,forts,

etc ,would necess itate much writing, and time does not per

mit. It was nothing in the character of these old works,in

the architectural or artistic sense, that struck me with whatI saw, for in that respect they are not particularly noticeable,neither should I judge them so very interesting ; but a contemplationof the enormous tonnage of stones and earth, anddébris generally

,which has been rudely built into these

terraces and other works, or in some way manipulated bysome ancient workers

,really left me amaz ed . lt o

perly described by Mr. Douglas Hi“

panying me) when heroad every stone in thehands.’

“Now I take it that most of us are too much takenup

to cogitate or calculateas to what happened any number ofyear s ago. The wondrous aspect of the port ions of this

country which I have beenrefer r ing tomay, therefore. onlyappeal to afew. A rough calctrlation touching the point

teresting. I t is briefly as follows“ For fiftymiles I saw these ruins. I sawat leas t oneandahalf miles each side of the road eqealling fifty by th ree, that isone hundred and fifty square miles. I think I cantr uthfullysay

,therefore (without making any allowance for the enor

mously increased area arising from undul ations , going upand down slopes of kopjes, etc , and any engineer knowswhat this means if it could be calculated out), that I saw onehundred and fifty square miles of country onwhich earlyevery tonof loose stones , earth, debr is , etc , has been shiftedand placed into posit ion , and carried up steep hills oftenhundreds of feet high . Goodness only knows how manythousands of these terraces I did not see!

“ Now I am sure Messrs. Hudson and White, who arewith me, will agree when l say that if the whole of thc

stones, mullock , earth, etc , which we saw on the slopesof the hills and valleys in ter races and ruined buildingscould be distributed evenly over a flat surface equallingone hundred and fifty square miles, it would on amoderatecalculation run to about eighteen inches to twenty inchesthick

,say the smaller amount. viz. one and a half feet. The

bulk of these stones and boulders, being mostly of a gran itic,dioritic

,and si l iceous character, to put twentyafour cubic feet

to the ton is perfectly safe, I am sure. One square mileequals square feet. Mul tiplying this by one anda half feet, we have cubic feet. Taking this attwenty- four cubic feet to the ton we have

,omitting all odd

numbers , about tons of ground per mile square,

and as we have a further hundred and fifty square mi les



making that so unusual asight canalways bear havingattentiondrawnto it. Truly they bespeakaonce busy timeinMashooaland history, and as history generally repeats

auguries of a busy time again.“ I n conclusion , I trust my disjointed remarks will ind uce

Mr. Telford Edwards has ki ndly furn ished to the authorsthe followingadditionalnotes r

Rainin tarmac—The ruins are principally terraces ,which r ise up continually fmmthe base to the apex of allthe hills in the district to which my article refers.

“The ter raceg as a rule, r ise up invertical lifts of abouttwo or three feet, and extend backwards over a distance of

mos tly about seven to twelve feet. The ter races are al lmade very flat and of dry masonry. My inference is thatthese ter races were used to cultivate the crops uponwhichthe population l ived, as the val leys were the residen tialquarters, and there was obviously no room in the mountainous distr icts for the crops to be growninthe valleys.

“ I have seenter racesmade inasimilar way by thenat ivesof the New Hebrides I slands when I visited that part of theworld , the only difference being that in the New Hebr idesthe sides of the terraces weremade of stakadrivenin to theside of the hill.

Warm , evenmum , km stones, etc—The

masonry in the terraces is not of hewn stone, but in manyof the ruins of the residences of the ancient inhabitants thecourses are very even, and the outside of the stone is dressedand squared a little.

3) WW of fi andah’ms—As I have remarked , the whole

of the valleys are taken up with the ruins of the residencesof the former inhabitant s. The width of the foundations is ,in many cases, from two to four feet.(4) Hag/rt qf waILrF - The height of the walls at present

standing in the valley is general ly from two to four feet.

INYANGA RU INS 3 59

( 5) Wall: pleura- The walls are mostly plumb, and theentrances, in many cases, to the former houses are complicated

, and in few cases straight, but they mostly have rightangular turns and not rounded bends.

S teprw - Inmany cases there are ruins of large terracesand steps to some great former build ings.

Om entatr'

ona—Very few evidences of ornamentationexist, though in some cases the ru ins evidence considerablecare having been takenby the bui lders.(8) Exact situation—best appr ox /z f r omSalisbury—The

situation of the ruins is about eighty miles nearly due northof Umtal i. I am unacquainted wi th the best approach tothe ground from Salisbury, as I got onto the local ity of theru ins onmy way from Salisbury to Katerero’

s kraal , in theKaiser W ilhelm d istrict.

Tfer : of ter races— Regarding the number of tier s ofter races it is impossible to say th is with any exactitude, asthe kopjes vary from one hundred to four hundred feet high.Onmany of the kopjes

,however

,commencing at the base,

there are, I judge,one hundred terraces befor e you get to

the top.

10) Cir cular bm'

ldr'

ngs.— Regarding your question if there

are any circular buildings,there are several

,and also what

look like old slave pits,sacrificial altars

,grain - drying

tables,etc.

Nothing about the ruins reminded me of any connectionwith the Portuguese, only in a few parts of the groundcovered by these ru ins I think gold has been worked , andthe evidences of large ground sluices are

,in many cases ,

clearly shown .The country in the vicinity of the ruins, to the best of

my knowledge,has not any gold - reefs of value so far

discovered .

Watmour ses.— At I nyanga, and for a considerable dis

tance north of that place,there are nice watercourses made

by the ancients,and the way that the ancients seem to have

levelled off the contours of the various hills around whichthe watercourses are laid is very aston ishing, as they seem

times.”

for the expeditionof Dr . Karl Petersdistr ict o ambesia in 1 899.

Makombi's country, which is in

their customs. He became so well

chief Makombi, whose tribe has not evenhy the Portuguese, that he secured fromconcessions for mining and trading inhis

Lupata

south. Duringpassed up andI nyanga Range, each time byelephant or forest country, alsoand Katerero’

s Kraal road , on the I nyangathe Kaiser Wilhelm distri ctHe describes this country, includ ing I

Wi lhelm,and the intermediate distri ct, as

'Several tnvellers agree inmting the

hundred and fiftymiles north of flmtali ;made, and inpm"e of adepth of five

through rock. Each wr iter believes tbatKafiirs. The oountry through which they“ Themof hewing the living rock in

all Semificmfimg and m not

Beenheba.” The rock-cu

seaof the hills.”—Pnnor and (211 1 91 3 1 .


cellm as styes for pigs, and has brolten in the roof for

purposes of ventilation. Inone oellar is aportionof an

ironring with astaple fixed into the stoneworlr. Mr. Pmy

wu told that the signwfl dng of tbe ancient Semifi cs or

markings onthe walls of one of the cellars, as described byDr . Schlicbter ,acmally ex ists.

Aquedum.—Near the Forty-mile S tore,where the I nyanga

Plateau falls away to Umtal i, Mr. Pusey saw an aqueductwhich starts from a waterfal l half a mile from the road, andis clearly visible in its winding course round the sides of thehills for some miles. This is practically in good cond ition,being about two feet wide, and owing to filling up with silton account of its disuse is at present from twelve to eighteen inches deep, passing through rock in several places.Mr. Puz ey said there are several aqueducts in the samedistrict.

Por tuguesefor t—Mr . Puz ey mentions a Portuguese for tnot many miles to the west from the I nyanga Po l ice CameDr . Schlichter’s view of this ruin shows plumb walls, squaredentrance, larger stones than used inZimbabwe buildings,and these of ir regular siz es laid inunevencour ses. Thisbuilding, says Mr. Pusey, closely resembles the style ofconstruction shown by the Portuguese forts at Tete and

Alluvial geld—Both the Mazoe and Ruenyatake theirrise in the I nyanga Mountains and flow toward the north.Where these rivers flow through the hills it is no uncommonsight, says Mr. Put ey, to witness at one spot as many asfifteen to twenty women and children engaged in wash ingfor alluvial gold , and perhaps as many as sixty to eightywomen can be seen so working within the distance of amile. The natives keep the gold so obtained inquills andreeds.

iNS lDE V IEW OF ENTRANCE TO ANCIENT “SLAVE Pl

'i'"(CONJECTURED)

iNYANGA


tilled , and tbough there is agreat depth of soil, the fi rst

eighteen inches has not recovered its original fertil ity, it

is only by going two or three feet beiow the sur fece that

youencounter soil capable of producing good crops. Thisnaturally took the local farmers some time to discover, butnow they are aware of the fact they are raising capitalcrops—better forage than I have seen anywhere else inRhodesia.

“ As youcome from Inyanga along the present road forsome forty miles you pass through a chain of old forts

,some

of which are in a good state of preservation . These fortsare l ike the system of blockhouses along the railway l ines inthe newly conquered territories, but are much closer together,in many cases being within a hundred yards of each other

,

while I am safe in saying none are more than thr ee hund redyards apart. As you approach the Mashonaland Railwaythe line of forts breaks away apparently either towardsZimbabwe or the Sabi River, and I have no doubt that iffol lowed up they would probably be found to continue toSofala, or whatever port on the East Coast was fr equentedby the traders, or was the outlet for the produce of thecountry. At many of the forts were what appeared to beruins of whatmust, I think , have been watch towers ; at anyrate, they are very similar to the famous round towers foundin different parts of I reland. There is a big field of researchhere, and I think it would be a good thing if some memberof the S cientific Association were to trace the ruins up, andfind out where they go to.

“The great feature of the I nyanga country is the extraord inary quantity of water which runs down every val leyeither as a stream or river, and consequently i rrigation is abeautifully simple process. I n many places water can betaken out by just cutting a furrow with a plough, which runsalong for miles, putting thousands of acres under culti vationif required . Most of the present farmers use the furrowsbuilt by the previous occupiers . Whoever they were, theyseem to have had quite as good a know ledge of irrigation as

367

any of us have to - day. The work is fi rsto class, and the

furrows dug by the old race are in splendid condition , andwhen wanted to—day only have to be cleaned out. I t is thesame with the pits and the forts ; they have stood the testof time remarkably well

,ex cept where they have been

knocked about by Kafli r s.“ I think ,” continued Mr. McDonald, “ that the I nyangadistrict was the chief source of their grain supply, and thatthe mining districts were probably supplied from there.The forts or blockhouses were used for the protection oftheir caravans passing up and down the country. Theywere unquestionably a very intel ligent race.”

MOUNT FURA DISTRICT

Mr. Puz ey, who traded at Matonda, on the Zambesi, at thewest side of the Lupata Gorge, and knows this district andpeople of Makombi’s country, in which Dr . Peters avers hehas discovered Ophir,” acted , as mentioned earl ier, as guideand interpreter to Dr . Peters’ exped ition to these parts in1 899. Mr. Puz ey

’

s trading station on the Zambesi issituated within this area.Dr . Peters’ particular “ Ophir ” only covers an extent ofcountry about one hundred and twenty miles from east towest and thirty to forty miles from north to south. The

eastern point is a few miles west of S enna, and its westernextremity is about fifty or sixty mi les east of Tete ; itsnorthern boundary is formed by the Zambesi , while its mostsoutherly point is on the Muira River, at nearly forty milessouth of the Lupata Gorge South of the gorge are theLupata H i l ls, which run in a south -westerly d irectiontowards the RuenyaRiver. A hilly range runs from theZambesi along the east side of the Muira River. and

a dead - level

W h ahfilmfi emh fi de d b lm lmt PM ‘Ophh

'm Umt h fl ey h am pod

h g hinabomthe souh dde d the lm lm md

west of Mocnt lnjah fua. MnPuey disoov-

ered thismand h now bears his name onall latemaps ot the comtry.

are very numerous ancient vorhings oo the U pataH ins ,north -mal ount y.

‘

I’

henearemins onthe south faeee of Mounts Puny andInjakafuu built of sandstone and a'ymlline slate. There

aremfi shig fias of tamcuuat lnymggmlymins so far

u canbe dboerui of walls inclosing compantively level

of the walls stands onlyn’

x or nine inches above the gmond.

except inthe crevices of the rockawhich have beenbuilt upat several points to formthc foundations of themainouterwall. Mr. Puz ey, who first rediscovered these ruins, says

that only the bases of the walls now remainand these could

There are enormous pileaof débr is of walls lying about inall directions. He believes that boulders falling fromthe

hillasdstcd inthe demolitionof the walls.Dr . Peters states he discovered phalli and betyle (med

Dr . Peters quotes fromthe work of the celebratedFrench geographer, Delisle. which was published in 1 705,

” follows :“ Fifty lieues (one lieue is about two and one- third miles)

fromthe River Mansoro, is the fort of Massapa, which asedto be thc pr incipalgold market ;the country one finds the goldmines. Near this place is


APPENDIX

NOTE A

SOME ANCIENT HAMMERS FOUND IN THE TATIDISTRICT

[Paper read by Mr . R. C. Dowie, on3xst July, 1 901 , before the RhodesiaScientific Association, Bulawayo, and published inthe Belem” CArom’

do. )

HE rounded pieces of stone which you see before you comefrom an ancient working situated ona range of hills called

the Amalobe H i lls, within a fewmiles of Ramaquebane, in theTatiConcessions. The ancient working is one of a ser ies which runin two parallel chains, one oneach side of the ridge, or lengthenedsummit of one of the lower hills. The workings are par t of aproperty knownas the I ronMount, which belongs to theTati BlueJacket Syndicate

“There wereabout thir ty of these ancient hammers, “ I presumethey are, which had been excavated fromthe debr is of the old

working. This must have been about forty feet deep originally, asa shaft of twentyfive feet virtual depth discloses the solid formationat the bottom, and the top of the shaft commences about fifteen ortwenty feet below what appears to have been the original face oftbe hill. The mmunding mch pieces of which are strewn forhundreds of yards on all sideaseems a kind of banded ircmtone,though it has a cleavage similar to schist.

“As youwill observe fromthese specimenait poueueaaveryk. There is also aand with a view


Company, to assayasmall portion. He has very kindly done so,

large propor t ion of sesquioxide of iron Fe,0, (hematite)and carryabout three pennyweights of gold. These por tions of the wallsinclosing the reef, which are quartzite, also contain iron and tracesof gold. These two other samples are merely the stud poundedfinely.

“ I t should be said that the ancient workings extend for severalhundred yards. I examined five of them . Unfortunately onc of

the h rgat has dunng the past three yeambecome almomquitefilled up byarock slip. Amass of rockweigbing some hundredsof tons forming panof the peak of the bilh has after standingperhaps sem'al centuries, or it may be much longer , at last succumbed to the corroding finger of time and the elements and overbalanced into the abyss below. Clamber ing among these brokenmasses has its unpleasantries, as the place possesses amost evilreputation for being the haunt of black mambas, who find a congenial home within its nooks and crannies, and are occasionallyseenbasking inthe sunonthe surface of the rocks. So I did not

examine theae fallenrocks quite somuch as l should have liked.

“The hammers seemtome to be spedally interesfing bemusethey show very considerable signs of use and wear. I take it thattheywere uaed to breakquartz for the sake of the gold and that

par ts of the reef were of suflicient grade tomake thiaworth while.

No doubt tbey were or iginally globular , as manyare still, and byconstant pounding have deveb ped faceaand then hollows be

coming slmcst cubical inshape. As to the way theywere operated.it seemsmost likely tome theywerenot used directly by hand, butwere bound round with a M blewithe similar to osier bark. Butthat is merelyaspeeulation. I was unable to see any traceaof amekfi ce which had beenused asanfid but theaemay easily bavebecome efi'aced or coveredup inthe course of time.

“ I do not know whether this Associationwillattacb any valueto the bammer s or the samples of reef and formation, but at anyrate, it is an endeavour to follow the advice of Mr. P. B. S. Wrey,President of the Chamber of Mines to include the wans and if

the Associationaccepts them, I have strong hapes of being ableat alater per iod to procure better specimens.

“ I am, of course, aware that similar hammers, usually, I think,of luger size have beenfound inRhodesiabut that inno way


“ h h ufi m d m d m fluam“ q h fi aflm fi nkm M mfl z lfi

“ bi s h o p ‘s . b mfl qm fi p ah edmwfi d hm tfi d us yum ‘md fl ym n the

land h d'uilm ud d a thmymm

M i am bud dm auh g fl edwi hw m md“ s unbeam W h fi emfi em fi e dfia d

fi b h m d fl fl n mw mfl d wmthe -cane. M m fin nfi ent wafi qs dde by i de mfingfeomthbtymsevemy fed bq am - elve or h fefi

M bm bemfin sepfl e (upc fi daly) ooma reefi , inafl of

M a con-'

dmble amomnof wort hs beendone. A m!

M M M beenmk inooe toM b-w ’feabml fi dnot enfi ne kuthae Ea w be lmned it beimtimhaedall theuy down. Seég the h ge bouldus piled up m y of

the- bei g pieca of ooumry roek which deprived cl apped ,bud fi flw h ck ifl o the hoflo'gum is one of veimd dmb ‘

tioneoncerning tbae spedm The large pieeaappw to bea

d ppmand tfi smnpiece d reef is rich inoopper

and arrier peobablymemper cenc of tlnt metal. I amalso

that some of the reef is richer tlnnthis.“There is one pecul

’

nr featme inregand to these openm lndtht t is the cleanoeuwhh wbich themef lns beentakenout. No

modmminer ood d do it W and as agenenlmle it may be

“Time did not permit ofmore thanbalfanbour being spentat tlie wpperminqwbenamove had w bemadeoe to somedxmgelse. A little way downfmmthemp of the lfill there is asligbtM and ioming

'

some bonldmare the r emmns’

of anancxent’

wallagainst arlight eminenee. There is litde of it M and tbe stonmhave nO pattem. I t is just apieoe of plainsmnework similar tothaof many mdemmmnfil h is interwfing as being,

ANCIENT COPPER -WORKINGS 37 5

perhapathe relics of afort fromwhence watch could be lrept overthe surrounding country.

“ I come now to the last part of this note. Passing by the littlebit of stonework about a hundred yards beyond—and this partof hill has more grass onit—one comes to a considerable depression,which is only about ten feet deep and forty feet long. I t 18 reddishblack inappearanoeand allaround are pieoes of ironslag similar tothose ave here. This bit of the hill seems to be oomposedalmost entirely of imn, and it is rather diflicuh bo conclude that theancients here were intent on working anything but iron.

“ But I have been told there is a small quartz stringer runningthrough this working which is aur iferous. Anexamination of bothends of theworking failed to enable me to say that I disoemed this,but I do not doubt it, as it seems that tbe fact of this slag car ryinghigh iniron, and also containing trm of gold, lends a considerabledegree of probability to the statement.”

NOTE C

ANCIENT COPPER - WORKINGS

Times Reefs, in the Lomagunda distr ict, also on the Selkirkproperty and near Tati, in the Tati Concessions. Mr . Bainesreported ancient copper -workings north of the MurchisonRange, inthe Transvaal Colony. The ancient copper -workings near the

Alaska Mine are of enormous extent, one being two thousand feet inlength,and of great depth and width. The ancient copper-workingsonBradley

’s Capper, on the Sabi, near Melsetter, are extensive, onebeingabout two thousand feet long, with open workings one hundredfeet deep and three hundred to four hundred feet wide. It isbelieved the ancientsmined for copper in Manicaland, while ancient

copper - workings have been repor ted at several other points in


NOTE D

“ TI-IE CLAY ZIMBABWE ”

Thabas Imambanear the MabulaHilLand near atributar-y of the

Rivers. To approach these ruins leave the flartley fl illRoad two

miles south of tbe dr ift over tbe Umvunga.Means. Nealand j ohnmnheard of M e ruins before the out

break of the native rebellion in 1 896 fromZachili, the Matabelechief, who during the first war assisted Forbes

’columnby supplying

soas to avoid the Matabele impis assembled at Thabas Imambawaiting to destroy the column. Zachilimayalso be rememberedasthe Indunawho assisted the Government with information dur ingthe war . For render ing such services to the white men he wasmurdered by the Maubele inthe rebellionof wofi . Mesa-

s hiedand Johnsonowe their lives to Zachili, who indirectly advised themto return ulawayoat once, as “

the fever was going to be very

bad.” I t was not until their arrival in town that they first knewthat thenative rebellionhadalready brokenout.Per iod—This is altogether doubtful, but they are not ancient.

So far no other similarly constructed buildings have been found inRhodesia. Mr. Alexander Davis, editor of Rhodmis, states that inthe Lydenburg distr ict, and near Barberton, similar buildings are tobe found, several of which he has examined cumorily. He con

siders themto be oomparativelymodern structures.Ex tent —Thae two ruins are withinthree hundred feet of each

other , but amined wall of the same constmctionis twoand ahalfmiles to thenorth-east of these ruins.

brickabut burnt intheir entiretyand not insections. The clay iscomposed of granite powder , and this has beenof so binding anaturc that no cracks appear inthe walls except at the tops of the



NOTE G

“ OPH IR AND INDIA

“ '

I’

he evidcncel that exist of themediz valoccupationof countr iesIying between Indiaand Africaby Arabs seemrather to mpportDr . 8chlichter’s contentionthat the Afr-icannrins are of Arabic or

Semitic origin Although l have come acros no traces of Araboccupationon the coasts of Persia, or inMakran, that are M

present inh rgenumbanboth inSistanand Makranmrobablyalsoin India) Iong before their invasionof Sind, which took place anyinthe eighth centuryam. It was the Arab Govemor of Makranwho helped Mahomed Kaseiru through that country to the Indianfrontier, so that the Arabs were probably dominant there by the endof the seventh century. A prominent feature of that invasionwasthe support of the invading army by tbe fleet which conveyed the

engines of war to beusedagainst the walls of DebaLinthe Indiandelta. The existence of such afleet implies that the Arabs had

we rnust reclronmany centur ies to benecessary for the developmentof afleet of that nature. Nor is there any reasonto suppose thatthe Arabs were not as early navigators as the t nicians (whoappear to have originated onthe coast of Arabia) or the Greelts.

By the time that Vasco daGamarounded the Cape the Arabs wereable to take latitude observations byufing theastrolabeand could

they had leamt the use of tbe compass fi omthe inesq whilst

theyapparently bor rowed their systemof noutionfromlndia. I

have always suspected Vasco daGamaof having trusted entirely toArab pilots to find his way to lndia. That theArabs were the fi rst

by the fact thatallthe early ocean-

going ships of Emopewere builton the lines of theArab ‘buggalow’

; many of our naval termsareArabic (such as ‘admiral,

’‘barge, ’‘dinghy,’and even ‘jolly

PHOENICIAN ENTERPRISE 38 1

and thenames of tbe constellations are also Arabic. If theAmbswere not the first navigators, they obviously invented their own

qstemof navigation, and borrowed it fromno one. There is

absolutely no evidence that I know of suppor ting the ida that theIndians crossed to Afr icafromIndia. The Aryans never werefi lms. The Dravidians (notably the Telingas) certainly were, buttheywent eastward to Burmah and the Straits, and formed settlements thereand not inthe west. Onthe other hand, the position

and of othm on the south ooast of Ambiaalmost proves theed stence of avery ancient trade along the eest coast of Africa,a theory which is certainly strongly supported by the evidence oftheM /wr oj

’

th E rytfiram hich ismppo have beenwr itten five centur ies before the rise of the prophet in Arabia.”

NOTE H

PHCENICIAN ENTERPRISE

[Extract fromPaper read by Mr . H . O’Neill, ILM. Consul at

Moumbique, at the Royal Geographical Society's Meeting, nth May, t885. )

A belief that in prehistoric times the Phoenician nation was farmore widely scattered thanit has hitherto been supposed they wereappears to be daily gaining ground. Recent discovery has broughtto light many traces of an ancient civilisation of the or iginof whichwe know nothing. Inscr iptions found at some of these, amongstwhich I maymentionthose brought home from Easter Island bySir Thomas Brassey, will, it is hoped, throw some light upon thisfield of resw cb. There are some, who have made the subject thestudy of a lifet ime, who believe that the ancient cities, ruins ofwhich are met with upon the Pacific Islands, and also many of

those in Beloochistan, Afghanistan, and other distant parts of theglobe, are due to a widespread emigrat ion of the t nicianrace. If they, through a satisfactory reading of the inscr iptionsfound there, should prove their contention, then the suggest ion Ihave thrown out respect ing the cities south 0

’ “ M Zambesi is.I submit, strengthened ; for it will have beerthat neither distance nor intervening breadfl


imurmountable obstacles to the colonising enterpr ise of the Phreni

cianpeople. And theremay prove to be some truth inthe wr itingsomchoniathomme t nicianpmiesh whoassigns to his peopleamarvellous antiquity, and valuable informationmay yet be gathered

But apart from any evidence which lately found inscriptionsmay presenh is it not diflicult to believe that anationwhich atleast r ,aoo years before Chr ist had founded colonies in everypar t of the Mediter ranean Sea, had passed the Straits of Gibraltar

discovered the Canary Islandaand who shortly afterwards sentout fleets with thousands of emigrants- auch as thomwhich left

Carthage under Hanno—to found colonies upon the West Africancoast ; is it not difficult, I ask, to believe that a nation capableof such enterpr ises as these would be deter red by any difficultiesof distance or navigation from ventur ing to low latitudes upon theEast Afr ican coast ?

“ It does not, however, come withinthe scope of this paper todiscuss this subject here. I have only ventured to say so muchto show that East Afr ica, in the very ear liest times, appears tohave formed a favourite field for colonial enterpr ise, and I desirealso to awakenyour interest in the archeological treasures which,I amconvinced, l ie hidden there.

NOTE I

The views, drawnby the late Mr . Thomas Baines, of the Acropolisruins, and of the conical tower at Zimbabwe, are reproduced on

pp. 442 , 443 of the P r oceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,July, 1 885

NOTE J

TO ARCHE OLOG ISTS IN RHODESIA

The following points are suggested by the authors to gentlemenwhomay examineany ancient ruininthe country.S r

'matrbs of ruin— District, nearest Induna’s or Chief’s kraal,


THE GOLD’

or OPHIR 385

the Yellow Jacket property. Mr . Nealwas the fir st to discover theYellow Jacket Ruins, and was Mr . Bent’s host when that gentlemanvisited them. In1 89aMessraNealand Exellmade the first returnof gold with dolhes intbe Victonadistrict and this was fromtbe

Natal Reef. Mr . Neal served in the 2q War , and also underCaptain Lendy in the Matabele disturbance in Victoria.Ia gs they commenced work among the ancient ruins of

ments. Professor Bryce, who visited Messrs. Neal and Johnsonwhen they were exploring Dhlo-dhlo Ruins, writes, in his Impressions4 Sou/AAfr ica, speaking of their work, “ So far as I could observe,alldue care was being used by the gentleman (Mr. Neal) inchargeof theexploration workat Dhlod hlo.

"

NOTE L

PROFESSOR KEANE'S “TI-IE GOLD OF OPHIRWHENCE BROUGHT AND BY WHOM l

”

[Leading ar ticle LondonMorning Pm, September zarb, 1 903, ontheabovepapers of Professor Keane.)

round which controversy has more fiercely raged thtnthe identityof that land of Op r whenee came the oostly treuures that found


INDEX

Abdver -Rnchld, Arab wr iter ( r4o3),3S2

Abolooi. 3 ; stone rampar ts of, x7, x33,1 34, rgr Ancient nrchitecture inMount Fura

Age. of Zimbabwes, 109- 18, 161 of cremation,

W invasionofuatabeleland,6. m

”81M.

ag riculture, 309» 357 Ancient surmise es t 108Ancmrtmadam359. 364

m

390 ANCIENT RUINS

Fih bcli. s8

guns- 'anomsq; Mr . J. HnysEw an, ; immenseamount.6 t :Mr . Tcl Edwards on, 65, 66

OF RHODESIA

0‘s 347:

g‘w th. 333

Melsetter , 343

367 - 9Molendula, an, 343

Mambo, Mambo, or Mamba,

Morven. 33 1 , 332M'Popoti, 259, 360M’Popoti, Li ttle, 360, 36:

M’Tendelz . 337 - 9M'Telegwe, to—u

M'T Lttle, 323‘ 333


892 ANCIENT RU INS OF RHODES IA

Afi a, a8 ; d ted. 34 ; onebeenne ofIshndc chnnctainrning tsq

W h eb pment ofi arufi ems7 g mnlenm, a:

Relic end P‘mds ”

M M HXOU ro3, ro7, r08, r38m ur . , discovers encient goldornaments, 9 r , no7

ins tant»

msil’ortmnael found atmlo

Carma".Cl tfle of AndM surmiseas tod z ,

353Cuembe, Livingstone visits. r93 ;Dr . s damentions, 1 94 ; suppoeed to be one of thcAbolosi rnces,t , ured Romanexpedition3 “a Ez ekieHProphetl reh s to wealth of

Sabuns ingold. s3

China, “ finds ” of, r53. 326

m, i 8sClark, Mr . Jed-non, 7“W M "NON D,AW Fmm (m x

f.

goldClemont nneeu, r r6 mine min er,

363- 7 . 5

3“ l

34

Cons end conlcnl bnm 39 ;inArebis , 3 st 39 : inRhodesia, t t 7g, t

Condor , Major hutbor of fl ’mudM i s s y !

Copper hm 1 28. 1 53. 1 54

QM 37Carr ie, M.E. ,Mr .W elter , onendent Giflord, The Hon. Maurice, 7.ms,soww orkinst $6 303

Dean-roe, t ra, no, reason

Monomotapa,behwe, tor ; onfiagnd cbouArabsfind lumen. 352

INDEX

Gold wire wovenwith cioth, m7 ; Jonson, Ben, located Ophir

Livio Sanoto on, 107 ; found at Peru, 34M’Telqwe Ruins, 107

am , Mr . Rid“ , (13 0100, 3, 4 ,

im’nribeo (wealso 24connectionwith SouthoEast Afr ica,

dc

scr ibes ruins, 3a7, 328Bomfind at Mounh Note E in

Hnet connectsRhodesiawith “Ophir ,”

3a

“

inflfromxnunga,Mahobohobo tree, 1 16

lronbellq doeble, r43, a33l

lmntools of ancients,Infuha descr ibed. 79.

modificationof, 80 ; fiound m 8 , bertered d ioret

g

limbnbwe. 1 40 ; fonnd elsewbere, P“, burials. 107,

Khami Ruins, capital townfor Bwayo district, 8: Mew s. NealJohnson’s “ finds ” at, rst , rsadescr i

’

onof, 2 10- 36 ;at, r 2 19

King Solomon’s Road."5 :Land oi Ophir ,m0phirLeech, Mr . F rank, discovers gold


Masses Marm rr’s As s ormcsm r s

Illustrated Books and Books forChildren

THE BROTHERS DALZIEL:beinguaRecord of Fifty s

of their Work, 1 840- 1 890. With 1

gustrations after Pictures by

Lord Latorrr orr, S ir J . E . Bart , S ir E .

Povar sa, Hourax Hum, Dam G . Rossmr, S ir

011 14 Tarrwn, Joan11mm,andmanyothers. Quo te. 2 1

THE ES SAYS OF ELIA. By CHARLES Lula. W ith over

roo Illustrations by A. Gaa'm out s, and an Introductionby E.

V . Lucas. M M 101 .

Thiah pmbameumost ’

buutih rl ed idonof l‘mh's fi uys that hn em beenpublkhad. illumtiomdiapla themoat re- arltableahill,and thainuoducdonh hyac itit maknw ledgemg

THE V iSlT TO LONDON. Descr ibed inverse by E . V.

Lucas. and incoloured pictures by F . D. Benroan. Saw/1m.

6x.deacriheathe introductionofa

of lt iatbareaalt d awell-ltnown

t he l itt lemus fl ocks for cbtlbrettEdited by E . V. Lucas

Messrs. Mamas have in‘Fhem fimasenes

’

of daddi es)“ ’

s booksunder theabovegeneraltitle. aimof the editor is to get enter tor exciting stor ies about normal children, themoral ofwhich isuther thanexprmed

'

l'

he books will be r need inasomewhatunusualtosm, which willhaveacer taincharm its own. The tirst three

1 . THE CASTAWAYS OF MEADOW BANK. ByT. C08 8 .

2. THE BEECHNUTBOOK. By JACOB Anson. Ediwd byE. V. Lucas.

3. THE AIR GUN or ,How theMastermansand Dobson Majornw ly lost their Holidays. ByT. Hum-

r .

H istoryCROMWELL’S ARMY : A H istor y of the English Soldier

dur ing the Civil Wars, the Commonwealth, and the Protectorate.By C. H . P ram, M.A. Cram800. 7s. 6d.

Anelaborate studyand descri imof Cronwell‘eamy which the vicnory of theoParlianeat was securad.

‘New Modal‘ts descr i inminate dataihandthe author , who is one of themost distingnished histor ianof theday, has lnademmd mmblisbedusa


Masses. MsmusN’

s ANNOUNCEMENTS

TheologyREGNUM DE I . TunBurma: Lsc'r vnas or 1 901 . B A.

£1“m D.D. , Pr rncr

’ '

pal of King"

s College, London. zanyw . m.

OLD TESTAMENT H ISTORY. By G. W . WADE, D .D.

Wi th Maps. Cr own8w . 63 .

This book presents aconnected account of the Hebrev paopladur ing thaper iodoomed by theOld Testament ; and has beendrawnup frornthe Scr iinaccordancewith themethods of histor ical cr iticism. The teat of Bible has

afullindea.

THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. By J . F. Kaar xNo,D.D. Cr ownSw . 3r . 6d.

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. ARevised Translation,withD.D. , Canon of Chr ist Church .

-hnown

Climb commentariesGeneralEditor , War r enLOCK, D.D. , Wardenof Keble College, Dean

Ireland’s Professor of Exegesis inthe University ofOafiord.

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLE S : With IntroductionandNotuby R. B. Racxuau, M.A. Dmy Sw . r z r. Gd.

n'bc churcbman's l ibrarnGeneralEditor , J . H. BURN, B.D. , Examining Chaplainto the

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW SCHOLARSHIP. By ] . W. Pmas, D.D. Crom 8m.

COMPARATIVE RELIGION. By J . a. MacCULLocx .

THE CHURCH or cnatsr . By E . Guns .

THE CHURCHMAN’S INTRODUCTION TO THE OLDTESTAMENT. Edited byAncvs M. Macaav, B.A. em s”.


W M R ’LM Gum- h . 6

O—h

A - h d

BOTH S IDES OF THE VE IL.

M ‘TheEmma» Um .

’

MESSRS. METHUEN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

THE TH IRTEEN EVENINGS. By GEORGE BARN “,Anthor of 'The People ofClopton.

’Cunt 63 .

THE SKIRTS OF HAPPY CHANCE . By H . B. MARRIOTT

A FOOL’S YEAR. By E . H . COOPER, Author of‘Mr . Blake of

Nevmrhet .’Grm 8m. 63 .

mmmm d Mq m lqk ehieflym ed d th w ndfl ung.

THE YEAR ONE :A Page of the French Revolt:Bw omm BoaTON, Anthor ol'TheCluh ot Am

THE DEVASTATORS . ByADA CAMBRIDGE, Author of Pathand Goal. ' CrownSw . 61 .

THE FORTUNE OF CHRISTINA M‘NAB. By 8. MACNAUONTAN. Cram800.

101182

TgPP : Pirate. By WEATHERBY CHESNEY. Crown

t henovelistgeneraltitleaMonth

Ser iee oI Novels hy authors at the pr ice of S ixpenoe.

Number is alongas average Six ShillingNoveI.

XXIII . THE HUMAN BOY . Em PHILLPOT'B .

XXIV. THE CHRONICLES OI"COUNTANTONIO.

XXV. BY STROKE OF SWORD. Axiom BAtl oUn.

XXVI . KITTY ALONE. 5 . BurmaGOULD.

law .

A NmSar’fl o/w mTHE CONQUEST OF LONDON. DoatmtuGnun.

AVOYAGE OF CONSOLATION. 8m J . DUNCAN.

THE MUTABLE MANY. Row r B


MESSRS. METHUEN’S CATALOGUE I 5

BLEAK HOUSE. W ith Ilhtstrations W ith Illustrat ions byG . M. ErtunbyBlATlt ICEADCOCK. M Volma. Dow. Too Venom.

OLIVER TW IST. With IllustrationsbyG. H. I I

BARNABY RUDGE. W i th IlltmnTHE OLD CURIOS ITY SHOP.

l tttlcmograpbteeFat) . 800. End volume, (M , 31 .

THE LIFE OF DANTE ALIGHIERI. By PACET Tatum With 1 3

"t his excellent Iittle volnme isaelumompacg and convenient tummary ol’the vhole

THE LIFE OF SAVONAROLA. By E . L. S. Honmcfl . M.A. WithPor traitsand Illustrations.

c Ti ttle l ibraryWith Introductions.Notes, and Photogravure Frontirpieees.M 800. Ear /i Volume, do“t r . no, larg er z r . 64. not .

VANITY FAIR. ByW . M . Tuman. Wi th an Introduction by 8 .

WW

INMEMORIAM. Atmo.LORDTENNYSON. Edi with anIntroductionand New . byH. C. BEECH

tNo. M.A.

THE EARLY POEMS OF ALFREDLORD TENNYSON. Ed ited by ]

MAUD. Mum.

SON. wd byEuzmmWMA LITTLE BOOK OF ENGLISH

CRANFORD. DzMn. Oman.

W WE'V Vofma.

THE PURGATORIO OF DANTE.

Translated by H . F. Cur . Editedby Paor r Tumult, M .A.

JOHN HALIFAX GENTLEMAN.

My Mrs . Clumt . Edited by Ann:ATH I SON. TmVelma.

A LITTLE BOOK OF SCOTTISHVERS E. Ar ranged and ed ited byT. P . HENDERSON.

AP

LITTELE BOOK OP

dmROS AW anMrs. P. A. BARNETT.

SELECTIONS FROM WORDS .

WORTH. Edited “mm C.

8mm. Pen“ 0‘ o

SELECTIONS PROM WILLIAMBLAKE. Edited byM. Panorama

PRIDEAND PREPRE UDICE.

Aumu. by E. V. UCAS.


Massas. METHUEN’S CATALOGUE

'l'. I .m . ACONS

‘

I'ITUTIONAL

AND POLITICAL HISTORY OFRONE. ByT. M . Tam . M.A. ,

FellowofGonvilleand CainsCollege.t idge. Crow-lam

abstractions. It h avotk duv ill be

VOL. x. tap ing—Guelph and

J .m A SHORT ”1k OFROME . 1 . Wm . M.A. .

Yellowand or ofWt dbunColl .

Od om. Tb‘

nf Edi tion. With 3Maps. CumCu. 31 . 64.

Umlm d PnNIc iool- nd fu Cm mmaniacmm

Edited by ] . B. Bun. MA"Liu.D.

ZACHARIAH OF MITYLENE. LtouPum rmand M. mun.

Trauma! into English béPH

‘JDav in. mun-d .

DD “

121q m3 msr oav or mums(L SA‘mAs . Dan, “ 1 .

BVAGRIUS. Edited by l’rdmBall. 5:

Biographyt . L. m THE LETTERS0? ROBERT LOU IS STEVENSON TO H IS FAMILY AND

Lung"Eamon. Duty Ow . z

8 . BAlwc GOULD.

Illustrations in ( he

‘m- fi H - od lhhJ . 0. mm. THE LIFE AND


Masons. Montana’s CATALOGUE z 3

mam SOUTH AFRICA. W K MACQUOlD. R J. W ith

s naps. 6m m ” .mam m ar ma.

L anna. THE BOER STATEand Descr iption oi them mm w IN ”madmeOnn Free

PARIS . By KA'mntnz uad

3 9

A. “ Km MA W ithour W ow . Illustrated by Cr oati a” . 61 .

Naval and MilitaryB E K M THE lllSTORY sox. \Nitlt x6 lllnstntiommd o

OP THE BOERE . A TH O U S ANDm lTl-l THE

Captain BARCLAY Lama..

w b . Val. L . 853. an Introduction by Colonel MAGxnmon. and aPor trait and “up.

BF OFFs ox Yam

Amdm.

lam CHITRALB;The

Stagai aMinor S i

gm By S ir

Rommu. W ith

‘A bookwhich themiabethamm td h n

‘As is dntincuSlr WalmScott’o bs t

fictionJ—Dc il] Towk l lm m THE DOWNI’ALLOF A ofLife lnAsbant in B’

n IilW W”

tion aad o Map. Tl t r d Edition.

l l l w THE MA’

I'A

H. O. J . Btu. THE RELIEF O!"J . 3 . Am THE RELIBI'OF

tation Thi rd 3m . Crown

J . Am mm THE S IEGEOF MAFEKING . By J . AmosHumans . “fi th many llltmramason-gmxmE . P.m utter -by.

BIN THE

WEB OF A WAR. H .

Puma? BAmlS BY . With Plans.and Por trait of theAuthor . Cm»

‘Tho p thmtho aaud y. them a!m ore .“ in that pop s}


29

m Ear l-h on. CLOVELLY with Introduction. Nata. eta. byW . You: FAUSSET. ILA. Cr . Ow .

1 . 1 mm. THE SOUL'

S P ILORM

0mm THE MINISTRY

Introduction the IM 'd Btthop olr . 8w . 3L 6d.

P . N THE HOLY SACRI‘A W M M ‘M M “CE. 8 7 y. M . ”A"(mtg MQIIW WW .

3 .n RELIGIONmnov w , nigh w.

I IOO Notes on theTraining of Boys. By B. THE M TATION OI’

LAYARD. M.A. tanto. u.

w 'maoecu.

mutmmum OF“ M

dactions nnd Notos byTJ -lxmlt‘r

Burma, B.D. . Uta-

ton College.

AW M ‘M M

I . I .m TEXTS FOR SER

I KONO. THE CIIRISTIAN YEAR.

6d.

7 . Yeah PM THE DECATECH/2A[VD/S E UB IEUS01? ST. AUGUSTINE. Edited .

M W . WALm Locx, D.D. . Wudenoi kcbleCow.

lnhnd‘s ProM olEq uh intt nivafl ty ol f

masoonor 108 . m mlntrodnaionand Notu by E C S .m0.D. .

Vw- r olfado. an,

‘DuGflmn‘o w b h 'onhy d nw

N anak W m . D.O. , M d KIfl‘l CommW M ART

'

ICLEBOE THZCHURCH OI'ENOLAND. M Mwith no Introduct ion I . C. 8 .

Into


R I M PEGGY OF THE

J . H. W . A DAUGHTER

‘mdh bguh findm'mM W M THE PATH

'. R Rm MATTHEW AUSTIN. 0. J . commRUPERT TH BU

matsallc dc Mm .

‘etc. M

LADY AND OTHERS . ByW . E .

Nouns. Crown800. 6r.

W. R. Nor r is. CLARISSA FURIOSA.

m um. BY STW E OF

M M MY DANISH

Rober t Bur . IN THE MIDST 01"

Rober t Bur . THE MUTABLE

amino!

OBERTBARR. mm CO NS C I E NC E 8 ? R03“ ?RmBur . THE COUNTESS E. E loh onl. TONG U E S OF

27,-05mm 6L Hw us. Author of ‘Fhmcs. ’

D 8 I N

Eobor t Bar r . THE STRONG ARM.


Books for Boys and GirlsA Scn

‘

ao/Bnb by M AM M W

THE ICELANDER‘S SWORD. By THE DOCTOR OF THE JULIET.

Br HAuT Cosmcwoon.

MASTER ROCKAPELLAR‘S vov.

CH ING. By Em'mE. CumTODDLEBEN

’

S HERO. E t M.

”GE B'w°m um

ONLY A GUARD - ROOM DOG . would not go to Su. By Q HAH

By Eom E CvTq . VII-LE M .

The Peacock LibraryA W J M W M ”M M AM . AM M M .

THE RED GRANGE. By Mr s. DUMPS. 9, 5 1:s

A GIRL OP THE PEOPLE. ByTHE SECRET OP MADAME DE L. 1

‘Mum.

MONLUC. B the Author of mmGI T.mmMd,7 H PSY By L. Hum.

OUT OP THE FASH ION. By L. THE HONOURABLE MISS . ByL. T. Mums.

University Extension SeriesA ser ies of books onbistadcd ,

Edited by] . E. smxas, M.A. .

Princi ofUniversity CoIlegq Nott inghnm.mTHE INDUSTRIAL H ISTORY OF M.A. . Fellow oI Or ieI College.0300.

ENGLAND. ByH . DE B. Gumms. TM Edit ion.

Liu. D. , M.A. . late Scholar ofWu!

With Mapsand Plans . 31 .

AH ISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICALECONOMY . EyL L. PRICE . VICTORIAN POSTS. 8 1 A. Sam.

MESSRS. METHUEN'S CATALOGUE

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By THE VAULT OF HEAVEN. AJ . E M M A.

THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT METEOROLOGY. The Elements ofLIFE : Lower Forum. By G .

Mm W ith Illustrat ions.AIRANDWATER. ByV. B. Lt s

M A. Illustrated .

THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE ANDHEALTH . By C. W . Kantus.M A. Illus trated.

THE MECHANICS OF DAILYLIFE . Eyv. P. SELLS .M.A. Illus

ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS .

ByaW ' Tum

ENGLISH POETRY FROM BLAKETO BROWNING. By w . M .

D IXON, M.A.

ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERN

A TEXT- BOOK OP AGRICUL~

HE GREEK VIEW OF LIFE.

G . L. Dicxmsos . Fellow/ of Kin 3

College.Cambridge.m am .

Social (Luestions of To - dayEdited by H. m:B. GIBBINS , Litt.D. .M.A.

Cv o. 23 . 64.

new Vohm o/ th Scn’

ammayTRADE UNIONISM—NEW AND THE RURAL EXODUS. By P.

OLD. Ry G . HOWRLL. W AnonsonGRAHAM.

THE CO OPERATIVE MOVE fi gmgfl

gggf

yfmm BY

A SHORTER WORK ING DAY .

MUTUAL THRI FT By Rev. J . Ey H . DE B. CIBBINS. D. .Litt. M . .A.

andFl our . W ILKINSON. M.A.

Wor“ madPROBLEMS OF POVERTY.

A. HORROR . M .A. Four th BACK TO THE LAND : Anlnqniry

THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS. wggwgmw W “

Professor

College.TRUSTS . POOLS AND CORNERS .

By ] . STEPHEN JEANS.THE ALIEN INVAS ION. Byw. THE FACTORY SYSTEM. By R.

H . W ILKINS. BA. w . Coon -TAYLOR.

A MANUAL OF ELECTRICALSC IENCE.

trations.THE EARTH . An Introductionto

Physi phy. By EVAN SHALL.

M A. llustra


Cain. u. “

P RACT I CA L C H EWI STg fl .

W by fl . M B.

MESSRS. METHUEN’S CATALOGUE

A GERMAN COMM ERC IAL PRECIS WRITING AND OFFICEREADER . W ith CORRESPONDENCE. By E. E

War rnz w . M.A. as.CO M ega, them .

gab, A GU IDE TO PROFESSIONS ANDByL.W . Lm . M.A. mm 8 05mm 87 8 -m mar.

21 .HE PR INCIPLES OF BOOKA PRIMER OF 8 08mm By 8» KEEPING BY DOUBLE ENTRY.

“momM-A Tim!“ u“ .

CO M M E RC I AL LAW. ByW .

LATIN VOCABULARIES FOR RF»PET ITION Arranged according to

Edi tion. Fm) . 8m 1 3.

A VOCABULARY OF LATINIDIOMS. Tana. Sd dition. u.FIRST LATIN READER. With

Notes ‘d‘pted go them h tin STEPS TO GREEK. SmndEdihm.

Rewind. Tm u.

A SHORTER GREEK PRIMER.

Cm Bw .A Y LEC§ESA1§

E9510110185 “SmEASY GREEK PASSAGES FOR

UNSEEN TRANSLATION. Thi r dEASY SELECTIONS FROM LIVY. GREEK VOCABULAR IES FOR

EASY LATIN PASSAGES FOR UNSEEN TRANSLATION . E igm1mm R a) »m. v . 64.

GREEK TESTAMENT SELECTIONS. For the use of Schools.EXEMPLA LATINA. Fir st [w oos

EASY LATINW ON THESYNTAX OF THE SHORTERAND REVISED LATIN PRIMER.

ofDr. Kennedy. KEY 3x. net.

THE LATIN COMPOUND SENTENCE : Rules and Exercises.Second Edi tion . Ch arm. v . 64. WithNOTANDA QUAEDAM :Miscellaneous Latin Exercises onCommon FRENCH VOCABULAR IES FORRules and Idioms. Pour /kEdi tion .

STEPS TO FRENCH . F ij i“ Edition. 38m. 84.

FIRST FRENCH LESSONS. PW

EASY FRENCH PASSAGES FORUNSEEN TRANSLATION . Four thE ditionmixed. Fax) . 800. u. 64.

EASY FRENCH EXERC ISES ONELEMENTARY SYNTAX. With

mm. Murmurs CATALOGUE

anus” . n od.

F R E N CH EX AM I NAT I O N GE R M AN EX AM I NAT IO NPAPERS IN M ISCELLANEOUS PAPERS IN M ISCELLANmUS

A Kn. issued to Tutors andH ISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY EX

P H Y S I C S E XAM I NAT I O NIN M ISCELLANEOUS GRAM PAPERS. By R. E ST

-

t n. M. A. .MAR AND ID IOMS. ByA. M . M.

8 1 1mmMA . amalgam GENERAL KNOWLEDGE E KAMINATION PAPERS.

GREEK EXAMINATION PAPERSIN MISCELLAN RAM.EOUS

AG

M, M ,

EXAMINATION PAPERS INENGLISH H ISTORY.

The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia - Forgotten Books

Documents