Among the Jewish customs of the Makalanga the following may be

noticed. (1) Monotheism and no worship of idols; (2) worship of, and

sacrifices to, ancestors—a practice condemned by the Prophets; (3)

rite of circumcision; (4) despising the uncircumcised: the taunt

of non-circumcision is commonly employed between disputants; (5)

purification and shaving of the head; (6) transferring impurity or

infection from individuals to some animal, which in some instances

is slain and in others purposely lost on the veld; (7) reception by

women of parties returning from hunting or war, as in the case of

Jephthah; (8) feasts of new moons and invocations to new moons; (9)

feasts of full moons; (10) offerings of first fruits; (11) defilement

by touching the dead; (12) defilement of eating flesh containing blood;

(13) abhorrence of swine as unclean; (14) sprinkling the worshippers

with blood; (15) places of refuge for criminals or people believed

but not found guilty of offending tribal custom;[30] (16) observance

of Sabbath, either every five or seven days; (17) marriage only among

themselves, but cannot marry into the same tribe; (18) casting of lots;

(19) sacrifices of oxen in times of trouble, such as drought; (20)

practice of espousal before marriage; (21) brother succeeds to brother

in office and property; (22) brother takes to wife the wives of his

deceased elder brother, and raising offspring, they rank in office as

if they were the children of the deceased; (23) a daughter does not

inherit property or position except on the death of all her brothers;

(24) rigid morality with regard to all fleshly sins, adultery and

fornication being punished with death and outlawry.

Additional parallelisms with Jewish customs could be stated, and all

these peculiar practices, together with the lighter skin and the Jewish

appearance of the Makalanga, distinctly point to the ancient impress of

the Idumean Jews, which can also be traced on the present peoples of

Madagascar and of the coasts of Mozambique and Sofala.[31]

Many of these customs are now falling into desuetude on the advance of

white civilisation. The Molembo tribe of Makalanga is noted for the

preservation and observance of the majority of these Jewish practices,

which are in character distinctly pre-Koranic in origin.

CHAPTER VI

RELICS AND “FINDS” AT GREAT ZIMBABWE, 1902–4 WITH DESCRIPTIONS,

LOCATIONS, AND ASSOCIATIONS[32]

1. SOAPSTONE ARTICLES

Sir John Lubbock once observed that one antiquarian relic found by

itself was no testimony as to any particular ancient occupation of

the spot at which it was discovered, but that the discovery of many

identical relics in one place, and under identical conditions, might be

considered as evidence of such occupation. Single specimens are known

to have been transported from one hemisphere to another during the

course of three or four thousand years.

At Great Zimbabwe it is not, except in a few instances, with single

relics that we have to deal, but with those found in tens and scores,

practically in identical and corresponding locations, and under

exactly similar conditions. So regularly are these relics situated on

certain floors that, with a few exceptions explained later, one is

always certain as to the class of relics which will be met with on any

particular floor which is being cleared. Of course, these relics and

“finds” are not distributed generally on their respective floors, and

frequently the realisation of one’s hopes of meeting with them were

greatly deferred, while on other occasions half an hour’s work yielded

them in quantities. Still, when once found, they were generally

abundant—at least, on those floors that were expected to yield them.

[Illustration: SOAPSTONE BEAMS WITH BIRDS, ZIMBABWE

_South African Museum, Cape Town_]

A small quantity of articles having claim to some antiquity were found

out of relative position to the bulk of similar relics. For instance,

phalli, which were found in quantities on certain floors in the eastern

half only of the Elliptical Temple, also at the Eastern and Western

Temples on the hill, and at Philips Ruins in the Valley of Ruins, have,

in some few instances, been found singly, but most frequently fractured

or damaged, in positions which could not have been those occupied by

any of the ancient inhabitants. Single specimens are sometimes found in

the débris piles immediately outside the entrances to the three temples

and Philips Ruins. Those found lower in such piles were no doubt thrown

out by old native peoples who would not be aware of their purpose. Some

of these have been converted into amulets or charms, while others are

known to have been used for making _daha_ (hemp) pipe-bowls. Those

phalli found in the higher portions of such débris piles are shown

by the stratification of the débris to have been brought out by the

numerous relic hunters by whom the excavated soil from the interiors

was deposited on these débris heaps outside. This experience extends

also to almost all the more antique relics found at Zimbabwe.

[Illustration: Section of Floors of part of N^o 15 ENCLOSURE Elliptical

Temple looking North-West & shewing locations of “Finds” 11902–31.]

The _phalli_ found at Zimbabwe must now amount to at least one hundred,

of which more than half have been found recently. It is very probable

that on further examination of the lower floors of these four ruins

other specimens will be met with. The phalli found vary in size and

design. The largest (Pl. I., fig. 6) stood 7½ in. high, was perfectly

plain, but highly polished. The smallest were seven-eighths of an

inch long, but each had its base bevelled and a ring carved round the

summit. Except where the base is fractured, all stand erect on any

tolerably flat surface. The bases show signs of extensive scratchings,

as if they had been constantly moved. The average heights of the

phalli are from two to four inches. Round the bases of many of the

recently discovered phalli are small bevels, sometimes in two circles.

The majority were unadorned, but their identity was unmistakable. The

more ornate specimens bore the “female breast and furrow” pattern,

one had chevron pattern round its bevelled base, several showed the

circumcisional markings, and on the top of one (Pl. I., figs. 12 and

13) were carved in relief rosettes formed of a circle completely

surrounded by eight small circles, the latter a pattern which is

frequently found on soapstone beams and bowls, and is also used to form

the eyes of one of the soapstone birds found at Zimbabwe.

Worked and decorated _soapstone beams_ have been found only in four

localities within the ruins’ area, viz. (1) the Elliptical Temple, on

the summit and at the bases of the main east and south-east wall

within the limits of the chevron pattern; (2) also in quantities on

the summit and at the base of the circular granite cement platform

which lies to the north of the Conical Tower; (3) on the summit and

at the bases of the north wall of the Western Temple on the hill; (4)

on the summit and at the bases of the arc wall of the Eastern Temple,

decorated with dentelle pattern and facing east; (5) on or near the two

granite cement platforms in the interior, and on the site of Mr. Bent’s

“altar,” also in the same temple; and (6) on the summit and at the

bases of the arc wall facing east at Philips Ruins, the fragments of

beams found at this latter place being exceedingly numerous. Splinters

of soapstone beams are found in the soil in the larger ruins, showing

that some of the beams fell from their position and became fractured

after the filling in with soil which took place at least one hundred

and fifty years ago. Few, if any, worked soapstone beams were found in

any of the Valley Ruins, save at Philips. All beams have been worked,

and the marks of the tools and their sizes can still be seen on many;

some are also carved, the chevron pattern predominating.

[Illustration: _PLATE I._ “Relics & Finds” Great Zimbabwe 1902–3

Methuen & C^o]

A portion of a soapstone beam, 2 ft. 6 in. long and 1 ft. 5 in. in

circumference, formed part of what is known to have been a very tall

and slender pillar, which was once surmounted by a bird. This stood on

the north wall of the Western Temple on the Acropolis, and was found

in 1902. The beam is completely covered with most delicately carved

chevron pattern.

A carved soapstone beam, 11 ft. high, which showed signs of once being

taller, stood on the platform of the Western Temple on the Acropolis.

It fell about 1890, and broke into two parts, and these Mr. Bent

removed.

A section of a soapstone beam (Pl. I., fig. 3), carved into rounds

resembling a chain of connected balls and decorated with spiral lines,

was found in No. 15 Enclosure of the Elliptical Temple, on the lowest

floor and 2 ft. below the foundation of the north-east wall of that

enclosure.

A curiously carved piece of soapstone (Pl. I., fig. 2), evidently a

portion of a beam, was found close to the circular platform in the

Platform Area at the Elliptical Temple, among the numerous soapstone

beams found at some depth at that spot. The fragment has so broken that

it resembles a slipper with a band across the instep. The whole face of

it is covered with small raised circular knobs.

Eight carved _soapstone birds_ and _birds on beams_[33] are known to

have been removed from the ruins prior to 1902, and they were mostly

found on the Acropolis. Two, it is known, were taken to Johannesburg

in 1890, and about the same time the lower portion of a bird (of which

the upper portion was found by the author in 1902) was removed and sold

to Mr. Rhodes. In 1891 Mr. Bent removed four birds on beams and also

the lower portion of another bird, but he did not discover any of them,

as the position of all these was well known to settlers both before

the occupation and previously to this visit, many attempts having been

made to buy these relics from the Mogabe Chipfuno, who persistently

refused to part with them. These four birds on beams and another beam

on which had once been a bird were standing more or less erect and

fixed in granite cement on the Eastern Temple on the Acropolis, which

for years previously had been used as a cattle kraal, and the holes and

places in which they once stood, and from which Mr. Bent removed them,

can be seen to-day. But on the authority of very early visitors, and

of the Mogabe Handisibishe, there are still two birds unaccounted for.

Possibly the mention of this fact may lead to their recovery. There

is a general belief that one of these birds is in a certain museum in

Austria, and this is quite possible, seeing that at least two Austrian

scientists have visited this country. The total number of birds

known to have been found at Zimbabwe prior to 1902 was eight.

[Illustration: FRONT, SIDE AND BACK VIEWS OF SOAPSTONE BIRD, ZIMBABWE]

In 1902–3 the author unearthed the upper portion of the fractured bird

(Pl. I., fig. 1), the lower portion of which was found on the Acropolis

in 1890, together with a section of the beam upon which it once stood.

The head, neck, and shoulders of this bird are 9½ in. long. Up the

neck, front, and back is a carved protruding rib. This portion of the

bird is in an extremely good state of preservation, and the carving

shows more artistic skill than do any of the birds on beams in the Cape

Town Museum.

In 1903 the author discovered the tenth carved soapstone bird on

beam. This was found in Philips Ruins, the most interesting buildings

outside the Acropolis and Elliptical Temple. The bird and beam, which

are still intact, were found on the east side of a high and massive

wall and at the south side of a small conical tower in the North-East

Enclosure of these ruins, being buried in soil and block débris to a

depth of 3 ft. It was upside down, with the base resting against the

side of the cone, from the summit of which it most probably had fallen,

as the cone, which is approached by two steps and a platform on its

east side, was covered with granite cement, while the base of the beam

bears marks of its having once stood embedded in granite cement. All

the birds at Zimbabwe found standing, with one exception, had the bases

of the beams fixed in excellent granite cement. This bird and beam are

undoubtedly not only in the best state of preservation of any yet found

at Zimbabwe, but show evidence of more artistic workmanship having been

bestowed upon them than any of those previously discovered. Up the face

of the beam is carved a crocodile 16 in. long, and round the _cestus_

beneath the bird’s feet, which is 3 in. deep, is carved work—on one

side a large double row of chevron pattern, similar to the pattern

on the east wall of the Elliptical Temple, and on the opposite side

a single row of chevron, surmounted by two large embossed circular

discs; the back edge of the beam is plain, and the front edge above the

crocodile has two small embossed circular discs. The bird stands 11

in. high, the total height of the beam and bird being 5 ft. 5 in., its

width 8 in. on the flat sides, and 2½ in. on its end edges.

_Miniature soapstone birds_ on pedestals have been found by other

explorers of Zimbabwe, but the writer discovered only a portion of one

of such birds.

In Mr. Bent’s work are given the opinions of several of the best-known

scientists of Europe, who, by means of the birds and associated relics

found at Zimbabwe, connect the worship carried on there with that of

the ancient Sabæan people of South Arabia, who worshipped the goddess

Almaquah (Venus), the Morning Star. See Preface, also pages 181–87 of

_The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland_.

The best-made _soapstone bowls_ are found on the lower granite cement

floors of the ruins and far below any native clay floors, the southern

side of the Acropolis, the eastern half of the Elliptical Temple, and

Philips Ruins yielding these in quantities. The fragments of bowls

with carved processions of horned animals, of which a dozen pieces

have recently been discovered, and which fragments represent different

sized bowls, were found only on the lowest floors, and these only on

the Acropolis. This was also the experience of Mr. Bent. But there is

an exception to this rule, viz. that the ancients, or some people of

a period prior to the Makalanga, had, on the bowls becoming broken,

thrown the fragments over the west and south edges of the Acropolis

Hill, where fragments may still be found among and under the wall

débris which has fallen down the precipitous sides of the hill.

Probably before these fragments became, at a later date, completely

covered by further falls of wall débris, native people of a remote age

converted some of these into slabs for the _isafuba_ game, and cut the

sets of game-holes on their flat bases and on the inside of the higher

rims, while they have also rudely scratched the usual native designs

on the opposite side to the carving—crude designs which are obviously

in striking contrast to the artistic work of the original makers of the

bowl. Such portions, and but a few only, have been found on very old

native clay floors on the Acropolis.

[Illustration: FRONT AND SIDE VIEWS OF SOAPSTONE BIRD ON BEAM,

DISCOVERED BY AUTHOR AT PHILIPS’ RUINS, ZIMBABWE, IN 1893]

The fragments of the soapstone bowls recently found vary in style,

size, and carving, and these fragments represent at least thirty

different bowls. Mr. Bent also found fragments representing some ten

different bowls, and as there still remain large areas of lower floors

to be opened out, there may be still further evidences of even more

extensive use of these articles by the ancients of all periods at

Zimbabwe. The diameters, judged by the radii of the segments, vary

from 1 ft. 1½ in., which is the smallest size yet found, to 1 ft. 3¾

in., the largest so far discovered. The heights of the outside of the

rims range from 2 in. to 3½ in., the majority being about 2¾ in. The

rims, which are all without flange, except in one instance, are from

1⅛ in. to 1⅝ in. in thickness. The bases of the bowls have about the

same average thickness, but in a few cases they are somewhat thinner.

The insides of the bowls from rim to rim are always beautifully flat

and smooth. The bottoms are thickly covered with fine scratches, as if

the bowls had been constantly pushed along the top of stone or fine

cement work. The insides of some of the bowls show signs of having been

subjected to very great heat previously to the breaking of the article.

It may well be imagined that bowls of these dimensions, cut out of

solid soapstone, itself an exceedingly heavy stone, must have been of

great weight, and that without considering any contents they might have

held.

A few bowls only were plain—that is, with no decorative pattern on the

outside—though all are finely worked, and the plainest has rounded

sides which slightly project at the top of the rim. The designs on the

relics vary, and include procession of horned animals (Pl. I., fig.

4), zebras, dogs, a bird, and a man. The decorations on the majority

of the bowls comprise (1) herring-bone, plain; (2) herring-bone on

cords, _i.e._ two parallel cords with their respective lines of strands

inclining opposite ways, and thus together forming a herring-bone

pattern; (3) cord pattern, the strands of the parallel cords both

inclining in the same direction. These cords in (2) and (3) are found

both vertically and horizontally. In the case of cord pattern of any

sort the cords are carved in lengths, the lengths being divided by

plain protruding squares at intervals; (4) circular discs sunk into

the surface, the discs being either plain or covered with rings within

rings till the centre is reached; (5) a chain of diamond-shaped panels

with centres completely filled up with lines parallel to the outer

lines.

A pattern (6) (Pl. I., fig. 5), new in Zimbabwe relics, was recently

found on the rim of a soapstone bowl discovered in Maund Ruins in

the Valley of Ruins. This consists of two wave bands crossing and

recrossing each other throughout their length, and thus making a

continuous line of perfect circles. This is very correctly carved, and

the artistic merit of its workmanship is equal, if not superior, to

that of any soapstone relic yet found at Zimbabwe.[34]

Among other soapstone “finds” made recently at these ruins are two

fragments of two _double claw-hammer-shaped ingot moulds_ (Pl. I.,

figs. 7 and 8), each fragment being the major portion of such mould.

These were cut into the broken section of an ornamented beam. Moulds of

this shape are not, therefore, necessarily ancient, though the form may

have been handed down from ancient times. Mr. Selous, some years ago,

discovered considerable quantities of copper ingot moulds in actual use

by the natives of Katanga, and these were almost the identical shape of

the ingot mould discovered by Mr. Bent at Zimbabwe. The Administrator

of North-Eastern Rhodesia reported in March, 1900, that ingots of

copper in the form of a St. Andrew’s Cross were common articles of

trade in the Katanga district. It must also be recollected that three

such ingots have been found in Southern Rhodesia. Though old, their

appearance does not in any instance suggest antiquity. The author,

taking these points into consideration, does not believe that the ingot

mould discovered by Mr. Bent can be any evidence of the occupation of

this country by the Phœnicians, and this opinion is further confirmed

by the locations of the moulds found. (See _The Ancient Ruins of

Rhodesia_, pages 128 and 141; also Appendix thereto, Note C.)

A straight _bar mould_ (Pl. I., fig. 9) which shows signs of

considerable use has also been found, but on an upper clay floor. It

is believed that this was used for moulding copper bars. The natives

of Kafue, the Molembo people of modern times, and the local Barotse,

all these being races of skilful copper workers, are known to have made

identically shaped copper bars.

Other soapstone articles include a _ball_, a few _whorls_, _amulets_,

and _daha pipe-bowls_, the latter being of Makalanga make, while it

would be extremely difficult to say to which period the other articles

belonged.

2. GOLD ARTICLES[35]

_Gold_ in almost every form has been found in quantities on several

of the lower floors of the ruins, and from its locations must have

been produced and worked, not only by ancients, but by very old Kafir

people, possibly under Moslem Arab supervision, for concave fragments

of Kafir pottery of a very far back period (and so pronounced by

Dr. Hahn and other experts) have been used as crude _scorifiers_,

and the gold can still be seen on them in the flux, while other

undoubted Kafir remains, some of which are claimed to be Makalanga of

an exceedingly old make, are found associated with the scorifiers.

The mediæval Makalanga, as early Portuguese records show, not only

produced gold but manufactured it, especially into gold wire. It may be

conjectured that this style of metal work was due to Arab influence,

for the earliest Portuguese records frequently testify that the Arabs

possessed important colonies in the country of the Monomotapa, colonies

sufficiently influential to mould the policy of successive Monomotapas,

especially as against the incursion of Portuguese, and that the main

purpose of the Arab intruders in the country was to obtain gold

and ivory. Until the last decade, when the cheap and ready-made

European goods became obtainable by the natives, the Makalanga can be

conclusively shown to have been a nation of metal smiths capable of

producing most excellent work, and of drawing very fine wire, while

to-day their art of making wire bangles and covering articles with work

in correct patterns is such that the difference between the quality of

the native work and that produced by machinery in Europe can hardly be

detected. It must be remembered, too, that previously to, and for some

time after, the occupation, it was possible to buy gold beads from the

natives in Mashonaland. These might to a large extent have been found

in ancient ruins, but the majority of such articles so bartered for

from the natives consisted of Kafir-made copper and iron bangles with

gold beads at intervals round the circle.

Gold and gold articles of the more delicate and artistic manufacture

belong mainly to the period of the ancients, but gold, as shown by

tradition, history, and “finds,” was also a product of mediæval

Makalanga, as can be further demonstrated by any excavator of very old

Makalanga floors, and of this the proofs exist abundantly.

The small _gold crucibles_ of granite clay similar to those described

on page 221 of Mr. Bent’s work, and found on the lowest floors and in

rock holes and fissures used for depositing débris, where they must

have been thrown away as rubbish after the small cakes of gold had been

removed, although they still contained in the flux large beady pieces

of gold. A large number of these have been found in positions where the

Kafir clay scorifiers are not met with. It would be well in considering

the “finds” of crucibles not to treat them with the pottery gold

scorifiers, for, so far as discoveries lead, they undoubtedly appear to

belong to entirely different ages.

Several sizes of _gold beads_ have been found. There is no doubt that

some places in certain enclosures of the older ruins will yield a fair

quantity when the soil on the lower floors is systematically treated.

Several beads are perfectly round, others are round but with flat ends,

others again show two facets encircling them and meeting at the widest

point.

_Beaten gold_ to the amount of about 6 ozs. was found on the lower

floors. This was discovered in the form of plates usually about 1½

in. to 2 in. by 1 in., each plate having small holes round the edges,

in many of which holes the gold tacks still remained. One piece was

wider at one end than at the other, and this is believed to have been a

sheathing encircling a section of a piece of ebony found with it, the

ebony stick being thick at the top and tapered towards the end. There

were remains of embossed designs on two pieces of beaten gold, one of

diamond pattern and the other a plain circle with curved radiating

marks.

_Gold tacks_ were most usually found with the beaten gold. These are of

microscopic size. The majority have wedged-shaped heads, and the others

flattened heads. It is believed that these tacks served to fasten the

gold sheathing on to wooden articles used by the ancients.

_Bar-gold_ and _gold-cake_ were found on the lowest floors in the

Elliptical Temple and North-East Passage respectively. _Gold dust_ is

found in certain enclosures only, but on the lowest floors. Over two

hundred pannings of the soil in various enclosures have been made. The

soil of some enclosures is absolutely destitute of any trace of gold,

so also is the veld soil brought into the ruins by native people over

one hundred and fifty years ago. In some places outside the ruins

pannings show gold, and pieces of beaten gold and gold wire have been

found in such places.

One complete _gold bangle_ of twisted wire, most artistically wrought

and weighing 2½ ozs., was found on the bed-rock in an enclosure on the

Acropolis Hill. Another complete gold bangle was found on the lowest

floor of No. 15 Enclosure of the Elliptical Temple. Short pieces of

twisted gold wire of various gauges have been found at several ruins.

Most of such pieces are parts of broken bangles.

_Gold scorifiers_ of native pottery were found in quantities on an

intermediate floor in No. 6 Enclosure of the Elliptical Temple,

together with a pair of iron pincers and Arabian glass. The report made

by Dr. P. Daniel Hahn, PH. D., M.A., Professor of Chemistry, South

African Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory, Cape Town, on these

scorifiers, is as follows:—

“The several fragments of scorifiers sent for analysis did not

all contain sufficient flux to be removed without being mixed

up with the substance of the scorifier. A fair quantity of flux

could, however, be separated in sufficient purity for analysis.

“The flux was composed of:—

Silica 77.616%

Ferrous Oxide .464%

Aluminic Oxide 6.703%

Lime 7.095%

Magnesia 7.421%

Gold .363%

Sodic Oxide .210%

Potassic Oxide .106%

“No Borate or Fluoride was found in the flux.

“The composition of this flux is remarkable, inasmuch as the

alkalies are present in very small proportion only, while the

alkaline earths prevail. Also the amount of silica is very

high.

“The flux melted readily when it was heated on a platinum lid

in a muffle furnace at the temperature required for expelling

auriferous lead.”

Dr. Hahn has further informed the author that pieces of scorifiers are

fragments of native pottery similar to that found in different parts of

South Africa, and he adds, “They are certainly not European but native

pottery.”

3. COPPER ARTICLES

Discoveries of copper in several forms are made on intermediate and

higher levels. So far no copper article has been found by any explorer

at Zimbabwe which could be claimed as being ancient, though doubtless

the ancients worked also in copper, and it is quite probable that

copper articles made in pre-Kafir times may yet be found. Such copper

articles as have been found show a decided Kafir form, the copper

battle-axes and barbed spearheads, bangles, beads, and wire-work

closely resembling the iron articles still made by the natives,

though of a somewhat superior design and make, and some of these in

all probability, judging by their location and the associated finds,

covered a period extending from mediæval times until comparatively a

few years ago. The floors and immediate vicinity of native huts of

the oldest construction yield copper articles abundantly, while later

native floors have a larger percentage of iron articles.

Three pounds’ weight of thin and narrow strips of _copper sheathing_

with tack-holes round the edges and copper tacks were found on one of

the higher levels, and at a depth of several feet below were granite

cement steps and buttresses of excellent construction. This sheathing

had evidently covered some wooden article.

The copper used in most instances is pronounced to be pure metal and

free from the usual alloys. The metal in these is of so pliable a

nature that _spearheads_ can be easily twisted by hand into almost any

shape. One spearhead was copper and tin, but the latter was present

in very small proportion. Several articles once thought to be bronze

are now pronounced to be of copper only. A small piece of a bar of

tin was found on an intermediate floor. _Copper wire_, mostly in the

form of bangles, is very plentiful on intermediate floors, also large

_cakes of copper_ and _copper slag_, but so far the actual remains of

copper-smelting furnaces _in situ_ have not been met with at Zimbabwe,

though judging by the amount of copper slag and _copper ore_ found at

the extreme east of the Acropolis ruins, copper-smelting was carried

on in that locality during the period when the gold scorifiers made

of native pottery were being used. Here were found portions of clay

_cupolas_ which had been used for copper-smelting, circular and deep,

about the size of a small teacup. The fine and delicate _copper chain_

found in Renders Ruins is believed to be of Arab origin, and used to

suspend the lamp-holder found with it. Pieces of a small _copper box_,

and several solidly made _copper bangles_, and _copper finger-rings_

in snake form with the extremities coiled, were also found in Renders

Ruins on the same level where the copper chain and several articles of

Arab origin were discovered.

4. IRON ARTICLES

Objects made of iron are found in all floors, but mainly on

intermediate and upper floors. Makalanga iron tools, ornaments,

weapons, and iron slag are found in great profusion on the upper

floors, especially in the black surface mould and among grass and shrub

roots. Modern native-made _iron hoes_ are as a rule without any sign

of bevel to strengthen the blade, but iron hoes with a peculiar bevel

down the centre of the blade on both sides are found among native

articles of a rather superior character and at slightly lower depths.

These latter have a depression stamped down the centre of the blade

which raises a bevel on the opposite face, while on the opposite

side another depression has been stamped parallel with the raised

bevel on that side, thus providing a rib on each face, which greatly

strengthens the hoe. This class of bevel has been pronounced by experts

to be an old form employed also in other parts of the world, and local

authorities on Makalanga iron-work assign this make of hoe to several

generations ago, while the Makalanga themselves state that such hoes

are found in very old deserted villages of their people, but have not

been made during their time, but used to be so made by their fathers’

fathers.

[Illustration: PLATE 2.

Methuen & C^o]

_Iron chisels_ (Pl. III., figs, 1 and 2) are found on almost all

floors, and were it not for noting the actual spots where they are

found and the associated articles, it would be difficult to state,

so closely do they resemble each other, which of them were antique

and which old or modern native. This difficulty is increased when old

Kafir iron-chisels and picks are found to be greatly corroded, while

some of the iron tools found in positions suggesting a great antiquity

are sometimes found in an almost perfect condition. The sizes of the

various chisels used by the ancients on blocks in the oldest portions

of the ruins, and also on the soapstone beams, are still clearly

distinguishable.

_Iron picks_ are found on older native floors, and these vary in make

and design, and may be classified as follows:—

(_a_) Double-pointed picks made of a short, thick piece of iron tapered

at each end, the middle part of which is held by a short iron handle

(Pl. II., fig. 11). These have also been found in old workings in

both Matabeleland and Mashonaland, and especially in the Mazoe and

neighbouring districts. Several of the early writers on this country

state that these picks had been supplied to their native labourers

by the mediæval Portuguese, but it is impossible at present to state

whether this belief be correct or otherwise. Certainly these picks have

been mostly found in districts once occupied by the Portuguese. There

is a character in the design, class of iron used, and the make that

does not suggest a native origin.

(_b_) An iron pick (Pl. III., fig. 3), similar to the one shown on

page 217 of Mr. Bent’s book, but in a better state of preservation,

was recently found at Zimbabwe. It is almost certain that this class

of pick once had wooden handles up the middle of which was a hole, and

through it passed the iron bar which bound the pick and the handle

firmly together.

(_c_) The pick (Pl. II., fig. 11) is formed by a bar of iron which is

bent back a few inches from the top, and in the front of the bend is a

hole running up the centre inside the bent-back portion, and into this

hole the haft of the pick is fixed. These have been found complete.

All three classes of picks are found on intermediate and upper clay

floors, yet the local natives affirm that they have never known them to

be made, though they are aware of their purpose.

Included in the finds of iron articles was a well-made _iron spoon_

with a long handle squared at the end. This was found among the Arab

belongings in Renders Ruins, also an _iron spearhead_ (Pl. II., fig.

16) with peculiarly designed spaces in its edges as if for inflicting

a more than usually serious wound. An _ornamented spearhead_ (Pl. II.,

fig. 15) with its point decorated with bead-like bevels diminishing in

size from base to point. An _iron lamp-stand_ (PI. II., figs. 17 and

18) with eight bent-up arms (with which was found 12 ft. of fine copper

chain in lengths of about 18 in. with pottery affixed at intervals) was

also found with the Arab articles.

_Iron bangles_, both solid and of wire-work, are found on upper floors

in the black surface mould and among grass roots. Some of these must

be exceedingly old, and in the wire bangles the fibre or zebra hair

(this, in some instances, being found intact), round which the wire

was twisted, has completely disappeared. In many instances some traces

more or less distinct of the fibre or hair still remained. Twisted

iron wire-work, evidently imported wholesale, has been found at one

spot only, and in great quantities in the form of coils, and not cut up

into lengths for use as bangles. The coils, which are now fused, must

have contained very many feet of this twisted wire. The same applies to

coils of twisted brass wire in large coils found also at the same spot,

which, as is shown later, was evidently an old Arab trading station.

_Iron nails_ (Pl. II., figs. 2 and 4) are not limited to any particular

floor, and are found almost everywhere in the ruins. But these vary

considerably in make. The oldest form of nail and the best designed

is that found at greatest depth. This is wedge-shape headed. Another

form of exceedingly old class of nails is that where the head is formed

by doubling the nail back for about half an inch. But the head is not

welded, the bottom part of the bent-back portion being slightly tapered

where it meets the side of the nail. These nails in several instances

were made difficult of extraction from the wood by being barbed and

notched, and in some cases, especially of a rivet class of smaller

nails, the nails, when the iron was hot, were twisted in the centre

only, and a rude sort of screw was thus made with protruding edges.

It can be seen that several twisting operations were required to form

these spiral bandings, and that these separate twistings do not connect

together as in a perfect screw. The larger nails are from 4 in. to 6

in. long, the rivet class varying from 1½ in. to 4 in.

_Iron shoes and collars_ once having served as bands round wooden

posts, possibly to keep them from splitting, especially in a climate

where there are daily such rapid changes from heat to cold, and which

plays such havoc with the modern imported timber. These bands, which

average almost an inch in width, generally passed twice round the post,

and the shapes of the circumference of the post are square, oblong

(these are the most frequent), or circular, but always perfectly

exact, showing that the ancients and older inhabitants of the ruins

used wood that had been specially shaped with tools, and not the rough,

unworked poles used by old and present natives, many of which can be

still seen never to have been touched with any tool save in cutting

it from the tree and in lopping off small branches. These shoes and

collars are found on very old floors, their greatest length or diameter

being 4¾ in.

One important fact is clearly demonstrated by the presence in

quantities on the older floors of nails and shoes, and it is that the

original builders and their more immediate successors extensively

employed woodwork in the fittings of all the enclosures, some of it

being of large dimensions, and in all probability worked with tools,

and not used in the rough state. The general distribution of these

nails and shoes throughout the enclosures, and at some depth, convinces

one that substantial wooden fittings once existed in these enclosures,

for the large sizes of the older forms of nails and the make of the

shoes and collars preclude any suggestion of many of them having been

used in woodwork which could have been easily removed.

A _forked iron instrument_ (Pl. II., fig. 5), with six gold bosses

riveted with gold on to the iron, is certainly of a very antique

character, though possibly not an article belonging to the original

builders, for the condition of the iron and its location, while

pointing to some antiquity, rather precludes any idea of its being

of the earliest date. This was found in the Western Temple at the

Acropolis ruins, at a point near, but not so deep as, the spot which

Mr. Swan styles “the centre of the arc of the curved and decorated main

wall of the Western Temple on the hill.”

The _iron pincers_ (Pl. II., fig. 2), found with the gold scorifiers

on an intermediate floor in the Elliptical Temple, are of simple

construction, and are made of a bar of iron tapered at each end and

doubled together, the doubled end being hammered close, but not

welded. Traces of flux are on the tapered points. A second pair of iron

pincers, but not in such good condition, were found on an intermediate

floor in the Acropolis ruins.

Some six pairs of _double iron gongs_ were also recently found, but not

in any position or associated with articles suggesting antiquity. These

were found on old Makalanga floors, also among grass roots and in black

surface mould. Yet the type and pattern of gong is undoubtedly ancient,

being found in Egypt and seen in the ancient paintings in that country,

but like the rod of iron, the pillow, the ingot mould, and a score of

other articles used not only by Makalanga but by other peoples of this

continent, the form and make of these gongs have been handed down from

time immemorial. The local natives know the use of these gongs, and

say that they were beaten with an iron striker (Pl. II., fig. 20), but

they have not seen any at Zimbabwe since they arrived seventy years

ago, nor can they say that their own people ever made them, but they

suppose that the old Makalanga, who, up to at least one hundred years

ago, are known to have lived in the Zimbabwe ruins, made and used them.

These gongs are known to local natives who have travelled, and these

say they have seen them in use in the Zambesia districts, where they

are used to greet the arrival of chiefs and the appearance of the new

moon, also as a signal of warning. The two gongs are bound together

by an iron band, which forms the handle. One pair was found on the

floor of a hut built on block foundations with the usual clay-rounded,

bevelled, and circular base, exactly similar to those on the filled-in

plateau of No. 1 Ruins at Khami (see Chapter VII., section “Native

Huts found in Ancient Ruins,” _post_, p. 152). The gongs found at

Zimbabwe average 16½ in. high, and their sides are hammered together

out of two thick sheets of soft iron. They have no clappers, and are

intended to be struck from without. They have frequently been found

in Kazembe country between the Zambesi and Lake Tanganyika, where

the natives state that the gongs are not made now, and that they are

very old (_Anthrop. Journal_, 1901, Article 39). Dr. Holub (vol. ii.,

p. 147) gives an illustration of a double iron gong of crude make and

design, still in use among the Barotse as a musical instrument. Sir

H. M. Stanley states that these double iron gongs were in use by the

natives of Urangi (Upper Congo), and also at Mangala on that river.

His illustrations of these gongs show great similarity to those found

in various parts of Southern Rhodesia. Several writers on South-East

Africa describe an identical iron gong still in use among the natives.

Each gong gives a different sound to its companion gong.

A _single iron gong_ (Pl. II., fig. 22) was also found among old native

articles. The gong is oblong, and has an ornament at each end made

of tapered strips of iron coiled into circles, and these ornaments

strongly suggest that the gong was only used when suspended. It is 13½

in. long and 5½ in. deep. No explorer in this country appears to have

seen a gong of this description. Its style and make are altogether

unique.

One iron rod or sceptre, 3 ft. 5 in. long, was also found in a position

not suggestive of antiquity. This was recognised by the natives as

the rod of a chief, being a native symbol of power. Some of the

dynastic chiefs of the Makalanga still possess these iron rods. The

end of the rod is bent back to form the handle. Mr. Bent says the iron

sceptres borne by Makalanga chiefs have their parallels in the north

of the African continent! Ruling “with a rod of iron” is a scriptural

description of despotic government.

Pieces of worked iron, with rings let through the top ends and

broadening at the base, where there is a different shaped hole of a

distinct form on each base, appear to have been _keys_ (Pl. II., figs.

7 and 8). These were found with the Arab belongings in Renders Ruins.

[Illustration: _PLATE 3._

—Relics & “Finds”—

Great Zimbabwe 1802–3.

Methuen & C^o]

There are still to be seen the remains of native _iron-smelting

furnaces_, one being in almost perfect condition, but all are

exceedingly old, and were found standing seventy years ago, when the

present Makalanga came to live at Zimbabwe. The “female breast and

furrow” pattern is on every native furnace. Portions of _blow-pipes_

and great quantities of _iron slag_ are found on the higher floors of

clay in several of the ruins.

5. BRASS ARTICLES

So far as investigations lead, no relics of brass have been found on

the lower floors of any of the ruins at Zimbabwe. But on the upper

clay floors brass in several forms is found in abundance. It will be

remembered that in 1514 Duarte Barbosa wrote, “The people of Monomotapa

come to Sofala charged with gold, and give such quantities that the

merchants gain one hundred for one.” This was written soon after the

first arrival of the Portuguese at Sofala, and given in a description

of Arab trade on the coast, which they found to be flourishing. But

before that period the Arab barter article for the gold was mainly

brass, though “coloured stuffs and beads of Cambay” were also used

for the purpose of barter, for the Arab trade with this country dated

back long before the arrival of the Portuguese. The Arab writer, Omar

ibn l’Wardi, stated (_circa_ 1200 A.D.), in alluding to South-East

Africa, “The most remarkable produce of this country is its quantity of

native gold ... in spite of which the natives adorn their persons with

ornaments of brass.” So to-day a native will gladly pay an enormous

amount over the cost price for any attractive-looking but shoddy brass

article. The brass ornaments of women weigh from 1½ lbs. to 3 lbs.,

while the men spend hours in polishing and rearranging their brass

bangles. Therefore it is not surprising that brass wire, brass wire

bangles, and solid brass bangles, should be found on the clay floors of

the ruins. The quantity imported as barter goods for gold must have

been simply enormous, especially in view of the prevailing custom of

these people from time immemorial to bury with their dead all their

personal ornaments.

There is one class of brass bangle that deserves some attention, and

this is found in positions suggesting a greater age than any other

finds of brass articles. This is a twisted wire bangle, but the wire

is flat and exceedingly narrow. In many of these the hair or fibre

round which it was coiled has disappeared with time. Coils of this

make of wire-work ready to be cut into lengths for bangles were found

in Renders Ruins. This and some coils of very fine rounded wire-work

were discovered in a fused condition. Brass beads both imported and of

native make are plentiful.

6. FOREIGN STONES

Every enclosure in the ruins at Zimbabwe which has been recently

examined yields stone altogether foreign to the granite formation

of the district. Many tons of _slate_ have been brought here from

a distance of at least eight miles, and also large quantities of

soapstone from a similar distance, while _dolorite_, once used as

anvils, was discovered, also _diorite_ used as hammers, _quartz_,

_jasper_ stone showing gold, _serpentine_ stone, _calcedony_ pebbles,

_crystal_ pebbles, _metamorphic slate_, _mica schist_, _ironstone_

and _copper ore_, and one or two small fragments of _flint_, and some

_natural wind-worn stones_ of peculiar form. A lithologist could

very easily add considerably to this list. Two pieces of water-worn

diorite of the shape of rolling-pins were found in the débris below

the Platform at the Western Temple on the Acropolis. The finding of

one such stone might not in itself be considered of any moment, but

the discovery of two such pieces similar in shape may possibly have

some significance for the student of the litholatrous practices of

the ancients. The same might be said of several stones discovered

here, many of which in quantities naturally assume suggestive shapes,

while some are of purely imitative forms and not artificially treated.

Several of the quartz pebbles showed gold very richly. All these, with

the exception of the quartz, ironstone and copper ore, were found on

the lowest floors.

There were also found water-worn stones, mostly slates, with artificial

depressions which had undoubtedly been used as tools, in some instances

as burnishing stones, these latter being found associated with the

older form of gold crucibles, and some of these had been most probably

selected on account of their shape admirably suiting the fingers of the

right hand. Some small slabs of slate found at considerable depths show

evidences of having been extensively used as whetstones for sharpening

edge tools.

About one ton and a half of metamorphic slate, called by Mr. Bent

“black slate,” and similar to that used in the mural decorations on the

north face of the wall of No. 11 Enclosure and on the north-east wall

of the Platform, was found among the débris in the Sacred Enclosure and

in Nos. 9, 11, and 12 enclosures of the Elliptical Temple, especially

at the base of the wall containing the pattern formed by means of

these stones. All loose blocks are now stacked together in the Sacred

Enclosure (west) at the angle formed by the Platform and the wall

dividing off No. 9 Enclosure. At least some four tons of these blocks

had been brought to Zimbabwe, the nearest point being on the Motelekwe

River, at eight miles east-north-east of Zimbabwe. It is somewhat

remarkable that no such blocks were found in the western half of the

Elliptical Temple, nor on the Acropolis, nor at any other ruin in the

locality.

Beds of small splinters of imported quartz have been found at several

points within the ruin’s area, the largest being on the west side of

No. 1 Ruins and on the north side of the summit of Rusivanga Kopje.

Splinters of quartz are found on all cement floors and on such floors

as are made of burnt clay. Some of the quartz showed traces of gold,

but most of the pannings were blank. It has never been supposed that

the original builders carried on extensive quartz-crushing operations

at Zimbabwe, but that the gold was brought to Zimbabwe in the form of

dust to be smelted into ingots, both for export and local manufacture.

Possibly the quartz was brought here for testing purposes, for these

people who were so well acquainted with the nature of quartz-mining

must have had some centres throughout the country where quartz could be

tested, and it is quite natural that the “assay office” of the ancients

for the surrounding districts might have been at Zimbabwe.

7. BEADS

In addition to beads of gold, copper, and brass, several other

descriptions of these articles have recently been found at Zimbabwe.

The most important are two large beads similar to one found by Mr.

Bent, and to which he attributed a great antiquity, also some broken

pieces of similar beads. These are black, and are covered with flowers

resembling primroses, and the flower is outlined by parallel white

lines. The spaces between these lines are filled in with dark brown and

violet glaze. These were all found at great depth. The local natives

had not seen beads of this make before.

Beads of ivory and bone, also opaque glass beads—green and yellow,

porcelain beads of sea-green colour and ribbed, have been found, the

glass and porcelain beads being quite unknown to the present natives. A

diamond-shaped calcedony bead,[36] some clay beads bearing chevron and

herring-bone patterns, were found on the lower clay floors.

8. WHORLS

Pottery whorls of about 1½ in. to 3 in. in diameter have been found in

hundreds. These were used by old natives for drawing the threads out

of a mass of cotton. A stick was passed through the centre, and the

bottom end was inserted in the cotton, while the upper part was twisted

round quickly between the palms of the hand. Most whorls are cut out of

fragments of native bowls and pots. Many old natives will explain how

they were used. These clay whorls are found in old deserted villages

and in Makalanga débris heaps. The native children search for them, and

use them as tops. It is said they were once also employed in creating

sparks for a fire, but to-day the natives twirl the sticks between

their palms without using a whorl. A few soapstone whorls have been

found, but not in any position suggesting antiquity. The Makalanga of

but a generation past were adepts in carving soapstone.

9. GLASS POTTERY AND CHINA

These finds are so numerous and diversified that they require a

special work for their proper treatment. Some two hundred specimens

selected from the bulk have been collected, and these with particulars

as to their locations and associated articles, with specimens found

elsewhere in Rhodesia, will be laid before an expert for technical

classification, when another avenue of research with regard to the

ancient and mediæval occupiers of this country, both native and

foreign, will certainly be opened up. Meantime a brief reference to the

finds, or some of them, will here suffice.

Two portions of glass prisms, fragments of Venetian glass of dark

green colour, being as thin and sometimes thinner than an ordinary

watch-glass, have quite recently been found. Sections of two bowls

of Arabian glass[37] covered with very fine and delicately engraved

tracery of scroll-work of flowers and tendrils. The engraving is so

minute that it can only be seen in a strong light.

Over and across the engraved designs are hand-painted flowers of

primrose shape, each flower outlined in white, light blue, and pink,

the buds being pink and white, and the stems a dark red. The shape

of the bowls was that of the modern finger-glass. All these were

discovered at considerable depths.

[Illustration: Arabian Glass

_Trace of Post-Koranic lettering.

Painted in Blue._

_Painted Flower._

_Inner circle_ _Torbay Red._

_Middle do._ _White._

_Outer do._ _Blue._

]

Most of the pottery was found in hundred-weights in débris heaps and

scattered throughout all the clay floors in all the ruins with the

exception of some enclosures in the Valley of Ruins. But such pottery

can be shown to be of native make. To anyone casually inspecting the

pottery it may appear as of one and the same make, save perhaps in the

colour of the clay of which it is made. But there are wide differences

in the pottery, both in the clays, the make, designs, ornamentation,

colourings, and also in their locations and in their manufacturers,

just as among the present natives.

The Barotse pottery, for instance, is of a more substantial make than

is that of any known period or tribe of Makalanga. The patterns are

large, bold, and entirely geometrical, and are coloured yellow, red,

or black, with the designs painted in strong contrast to the general

colour of the pot. Thus black patterns are laid on yellow and red

grounds, red patterns on yellow and black, and yellow patterns on black

and red. A collection of Barotse pottery made by Major Corydon from

north of the Zambesi is a facsimile in make and design of the Barotse

pottery found at Thabas Imamba, Khami, Zimbabwe, and other ruins known

to have been occupied by Barotse up to seventy years ago. A collection

of pottery from Khami which was brought for comparative examination to

Zimbabwe was at once claimed by the local Barotse as being of Barotse

make, while the local Makalanga not only emphatically denied that it

was of their class of make and design, but added that it was the work

of the Barotse people. The encircling bands of ornamentation on Barotse

pottery vary from 1½ in. to 3 in. or more in depth.[38]

Thus Makalanga pottery has its own peculiar characteristics which are

easily discernible on examination. It is generally found to be black

with a highly polished surface. The bowls and pots have a lighter and

more delicate appearance, and the excellent quality of clay used, and

its thorough manipulation, enables it to be much thinner in make yet

equally as strong as those of coarser make; the coloured decoration

also is altogether absent, while the pattern is more neatly executed,

and is enclosed in encircling bands of from only half an inch to one

inch in depth. Further, the Makalanga have always decorated their

pottery with protruding bosses of shapes and designs peculiar to

themselves, the female breast pattern predominating. There are at

least fifty different sorts of such protruding designs already found

on undoubted Makalanga floors, and these have been selected for

examination. The pot shown in the illustration facing page 90 of _The

Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia_ is of very old Makalanga work, of which many

scores are found represented at Zimbabwe.

Finds of native pottery bear no traces of the potter’s wheel. All

native pottery is made by hand.

Very common sun-burnt earthenware, more earth than clay, and very

light, is found in great quantities everywhere in the ruins, most of

this having no decoration.

Old Makalanga smeared the body of a pot with several thin coats of

different-coloured clays, and sections of such pottery show the lines

of smearings very distinctly.

The best quality of pottery was found on one of the lowest floors in

the Elliptical Temple. The fragments are very heavy for their size,

and the surface is coated with soapstone clay, giving them a light

greenish-grey colour. These must be exceedingly old if not ancient.

The china discovered includes Nankin china identical in every

particular with the Nankin china discovered at these ruins by Mr. Bent

and others, and with that found in Mazoe and so many other districts

where there still exist distinct evidences of occupation by the early

Portuguese. The china, or porcelain, is covered completely with a

highly rich glaze of bright blue and sea-green shades, and the articles

when pieced together resemble in shape, an ordinary soup-plate. The

edges are bevelled in sections of circles, the bevels extending in

fluted form to the base, where can be seen evidences of the use of the

potter’s wheel. The fragments found represent three different plates.

These were discovered at some depth, but not on any ancient floor.

One find made among the Arab belongings in Renders Ruins consists of

excellent china of a light brown colour, about a quarter of an inch

thick, and covered with a high glaze of blue, white, and gold enamel,

the white forming the background. There are at least four bands of

pattern encircling what was a large open bowl with upright edges. The

conjectured Arab lettering is laid on with blue enamel and is outlined

with fine scroll-work tracery in gold. The inside is glazed white, and

has lines of faint blue enamel artistically drawn without being of any

set pattern. The pattern on the lowest band is of palm fronds in brown

paint and in outline only.[39]

[Illustration]

Some very thin pottery covered with white enamel some inches only

down from the rim towards the outer and inner base, with thick

perpendicular bars of dull blue glaze. Excellent pottery of brown clay,

very thickly covered with glaze of sea-green and deep lake colours, was

found near the same spot.

10. A MEDIÆVAL ARAB TRADING STATION

One of the most interesting discoveries recently made was at Renders

Ruins in the Valley of Ruins. In a corner of one of the enclosures of

these ruins, and at some depth, and all within a few feet, were found

the glazed pottery with Arab lettering, an iron lamp-stand and copper

chain, an iron spoon of great age, copper snake-rings (pronounced not

to be of native make), and several other articles suggesting some far

back period of an Arab occupation, most probably of mediæval times.

Over this collection of finds was a deep bed of soil silted by rains

from higher ground, and on this surface were fragments of a Makalanga

clay floor broken up by the roots. The Arab traders gave the first

description of these ruins to the Portuguese, and Barbosa (1514), De

Barros (1552), and Livio Sanuto (1588), mention the existence of Great

Zimbabwe on the strength of information concerning it received from the

Arab gold and ivory traders.

In all probability this was an Arab trading centre of mediæval times,

and by “taking stock” of the barter goods, some corroboration of this

suggestion may be obtained. The “stock in trade” consisted of:—

2 pints of small yellow and green glass beads which are unknown

to present natives.

1 pint of similar beads of larger size, also unknown to present

natives.

100 (at least) porcelain beads, ribbed, and of sea-green

colour, also unknown to natives.

15 lbs. of twisted iron wire-work in large coils for making

bangles, and cut up into lengths for bangles.

5 lbs. of twisted brass flat wire in large coils also, not cut

into lengths for bangles.

5 lbs. of twisted brass rounded wire, ditto.

4 doz. brass flat wire bangles and a great quantity of

fragments of other bangles.

Cowrie shells.

The mediæval traders might have received the following from the

natives:—

2 elephant tusks (decayed).

2 wart-hog tusks.

20 (about) pieces of beaten gold.

Several pieces of broken gold-wire bangles.

As the Arabs traded for gold produced by the natives, and also for

ivory, no doubt they or the natives would fossick in the ruins, then

much clearer of débris, for gold which they or the Arabs might have

known was to be found in the enclosures. The beaten gold was all found

within a few inches, and though its edges were pierced with tack-holes,

pannings of the soil showed no gold tacks. As the Makalanga of those

times were at their zenith of power, it is quite possible they did the

actual searching themselves, and then parted with their finds to the

Arabs, who, as history shows, only occupied the land on sufferance, the

Arabs making their usual gain, which, according to Barbosa, was “one

hundred for one.”

It might well be asked why these old Arabs left their goods behind

them. The fickle policy of successive Monomotapas might be a sufficient

explanation of their apparently hasty exodus. According to Portuguese

records Kapranzine, the Monomotapa in 1620, sided with the Portuguese

as against the local Arabs, and the succeeding Monomotapa “Pedro” in

1643 maintained this policy. But the disappearance of the Arab traders

from Renders Ruins will in all probability always remain an unsolved

enigma. But one question may be asked with regard to the beads found

here—Were they “beads of Cambay”?

A large piece of coral still in perfect condition was found with the

Arab articles. It has been stated, with what truth the author cannot

say, that finely ground coral powder makes an excellent metal polish,

and that the Arabs and Indian metal-workers on the coast use it for

this purpose. Certainly the Arab traders up country would constantly

require to refurbish their brass goods, and so keep them attractive for

sale to the natives. Fragments of coral have been found in other ruins

at Zimbabwe, also at ruins in different parts of Southern Rhodesia very

much further inland from the coast than is Zimbabwe.

[Illustration: Section of Floors of part of N^o. 6 ENCLOSURE Elliptical

Temple looking South-East & shewing locations of “Finds” (1902–3)

1. _Modern Kafir articles & traces of Iron smelting furnaces._

2. _Excellent native pottery, pottery gold scorifiers, iron

pincers, beaten gold, Arabian glass, burnishing stones,

coral, very old yellow & green beads, large iron nails, crude

soapstone moulds, Nankin china._

3. _Fragments of soapstone beams._]

CHAPTER VII

NOTES ON ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE AT GREAT ZIMBABWE[40]

Introduction—Durability of Walls—Dilapidations—Makalanga

Walls within the ruins—Remains of Native Huts found in

Ruins—Passages—Entrances and Buttresses.

Since 1892, when the late Theodore Bent published his work on _The

Ruined Cities of Mashonaland_, and 1893, when Sir John Willoughby

issued his monograph on _Further Explorations at Zimbabwe_, though

much has been discovered concerning the varying architectural types of

ancient ruins throughout Southern Rhodesia, little has been added to

our previous meagre store of information concerning the important group

of ruins at Great Zimbabwe.

But in the work now in progress of preserving these ruins from

preventable decay and dilapidation, and of clearing away the block

débris from the faces of the walls and the huge piles of soil débris

deposited within the ruins by a long succession of explorers, both

authorised and unauthorised, there have been within the last two years

rescued from oblivion many important architectural features, the

existence of which was altogether unsuspected by previous writers. Many

of the interiors of the ruins are now exposed to view, thus enabling

examinations, comparison, and measurements to be taken which before had

been altogether impossible. Within the last eighteen months Zimbabwe

has revealed many of the long-buried secrets of the ancient architects

which were hidden from the eyes of Bent, Schlichter, and other

scientific explorers of the ruins.

Zimbabwe is stored with surprises for archæologists and antiquarians.

Absorbing romance is buried deep below its floors. Its soil is richly

charged with long-ungazed-at gold and prehistoric relics of high

intrinsic value. The mysteries of the absence in Zimbabwe of any

definite records in the form of inscriptions,[41] and also of the

non-discovery within the Zimbabwe area of the burial-places of the

ancients, have yet to be solved.

It has quite recently been held by scientists at home that the late

discoveries of ancient ruins in Rhodesia, with their classifications

into types and probable time-sequences and periods of distinct forms

of architecture, have so advanced investigations in this country

that, until similar work has been carried on among such of the ruins

of Southern Arabia as are believed to synchronise with, or be the

architectural prototypes of, the earliest of the Rhodesian monuments,

it would be idle to speak dogmatically as to the lands of origin of

the succession of ancient builders and gold miners who toiled so

industriously in this portion of South-East Africa.

Still, but so far only as authentic discoveries have been made, the

suggested occupation by the Sabæo-Arabians as outlined in chapter iii.

of _The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia_ affords for the present a good

working hypothesis for the student in Rhodesia whose aim should be to

closely watch the operations of archæologists and antiquarians in the

land of ancient Yemen, while at the same time recording with the utmost

exactness and fullest detail all and every possible architectural

feature of such of the ruins in Rhodesia as may fall within the

description of the First Period of Zimbabwe

Architecture, of which the Great Zimbabwe is undoubtedly a most

perfect example. This work will awaken the most piquant interest and

fascination, for in this direction may be found the definite solution

of our local problem as to which particular wave of the Semitic

migrations is responsible for the erection of certain of our ruins.

That the Great Zimbabwe will be found to be pregnant with clues to

solve the mystery is undoubted. Notwithstanding two years’ work in

clearing the ruins of fallen walls and silted-in soil, nine-tenths of

the ruins still remain practically buried. Sir John Willoughby, after

spending two months in exploring the Elliptical Temple with a large

staff of labourers, writes that it would take at least two years to

complete the exploration of that building, and this without touching

anything ancient or piercing ancient floors, but simply leaving the

building clear of all débris and just in the same condition, save for

dilapidations, as the last race of ancient occupiers knew it. If,

therefore, the Elliptical Temple would require this amount of time

to be spent upon it—and this is a fair estimate of work yet to be

done—then the Acropolis ruins must require at least a further three

years to be spent upon them, and this calculation does not include

the large number of ruins in the Valley of Ruins, which, if situated

elsewhere in the country, would be considered of major importance.

But the area of the Zimbabwe ruins, as known to Sir John Willoughby,

was only 945 yds. by 940 yds. To-day, after carefully searching the

surrounding kopjes, kloofs, and valleys, other ruins and walls, and

traces of ancient walls, can be found at a distance of a mile from the

Elliptical Temple. The Bentberg has its northern face covered with

walls. Rusivanga Kopje shows foundations of walls and débris. Near

Bingura’s kraal, a mile to the south-west, is a ruin, while extensive

beds of imported gold quartz—the nearest reef being some miles

distant—with piles of ancient blocks are to be discovered after a grass

fire in almost all directions within the distance of a mile, and fresh

traces of old peoples, other than those early Makalanga, are to be met

with in the course of almost every walk. Thus the probabilities of new

and important discoveries are incalculably great.

• • • • •

_Degree of durability of walls._—(_a_) As may be seen by anyone

inspecting the walls, as well as on perusing the published description

of many ruins of the earliest types, the elliptical and curved form

of building has proved the most durable. In many instances the

elliptical structures are more or less intact, while the angular and

less skilfully built additions, extensions, and alterations of a later

period have largely become ruinous and chaotic.

(_b_) This is accounted for by the more excellent workmanship in the

construction of the ruins of the elliptical type, which have far

broader foundations, are more massive, have a decided batter-back both

inside and outside, bonded courses, the blocks of each course being

more carefully selected, and the summits tied with “throughs,” while

the angular type of ruins, with their plumb walls built on straight

lines, with independent faces either side and carelessly filled-in

interiors, and a less superior workmanship, have caused these walls to

suffer more than the older type of ruins.

(_c_) Walls built on curved lines are in a far better state of

preservation than those built on straight lines, the curves having

served to strengthen the walls.

(_d_) Rounded ends of walls and rounded buttresses have proved to be

far more durable than angular ends or squared buttresses, though most

of these latter erections are obviously of a later date.

(_e_) The portions of divisional walls near main walls are in a better

state of preservation than the other portions which are in the open

parts of the ruins. This is owing to the protection and support of the

larger walls. Many of the divisional walls are practically independent,

and therefore more liable to collapse, but if not independent the

number of entrances passing through them practically makes them such.

• • • • •

_Dilapidations._—At Zimbabwe both the ravages of time, as well as

preventable damage during the last decade, have brought about the

wholesale destruction of walls as seen to-day in their dilapidated

condition. This is the plaint of all who have known the ruins since

the time of the occupation. These all bemoan the fact that on each

renewed visit to the ruins some wall is found to have disappeared, or

some new bulging out of the massive structures threatens serious and

immediate destruction, which no amount of lateral support or pinning

up can now possibly prevent. Many such visitors complain that the

decorative patterns are becoming less perfect. Photographs show this to

be the case. In fact, so much dilapidation has taken place within the

last few years that it is a common remark of pioneers that “the ruins

are becoming less and less every year,” while intense disappointment

and vexation are expressed by “old hands” when they revisit the temple

after an interval of a few years at the serious reduction in the height

of the Conical Tower. Photographs of the tower taken as recently as

1896 represent the summit as being higher than is seen to-day, while

almost every photograph taken within the last two or three years of any

single part of these ruins shows portions, if not the whole, of walls,

with their distinctive features that have completely disappeared. To

those who venerate these ancient edifices nothing can be sadder than a

comparison of the ruins as seen to-day with the ruins as they were some

years ago.

But before dealing with the dilapidations of later years it might be

well to examine the history of such of the dilapidations as can be

read in the wall débris heaps which line the bases of every wall, for

these débris heaps can be read with the same facility as one can read a

book. These dilapidations are what might be termed legitimate, being

the natural results of the ravages of time, which no means taken could

possibly have avoided, and which have extended for very many centuries

on end since the latest of the ancient occupiers disappeared.

In Tintern, Melrose, and many another old building at Home we have

ruins even now incomplete, owing to the dilapidations of but a few

hundred years. But the most ancient ruins of Great Britain, excepting,

of course, Stonehenge, the round towers of Ireland, the Druidical

circles of Wales, the stone circles and cloven stones of the Isle of

Man, and the reputed pagan temples found elsewhere, and certain of the

Roman remains of which at present little is known, possess histories,

and _Domesday Book_, and even much later records, state the names of

the actual builders of these castles and abbeys. These buildings have

a stamp upon them of modernity which is altogether absent at Zimbabwe,

in comparison with the age of which the term “ancient,” as applied

to those at Home, elastic as it is, sounds strangely inappropriate.

And yet after a comparatively short period of non-occupation of these

castles and buildings only sections of them can now be seen. Guides

will state that the walls have been quarried for material for farm

buildings, most probably for the erection of the adjoining mansion, and

that portions were destroyed by lightning.

But Zimbabwe, with its minimum age of some three millenniums,

stands far more firm, more intact, and complete than any one of the

comparatively few-centuried old ruins to be found anywhere at Home.

Planted in South-East Africa at over two hundred miles inland from the

coast, in the midst of populations that know nothing whatever of its

origin, Zimbabwe’s massive and imposing walls reveal even to the most

casual and indifferent of visitors the plan, purpose, and design of the

original builders. Yet has it been subjected for three millenniums to

the destructive agency of lightning storms, the frequency and severity

of which in South-East Africa are well known. Severe earthquakes must

have shaken its foundations, but the massive walls remain practically

intact. Arab tradition speaks of violent earthquakes in South-East

Africa during the fifth century, while the condition of some of the

ruins in Rhodesia, where the walls have fallen _en bloc_ sideways on to

the ground, testifies to frequent, general, and violent earth-movements

and earth-strains having taken place. The South-East African cyclones

passing over it during thirty centuries probably have caused further

dilapidations. Still, though so many walls at Zimbabwe remain more

or less intact, it would be impossible to estimate the extent to

which many walls may have suffered, or what have possibly disappeared

altogether from the effects of earthquakes, for it would be difficult

to suppose that these extensive ruins—some walls being built on the

actual brink of precipices—have escaped all the destructive effects of

earth-movements and storms which have occurred during the last three

thousand years.

The action of sub-tropical rains for centuries has destroyed whole

lengths of walls. For instance, a trench which occupied half a dozen

labourers two days to excavate was, after a heavy shower lasting but an

hour, completely filled up by mud streams from a higher level. There

is hardly a wall on the Acropolis Hill that has not had to bear some

added weight of silted soil from higher levels, and these in places

have been so extensive that when accumulated on the upper sides of

walls the effect has been to push the wall bodily over. In this way the

terraces of enclosures round the north, west, and south faces of the

Acropolis have in most instances been entirely filled up and buried,

while in others the outer and down-side wall has been burst through

and destroyed. Streams of water during storms of real African violence

have worn deep channels along the bases of some of the walls, exposing

the foundations which bridge across the holes, the water causing the

decomposition of the cement bed of the foundations and making the

wall throughout its complete height to sway downwards and to bulge

threateningly outwards. Some of these water-made holes up against the

bases of the walls contained damp and moisture all through the dry

season, especially those on the south side of walls where the holes

were protected from the sun. In as many cases as possible for the time

engaged on the preservation work (1902–4) these spots were levelled,

and catchment areas were made, so that for the future no rain-water can

lodge there, but the waving lines of the courses in the walls still

show where these holes existed.

In a similar way block débris falling from higher levels has lodged

behind lower walls and eventually pressed them over. In some instances

on the Acropolis a mass of walling has fallen from a great height and

completely demolished walls below. These were no gradual dilapidations,

but instances where sections of the higher wall had gone completely

over _en masse_. Such falls almost entirely explain the damage done

to the outer walls of the South-East Ancient Ascent, lengths of which

have evidently been made good by Kafirs of a very old period, as the

well-built ancient foundations can be seen below the later walls.

But some walls have also been seriously damaged by falls of huge slabs

and boulders from the faces of the granite cliffs, buttresses have been

broken, entrances and passages completely blocked up if not utterly

demolished. These falls, though later than the times of the ancients,

occurred very long ago, for the depressions in the cliffs from which

these slabs and boulders fell are now become weather-stained, but the

shapes of the depressions and of the slabs and boulders still agree. It

is conjectured that the gap in the central portion of the main wall of

the Eastern Temple was caused by the fall of an immense boulder from

the summit of the sixty-foot cliff on the north side of the temple.

By the moving forward of a boulder for six feet from the position it

occupied at the time of the ancients—and they had utilised this boulder

in forming the west entrance of the same temple—the entrance was

completely blocked up.

But there is a process of dilapidation going on continually, a

process which, judging by the débris piles, has been operating for

many centuries. When walking near a wall one has to be very careful

not to walk under any of the overhanging blocks on the summit of the

wall. Some of these blocks are very delicately poised on the edges of

the walls, so much so that it seems as if a shout would cause them

to fall. Wherever possible these blocks have been drawn back flush

again with the face of the wall, but in very many cases the walls

are so ruined that it would be dangerous work to do this. It is one

of the unfortunate effects of this ancient dry masonry that when one

block topples over a small cascade of blocks usually follows it. Such

falls, followed by cascades of blocks, are continually taking place.

One hears them night and day, especially after rains, and frequently

these cascades, especially those from walls above the precipice

on the Acropolis, will continue uninterruptedly for some minutes

together. There are many points in walls so threatening to collapse

that no builder’s art of shoring-up could possibly prevent their fall,

for sooner or later they must come down with a crash. Natives give

the information that from the time of their childhood they always

remembered these falls taking place when no one was near the walls.

Probably the noise of falling blocks, especially at night, has served

to inspire the local natives with some of the dread in which after

sundown they regard the ruins. After a heavy shower one can always find

some damage done to the walls. This is mainly due to the quantity of

silted soil behind walls, which, becoming overgutted with water, forces

the walls over. The only remedy, and that a partial one, would appear

to be to remove the silted soil from behind the walls, but to complete

such operations a large gang of labourers would have to be engaged for

many months. Still the complaint of the early pioneer that the walls

at Zimbabwe are gradually becoming not only less but fewer remains

perfectly incontrovertible.

But there is an infinitude of other causes working for the dilapidation

of the ancient walls at Zimbabwe, and some of these are undoubtedly

preventable. It was for the purpose of removing such causes of damage

that the recent work of preservation was undertaken on behalf of the

Rhodesian Government, and these operations it is the purpose of this

volume to describe.

The Great Zimbabwe, as also the many associated ruins scattered

throughout Southern Rhodesia, has been subject to wholesale destruction

of its walls by the growth of trees, the presence of damp, the falling

of immense trees across walls, the quarrying of its walls by past and

present natives for building material, for cattle kraals, and other

purposes. All the ruins at Zimbabwe afford ample evidences of the

ravages caused by vegetable growth, and no ruin appears to have escaped

some measure of destruction from this cause.

In 1902 the Elliptical Temple was found to be full of large trees of

immense girth, some being at least sixty feet in height. The shelter

from the chilly winds prevailing at night and in the dry winter

season, and the protection from damage to bark by grass fires provided

by the high and massive walls, together with the perpetual state

of damp from wet season to wet season prevailing within the walls,

the close, hothouse temperature most favourable to the promotion of

growth, provided an area in which trees and plants could flourish most

luxuriantly.

The trees within the temple are almost all hard woods of slow growth.

One tree, not by any means a large one, showed by its rings an age of

over a hundred years. The numerous fig-trees must be of great age.

The three immense hard-wood trees in the centre of the building may

possibly be a hundred years old. The rest of the temple was as full of

soft-wooded trees as space permitted, while the branches of trees near

the main walls crowded over the tops of the walls towards the outside.

Undergrowth of monkey-ropes, wild vines, thorn creepers, and large

bushes formed a dense jungle through which it was almost impossible to

pass, while the damp maintained the soil in a wet, soggy state, the

trees being covered with orchids and long, trailing festoons of lichen,

the shaded walls being one mass of creepers, green moss, lichens, and

ferns, and dripping with damp. Certainly such growth made the temple

beautifully picturesque, and added greatly to its weird, desolate, and

solemn appearance.

But a succession of “dust-devils” or “wind twisters” that very

frequently pass over the country in the breathless sultry hours of

noon passed over Zimbabwe on the second day after our arrival, and at

once demonstrated what damage the trees were inflicting on the ruins.

Branches were set crunching and thumping on the summits of all the

walls, soft-wood trees bent and swept the walls of loose blocks, two

huge hard-wood branches remorselessly scraped noisily up and down the

sides and on the top of the Conical Tower, while small trees growing

on the actual summits of the walls shook and bent and still further

loosened the blocks among which their roots extended. During the few

minutes these “twisters” lasted the labourers studiously avoided the

walls from which the ancient blocks were falling. Under every branch

that crossed over a wall was a deep depression in the summit caused

by the branch thudding upon it. Many of the trees growing close to

the walls had, with long years of banging against the side of the

wall, lost all their bark on their inner sides, and these had become

perfectly flat. All this havoc, caused by rocking trees and sweeping

branches, and by huge broken limbs falling upon interior walls, must

have been going on for many years. The effect has been to cause the

removal of the “throughs,” ties, and large bonding stones with which

the ancients secured the summits of the walls, and these once gone

the wall was subject to rapid dilapidation. Later, during high winds

which prevailed for some days, it was most distressing to hear the

noise of the trees grating and heavily beating against the walls,

and the constant falling down of ancient blocks. The effects of such

destruction can be seen to-day in the broken edges of the summits

and in the deep depressions which occur at intervals along the lines

of both main and divisional walls. Even the chevron pattern has been

irretrievably damaged by branches of trees growing outside the temple,

while the little tower in the Sacred Enclosure has, within the last few

years, been thrown over by a huge branch.

But in 1902–4 all trees growing near walls were felled, all projecting

branches and rotten limbs were removed, as well as all trees which

caused damp to collect on walls, while a general thinning out was made

of all branches which interfered with a general view all round the

building. Such trees as had done all the possible harm they could do

and all trees standing at a distance from walls were left standing.

The result has been to make the temple less “picturesque” than in its

neglected state, but it still remains picturesque. The temple now

appears to be larger, and its massive proportions now made visible

stand out far more prominently than before.

The present trees appear to have been the first that ever grew within

the temple area. In the soil removed from ancient floors there were

no signs of any older generations of trees having existed. The first

appear to have arrived with the soil brought in by the past Makalanga

in the course of their usual practice of converting ancient enclosures

into platforms on which to erect their huts. The trees evidently

flourished in the soil made rich by huge piles of bones of oxen and

buck, the remains of feasts and sacrifices. Except in a few instances

where rain-water was unable to escape, and has caused the ancient

cement flooring to become decomposed, the roots of the trees rarely

pierce below the ancient floors, the surfaces of which are covered with

matted roots closely interwoven in masses like the roots of a large

plant growing in a small pot.

The jungle growth of small trees, bushes, and creepers would seem to be

the result of excavators, who have broken up the hard clay floors of

the old Makalanga and thus ventilated the soil below, as those places

where most excavation work has been done have produced the greatest

quantities of trees and the densest jungles. Until the whole of this

foreign soil is removed down to the level of an ancient floor this

jungle growth will always spring up afresh.

But the growth of creepers such as monkey-rope, wild vines, and a

climbing plant known as “Zimbabwe creeper,” has wrought untold havoc,

but mainly on the faces of the walls. These creepers pierce into the

joints of the dry masonry and emerge at a point some feet higher up.

Later the branch inside the wall swells and forces out of the face of

the wall all the blocks between the points where it enters into and

emerges from the wall. This destruction of the walls by creepers is

seen in many places at every one of the numerous ruins at Zimbabwe.

Monkey-rope at the Elliptical Temple and wild vine on the Acropolis

have been the most destructive agents of any of the creeper plants. The

“Zimbabwe creeper” was found to be growing on the temple walls with

its roots on the summits. This plant covered the main walls as with a

thick green mantle, at some points completely hiding the entire surface

of the walls. It also had its roots in the interstices of the Chevron

Pattern, from the blocks of which it hung in festoons of over one

hundred-weight each. This constant strain on the pattern has effected

some destruction in addition to the injuries caused by the overhanging

boughs of trees. The dilapidation of the walls of the Elliptical Temple

is fairly typical of the dilapidations at all the ruins at Zimbabwe.

But there are also minor causes for the dilapidation seen in the walls

outside the larger ruins. The restless herd of some seventy cattle

belonging to the Mogabe climb the lower walls with ease, and will walk

along their whole length clanking the ancient blocks, and awkwardly

clamber down broken ends of walls and gaps, bringing down a cataract

of blocks as they descend. Some two hundred goats appear to live on

the walls. Large baboons can be seen taking their morning exercise on

the walls of the Acropolis, and as these scamper about and chase one

another the blocks fall off the walls. Natives pull out the faces of

the walls to secure honey, or in ferreting out small animals for food.

It must also be remembered that the ancient walls have been quarried by

Makalanga of past times and even by the present local Makalanga, all

of whom have extensively used the ancient blocks for their inferior

walls. But perhaps the greatest amount of dilapidation was effected

when the large enclosed areas of the ruins were filled up and converted

into raised platforms. In these instances, which are very numerous, the

divisional walls suffered most, the blocks from their summits being

thrown into the area till the interior was raised from 4 ft. to 7 ft.

above the ancient floors, when clay floors were laid upon the filling

in.

On entering the Elliptical Temple of the Acropolis one of the first

questions asked by visitors is—Are all these walls ancient? It is to

the interest of our local archæological researches that such a question

should be fairly dealt with, and the frank admission made that certain

of the walls are not ancient. In examining the evidences against the

antiquity of such walls a further proof is secured, were it needed,

that such of the walls as are ancient possess undoubtedly the true seal

of antiquity.

_Makalanga walls within ancient ruins at Zimbabwe._—It would be

preposterous to expect anyone who visited the ruins to believe that

every single wall one saw at Zimbabwe, whether at the Elliptical Temple

or on the Acropolis, was necessarily ancient.

Some of the slighter-built walls within the ruins, which are of poor

construction, and were once thought to be ancient, can now be shown

to have been built by the Makalanga, the evidences of whose long and

successive periods of occupation of these ruins are not only most

obvious to all explorers and are confirmed by finds and conditions

generally, but are a matter both of actual history as well as of

tradition among the local natives themselves. Some of the ruins have

been used by them for kraals, others—the smaller ones—were converted

into cattle kraals with the huts outside the walls, while some have

served both purposes. It is highly probable, judging by the state of

the wall-débris, that the natives, in converting an ancient enclosure

into a cattle kraal, have found portions of the divisional walls to be

so dilapidated that they have rebuilt those portions after their own

peculiar and recognisable fashion in order to keep in the cattle, at

the same time building up gaps and entrances.

While, according to statements of natives and judging also from the

state of the ruins, there has been no occupation of the Elliptical

Temple as a place of residence for the last three generations,

still there are Makalanga walls to be seen, both here and in the

Acropolis, at which latter ruins was the kraal, till four years ago,

of the present Mogabe; and on the Acropolis are walls of Makalanga

construction, both old and comparatively recent. The western enclosures

of the Elliptical Temple have been used as cattle kraals up to the

early seventies.

The following are some of the evidences of Makalanga construction of

walls within the ruins:—

(_a_) The definite and circumstantial claim of the Makalanga to have

built certain walls, and their ability to assign particular generations

for the erection of other walls.

(_b_) The construction of such walls is identified with obvious

Makalanga buildings in their kraals, where there are no ancient ruins.

The purpose of the later walls is in many instances patent, especially

when the smell of the modern byres still lingers in the soil of the

areas used by natives as cattle kraals enclosed by such walls.

(_c_) Stones once part of the faces of ancient walls are used in the

construction of those walls, the weather-stained, lichen-covered, and

decomposed faces of the blocks being turned inside the walls either

sideways or backwards, while the walls show no sign of age, and have a

comparatively fresh appearance. Slate and granite monoliths, as well

as ordinary slate beams which had once been lintels, have been used as

building material.

(_d_) Débris heaps of ancient blocks have been used as foundations, and

sometimes these heaps acted as sections in the length of wall.

(_e_) Frequently such walls are built in a very irregular line along

the almost buried summits of ancient walls, and across filled-in

entrances and even passages, the foundations of such walls projecting

from underneath the Makalanga walls on either side.

(_f_) Some of the Makalanga walls are built over damp, black leaf mould

containing undecayed vegetable matter and also ordinary Kafir articles,

the mould being over a stratum of red clay foundations of Makalanga

huts, and with two or three feet of soil and stones between the clay

and any floor below for which antiquity could be claimed. Makalanga

pottery has been used to support and wedge up uneven ends of blocks.

(_g_) The made foundations of Makalanga walls are of common clay, those

of ancient walls being of a splendid quality of granite cement.

(_h_) Nothing ancient or even approaching to antiquity is ever

discovered on the levels of the bases of Makalanga walls, but round

about their bases quantities of Makalanga articles may be found, some

perhaps of better make and quality than now produced by them.

(_i_) Local natives can to-day build very fair stone walls, but these

have straight joints and are without tie or bonding, the courses are

most erratic, and the line of wall wavering. The common feature of

Makalanga wall construction is to build the stones up exactly over one

another, giving the appearance to the wall of being built on columns.

Their stone walls of cattle kraals can be seen in many deserted

villages, as well as other of their walls where there are no ancient

ruins. The Makalanga graves in the passages, both in the Elliptical

Temple and in the Acropolis, were very well built in with cross-walls.

(_j_) The Makalanga since mediæval times have always been known as

builders in stone. Their circular hut and granary foundations of stone

can still be seen in many parts of the country, especially on the

clay floors of filled-in enclosures of ancient ruins of the terraced

order. This art is mentioned by Mr. Selous and by almost all writers

on this country before the Occupation, and pioneers and early settlers

have affirmed this to be the case. Bent gives the names of Makalanga

villages which he visited where these contained stone buildings of

native construction. The names of other villages where such buildings

are to be found are given by other writers. Bent actually saw their

stone-building operations being carried on at Chipanza’s kraal.

Professor Bryce describes a Makalanga village with stone buildings, but

just as the arts of mining, smelting, wire-twisting, and cloth weaving

are now fast disappearing on the advent of the cheap imported article,

and on the natives finding other objects upon which to spend their

time and labour, the art of stone building is becoming neglected. Old

pioneers visiting the ruins are unanimous in affirming that such walls

so built and so conditioned are of undoubted Makalanga construction.

There are stone buildings at Cherimabila’s kraal, nine miles west from

Zimbabwe. Mr. Drew considers the Barotse to be now the best stone

builders in this district.

• • • • •

_Other walls not ancient._[42]—But there are other walls in these ruins

which are not believed to be ancient, and these have not been erected

by recent generations of Makalanga, but possibly by mediæval Makalanga,

or by Arabs, who had large influential colonies in this country,

especially at the various Zimbabwes of the successive Monomotapas.

The arguments against these walls being ancient are just as numerous

and equally as cogent as those just enumerated, but the consideration

of such walls is dealt with in detail in the description of the walls

themselves.

• • • • •

_Remains of native huts found in the ruins._—In many of the enclosures

of the ruins at Zimbabwe are to be found on the present surfaces, and

frequently, if the floor of the interior is not formed by the rock

formation, on two floors beneath it, the remains of at least three

entirely different descriptions of native huts. This is a feature

constantly met with in ancient ruins throughout Southern Rhodesia,

and in the early days of investigation these remains occasioned

considerable perplexity to the explorer. In some ruins only one type of

such structures is found, in others two classes of such dwellings, and

in others three if not four different types of structure, all the three

main types presenting different features in plan, construction, and

material.

That these erections are not ancient is a matter of ocular

demonstration.

(_a_) This is shown by their position on the clay floors laid over the

débris which has been filled into the enclosure to the depth of

from 3 ft. to 7 ft. above any ancient floor, hiding rounded entrances,

passages, and smaller sub-divisional walls, and burying, as at some

ruins, the ancient decorative patterns on the walls. The examination

of the material employed, and the class of its make so similar to the

remains of native huts in old deserted villages, all negative any

suggestion of antiquity.

[Illustration: AN OLD WALL CROSSING OVER THE FOUNDATION OF A STILL

OLDER WALL, ZIMBABWE]

[Illustration: BINDING OF THE SUMMITS OF TWO SEPARATE WALLS, ACROPOLIS

RUINS]

(_b_) The stonework of the foundations is, as is shown later, of a

totally different character from that in undoubted ancient walls, and

is practically identical with the stone foundations of granaries still

to be seen in any of the villages, some of which are not twelve months

old.

(_c_) The “finds” in these structures do not suggest ancient

occupation, but they include articles of superior native make and

design, some of which are either not now used by Makalanga or Barotse,

or are only met with in rare instances, but are claimed by local

natives as having been made and used by previous generations of their

people. For instance, double iron gongs, such as are plentifully found

north of the Zambesi and in the higher Congo districts, where they may

still be seen in actual use, pictures of which occur in works of travel

in Central Africa; or copper bangles of exceedingly fine wire, which

ornaments have fallen into desuetude and can be but seldom met with

now; or carved soapstone daha pipe-bowls, for the making of which the

Zimbabwe Makalanga, even at the time of the Occupation, were famous.

(_d_) Several of these structures at Zimbabwe are claimed by the local

Makalanga and Barotse to have been built by their respective people of

previous generations. The Barotse lived on the Bentberg at Zimbabwe

up to fifty or sixty years ago. The remains of their old kraal can be

seen to-day. The circular shallow stone foundations of their huts,

the courses rising in “cat-steps,” the immense rounded clay rims

which supported the poles of the sides of their dwellings, are still

in evidence. These were erected on platforms made by filling in the

spaces between the inner sides of ancient enclosure walls and the slope

of the hill, a practice to be noticed on all the faces of Zimbabwe

Hill, except the eastern.

The different types of such structures so found in the ruins may be

described as follows:—

(1) The ordinary clay ruins of a present-day Makalanga hut, with clay

floors, butt-ends of side poles still in position, clay ruins on floor

marking off the fire-place, the stand for pots, the higher floor for

sleeping-place of occupants and the lower floor for goats. These are

found on the present surface or immediately under black leaf mould

soil, and resemble huts built in local kraals, only they are neater,

of better make, and of slightly superior quality of clay. The articles

found here are similar to those belonging to present Makalanga.

(2) The foundations of huts with large rims of clay with rounded

edges on both sides, the diameter being some 9 ft. to 12 ft., and the

rims 16 in. in length and about the same width, the poles being fixed

along the centres of the rims. The material in the floor and in the

rim is of a superior quality of clay, which builders state it would

be misleading to describe as cement. Under the clay floors, which are

about 3 in. thick, are platforms of stones laid flatwise in three or

four courses, the outer faces of the courses receding from 1 in. to 3

in. behind the faces of the courses below. Sometimes the stonework is

laid upon a bed of clay. This class of hut is found upon a lower level

than the undoubted Makalanga dwelling. In the Eastern Temple this type

of remains was uncovered at a depth of 3 ft. below the surface, and

there were no less than two clay floors, each with a layer of ashes,

and two granite cement floors below it. These can be seen in the trench

made alongside the stone foundation. Glass beads of old make, copper

spearheads, and thick copper bangles, beaten copper and copper tacks

were among the principal finds discovered in this type of building.

In and near such remains were found the four double iron gongs (May,

1902-March, 1903), piles of animal bones split open in ordinary Kafir

style for marrow, broken pottery, and quantities of ashes.

(3) On still lower levels were found the floors and lower portions of

the sides of huts made of a red-coloured cement without poles fixed in

the cement sides. This is not ordinary daga. The inside faces of the

walls, as well as the floors which are beautifully smooth, have been

baked with fire, and fragments will ring almost like metal, portions

having become white with the heat. This cement has in most instances

been faced with a thin yellow glaze. On the floors are quantities of

small rims very neatly bevelled, with three or four parallel faces on

the top, the ends of the rims being rounded off. The bevelled rims

are from 1½ in. to 4 in. wide. The roofs of these buildings were

supported by poles inserted in the cement floors outside the huts at

the distance in many instances of 1 ft. The posts round the outside of

the huts were from 1 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. 4 in. apart, and, judging by

their butt-ends, which have been preserved by the cement, were made of

hard woods, including mahobohobo, which is plentiful at Zimbabwe. The

best examples of these huts, of which some score can be seen, are in

No. 1 Enclosure in the Elliptical Temple, in the North-West Enclosure,

Acropolis, and on the cleared section of floor in the Western Temple.

These huts stand on cement platforms without stone foundations, and the

platforms are about 1 ft. high, and the top edges are neatly bevelled.

In two of these remains at Zimbabwe have been found gold dust, iron

spring pincers with flux on the top, pottery, gold scorifiers, and the

crudely-shaped soapstone moulds.

Old pioneers assert that these buildings are of Makalanga construction.

The Makalangas themselves claim these as having been built by their

people in a very remote past. Similar buildings, but without traces

of gold-smelting, are known to have been built by the Makalanga in

different parts of Southern Mashonaland.

Mr. Alfred Drew, Native Commissioner for Victoria district, who

arrived in this country in 1890, and is a recognised authority on old

Makalanga buildings, expresses his entire agreement with the above

descriptions of old native clay huts, also with the conclusions arrived

at concerning them.

(4) There is another class of native hut which is not very frequently

found in Southern Rhodesia, but is commonly met with in Basutoland

and Swaziland, and in other territories further south. At Zimbabwe

there are four such huts on the higher floors of filled-in ruins. This

class of hut is constructed of cement of a good quality and of great

thickness, with no poles to support the roof. It is circular in form,

and from its exterior sides are four, sometimes five, short radiating

walls of stones extending outward some 5 ft. or 6 ft. The walls are

about 4 ft. wide, and in height reach almost to the top of the cement

sides of the hut. The entrance usually has an immense cement buttress

on either side, while between each radiating wall, and at the base of

the side of the hut, runs a cement bevel rounded on its outer edge as

if to form a seat. This bevel is about 14 in. high and 16 in. wide. In

all weathers and at any time of day the occupiers could have sat in

some one of these partially open spaces between the radiating walls

sheltered from sun, rain, or wind. The remains of two such huts were

found in the Western Temple on the Acropolis, and one of the radiating

walls of one of them, which was more exposed and less ruined than the

other short walls, was fixed upon by Swan as an “altar.” This wall is B

wall, mentioned in the description of the Western Temple, which follows

in Chapter XV.

• • • • •

_Passages._—Every writer on Zimbabwe appears to have been greatly

struck with the number of passages both at the Elliptical Temple and

on the Acropolis, and particularly with their labyrinthine character.

During 1902–4 further passages were discovered and opened out, and

these had a total length of 2,130 ft. The total length of passages

opened out, or which can be clearly traced, now amounts to 5,202 ft. As

is shown later in this section, this by no means exhausts the tale of

passages to be found at Zimbabwe.

_Elliptical Temple_:—

Situation of Passages. Cleared. Traced.

Parallel Passage 193 ft.

Inner Parallel Passage 71 〃

South Passage 73 〃

*West Passage 30 〃 30 ft.

*South Entrance to No. 10

Enclosure 14 〃

_Outside Elliptical Temple_:—

Outer Parallel Passage 125 ft.

*North-East Passage (remainder

of length included in the

“Valley of Ruins” passages) 50 〃

_Acropolis or Hill Ruins_:—

South-East Ancient Ascent 349 ft. 1260 ft.

Higher Parapet 78 〃

Central Passage 103 〃

*Sunken Passage, Eastern Temple

(traced further) 28 〃

North Passage, Eastern Temple 23 〃

*South Cave Passage 46 〃

Covered Passage (cleared in 1902) 10½ 〃

Parallel Passage 71 〃 20 ft.

*Cleft Rock Enclosure to foot of

Platform stairs 10 〃

Winding Stairs 14 〃

Upper Passage 28 ft.

East Passage 80 〃

Buttress Passage 39 〃

*South Passage 38 〃

Pattern Passage (upper portion

cleared in 1902) 51 〃

_North-West Ascent_:—

*Sunken Passage in Platform

Enclosure 72 ft.

Ditto through main wall 16 〃

Ditto on Northern Parapet 28 〃

*Ditto from Northern Parapet to

Visitors’ Part 223 〃

*Ditto from Visitors’ Part to

Water Gate 150 〃 510 ft.

_Minor Ruins_:—

*Outspan Ruins 56 ft.

Ridge Ruins, Parallel Passage 246 〃

*Ridge Ruins, other passages 25 〃

No. 1 Ruins 142 〃

_Valley of Ruins_:—

*North-East Passage 600 ft.

Passage referred to by Mr. Bent 300 〃

*Posselt Ruins, Parallel Passage 65 ft.

*Philips Ruins 51 〃

*Maund Ruins 24 〃

*Mauch Ruins 99 〃

*Renders Ruins 31 〃

————————— —————————

Totals 2,752 ft. 3,620 ft.

* These passages were discovered in 1902–4.

In addition to these totals of lengths of passages cleared out or

traced, there are many other passages still buried in débris, the

outcrop of their side walls being seen here and there on the surface

near several ruins. Many, of course, must be completely buried under

the veld, for some were lately discovered at least 3 ft. below the

surface, with native paths crossing them in all directions, while it

is quite reasonable to suppose that with the great area of ruins yet

unexplored very many more passages will yet be found, especially when

it is recollected that the discovery of one buried passage has most

frequently led to the discovery of several side passages.

Traces were found of two other passages leading from the base to the

summit of the Acropolis Hill, and these remain unexplored, and each

would be fully 900 ft. in length, while traces of several lines of

passages are to be seen encircling at various heights the south, west,

and north faces of the Acropolis Hill. These also at present remain

unexplored.

There are many points of interest concerning these passages:—

(_a_) Passages were evidently constructed as part of the plan of the

fortifications, but in some instances only as means of communication

between certain buildings within the fortified area and for securing

privacy. In the one class of passage buttresses and traverses are

repeated with a marvellous redundancy; in the other class of passage

not a single buttress or traverse is to be found.

(_b_) In passages leading from main ruins to exterior buildings the

walls of the passage nearer the main ruins are better built, and the

steps and floors are better constructed in the portions nearer the

main ruins than are those of the more distant portions of the passage.

So imperceptibly do the better-built portions merge into the less

superior class of wall that it is extremely difficult to ascertain the

exact point where the change in the quality of the construction takes

place, though the difference in the class of building at one end of

the passage and that of the other is most obvious. But though this

difference in the construction of the passage walls is so apparent,

there is no suggestion that portions were of a later period, for

they are built upon one plan, have one line of direction, serve as a

complete communication with one obvious and particular point, and one

length of the passage without the other would be purposeless, so far

as the intention of the builders may be gathered. With regard to the

passages ascending the Acropolis Hill, the completeness of the plan of

these passages is best seen from the summit of the hill or from the

summit of Makuma Kopje on the opposite side of the valley, from which

heights respectively a complete view of those passages in their entire

length is to be obtained.

(_c_) Excepting some of the passages in the Elliptical Temple and a few

others on the Acropolis, all the passages at Zimbabwe are exceedingly

narrow and tortuous, many being only shoulder wide, while, owing to

their winding lengths, it is not possible to see many feet on ahead.

Such of these passages as have their floors below the levels of

adjoining enclosures have in many places their side walls bulged by

the weight of earth and débris behind into the passage-ways, and in

some such instances the side walls have collapsed and blocked up the

passages.

(_d_) Almost every passage appears to have originally been paved with

blocks which were covered over with granite cement, but the cement,

except in a few instances, has decomposed and been washed away by

centuries of rains, though abundant traces of it remain.

(_e_) Sunken passages built very much below the levels of the ancient

floors on either side of them are numerous. The best instances of

sunken passages are the North-East Passage between the Elliptical

Temple and the Valley of Ruins, also the North-West Ascent to the

Acropolis (upper portion), and the sunken passage in the Eastern

Temple on the Acropolis.

(_f_) The walls of the ascents to the Acropolis as originally built

would have precluded any outsider from seeing, even if standing on

an adjoining kopje, the movements of people passing up and down the

ascents; and to-day as a native ascends these passages it is almost

impossible to see him till he reaches the summit, except as he is

passing gaps or walls which have become considerably dilapidated. Some

of the outer walls of these ascents are still 10 ft. in height.

(_g_) The Elliptical Temple and the Western Temple on the Acropolis

have each long and narrow and deep parallel passages on the inside of

their main walls, and it is possible that the Pattern Passage served

for a similar purpose at the Eastern Temple. The Parallel Passage in

the Elliptical Temple communicated only between the North Entrance and

the Sacred Enclosure where are the conical towers, and this passage has

no communication with any other portion of the interior of the temple.

Several of the known writers on these ruins, including Bent, have

conjectured that these parallel passages in the temples were reserved

for the use of the priests.

(_h_) Cliffs and large boulders have been frequently utilised to form

lengths of passages. Instances of this practice are to be seen on

the Acropolis in the Rock Passage of the South-East Ancient Ascent,

Buttress Passage, North Passage, and elsewhere. In some instances the

walls are made to go out of their line so as to include neighbouring

boulders, the sole object, so it would appear, being to deprive any

invading force of the vantage offered by the height of the boulders for

an attack to be made on the passage.

(_i_) There are no evidences that any of the passages, except as stated

later, were ever roofed. Possibly the winding stairs and the sunken

passage in the Eastern Temple were originally covered over, as a great

quantity of long, flat slate beams were found on their floors. It is

believed that a single wall once crossed over the sunken passage in

Platform Enclosure at about 15 ft. from its upper end, for when this

passage was opened in 1902 slate beams were found at this spot, but at

no other point in the passage. The passage through the main west wall

of the Western Temple, which was blocked up by a Makalanga-built wall,

of course, was covered over by the main wall, while the Covered Passage

in the same temple remains intact as originally built. Moreover, the

widths of many of the passages though narrow on their floors are

wide at the summits of their side walls, and their irregular form

precludes suggestion of any roofing having been placed over them, some

being doubly as wide as the longest of the slate and granite beams

found, beside which the general absence of long slate and granite

beams on the floors of the passages would seem to further negative

any such conjecture. The West Passage leading to the South Cave was

not artificially roofed over, but the outer wall was raised up to the

height of the boulder which overhangs the passage.

• • • • •

_Entrances and buttresses._—When in 1891 Bent approached Zimbabwe

through North Bechuanaland, Gwanda, Tuli, and Belingwe, he passed

through the centre of that area in which the earliest of the many

ancient ruins of Rhodesia are located. All the ruins he described or

mentioned had rounded ends of walls and rounded buttresses, all angular

features being conspicuous by their absence. This fact appeared to

him so striking that he was constrained, after comparing these ruins

with Zimbabwe, to believe that such rounded features belonged to the

earliest period of Zimbabwe architecture. Fully a score of competent

writers on our ruins, whose valuable and trustworthy contributions,

based on personal examination of the same area, have been welcomed by

the leading scientific associations of Great Britain and Germany, are

also emphatic as to the rounded entrances and buttresses being one

of the chief distinctive features of the earliest Zimbabwes. This is

further demonstrated in the detailed descriptions of almost one hundred

ruins within the same area which are given in _The Ancient Ruins of

Rhodesia_, in the great majority of which ruins angular features,

except in reconstructions of a later period, are altogether absent.

[Illustration: South Entrance N^o. 7 ENCLOSURE Elliptical Temple

W. _Divisional Walls_ B. _Buttresses_ s.s. _Steps_]

But the Great Zimbabwe being the finest type of that early class of

ancient building, it may be interesting to know that Bent’s conclusion

is thoroughly confirmed by these ruins.

ENTRANCES

Ruins. Rounded. Angular.

Elliptical Temple 23 1

(One other entrance is partly

rounded and partly angular.)

Acropolis 31 4

(One of the angular entrances is

of obviously later construction.)

No. 1 Ruins 10 1

(One entrance is partly rounded

and partly angular.)

Valley Ruins 33 4

BUTTRESSES

Ruins. Rounded. Angular.

Elliptical Temple 24 Nil.

(Two buttresses are partly angular

and partly rounded)

Acropolis 19 3

No. 1 Ruins 8 Nil.

Valley Ruins * *

* All rounded except three as so far discovered.

All ends of walls which are still intact are rounded, there being only

a few examples so far discovered of angular-ended walls.

[Illustration: North Entrance N^o. 7 ENCLOSURE Elliptical Temple

W. _Divisional Walls_ B. _Buttresses_ s.s _Steps_ P. _Portcullis

Grooves_]

The above figures show conclusively that these rounded features,

excluding the ends of walls which are almost always rounded, are in a

far greater proportion than 146 to 13 which are angular, and at least

three of the latter, if not others, for reasons explained elsewhere,

can be shown to have been erected at a much later period, one being

built upon a floor of common Makalanga daga, and another débris

containing ordinary Kafir articles of no very great age.

All the entrances in the main outer walls, save one, are rounded, the

few angular entrances being found, with two exceptions, in slighter

walls, mainly divisional, some of which were erected later possibly to

suit the immediate convenience of later occupiers, for divisional walls

had been removed, reconstructed, or entirely fresh ones erected in new

directions in almost every ruin, and in some instances the foundations

of the later walls cross at right or oblique angles over the reduced

summits of older divisional walls.

Walls of the earliest period widen out as they near entrances. This

feature is not present in plumb and angular walls of later construction.

There is no evidence whatever in the rounded entrances that they were

ever covered over, but in two angular entrances on the Acropolis the

butts of the broken slate lintels still remain in the side walls.

Although there are not sufficient proofs to enable one to definitely

determine whether the rounded entrances as a rule were once covered

over, some of the evidences to negative the covering in of rounded

entrances may be noted:—

(_a_) Had such entrances been roofed in, the collapse of the lintels

must have brought down far more of the walls than have fallen.

(_b_) The courses of the blocks at the necessary height above the floor

of the entrances on either side do not always correspond.

(_c_) The top courses near the summit of the walls on either side

of the entrances show distinct signs of curving inwards towards the

entrances. This is particularly noticed on the east side of the

north-west entrance to the Elliptical Temple.

(_d_) No splinters of slate or granite beams which could have been used

as roofing were found in any of the very many rounded entrances.

(_e_) Two intact rounded entrances, one open up to the summit on either

side to a height of 19 ft., one entrance being at the east end of

Pattern Passage on the Acropolis.

No main entrance has buttresses on either hand on the outer side,

possibly because these would have provided any attacking party with

excellent shelter. All buttresses of such entrances are on the inside.

Divisional entrances which have buttresses have them on the inside only.

The entrances through a wall of the earlier period are carried over

the common foundation in the opening forming the steps, which were

evidently constructed before the side walls were erected. These steps

are large, broad, and high, and where intact look most imposing. Such

entrances resemble stiles, as they are much higher than the levels of

the floors on either side.

The entrances through an angular wall of a later period have steps

which are not part of either side walls, but were built in after the

entrance passage had been constructed, and these show poor workmanship

and are very shallow, and recede only two to four inches. As the levels

of the enclosures on either side have filled in over the original

floors, such “cat-steps” have in some instances been built over the

original large steps for the purpose of raising the floor of the

entrances, seeing that the enclosures on either side had been filled in

some feet above their original levels.

Directly opposite the main entrance of the “Outspan Ruins” is a large

circular buttress, as if it were intended to divide any attacking party

into small numbers.

• • • • •

_Cause of dilapidation to entrance buttresses._—The entrance buttresses

with portcullis grooves are in most instances comparatively small, some

projecting only two to three feet towards the interior of the building,

and these are built up against main and divisional walls, and are in

point of construction altogether independent erections, there being no

dovetailing or binding between the buttresses and the walls.

In some of the entrances the side lintels of slate, granite, and

unworked soapstone beams have been found built into the portcullis

grooves. In _The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia_ it was noticed that at

several of the ruins therein mentioned stone side lintels were found

_in situ_. The stone lintel posts _in situ_ at Zimbabwe had not then

been discovered. The tallest of such stone lintels at Zimbabwe is 8 ft.

above the ground. The buttresses appear to have been built after the

stone posts had been erected, for the walls at the sides of the lintel

follow the irregularities of the side faces of the beams.

The great destruction which has occurred to these structures might

possibly be accounted for by (1) the weight of the stone lintel on

getting off the perpendicular, which would lever down the buttress into

which it was built; (2) the foundations of buttresses are not so deep

as those of the main wall up against which they were built; (3) when

some later people, possibly natives, deliberately built up and blocked

the entrances they might have used the blocks of these buttresses

for their building material; (4) the passage-way between each pair

of buttresses being so very narrow, damage could easily have been

wrought by ordinary traffic; and (5) the main walls are much higher

than the summits of the buttresses, and the walls on either side of the

entrances being always more dilapidated on the summits, the falling of

huge masses of masonry on to the buttresses immediately below might

have effected their destruction.

CHAPTER VIII

NOTES ON ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE AT GREAT ZIMBABWE

(_Continued_)

Drains—Battering of Walls—Monoliths—Soapstone Monoliths and

Beams—Granite and Slate Beams—Cement dadoes—Built-up

Crevices—Holes in Walls other than Drains—Blind Steps

and Platforms—Ancient Walls at a Distance from Main

Walls—Cement—Caves and Rock Holes.

DRAINS IN ELLIPTICAL TEMPLE

_Drains through main walls_:—

1. At (352 ft.);[43] from Parallel Passage to exterior of temple; has

a decided fall outwards; curves round at half through towards south;

covered with large slabs; inner hole 1 in. below granite cement floor

of passage, which slopes downwards from either side towards hole;

interior opening 14 in. high, 9 in. wide; exterior opening, 12 in.

high, 6 in. wide.

Between Nos. 1 and 2 drains the cement floor rises a few inches to a

raised step-barrier 4 in. high, 3 ft. 10 in. broad, from which the

flooring slopes down to No. 2 drain, thus forming catchment areas for

each drain to clear off rain-water, so that each drain only had such an

area to clear which its capacity would allow.

2. At (391 ft.); from Parallel Passage to exterior of temple; decided

fall outwards; curves towards north-east; covered with large slabs;

cement floor of passage level with floor of drain; interior opening 11

in. high, 11 in. wide; exterior opening 17 in. high, 11 in. wide.

[Facing this drain and on the west side of the passage is the drain

(No. 7) from No. 14 Enclosure, described later.]

3. At (442 ft.); from Parallel Passage to Outer Parallel Passage;

fairly straight; steep fall outwards; covered with large slabs;

interior opening 12 in. high, 8 in. wide; exterior opening 15 in. high,

6 in. wide. [It was from this drain that fragments of cement lining

were taken.]