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.