The clearing of the Elliptical Temple and its vicinity has enabled Mr. Franklin White, M.E., Bulawayo, to prepare the latest and so far the most perfect plan of that building, and this he has kindly placed at the service of the author. Indebtedness is also expressed to Professor A. H. Keane, LL.D. (author of _The Gold of Ophir_), for the contribution of the _Introduction_ to this volume; to Mrs. Theodore Bent for generously permitting the use in this volume of illustrations from _The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland_; to Mr. Gray, Chief Veterinary Surgeon, Salisbury, Mr. H. S. Meilandt, Government Roads Inspector, Bulawayo, and Trooper Wenham, B.S.A.P., Victoria, for permission to reproduce certain photographs of the ruins, and also to the Directors of the British South Africa Company for permission to include the map of Rhodesia in this work. HAVILAH CAMP, GREAT ZIMBABWE, RHODESIA, S.A. _1st June, 1904_. INTRODUCTION BY A. H. KEANE, LL.D. An archæological work of absorbing interest, such as the volume here presented to the reader, needs no introduction. Nor are the following remarks meant to be taken in that sense, but only as a sort of “missing link” in the chain of evidence between past and present, between the Arabian Himyarites and the Rhodesian monuments, the forging of which the author has entrusted to me. In _The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia_, of which _Great Zimbabwe_ is the inevitable outcome, Messrs. Hall and Neal did not discuss the problem of origins, speculation was distinctly eschewed, and although their personal views were, and are, in harmony with those of all competent observers, they made no dogmatic statement on the subject, leaving the main conclusion to be inferred from the great body of evidence which they patiently accumulated on the spot and embodied in their monumental work. In _Great Zimbabwe_, of which Mr. Hall is sole author, and the rich materials for which he has alone brought together, the same attitude of reserve is still maintained, perhaps even more severely, and therefore it is that he has now invited me to develop the argument by which, as he hopes and I believe, the wonderful prehistoric remains strewn over Southern Rhodesia, but centred chiefly in the Great Zimbabwe group, may be finally traced to their true source in South Arabia, Phœnicia, and Palestine.