On wet days, or for a few succeeding days, the work is confined to carrying out blocks, which have either fallen from the walls or been piled up by the long succession of archæologists and gold relic collectors who have worked within the ruins. These are carried held up high over their shoulders at arms’ length, or else on the tops of their heads, where natives carry anything from the size of a pill-box to a 40 lb. load. They never carry anything with arms downwards. In fine weather, leaf mould full of roots and seeds, and past excavators’ soil-heaps are removed outside in boxes, the narrow entrances precluding the general use of wheelbarrows. Relics would be lost in the wet and clayey soil were it removed in wet weather. All the boys work _en masse_, each picks up his box or block, and when all are loaded up they start in one unbroken line for the débris heap outside, singing choruses with recitatives all the way out and on their return. The boxes are carried on one shoulder, a knobkerrie being used as a lever over the other shoulder to hold up the back of the box. The procession of boxes seems interminable—“Milkmaid,” “Armour Beef,” “Lime Juice Cordial,” “Highland Whisky,” “Raisins,” “Coleman’s,” “Mazawattee,” supplemented by buckets, but above all by “Nectar Tea.” Each box has a branded notice uncomplimentary to ships’ boilers. But “Nectar” is the great triumph of Zimbabwe. It is a huge box, carried on two short poles, with “Nectar Tea” emblazoned on its sides in blue and white. It courtsies and bobs its way to and fro in a most stately fashion, and after it has left the pile which is being removed, a great reduction in the débris remaining can be noticed. The boys have no particular affection for this omnibus. They are believed to _bulala_ (knock about) this box on purpose to ruin it, for several times a day they will bring it with no sorrow on their faces with the information that the box is _meningi gura_ (plenty sick), each time fatally _gura_, but a few nails cure it of its injuries. Long may “Nectar Tea,” in the interests of archæology, continue to courtesy and bob its way through the western portal of the Elliptical Temple. [Illustration: CARRYING OUT DÉBRIS FROM ELLIPTICAL TEMPLE, ZIMBABWE] [Illustration: A NOONTIDE SHELTER. WEST ENTRANCE TO ELLIPTICAL TEMPLE]