Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia: An account of two years' examination work in 1902-4 on behalf of the government of RhodesiaHall, R. N. (Richard Nicklin)
History
Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia: An account of two years' examination work in 1902-4 on behalf of the government of Rhodesia
Hall, R. N. (Richard Nicklin)
Great Zimbabwe (Extinct city); Zimbabwe -- Antiquities
_Morgenster_ (“_Morning Star_”) _Mission_.—One of the prettiest walks
from Zimbabwe is to this mission station, which is barely three and
a half miles distant in a south-south-westerly direction. The path
passes between the _Elliptical Temple_ and the _Bentberg_. About two
miles along the path and close to the right-hand side is Baranazimba’s
old kraal perched up high among the boulders of a kopje. The path
then crosses a nek between Baranazimba’s and the _Lumbo Rocks_, and
descends into a narrow valley and up a high ridge, on which, cutting
the sky-line, is a tall and prominent _Finger Rock_, which is only a
few hundred yards from the mission, which lies just over the ridge.
Morgenster is on a much higher elevation than the Zimbabwe Valley. The
walk is highly interesting to anyone fond of romantic scenery. Rugged
kopjes, with cliff-boulders on which huge granite masses are most
delicately poised, lie along the right-hand side of the path for a
great part of the distance to Morgenster.
The mission was founded in 1891 by the Rev. A. A. Louw, of the Dutch
Reformed Church, Dr. John Helm, the medical missionary, joining the
station in 1894. Several other European missionaries are attached to
the staff, and there are numerous outlying stations.
The mission settlement is ideally situated on the south face of a
high ridge overlooking the Mowishawasha Valley on the south and the
N’Djena Valley and Motelekwe River on the south-east. Its position is
marked by clumps of tall blue gum-trees. The buildings comprise the
residence of Mr. Louw, the houses of Dr. Helm and other missionaries,
and a school-house. Morgenster is celebrated for its banana plantation,
the number of its lemon trees, and its large irrigated gardens. The
Mahobohobo trees are very numerous in the vicinity of the station.
The district in which the mission is situated is known to the natives
as Amangwa, this being in former times the country of the once powerful
tribe of Amangwa, who were driven away from the Zimbabwe district by
the present local Makalanga on their arrival almost seventy years ago
from the Sabi district. A kopje within a third of a mile on the east
side of the mission was, until very recently, occupied by a local tribe
of Makalanga, who built up rampart walls of unhewn stones to fortify
the kopje against the attacks of the Matabele about 1893.
Morgenster is also celebrated for the immense panoramic view of the
Motelekwe Valley, extending for at least forty miles, where the
tumbling sea of rugged kopje summits fades into the blue distance.
The view is so extensive, impressive, and grand that one can never
tire beholding it. As far as the eye can reach the land can be seen
descending towards the south. The nearest point of the Motelekwe River
to the mission is four miles. There are a great many villages in the
valley.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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