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
[Illustration: RAPPING THE MOJE-JE-JE, OR “MYSTIC BAR,” ZIMBABWE]
• • • • •
_Bingura’s[26] kraal._—This kraal, which is situated two and a half
miles west-south-west of Zimbabwe, is well worth a visit, the walk
itself being interesting and the situation of the kraal romantic.
Possessors of cameras will find at this kraal ample opportunities of
making “shots” at native life, as well as of taking typical views of
the Zimbabwe scenery. The path to Bingura’s crosses the valley lying
between Havilah Camp and Rusivanga, and then leads up through native
plantations to the broad nek on the horizon between Rusivanga and a
kopje just west of the western end of the Bentberg. On the nek is
another _Mojejèje_, or “Mystic Bar,” crossing the path, where it passes
over open granite. The ascent to the nek is for almost a mile, and the
path from the nek dips down the western side of the ridge into a wide
valley, and passes through the farmstead of a Basuto mission-boy named
“James.”
The kopje on the summit of which Bingura’s kraal is located is of
horse-shoe shape, and the huts of the kraal are along the line of
summit at intervals among huge boulders. The almost inaccessible
position this kraal occupies, and its rocky surroundings, is also
paralleled by the now deserted kraal of Baranazimba, which is on the
summit of a very high hill protected by precipitous cliffs, and lies on
the right-hand side of the path leading from Zimbabwe to Morgenster.
The men from this kraal, like those of Chenga’s, have not been spoilt
by contact with white men as are many of the men of Mogabe’s kraal.
So far Bingura has not yet left his natural stronghold, but the
probability is that once the neighbouring fields become poor through
over-cultivation he may, like his neighbours, move his kraal into the
open country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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