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
_Chicagomboni Hill_ (_Nini district_).—This is where the rediscoverer
of the Great Zimbabwe ruins, Adam Renders, a German-American, lived
from 1868 to 1871. Renders was known to the natives as “Sa-adama,”
and to this day the Makalanga speak well of him, and are particularly
anxious that all Europeans should know that everything which “Sa-adama”
bought from them he always paid for. Mogoma, an old man of exceptional
intelligence, is the native chief in this locality, and knew Renders
intimately, as the latter lived in his village and made it the centre
for his elephant-hunting expeditions, on which Mogoma often accompanied
him. One of Renders’ hunting “boys” still lives in the neighbouring
village of M’Tibi. Elephants in those days were very plentiful,
especially in the Beka and Mali districts. Renders, the natives say,
was a tall, strong man. He first arrived in Mr. Stokes’ wagon. Mr.
Stokes was a well-known preoccupation pioneer whose native name was
“Setokwe.” Mogoma’s kraal has been moved from the hill to the valley on
the south-west side. The chief states he never knew of the waterfall
near Renders’ hut as described by Mr. Philips, and certainly owing to
the formation of the rock it is difficult to see where there could have
been one. In other respects the description of the spot where Renders
lived in the Nini country (R. G. S. Journals, Dec., 1900, and Feb.,
1901) is accurate, save that Chicagomboni is eleven miles south-west of
Zimbabwe. Mogoma has distinct recollections of the visits of Dr. Mauch
and Mr. Philips to Renders about 1871, and states that Cherimbila, the
paramount chief, also visited Renders at this spot. Both Renders and
Dr. Mauch took Mr. Philips to see Zimbabwe, but they did not stay long
there.
After living in Mogoma’s village a little over two years, Renders moved
to Chirimbila’s kraal, a few miles north of Mogoma’s, and lived there
for three years, when he died. He was buried close to the kraal.
The Chicagomboni Hill is at the south-western extremity of the Livouri
Range, and on the west side has a precipitous drop of about 700 ft.
Half-way up the face of the cliffs is a narrow ledge running across
them, and at the northern end of the ledge, and on a raised rock
platform, was Renders’ abode, the remains of which can still be seen.
Mogoma’s old kraal was on this ledge. At the point where was Renders’
hut, the cliff, at a height of 60 ft. above the ledge, protrudes
outwards some 50 ft., thus forming a lofty and gigantic roof over the
place were Renders lived. This is known as _I-Baku_—the cave. There are
some narrow fissures in the face of the cliff which open out on to the
ledge, but not one of these is worthy of the name of cave. In these
Renders stored his trading goods and ivory.
[Illustration: FINGER ROCK, “MORGENSTER,” NEAR ZIMBABWE]
[Illustration: I-BAKU (THE CAVE), CHICAGOMBONI, ZIMBABWE, WHEREIN ADAM
RENDERS, THE REDISCOVERER OF GREAT ZIMBABWE, LIVED FROM 1868 TO 1871]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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