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)
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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
At 3.30 a.m. the six boys to carry blankets, food, cooking utensils,
survey and photographic apparatus, botanical case, insect bottles,
rifle, and a few tools, were waiting ready to start for the Majerri
Ruins in the Motelekwe district, some twenty miles south-east of Great
Zimbabwe. The moon was almost at the full, but would set an hour before
sunrise. This is the best time of day to start on a walking expedition,
as one may then hope to break the back of the distance before the sun’s
heat could be felt. Five boys took up their loads, each about 35 lbs.,
and our guide marched on ahead with the rifle. Our little party passed
down the Motelekwe track till the East Ruins were reached. It was
perfectly light and a greenish-grey mistiness invested the Valley of
Ruins, the Acropolis, and the Elliptical Temple. Walking silently we
passed through the ruins of the dead city to the point where the old
road to the coast leaves Zimbabwe.
At East Ruins the track to the upper reaches of the Motelekwe, and to
Arowi, rounds off at the foot of East Kopje towards the north-east.
Our path took us slightly south of east. But the Beroma Range looked
like a Titanic wall of granite cliff barring our passage in that
direction. “Sheba’s Breasts” (_Sueba_, black; _marsgi_, a corruption of
the word meaning bald-headed), a pair of bare and round-topped hills
on the southern end of the summit of the range, stand clearly against
the greenish sky, and above them the morning star is just appearing.
_Sueba_ is marked on all maps of Rhodesia as “Mount Sheba”; but the
names “Sheba’s Breasts” and “Mount Sheba” are very modern indeed,
dating back only to 1891. This pair of hills can very well be seen
from the Tokwe, where the old Pioneer Road from the Lundi crosses that
river. Evidently some member of the column familiar with Mr. Rider
Haggard’s works, knowing that Great Zimbabwe lay just behind those
hills, bestowed these names upon them, and so they have been known ever
since.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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