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
land, “and the gold of that land is good” (Genesis ii. 12). Instances,
in fact, occur almost everywhere from the remotest time down to the
founding of New South Wales, Nova Scotia, New York, and a hundred other
well-known places.
Chenga’s Ruin was absolutely unknown to white men, as also were the
Beroma Ruins, until quite recently. The local natives repeatedly
denied the existence of any ruins on the Beroma Hills, and this denial
on their part, so authorities on Makalanga customs say, is perfectly
natural and to be expected, for all the ruins of this chain, like so
many others throughout the country, have been used by the Makalanga
up to the present day as burial-places, and being well aware of the
clearing of the Zimbabwe ruins, they feared lest these other ruins,
too, should be explored. But since they have learnt that in the work
at Zimbabwe the graves have been respected, they appear to be less
nervous, and as it is known for many miles round that substantial
rewards will be paid for information as to other and fresh ruins, they
sometimes volunteer their information and offer themselves as guides.
Thus some nine additional ruins have now been discovered and inspected.
But the three ruins on the Beroma Hills which at strategic points guard
our path were found by the author on making a systematic search of all
the hills in the district of Zimbabwe.
From the ledge on the west face of the Beroma Range on which Chenga’s
Ruin is situated the ground rises gently towards a broad depression
in the western crest of the range into a long valley, which runs from
north to south and from end to end of the top of the hills. The path
after passing through the farmstead of David (a native teacher) passes
up the valley southwards for half a mile and then turns east at a
sharp angle towards the most southerly of the two depressions on the
eastern crest. Within a few hundred yards, on the right-hand side of
the path where it turns east, and on a low, rocky knoll, is a second
ruin—Beroma Ruin—which is well-built, and has a rather fine, rounded
entrance. The southern half of this ruin is now reduced to a few
piles of granite blocks. On the south-west side of this ruin is one
of “Sheba’s Breasts,” Marsgi. On the south side of the path is Sueba,
the other “Breast.” Half-way between Beroma Ruin and Sueba, and on
the south side of the path, is a cluster of tall, pillar-like rocks,
which look in the serene moonlight, and at a little distance, like a
cathedral built of white stone. The natives call these rocks Rusinga.
On the left-hand side of the path, on the ridge of the depression on
the eastern line of summits, is a tall column of huge boulders, which,
when seen from the south side, exactly resemble one of the soapstone
birds on beams found by Mr. Bent at Zimbabwe.
[Illustration: THE BIRD ROCK, NEAR ZIMBABWE]
[Illustration: VIEW OF MOTELEKWE RIVER NEAR GOBELE’S KRAAL]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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