I t signifies, could have originated and developed in
South Africa, for such a development would have
required a very long time, and would have implied
at least a long and peaceful settlement in the country ;
and although the builders of Zimbabwe may have
long possessed the place, yet it is apparent that they
never considered the country was their own. This
is clear from the nature of their defences and the
strength of their fortifications. Had they lived long
enough in the land to alter or develop any of their
arts independently of their mother country, they would
have left a deeper mark on their surroundings than
they have; besides, living as they must have lived,
they could not have increased in civilisation, nor developed
any of its arts, and we may assume that they
had their architecture as well as their religion in
common with their mother country. The balance of
probabilities seems to be in favour of that country
being South Arabia ; and when it and Abyssinia, with
which it was so long associated, are better known, we
may find temples which are built of similar small
stones and with similar mathematical and other
peculiarities in their construction. Our information
of these countries is meagre, but some of those buildings
which are known in Yemen, which seem to combine
temple and fortress in one, as on Zimbabwe Hill,
may have been built by the same race that constructed
Zimbabwe ; and the elliptic temples at Marib and
Sirwah, and the one at Hakab al Hajar, with its north
and south doorways seeming to indicate an observation
of the meridian, may embody some of the mathematical
principles illustrated by the ruins of Mashona
land.W
hen the original builders of Zimbabwe have
been traced to their home, it will remain to discover
who were their successors in Mashonaland that rebuilt
the western wall of the great temple and some portions
of other buildings, for this certainly was not done by
any of the present negro races.
There is nothing to show that even these walls
do not belong to a now far distant time; for although
they would not long remain in this country,
yet at Zimbabwe they might endure for an indefinite
period, for there, in a clear atmosphere free from dust,
and a tropical climate with its yearly torrential rains,
no soil can accumulate among the stones to support
vegetation which would destroy the walls. The few
small plants which grow even on the oldest walls are
of species which do not require much mineral matter
for their growth, and whose roots are so soft that they
mould themselves to the shape of the interstices in the
walls, but do not press asunder the stones. Besides,
the present inhabitants of the country do not use
stone in any of their constructions, and never trouble
themselves to remove stones from any existing walls,
so that more stones have probably been disturbed
during the two years of British occupation of the
country than the Kaffirs would disturb in as many
centuries; and under the old conditions the walls
might endure for an indefinite time.1
1 There are many astronomical points in these buildings still to he
considered, and the results of further investigation will be published