CHAPTEK YI
THE FINDS AT THE GREAT ZIMBABWE RUINS
Lsr this chapter I propose to discuss all the objects
discovered during our excavations in the ruins as
apart from the buildings themselves, and to analyse the
light that they throw on the original constructors and
their cult. All these objects were found, with a few
minor exceptions, in the eastern temple on the fortress.
As I have said, traces of a recent Kaffir habitation
will account for the absence of objects in the lower
buildings, but the upper ruin, sheltered from the sun
and hidden by trees and lofty boulders, was a spot
repugnant to the warmth-loving Kaffir, and to this
fact we owe the preservation of so many objects of
interest belonging to the ancient inhabitants. The
most remarkable feature in connection with the finds
is that everything of a decorative nature is made of a
steatitic schist or soapstone. This stone is found in
the country, and is still employed by natives farther
south in making pipes for smoking dokha or hemp ;
it lends itself easily to the tool of the artist, and is
very durable.
First, let us take the birds perched on tall soapstone
columns, which, from the position in which we