be indubitably established if this inscription could be
cleared up, and there is no one there who can read
it. If it were in Greek, Persian, or Hebrew, it would
be necessary to command that an impression be made
in wax or some other material which retains letters
or figures, commanding that the original inscription
be well cleaned.
c (2) At the same time it would-be suitable to
examine whether in that land is a range of mountains
called Ofura, what distance it is from the coast or
seaport, and whether it contains mines of gold or
silver.
‘ (3) In the same way it-would be as well to
inquire into the most notable names of those parts,
mountains, chiefdoms, and rivers.
‘ (4) To learn if the lands of Sofala are high or
low, or marshy, or if they have any mountain
ranges. ’
Hence it will be seen that, even as late as 1721,
it was only rumoured that there were ruins, and
that the Portuguese sphere of influence went very
little inland. Heedless to say, the expedition was
never sent, and that the reports were of the vaguest
and most contradictory character. Bocarro and
Corvo both testify to the fact1 that the Portuguese,
after the disastrous campaigns of Baretto, advanced
but little into the country, and were confined a lm o s t
exclusively to the littoral. Taking the map of this
district, and looking at the spelling of the names, it is
easy to see how far Portuguese influence extended.
1 Chap. IX.
They spell the common prefix Inya with an h instead
of a y : for example, they write it Inhambane. Also
they spell the name Gungunyama, Gungunhama;
other nations spell such names with a y, for example,
Inyagowe. Hence the h for y clearly marks
the Portuguese sphere of influence.
These reports of an Eldorado northwards continued,
and produced periodical excitements amongst
the young colonists of South Africa. The Boers were
everlastingly getting up treks with a view to reach
i t ; the vague mystery about King Solomon’s mines
existing there,, and the palace of the Queen of
Sheba, whetted their appetites when they heard these
rumours ; but still nothing was definitely done until
a German traveller of more than ordinary energy
penetrated as far as the Zimbabwe ruins in the year
1871. This man was Karl Mauch: he examined
them carefully and wrote an accurate account of
them, but, unfortunately, he ventured on a speculation
as to their origin which at once cast discredit on his
discoveries in the eyes of unbelieving archseologists.
He maintained that the fortress on the hill was a
copy of King Solomon’s temple on Mount Moriah,
that the lower ruins were a copy of the palace which
the Queen of Sheba inhabited during her stay of
several years in Jerusalem, and that the trees in the
middle of it were undoubtedly almug trees.
The result of this was that the subject of Zimbabwe
ruins was in abeyance for nearly twenty years
after Mauch’s visit, and was rather accredited as a