stones, some in long rows, suggesting the idea that
the gold had been worked by gangs of slaves chained
together in rows, after the fashion depicted on the
Egyptian monuments and described by Diodorus ; and
near Mr. Fleming’s camp we were shown traces of a
cement smelting furnace similar to the one we discovered
in the fortress of Zimbabwe, showing that all
the various processes of gold production, crushing,
washing, and smelting, were carried on on the spot.
As we proceeded up the Mazoe Yalley we saw
plenty of traces of the juvenile enterprise at work
on the old hunting-ground; and a little below Mr.
Fleming’s camp the Taragona and Mazoe Eivers join,
the latter coming down from a valley of higher level,
by a Poort or gorge. Established on the old workings
along here were numerous settlements bearing
modern names—-Rothschild’s, Cherry’s, Lockner’s,
and others—and soon probably a little township will
spring up around the mining commissioner’s hut,
where the Mazoe River is lined by fine timber, including
lemon-trees, the fruit of which was just then ripe,
and deliciously refreshing after our hot morning’s
work. These lemon-trees are alluded to by Dos
Santos as existing in these parts in his day three
hundred years ago.
The mining commissioner, Mr. Nesbit, entertained
us most hospitably for our midday repast, and
directed us on our way to the Yellow Jacket Mine,
near which we were to see more old workings and
an ancient ruined fort. By another narrow gorge or
Poort, rich in vegetation, and lovely to look upon, we
reached the higher valley, and when darkness had
already set in, by the aid of the distant glimmering
light of a camp fire we made our way to the tents of
the Yellow Jacket prospectors, whose abode we had
nearly missed in the gloaming. The kindly prospectors
hastened to prepare for us an excellent
supper of eland steak, for they had shot one of these
fine beasts a day or two before, a wonderfully good
stroke of luck for us, as we were without meat. The
eland is the best beast you can kill in Mashonaland, for
not only is it large, but around its heart it has a
considerable amount of fat, so that its flesh can be
properly served up, and not reduced to lumps of
leather for want of grease. They had also shot a
fine lion here not long before, and proudly showed
us the skin.
The country about here is very thickly wooded,
and we had a glorious ride next morning to the ruins
we wished to visit, about five miles distant, across
rushing streams overhung with verdure, and in which
alluvial gold is still found in small quantities. Here
we saw specimens of those curious birds with long
tail-like feathers at the end of their wings, which can
only fly for a short distance, and seem overweighted
by nature for some peculiar freak of her own, There
are, too, all up this country many varieties of small
birds with tail feathers four or five times their own
length, which droop as'they fly. These birds seem to
me to resemble closely the one depicted on the
temple of Deir-el-Bahari in the representation of a
village in Punt (Mariette’s £ Deir-el-Bahari,’ plate v.),