spot as the resting-place of remote ancestors. There
are also several other graves on the flat space around
Nyanger rock, piles of stones placed around a crescentshaped
wall, which is evidently a sort of rudimentary
temple in which the sacrifices take place.
On our march that day we passed several of these
cemeteries in the open veldt far from any trace of
habitation. They are generally placed on slightly
rising ground, and always have the semicircular
structure, which reminded us of the stones placed
at the village of Lutzi, where the inhabitants collected
to smoke and talk, protected from the wind.
These spots are evidently still venerated, and form
another of the many problems connected with the
past in this district of Africa. I think they are the
places to which Dos Santos alludes in the following
paragraph, where he refers to the chiefs who ‘make
grand obsequies to their predecessors, who are all
buried there.’ In a memoir written by Signor Farao,
governor of Senna in 1820, there is a curious testimony
to this theory. He writes : ‘ The mountains of Magonio
(Makoni ?), in Quiteve, were noted as the burial-
places of the kings and queens of Quiteve, Qembe
and Dombo. The remains were carried in procession
to the caves, where they were deposited alongside the
bones of former kings, and some of the most esteemed
women of the deceased, or his secretary, and some of
the great people, were sacrificed at the ceremony.’
Most of the granite Icopjes in this district have been
similarly fortified to Hyanger rock. Time would not
permit of our visiting many of them, but I am certain
that a careful investigation of this district would produce
many valuable additions to the already large collections
of Bushman drawings. The fortifications of
these rocks are generally in rows of walls in terraces
with narrow rounded entrances; they are all con-
-structed in a rough manner, with irregular-shaped
«tones joined together with cement.
Hear the river Ohimbi, which we crossed shortly
•before reaching Chipunza’s kraal, there is a particularly
interesting specimen of this class of ruin. The
Tocky kopje is fortified with walls, all the nooks and
•crannies being carefully walled up, and below this is
a curious half-underground passage which evidently
•connected the fortress with its water supply; it has
a wall on either side of it—one four feet thick, and
the other eight feet thick; and the passage is roofed
over with large slabs of stone, some four and some
five feet long. This passage can now be traced for
About fifty feet; it is nearly choked up with rubbish,
but the object for which it was originally constructed
is obvious, as it leads down to low swampy
ground, where water could be obtained.
A mile or two beyond this we alighted for a short
time at a pretty village called Makonyora, which had
been surrounded by a palisade which had taken root
and grown into shady trees of considerable size. The
inhabitants seemed numerous and well to do. In this
village there are many instances of walls constructed
like those we had seep in the ruined villages; the
foundations for the huts and granaries also are of stone,
«o that the air may pass underneath, forming neatly
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