GENERAL VIEW OF ZIM BABW E
two feet deep, constructed in the wall. At this bulge
the two lower rows of ornamentation terminate, but
the upper one is carried on round it as far as the
south-eastern entrance. There can be little doubt
that these patterns, found on nearly all the Mashona-
land ruins, were constructed for a purpose ; they
only go round a portion of the buildings ; they have
always the same aspect—namely, south-east—and
one cannot dissociate these circular buildings and
the patterns from Some form of sun worship. * The
Circle is a sacred enclosure,’ says Major Conder in
his ‘ Heth and Moab,’ ‘ without which the Arab still
stands with his face to the rising sun.’ Into this question
of solstitial orientation in connection with the
ruins Mr. Swan will enter at length in the ensuing
chapter.
The Lundi ruin had a cement floor, similar to
those floors which we afterwards frequently came
across in the Zimbabwe buildings ; it woüld appear
to have acted the double function of a fortress and a
temple, guarding a population settled here on the
river’s bank, who built their huts around it.
The ruins of the Great Zimbabwe (which name
I have applied to them to distinguish them from
the numerous minor Zimbabwes scattered over the
country) are situated in south latitude 20° 16' 30",
and east longitude 31° 10' 10", on the high plateau of
Mashonaland, 3,300 feet above the sea level, and form
the capital of a long series of such ruins stretching
up the whole length of the western side of the Sabi
River. They are built on granite, and of granite,