Between two boulders to the north-west of the
temple led a narrow passage, tortuously winding, with
walls on either side wedged up against the boulders,
and every conceivable hole in the rocks was walled
up. This passage led to another open space protected
on two sides by rocks and on two by walls. This
space was also full of wall foundations but, being
open to the sun, it had been occupied and ransacked
by the Kaffirs.
To the south of the temple a flight of steps led
down to the gold-smelting furnaces and the caves, of
which I shall speak more at length in connection
with the finds. This corner of the building was the
only one in which our excavations were successful,
and I entirely attribute this fact to its chilly and
shady position—a spot studiously avoided by the succeeding
generations of Kaffir tribes for this reason.
Below the temple at the bottom of the precipice we
commenced work, with great hope of finding the
other portions of the bowls, &c., which we had found
above. Here there is an enormous mass of fallen
stones from the buildings above, but amongst them
we found surprisingly little of interest. Perhaps a
thorough excavation of this slope would yield further
results, as so many of our finds in the temple above
are fragmentary, and the presumption is that the
other portions were thrown over the precipice ; but
this will be a gigantic work, entailing an enormous
amount of labour and expenditure.
Such is the great fortress of Zimbabwe, the most
mysterious and complex structure that it has ever