infinity of little enclosures surrounded by rocks and walls.
It is in this part of the ruins on the hill that Mr. Bent
discovered the greater part of his curiosities. At the same
time, I must say I have been much astonished at the
comparatively small results of Mr. Bent’s researches, and
I am convinced that numerous documents remain to be
discovered. All these ruins have half disappeared because
of the enormous quantity of vegetation that has overgrown
them. All the interior of the lower ruins is covered by a
mass of trees and shrubs which prevent the visitor from
obtaining a view of the whole.
The most interesting part is without doubt the smelting
furnace. This is at the extreme south-west corner of
the ruin, and to reach it you pass through a small
temple with an altar. You descend a flight of steps to
the furnace, which is in the darkest corner of the whole
building. The furnace is constructed of a very hard
cement apparently made of powdered granite, with a
chimney of the same substance. Among the things that
Mr. Bent found here were small crucibles used for smelting,
and a soapstone mould for casting ingots, apparently of
Phoenician manufacture. The gold appears to have been
brought from old workings, many of which have been
discovered in the neighbourhood. The quartz was crushed
with huge stones, then washed, then smelted in the
crucibles, and finally cast in ingots. It is largely on the
evidence of these processes that the theory has been
formed that the original builders of Zimbabwe were early
Arabs, who disposed of their gold in the markets of
Phoenicia and Egypt.
But who ^exactly they were, when they came and how,
how long they stayed, what was their history, and why
they disappeared, there is nobody in the world to answer.
The whole thing is one of the most weird and tantalizing
problems that can be imagined. The difficulty is increased
by the fact that parts of the building, and some of the
implements discovered in the ruins, appear to belong to
a different period of workmanship, inferior to the rest.
Judging from the early Portuguese records concerning the
empire of Monomatapa, it appears that three hundred
years ago the natives of this part of the country enjoyed
a higher state of civilization than they do to-day. Nevertheless,
it is impossible to believe that any African natives
were at any time capable of constructing these extraordinary
works. Zimbabwe is one of the mysteries of the
world, and at present there appears to be nobody capable
of finding the key.
On returning to Victoria I witnessed two important
functions— the opening of the new township and the
formation of the. volunteer corps. The position of the
fort, around which stood the old township, consisting, as I
have said, of a few huts, was deemed unfavourable to the
building of a town, the water supply being insufficient for
the growing population. The Chartered Company therefore
chose a better site some four miles to the north.
Plans were drawn of the proposed new town, divided into
a number of stands, which were put up to auction. At the
first sale stands realized from £2$, the upstart price, to
<£4°- When I was there in June, 1892, twenty brick
houses had already been built, and fine Government
buildings were nearly completed.
At a sale of stands which took place just before my
arrival some reached £280. I was myself offered a stand
on the market-place for £60, but failed to buy it as I'
should have had to build a house, and I knew no one I
could trust to superintend the work.* As for the formation
of the volunteer corps, I must explain how it happened.
When the pioneer expedition was organized, Lord Loch,
then Governor of the Cape, declined to allow this small
band of 200 men to proceed some 1000 miles from
Kimberley without adequate protection in case of attack.
Therefore a body of police was formed as an escort to the
pioneers. When these were disbanded, as I shall relate
* This stand is now worth over ^iooo.
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