The morning call., 1890-11-09

on bare patch of granite, and measures
some hfty-three feet in diameter. What IS
apparently terrace is found on the north
side, and is three feet wide, but gradually
the outside wall on the southern side.
Within this is a. circular passage
somo seven ami hall feet in width,
surrounding second thick, low wall, con-
centric with the other. In the midst of all
is hollow, now filed with ashes and
little fusible Stag, due, apparently, to the
action of fire OF low power The walls are
formed of hard porphyritc granite, show
ing distinctly the mark of tools, and the
outer wall is plastered inside. Who were
the masons is matter for conjecture, as
local tradition throws no light on the sub
ject, even Tschibi, the chief of the district,
coDfessing utter ignorance. He knows, how
ever, of several similar structures in his do
minions, and his people pay them fetish
worship by placing sticks against the walls.
The orlamentation only exists along por-
ton Of the northeastern wall, and along
few feet of it only the uppermost pattern of
alternate stone and space is found, the rest
of the ornamentation being suppressed"
Can We ever read the riddle of these stony
SphinXes of Mash0naland, of which the
public can now, for the first time, form
clear idea? SO far, the only c!ew we have
is that of which our special correspondent
lately wrote as follows: WHO were they,
these soldier worSmen of vanished civil
iZation, and at whose bidding did they force
their way into this barbirous place to dig
for gold? The country is dotted
with strange, broken relics OF their work.
The furnaces which they built to smelt the
ore, the strong keeps which they raised
against the alarms of some besettng foe,
the great stones in which they scored in un-
decipherable characters the record Of
their labors, perhaps the clew to their
prize = these things remain and move
the awe of the Matabele and his Ma
shona vassal 81 And they came to
Ophir, and fetched from thence gold. 100
talents, and brought it to King Solomon
Now the weight of gold that came to King
Solomon in one year was six hundred three
score and six talents of gold" The mys-
FERROUS folk who have imprinted on Ma
shOnal and the traces of an ancient quest
for gold were none other, so the learned
have conjectured, than those quick, aGven-
turOu, Phenicians who i'll the days when
the Red Sea was the Mediterranean of
ancient commerce and the Mediterranean its
Atlantic, brought gold of Ophir, fine gold
and great plenty OF almug trees and pre-
ci0uS stones to the Oriental monarch
whose magnificence is still proverb upon
modern lips. To-day, then, the Englishman
is in the land of Ophir, opening afresh the
treasure-house of antiquity, equipped with
resources of which the delft Phenician never
dreamed. 1t may be that he will come upon
sucn relies among the abandoned workings
as Will throw new !ight upon the story OF
his predecessors and rewrite page OF the
worlds history. 1t may be even that he will
stumble into chambers of subterranean
wealth such as Nj. Haggard has i'm gined,
secured with labyrinthS like those of the
pyramids, with sliding stones and all the
appropriate witchrraft of an age when
human life and human labor were of no ac-
count. At least. before many years are out,
We may expect to see the image of Queen
Victoria stamped on the gold with which
King Solomon overlaid his ivory throne and
wreathed the cedar pillars of his temple
Sun