The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1896-09-05
SOUTH AFRICAN RUINS.
Buildings at Zimbabwe that May Be OF
King SoIomon's Time.

Buildings at Zimbabwe that May 30 OF
King SoIomon's Time.
It would seem that, at some far dis
tant date, a people more civilized than
any of the present Kafir tribes had
into the region we now call
Mashonaland, and had maintained IT.
self there. for considerable period. Re-
mains of gold-workings are found In
many parts of that country, and even
as far as the southwestern part OF Ma
acknowledgements which show that
mining must have been carried on. by
primitive methods, no doubt, but still
upon scale larger than we can well
deem within the capabilities Of the
Kafir tribes as we now see them. There
are, moreover, IN these regions, and
usually not far from some old gold
working, pieces of ancient building e2-
ecuted with a neatness and finish, as
well as with an attempt at artistic eff
feet, which are entirely absent from
the rough walls, sometimes Of loose
stones, sometimes plastered with mud,
which the Kafirs build today.
These old buildings are, with one ex-
ception, bits of wall enclosing forts or
residences. They are constructed of
small blocks of the granite of the coun'
try, carefully trimmed to be of one size,
and are usually ornamented with a
simple pattern, such as the sO-called
'herringbone" pattern. The one excep-
ton is to be found in the ruins of Zim-
babwe, in the southern MashOnaland.
Here wall thirty feet high, and from
six to twelve or fourteen feet thick, in
closes large elliptical space, filed
with other buildings, some Of which
apparently were intended for the pur-
pose Of worship. There are no inscrip-
tons Of any kind, and few objects, ex-
cept some rudely carved heads Of birds,
to supply any indication as to the eth
biological affinities of the people who
erected this building, or as to the ma
ture of their worship. Such fndica-
tions as we have, however, suggest
that it was some form of nature wor-
ship, including the worship Of the sun.
We know from other sources Cnclud-
ing the Egyptian monuments and the
Old TESTAMENT that there was from
very early times trade between the
Red Sea and some part of East Africa;
and as we know also that the worship
of natural forces and of the sun pre-
vailed among the early Semites, the
view that the builders Of Zimbabwe
were of Arab or some other Semitic
stock, is at least highly plausible.
Two things are quite clear to every
one who examines the ruins, and COM
pares them with the smaller fragments
of ancient building already mentioned.
Those who built Zambabwe were a
race much superior to the Bantu tribes,
whose mud huts are now to be found
not far from these still strong and solid
walls; and those other remains scatter
ed through the country were either the
work of that same superior race, or, at
any rate, were built in imitation OF
their style and under the influences
they had left. But whether this race
was driven out, or peaceably with
drew, or became by degrees absorbed
and lost in the surrounding Bantu pop
ulation, we have no data for cOnjec-
ture. If they came from Arabia they
must have come more than twelve CEN
turtles ago, before the days Of Moham-
med; for they were evidently not Mus
selmans, and it is just as easy to sup
pose that they came in the days of Sol
ONION, fifteen centuries earlier.-Cen-
tury.