The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-12

inside. One of These 70 Joined on to the main
wall Of the great inclosure.
mis-" ~. -' Cd
This IL all that Mr.. Bryce was able to zee at
zimbabyye. He admits that what he has de.
scrlbed seems little, and that the little is simple.
and even rude. Tho interest lies In guessing
what the walls were built for, and by whom.
Comparatively little has been discovered by
digging. No inscriptions whatsoever have boon
found. Some figures OF birds rudeay carved in q
sort of soapstone were fixed along the tops of
the forts, and have been removed 10 the Capo
Town Museum. 1t Is thought that they repre-
sent vulturos, and we arc reminded that
tho vulture was n bird Of religious
aipni1cance among some of tho Semitic
nations. Fragments OF soapstone bowls
were discovered, some with figures Of animals
carved on them. some with geometrioai pat
terms, while on one were marks which might
possibly belong to some primitive alphabet.
There were also whorls somewhat resembling
those which occur SO profusely In the ruins of
Troy, and stono objects, which may be phalli,
though some, at least, Of them are 'deemed by
the authorities OF the British Museum, to whom
Mr.. Bryce has shown them, to DO probably
pieces used for playing a game. like that of fox.
npd.geese. The iron and bronze weapons which
were found may have been comparatively mod
ern, but the small crucibles for smelling gold.
with tools, and a curious ingot mould, were APP
parently ancient. >. Gfs.,
II we ask what purpose these buildings were
meant to serve, Mr.. Bryce answers that the
structure on the hill was evidently a stronghold.
and one of q somewhat elaborate kind, erected
against an enemy deemed formidable. The
large building below can hardly have been q
s,.oo - dnfaD,o hacanaa II afanda nm laval
ground, with a high rocky hill Just above 1t.
which would have, afforded. a much stronger
situation. Neither was 1t a mining, station, for
the nearest place where there Is any, trace Of
ancient gold workings Is seven miles away, and
fna mining statlon, even it1neant TO hoio siaVe
workers, there would nave peen no use tora wall
so lofty as was nero erected. Two hspotneses
remnant that thls was tno res'uence
OF q chiet' or mat IL was erected for
the purposes OF rehsious worship. IL may
nave oeeh ooth-a paiecs' 80 u speaA'
with Q temple attached. Inc presence OF .tne
inner Enclosure, guarded by q separate wall ana
with It's curious tower, Is most piausioly ex-
planned by supposing q religious purpose. what'
then. was the religion OF those VINO ouut This
shrine, II shrine 1t vast The ornamentation OF
that part OF the outer wall which races the rising
sun suggests sun'worship. The phalli III they
are phallD point to one OF the oriental forms OF
the worship OF tho FORCES OF nature. Inc olrds
heads may have q religious 'siRnincance, anu
possibly, the significance which 1t Is said that
vultures had In the syrian n~ature-Worehlp
These data warrant some slight presumptions'
yet tho held for conjecture remains q very
wide one, and there 10 nothing In the ouild-
ings TO Indicate the particular race whlch
erected the fort and the temple, II temple II
was. Mr.. Bryce points OUT however. that the
tower bears some resemblance TO one which ap.
pears within q town wall on an ancient coin OF
the PhGnician city OF bioius. and this coinci-
dence. slight enough. has. In the dearth OF
other light, been used to support the view that
the builders were reared by some Semitic race.
Touching this question of origin, tho author
acknowledges that, had we nothing but the
ruined walls of Zimbabwye, Dhlodhlo, and the
other spots where similar ruins have been OBJ.
served, the problem would be %insoluble. Either
one would have to say that the existing native
races had. at some apparently distant time
been more civilized than they are now, and cap
able Of building walls they do not now build.
or else we should have to suppose that
some now extinct race had built these
There ore other facts, however, known
to us which suggest. though they can
hardly be said to establish, an hypothesis re.
garding tho early history of tho country.
It is certain that in very remote times there
existed, as we know from the Egyptian monu,
ments, a trade from Southeast Africa into the
Red Sea. The remarkable sculptures at Deir q
Bahari, near Luxor, dating from the time Of
| Queen Hatasu, sister of the great conquerol
| Thothmes III. (B. C. @ 0 y, represent the return
| Of an expedition from a country called Punt
which would appear from the objects brought
back to have been somewhere on the East Afri
can coast. Much later the Old Testament Bool
of Kings tolls us that Solomon and Hiram o
Tyre entered into O sort of Joint adventur,
trade from the Red Sea port of Ezion.geber to
country named Ophir, which produced gold
There are other indications that gold used u
come from East Africa, but 80 far as W
know IL has never been obtained In ouap
tity from any part of the coast between Nc
zambioue and Cape Guardafui. Thus there ar
grounds for believing that a traffic between tn
Red Sea and the coast south of Zambesi ma
have existed from very remote times OF IL
later existence there is, of course, no doub,
We know, from Arabian sources, that in th