The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-06

boulder with another. and completely
commanding every possible approach.
These passages are flanked in on each
side by high walls and form an intri-
cate and bewildering labyrinth AL
though destitute of any roof. they are
dark and gloomy. At the top of the
bill are ruins of what was once a tenn
pie. and close by Mr.. Bent discovered
gold smelling furnace and many curl
Gus tools.
The other building on the lower level
crowned down upon by the fortress
somewhat as the AcropoIis frowns
down on Athens or Edinburgh castle
on the city below, consists of a wall 80
feet high in parts and 10 feet thick at
the base, surrounding about three
quarters of an acre of ground. The
ruin is rather elliptical than circular
Here, as in the other buildings, the wall
Is composed of Clipped blocks of gran
lite, fitted in perfect symmetry, but
without mortar. Where it faces the ris-
ing sun it is higher and thicker than at
other points, and near the top runs the
simple ZigZag scheme of decoration de-
scribed before. Ii has three entrances.
the principal one facing the fortress to
the north From this entrance a very
narrow passage. formed by the great
surrounding wall on one side and an
inner wall of the same height on the
other, leads after 20 or 80 yards to an
Enclosure. in which stand two solid
towers. also of granite blocks, one o.
them 35 feet high and the other about
five feet. The actual approaches to this
Enclosure are defended with buttresses
on either side. in which a rudimentary
Dortcullis could De and probably was
fixed. Obviously this Enclosure, with
its two solid towers, was considered
especially sacred.
Such are the main features of the
Zimbabwe ruins. They do not amount
to much. but they raise some puzzling
archaeological questions. What was the
significance of this sacred inclOsure
and the two solid towers, and what the
meaning of the decoration facing the
sCn? One thing at least was evident,
that the Kaffirs were not responsible
for their building; for the Kafiirs never
trim their blocks, but use loose stones,
filling up the interstices with mud. The
natives say that some white men erect
ed the walls long ago. and were
afterward poisoned by the tribes. Mr..
Rent is believed to have got upon the
right track when he made careful OBJ
servations of the Makalanges who live
near Zimbabwe. and found among them
evidences OF Semitic descent. Their
faces, which are distinctly Semitic;
their habit of laying out food for the
dead, of taking a day of rest during
the blowing season, of sacrificing goats
to ward off pestilence and famine, their
wooden pillows, which resemble the
he al rests used by the Egyptians, their
musical instruments, their drinks even,
all pointed to some far-off Arabian in
fiuence. Turning to the ruins, Mr.. Bent
found that the decorations on the wall
facing the east suggested a worship of
the sun as a reproductive poWer-a
common oriental religion. AS to the
towers within the Enclosure, Mr.. Bent
had no difficulty in placing them among
the objects which the Ara bians used TO
worship. Allusions to similar towers are
&C Instant in the Bible. and the ruins in
Sardinia, Malta and MesopOtamia prove
there is authority for saying that stones
have at some time or other been wOr-
SHIPPED in every country reached by
PhOenician influence. Other indications
of a northern origin were found in the
discovery of some stones decorated in
the conventional Phoenician style, and
of part of a vase with letters on it re-
sembling the proto-Arabian style of let
tering used IN the earlier Sabacan in
scriptions; and Mr.. Bent concluded
therefore, by naming the Arabs as the
builders of Zimbabwe.
There is nothing historically incon-
SlSlSnI III lIlS SuppOSllloIl 1t - kuONA
from Egyptian monuments that trade
in gold between the Red sea and south
east Africa existed 1,500 years before
Christ; AID much later the Book of
Kings tells of Solomon's commercial
adventures in the country Of Ophir,
which is believed 10 be south of the
Zambesi. AL over Matabeleland and
Mashonaland are discovered ancient
gold mines, some of which show archi-
lecture as simple and venerable as that
of Zimbabwe. 1t seems. then, as If
at some time race of men, probably
from Arabia, went down into the coun-
try now called RhOdesia, subdued the
native Kaffirs, lived in the midst OF
them in garrison towns, and carried on
a trade in gold with the Red Sea When
they came is at present unknown. ex-
cept that it must have been before Ma
hOmet. The general tendency is to COM
promise on Solomon's reign.