Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-03

Il 4 contains tne ScCIctS Va -
w. civilization At present 1t is practi
callv a savage land, given over to
savage animals and equally savage men, and
ia d;ffcult to conceive that in the mists OF
antiouity this continent was peopied oy iheei'
Eeent communities.
Dpring the present century q great deal mas
been learned about this dark continent, and
the South Africa Company has done much 70
add to our store of knowledge
The recent expedition of this company INTO
Mashonaland, in search of gold, passed tine
wonderful ruins of Zimbaye, nearly two hun
dred miles due west of Sofala, ON the indian
Ocean. which had been known for three cen
turies. but have never been heretofore de
scribed =, -.
They have been attributed to the Moors,
the Phoenicians and the Persians, ana it IS
inscriptions on stone docrways In these great
structures, which modern archaeologists nave
set out to decipher.
These structures were reared OF granite,
hewn into small blocks a little larger tnan a
brick, and put together without mortar. In
all the walls are seen two or three courses on
masonry, where the granite blocks are IN
serted in zigzag fashion.
There seems to be no doubt that they were
erected as places of defense, and also for the
smelting, storage and protection OF gold' cop
per and other metals.
On removing a quantity Of the surface rub;
hlSh INSIDE. L0eTe was lOuuO Wiiak ~
IDENTIFY three large circular roasting floors,
formed of burnt freclay and slightly concaVe
There were also remains OF Stag, and other
evidences that the place had been used ior
The romantic interest which attaches to
these ruins lies in the fact that they were
found in the heart of savage Africa. :.
1t is certain that the last thing civilized
men would expect to find in this region,
where the natives belong TO the lower stages
of human development, are these great rock
structures betokening the existence of for
mer civilization amid these wilds. 49,.
to the origin of the ruins. There are many
facts proving their great antiquity, and among
them the circumstance that at one OF the great
ruins at Zimbaye an. ironwood tree, which
was undoubtedly hundreds OF years old, had
risen through the wall and split it. b,
The theory is that these ruins. were the re
mains of works erected by people who work
ed the famous mines of King Solomon, or that
it was here that and os eeepe
In the neghborhood of Zanzibar some time
ago, a traveller found some very inter
esting ruins which. were proven to be OF dis
fragments of pottery, which correspond ex
actly with the tiles and pottery that are
discovered in the ruins of ancient villages neal
Teheran.
last been tracked to Africa, and, since their
remains have certainly been found there. ii
will not be surprising if it is found that they
travelled as far south as Mashonaland. where
these remarkable ruins are found.
Whoever these Adventures We're, gold was
the magnet which drew them to this country
They landed on the coast somewhere near
Sofala, and, working westward, reared fort
after fort around the mines where they pur'
sued their industry.
They were evidently working in hostile
country, and pursued their enterprises inside
the great walls they had reared.
Aacfa flsra
of this gold field. They extended almost to
the region Of the Zambesi ON the north, and
southwark as far as the Lmpopo. Westward
the ruins are found beyond the longitude OF
Tati.
Thus the extent of the gold fields worked
BY these ancient miners is shown by the re:
mains of the fortifcations which they reared
for their protection while they were digging
gold