The Truth of Ophir Must, As from a Deep Myne, Be Drawne out of Moses," Gen
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32101 05833 32101 05833 ..j&rara of prinrefon lintottleraity. THE ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODESIA "The truth of Ophir must, as from a deep myne, be drawne out of Moses," Gen. io. PURCHAS, I. 26. CONICAL TOWER, ELLIPTICAL TEMPLE ZIMBABWE THE ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODESIA (MONOMOTAPIE IMPERIUM) BY R. N. HALL AND W. G. NEAL WITH OVER SEVENTY ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, AND PLANS SECOND EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED NEGRO UNIVERSITIES PRESS NEW YORK (R1I AP) Originally published in 1904 by Methuen & Co., London Reprinted 1969 by Negro Universities Press A DIVISION OF GREENWOOD PUBLISHING CORP. NEW YORK SBN 8371-1275-3 PRINTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DEDICATED, WITH PERMISSION TO THE HON. A. WILMOT, K.S.G., F.R.G.S. MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF CAPE COLONY AUTHOR OF "MONOMOTAPA (RHODESIA): ITS MONUMENTS AND ITS HISTORY FROM THE MOST ANCIENT TIMES TO THE PRESENT CENTURY" AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE DEEP AND WIDELY SPREAD FEELING OF GRATITUDE EXISTING AMONG SOUTH AFRICANS FOR HIS EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCHES INTO THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF RHODESIA AND FOR HIS DISINTERRING FROM THE FORGOTTEN RECORDS IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE VATICAN AND LISBON INFORMATION CONCERNING THE ANCIENT RUINS OF RHODESIA AND THE MEDI)EVAL RACES OF MONOMOTAPAE IMPERIUM K) PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION T HE early call for a second edition of this work and the absence of the authors in South Africa have not afforded them the opportunity which they desired of making such extensive additions to the early descriptions of ruins, or of including descriptions of other ancient ruins in this country, which have been discovered since the first edition appeared. In their absence Professor A. H. Keane has very kindly revised the work on their behalf. The subject of the investigations concerning the ancient monuments of Southern Rhodesia is one that is rapidly advancing, and the authors are still busily prosecuting their researches. Mr. R. N. Hall, F.R.G.S., is now completing a period of three years' examination work at Great Zimbabwe, and the results of his work will reveal some entirely fresh features in ancient architecture and relics, all which points have yet to be laid before scientists for their consideration. This will be done in The Great Zimbabwe, which will be published during 1905. The results of his recent examination of the ruins of forts, stone terraces, and aqueducts in the Inyanga district, together with the results of similar work at many newly discovered ruins of importance in Southern Mashonaland, will respectively appear in separate form early in 19o5. HAVILAH CAMP, GREAT ZIMBABWE, RHODESIA, S.A. March, 1904 PREFACE T HIS work is presented to the reader as a contribution towards the preparation of that brief, which, when all the possible evidences forthcoming from the hundreds of ancient ruins in Rhodesia have been secured, shall be submitted to acknowledged archoologists and antiquarians for their final pronouncement as to the origin of those ancient peoples who have left such substantial evidences of past civilisation and industry in the territories known to-day as Southern Rhodesia. The authors are forced to admit that the theory of the successive occupations of Rhodesia by South Arabians and Phoenicians has, so far as researches have been made, exceedingly strong claims for acceptance. With reference to Rhodesia being the land from which the gold of Ophir was obtained, it may be noticed that the recent discoveries in Rhodesia of a vast number of massive ruins, beyond the few mentioned either by Mr. Theodore Bent* or Dr. Schlichter,t with additional "finds" further evidencing the practice by the ancients of Phallic worship, the arguments in favour of the theory of Rhodesia being the source not only of King Solomon's gold, but also of the wealth in gold possessed by the Sabaan nation and the Tyrian and Sidonian kingdoms, references to which are so frequent in Holy Writ, have been very considerably The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland, byJ. THEODORE BENT, F.S.A., F.R.G.S., with orientation and mensuration of the temples by Mr. R. M. W. SWAN (London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1892). t Petermann's Mitteilungen 1892 and The Royal Geographical Society's Journal for July, 1893, and April, 1899. viii PREFACE strengthened, especially as it is admitted by archaologists that the period during which many of the ruins are believed to have been erected covers, both previously and subsequently, that period during which scriptural references are made to the gold of Ophir. The undoubted fact of many millions of pounds sterling present value of gold having been extracted by the ancients from these territories-some accredited authorities placing the value, on a conservative estimate of portions of the goldbearing districts only, at over .675,ooo,ooo-during the same period, which covers the period during which biblical references are made to the gold of Ophir, and the admission by authorities that no part of the then known world, India included, yields such overwhelming evidences of extensive, continuous, and successful ancient gold-mining operations having been carried on as are found on every hand in Rhodesia, leaves much substantial argument to be disposed of by the opponents of the theory. The authors, in Chapter iii., have contented themselves with merely stating the views of the various writers on the Rhodesia-Ophir theory, without expressing any definite opinions concerning it. For this reason, Professor A. H. Keane, F.R.G.S., late Vice-President of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, "in a series of four scholarly articles on 'The Gold of Ophir: Whence Brought and by Whom?'* has given a new impetus and a new orientation to a perennial controversy. No one can ever say that the final word has been spoken in any discussion, and Professor Keane would certainly not claim finality for his judgment in a matter where we may hope shortly to have so much additional evidence at our disposal. But he has rendered service which the scholar and the practical man of affairs will alike recognise in boldly proclaiming that if Published in Rhodesia, August and September, 190, i3, Devonshire 5treet, E.C., and issued in book form by Stanford, i9oi. PREFACE Southern Rhodesia be not indeed the land of Ophir, it is yet the land from which Ophir drew its precious treasures."* Professor Keane, in the course of courteous correspondence with the authors of this work, has most generously given them permission to reproduce his conclusions, the arguments in support of which, Professor Keane informs them, will shortly appear in a more elaborated form in a work to be published on an early date, and adds, "The two books-the volume prepared by yourselves and my monograph-should thus be complementary of each other. Between u, I hope we shall succeed in settling this question in all its bearings once for all." Professor Keane, in summing up his arguments, states: "We thus arrive at the following important conclusions, which I trust may now be considered fairly well established, and may therefore legitimately take the place of the many theories and speculations hitherto current regarding the 'gold of Ophir,' its source and forwarders. I. Ophir was not the source, but the distributor of the gold and the other costly merchandise brought from abroad to the Courts of David and Solomon. 2. Ophir was the emporium on the south coast of Arabia which has been identified with the Moscha or Portus Nobilis of the Greek and Roman geographers. 3. Havilah was the auriferous land whence came the -gold of Ophir,' and Havilah is here identified with Rhodesia, the mineralised region between the Lower Zambesi and the Limpopo-Mashona, Matabili, and Manica lands. 4. The ancient gold-workings of this region were first opened and the associated monuments erected by the South Arabian Himyarites, who were followed, not before the time of Solomon, by the Phcenicians, and these very much later by the Moslem Arabs and Christian Portuguese. 5. Tharshish was the outlet for the precious metals and Leading article, Morning Post, see Appendix, Note L. PREFACE precious stones of Havilah, and stood probably on the site of the present Sofala. 6. The Himyaritic and Phcenician treasure-seekers reached Havilah through Madagascar, where they had settlements and maintained protracted commercial and social intercourse with the Malagasy natives. With them were associated the Jews, by whom the fleets of Hiram and Solomon were partly manned. 7. The Queen of Sheba came by the land route, and not from over the seas, to the Court of Solomon. Her kingdom was Yemen, the Arabia Felix of the ancients, the capital of which was Maraiaba Bahramalakum. Her treasures were partly imported (the precious metals and precious stones) from Havilah and its port of Tharshish to Ophir, and partly (frankincense and myrrh) shipped at Ophir from the neighbouring district of Mount Sephar. 8. Sephar was confused by the Alexandrian authors of the Septuagint with Ophir, which was the chief emporium of the Sabean Empire. 9. In a word, the 'gold of Ophir came from Havilah (Rhodesia), and was worked and brought thence first by the Himyarites (Sabaeans and Minaans), later by the Phoenicians, the chief ports engaged in the traffic being Ezion-geber in the Red Sea, Tharshish in Havilah, and, midway between these two, Ophir in South Arabia. io. This central position of Ophir explains how it became the intermediate emporium whither the fleet- of Hiram and Solomon sailed every three years from Ezion-geber for the gold imported from Havilah and for the spices grown on the slopes of the neighbouring Mount Sephar, not far from the deep inlet of Moscha, round which are thickly strewn the ruins of Ophir.