EXPLORATION OF RUINS IN ZAMBESIA.

Evening Star, Issue 11662, 24 September 1901, Page 3

EXPLORATION OF RUINS IN ZAMBESIA.

Dr Carl Peters, writing to 'The Times' respecting his discoveries in Zambesia, says:— I have been exploring in the last two years the country between Zambesi and Sabi, and have been able to ascertain that all the ancient ruins along the eastern border of Mashonaland apparently belong to tho same class of civilisation. Along the banks of the Mazoo and Ruenya, on the high plateaus' of Inyanga and Mel setter, in Manicaland, and in the neighborhood of the Sabi River, I have everywhere found the same type of ruins. Over the whole district the cyclopeau wall is the typical form of house-building, and in some parts whole cities of these buildings are lying open to the eye of the astonished explorer. In North Inyanga I found debris of ancient settlements with a diameter of one and a-half to two miles. All over that country artificial water-furrows are still existent. You know the book of the late Theodore Bent, ' The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland,' in which he describes some of ihe ruins- in tho southern parts of the zone very correctly. It is much to bo regretted that this excellent explorer has died so soon. His theory on the character of Zimbabwo and other ruins is undoubtedly quite correct. The symbols of phallus-worship can be found from the Zambesi down to the Sabi, and there can bo no doubt that the old race which lived here formerly, and which has left those ruins, adhered to the cult of Baal and Astarte. Bent is also right when he points out that most of those ancient fortifications were built in connection with mining business. Not only are all old workings on gold mines generally found in the neighborhood of those ruins, but I have also discovered this summer a series of ancient copper mines along tho eastern bank of the upper Sabi." Livingstone in his last diarv already leads attention to the strange fact that a tribe on the Rovuma River shows tattoos of a dead, d'.y Egyptian character. I have also wondered how it came that the Egyptian prefix "sa," meaning "land," appears in the name of " Sofala," which was originally " Sa-Ophara," or " Ophirland." During my last expedition I had a chance to get access to some newly-discovered bushmen paintings, which are in form and in color of an absolutely Egyptian character. It is also known that etymologists have found in tho Hottentot language traces of the ancient Egyptian. These are all very remarkable facts, which seem to contradict the Semitic-Sabrean theory of ancient South African civilisation. lam obliged to the chief of the police in Umtali for further and much more important evidence in this direction. I have brought with me a female (undoubtedly Egyptian) figure of 4Jin length, which is splendidly conserved. This figure was found about 17deg south and 33deg cast, south of the Zambesi River. It has hieroglyphics round its waist, which have not been deciphered yet, I take it that this figure is about 5,000 years old, and a representation of the goddess Isis. This, now, is a most remarkable fact, for it is quite clear that the statuette cannot have come overland from the Nile to the Zambesi River. In connection with the other evidence I have mentioned, it proves direct Egyptian mfluenco in South Africa. Now, you know that besides the "Ophir" question the mysterious country " Punt" or " I'houn " has excited for centuries the curiosity of scholars. This country " Punt" or "Phoun" is mentioned in ancient Egyptian representations: "And Sanch Kara, of the 9th dynasty, about 2500 n.a, and the Queen Hatsepu, of the 18th dynasty, about 1600 8.C., sent expeditions thither. They brought back gold, ivory several kinds of valuable timber, leopard skins, and two kinds of monkeys, amon"them baboons, too." The conntrv be" tween Zambesi and Sabi in South Africa I take it, is the "Ophir" of Solomon's epoch. I believe that the finds of mv last expedition bring some evidence that" Punt" wa-s indeed the same country. I believe that these mining districts were originallv discovered by the Egyptians, and were an Egyptian colony.