MYSTERY OF ZIMBABWE

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 24 August 1935, Page 10

MYSTERY OF ZIMBABWE

FASCINATION FOR SCIENTISTS There are mysterious ruins in the dense tropical jungle of Southern Rhodesia that have a tremendous fascination for scientists and historians. The ruins are the -Great -Zimbabwe, in Mashonaland—-vast circular towers and parallel walls of granite stones, so perfectly fitted that they have held together throughout the centuries without the aid of mortar. lii the stillness of the jungle the ruins were eerie and intriguing. They were discovered by ivory traders in the ’sixties, and were first explored in 18pi. Among the gigantic ruins were found stone statues of birds and utensils, in stone and gold, of ancient Phoenician workmanship. Because of

these discoveries authorities believe

that the Great Zimbabwe (from the Bantu dialect, meaning great house of stone), was the city erected by the earliest goldseekers from Phoenica or Southern Arabia. It is quite likely that 3D centuries have passed since the mysterious city was built, and it is possible that gold for the treasuries of King Solomon was taken from the ancient goldfields near Zimbabwe. Solomon himself may have drunk from a vessel beaten from the gold of South Africa; It is thought that gold worth more than £150,000,000 was taken by caravan from these goldfields to the port of Sofalax. The great riddle of Zimbabwe is that there is nothing else like it in the whole of the continent. It is a ghostly puzzle of the past.

There is much evidence in the ruins that this unknown race was hurriedly driven from Zimbabwe by hostile tribes about 1000 years ago. Broken utensils, discarded gold jewellery, and other evidence of sudden flight imply that there was a battle, in which many of the ancient miners may have been killed.'' So ended the glory of Zimbabwe, and the jungle closed around, leaving only a phantom city.