Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/288

 226 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. districts where the leopards were so daring that the women scarcelj' venture to work even in broad daylight in the fields, and the huts have to be protected by stout enclosures made of stakes interlaced with trailing plants. On the other hand, the lion rarely attacks man, and the natives seldom complain of his presence, as they often come in for the remains of the feast — half a buffalo, an unfinished anteloj)e, and the like. In several districts the most noxious animals are various species of termites, which devour the vegetation, and commit such havoc on the plantations that all cultivation has to be abandoned. The domestic animals are unable to live on the low-lying plains, either owing to the tsetse fly or to some mysterious poison in the air.* Hence travellers wishing to reach the plateaux of Gazaland with their horses or cattle, have to approach from the west through the Matebele or Miishona territories. Historic; Retrospect. The Sofala seaboard was possibly frequented by the ancient navigators, and the fleets of the Phoenicians are said to have penetrated southwards as far as these eastern waters. According to numerous authorities, here was even situated the far-famed Ophir, whence Solomon brought gold, precious woods, and pearls. But other Biblical commentators have placed this same Ophir either in India or in the Eastern Archipelago, while the total absence of any trustworthy geographical information regarding the true situation of this land of gold gives ample scope for any hypothesis. But whatever be the correct view, there can be no doubt that (iazaland had already been visited by civilised strangers long before the arrival of the Portuguese on the east coast of Africa, for the followers of Vasco de Gama here found the ruins of buildings far superior in architecture to anything the present inhabitants are capable of erecting. Hence it is not, perhaps, surprising that the Lusitanian mariners fancied these edifices must have been the remains of the stations or factories constructed by the Queen of Saba for storing the gold intended as a tribute for Solomon. Since the time of the first Portuguese explorers the memory of these monu- ments had never been forgotten, although all attempts of numerous travellers to I discover them had proved abortive until the year 1871, when the geologist Carl Muuch at last succeeded in bringing them to light. They consist of the remains of two fortresses built of granite on two neighbouring hills, situated near a western affluent of the Sabi. about 180 miles west of Sofala. From amid the thistles also rose a tower still some forty feet high, and Mauch supposed that these military works were intended to guard the gold mines of the surrounding district. The term Zimbaoe given to them by the Portuguese— that is, the Zirababye of the present inhabitants— has the meaning of "royal residence." It is also note- worthy that the designs traced on the granite blocks are circles, diamonds, parallel lines, and scrolls, presenting a certain resemblance to the ornamental work on the Kafir utensils. This may, perhaps, point at some connection or affinity between • Saint Vincent Erskine, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1875.