Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia / An account of two years' examination work in 1902-4 on behalf of the government of Rhodesia

by R. N. Hall

MORGENSTER (“MORNING STAR”) MISSION

One of the prettiest walks from Zimbabwe is to this mission station, which is barely three and a half miles distant in a south-south-westerly direction. The path passes between the Elliptical Temple and the Bentberg. About two miles along the path and close to the right-hand side is Baranazimba’s old kraal perched up high among the boulders of a kopje. The path then crosses a nek between Baranazimba’s and the Lumbo Rocks, and descends into a narrow valley and up a high ridge, on which, cutting the sky-line, is a tall and prominent Finger Rock, which is only a few hundred yards from the mission, which lies just over the ridge. Morgenster is on a much higher elevation than the Zimbabwe Valley. The walk is highly interesting to anyone fond of romantic scenery. Rugged kopjes, with cliff-boulders on which huge granite masses are most delicately poised, lie along the right-hand side of the path for a great part of the distance to Morgenster.

The mission was founded in 1891 by the Rev. A. A. Louw, of the Dutch Reformed Church, Dr. John Helm, the medical missionary, joining the station in 1894. Several other European missionaries are attached to the staff, and there are numerous outlying stations.

The mission settlement is ideally situated on the south face of a high ridge overlooking the Mowishawasha Valley on the south and the N’Djena Valley and Motelekwe River on the south-east. Its position is marked by clumps of tall blue gum-trees. The buildings comprise the residence of Mr. Louw, the houses of Dr. Helm and other missionaries, and a school-house. Morgenster is celebrated for its banana plantation, the number of its lemon trees, and its large irrigated gardens. The Mahobohobo trees are very numerous in the vicinity of the station.

The district in which the mission is situated is known to the natives as Amangwa, this being in former times the country of the once powerful tribe of Amangwa, who were driven away from the Zimbabwe district by the present local Makalanga on their arrival almost seventy years ago from the Sabi district. A kopje within a third of a mile on the east side of the mission was, until very recently, occupied by a local tribe of Makalanga, who built up rampart walls of unhewn stones to fortify the kopje against the attacks of the Matabele about 1893.

Morgenster is also celebrated for the immense panoramic view of the Motelekwe Valley, extending for at least forty miles, where the tumbling sea of rugged kopje summits fades into the blue distance. The view is so extensive, impressive, and grand that one can never tire beholding it. As far as the eye can reach the land can be seen descending towards the south. The nearest point of the Motelekwe River to the mission is four miles. There are a great many villages in the valley.

A peculiar interest attaches to this view of the Motelekwe Valley, for along it appears to have been the main route of the ancient gold-seekers from the coast to Zimbabwe, and so into the interior of the country. Along the Motelekwe is a chain of ruins (see Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia), of which the Mapaku Ruins, eight miles east-south-east of Zimbabwe, are the nearest. Some of these ruins are of major importance, and two at least are decorated with the chevron pattern, and occupy areas almost as large as the main ruins at Zimbabwe. This line of forts, or “blockhouses,” is extended along the Sabi River for a considerable distance into Portuguese territory. In viewing this valley from Morgenster, the thought that within sight lies one of the ancient roads to the coast, and that along it passed the gold- and ivory-laden caravans, makes the contemplation of the Motelekwe Valley one of absorbing interest.

The sharp-cut kopje with steep glacis sides, about a mile and a half south of the mission, is Rugutsi. This divides the scenery of the Motelekwe from that of the Mowishawasha Valley on the south. This also is a fine view, but not so extensive as that of the Motelekwe Valley. An absolutely bare, granite, balloon-shaped kopje lies to the west.

Two miles due south of the mission, in the Mowishawasha Valley, is a natural stronghold known as Wuwuli.