At 25 ft. from the North Entrance is a rounded entrance through the outer wall. This has portcullis grooves. It is 1 ft. 10 in. wide, and has three steps formed of the courses of the foundation of the wall, the upper step being curved back into the entrance.
At the extremity near the North Entrance there are the remains of a small rounded buttress projecting into the passage from the main wall of the temple.
CHAPTER XIV
THE ACROPOLIS RUINS
South-East Ancient Ascent—Lower Parapet—Rock Passage—Upper Parapet—Western Enclosure.
ON Zimbabwe Hill, at a height of some 230 ft. to 250 ft. above the valley which runs along its west and south sides, stands the Acropolis or Hill Fortress. Its prominent and strategic position on this precipitous and practically isolated granite kopje gives it a grandly imposing appearance among the many large ruins included within the Zimbabwe Reserve.
Viewing the hill from the valley, one can well realise that Nature alone made the place impregnable, while the builders of almost four thousand years ago applied their highly developed engineering skill and ingenuity to make the stronghold even more absolutely unassailable.
The south side of the hill is defended by a precipice some 90 ft. high, running without break from the western end for over 300 yds. to the eastern side of the hill, where the precipice loses itself in gigantic boulders, each of many hundred tons weight, which, owing to their beetling form, render that side of the hill inaccessible. Great boulders form the summit of the hill, and are in a cliff-shaped line running from west to east. Several of the highest boulders appear to be most delicately poised on the edges of the shoulders of gigantic cliffs, and these rise up at least 50 ft. to 70 ft. above the highest portion of the Hill Ruins, thus making the total height of the kopje to be slightly more than 320 ft.
ZIMBABWE HILL