About a mile from Gobele’s we come to the Meziro, a perennial stream, 300 yds. from which on the east side of the path is the Rumeni Ruin, built on the slope of a hill. This ruin occupies an area of 111 ft. from east to west and 63 ft. from north to south. The highest wall is now only about 6 ft. high. The style of building is peculiar—a large, well-built, rounded buttress being at the north entrance, and the walls show both superior and inferior workmanship, while the western side is formed of arcs of circles end on end. The Meziro flows south and east of the ruin in the valley below.
Two hundred yards back along the path and about one hundred yards from it on the west side is an old Makalanga wall with portions of the wall of an oval enclosure. The structure is of no great age, and is definitely claimed by the natives as the work of some few generations past. Its total length is 54 ft., and the area of the enclosure is 16 ft. at its longest parts. Some old Makalanga clay flooring has been used as building material at different points in the wall.
The journey south, and later south-east, is continued, and the Meziro and Mazili rivers crossed, while the following kraals are passed in order—Chinaka’s to the left, Skarduza’s on the right, and Manamuli also on the right. In front is a very high kopje with almost perpendicular sides. This is Rushumbi, a noted landmark for many miles round. The path leads past the south of this hill and up another hill, where is Marota kraal. This hill, which has a very considerable elevation, is exceedingly steep on the south side, and there is an extensive view from the summit down the Motelekwe and Tokwe valleys. Marota was the largest kraal seen on this journey. Half an hour’s walk from Marota brought us to a natural drift on the Motelekwe, which here bends south-south-east. The river-bed at this point is about 200 yds. wide, and in the dry season is very easy to cross, from sandbank island to sandbank island and scrambling over large granite rocks with smooth glassy surfaces. There is no doubt that this is the best drift within a good many miles either up or down the river, and it lies, as seen in the distance from Mount Sueba, the eastern “Sheba’s Breast,” exactly in the natural and unbroken line of country up which is the easiest and most natural approach to Zimbabwe from the south-east, thus avoiding bewildering mazes of kopjes and rough country which lie on either side. The topography of the country clearly points out the ancient route, and it is along this that our present journey is made. At this drift we saw a boy of about nine years of age with a skin no darker than that of an ordinary Spaniard and with almost perfect features. Both parents were ascertained to be Makalanga.
From the east bank of the drift the path ascends for a distance of nearly two miles between the drift and the Majerri Ruins, which at this distance lie half a mile to the south of the path on a line of kopjes to the south-west of another Mapaku (“the caves”). This Mapaku must not be confused with the Mapaku we had visited during the small hours of the day, for wherever there are caves there is a local Mapaku; hence there are several places of this name within a score of miles from Zimbabwe. The name of the headman at this Mapaku is Munda, and on sending to his village, one of his men will act as guide to the ruins, which are rather difficult to find by anyone unacquainted with the district. On our way from the drift we passed several very long game-drive fences and large game pits, and saw two herds of wild pigs and several large buck.
By three o’clock in the afternoon we had reached the ruins, and a camp for the night was made in one of the enclosures. Soon afterwards the boys were busy with hatchets cutting away brush from the sides of the walls, so that a survey could be made and photographs taken. The ruins are much larger and better built than we had been led to believe. There are sixteen enclosures, also a passage 290 ft. long running from end to end of the ruins. Chevron pattern is on the west face of a very substantial wall of what appears to have been an important enclosure. We worked at the measurements till it was dark, when we partook of our evening meal. The full moon rose a little later and flooded the ancient building with light, so that further examinations could be made. The enclosure in which our camp for the night was formed was made most picturesque with the lights of moon and fire, the walls gleaming white with the heavy mantle of lichen which covered them. This white appearance of the walls is a prominent feature in all the ruins of the Motelekwe chain, most probably accounted for by the mists that usually hang over the line of the river.
The talking and singing of the boys, the music of their Makalanga pianos, seemed in perfect harmony with the solemn stillness of the ruins and of the night. We turned in early, and at five in the morning we were again busy completing measurements and noting up descriptions of architectural features and styles of construction. At ten o’clock the principal parts of the ruins were photographed, and at eleven we set out on our return to Zimbabwe.
The objective of our next expedition down the Motelekwe Valley will be another set of ruins still further south-east. There are other ruins beyond these again, and we hope to be able by such expeditions to obtain full descriptions, with photographs and plans, of all the ruins of the Motelekwe chain.
Munda, the headman at Mapaku (Majerri), states that only three white men have ever seen these ruins, two came together and one alone, but that these visits were made some years ago. One of the Messrs. Posselts was of this number.
On this journey we found the women were all decorated with the furrow pattern on their bare stomachs. The “female breast and furrow pattern” was on all washing-tubs, drums, granaries, and furnaces, and also on some doors, and further worked out in clay on the sides of the huts. Check pattern adorned some of the huts, but mainly the inside walls. Some very well-built semi-circular walls for screening open fires were found at some of the villages.