(3) On still lower levels were found the floors and lower portions of the sides of huts made of a red-coloured cement without poles fixed in the cement sides. This is not ordinary daga. The inside faces of the walls, as well as the floors which are beautifully smooth, have been baked with fire, and fragments will ring almost like metal, portions having become white with the heat. This cement has in most instances been faced with a thin yellow glaze. On the floors are quantities of small rims very neatly bevelled, with three or four parallel faces on the top, the ends of the rims being rounded off. The bevelled rims are from 1½ in. to 4 in. wide. The roofs of these buildings were supported by poles inserted in the cement floors outside the huts at the distance in many instances of 1 ft. The posts round the outside of the huts were from 1 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. 4 in. apart, and, judging by their butt-ends, which have been preserved by the cement, were made of hard woods, including mahobohobo, which is plentiful at Zimbabwe. The best examples of these huts, of which some score can be seen, are in No. 1 Enclosure in the Elliptical Temple, in the North-West Enclosure, Acropolis, and on the cleared section of floor in the Western Temple. These huts stand on cement platforms without stone foundations, and the platforms are about 1 ft. high, and the top edges are neatly bevelled. In two of these remains at Zimbabwe have been found gold dust, iron spring pincers with flux on the top, pottery, gold scorifiers, and the crudely-shaped soapstone moulds.
Old pioneers assert that these buildings are of Makalanga construction. The Makalangas themselves claim these as having been built by their people in a very remote past. Similar buildings, but without traces of gold*smelting, are known to have been built by the Makalanga in different parts of Southern Mashonaland.
Mr. Alfred Drew, Native Commissioner for Victoria district, who arrived in this country in 1890, and is a recognised authority on old Makalanga buildings, expresses his entire agreement with the above descriptions of old native clay huts, also with the conclusions arrived at concerning them.
(4) There is another class of native hut which is not very frequently found in Southern Rhodesia, but is commonly met with in Basutoland and Swaziland, and in other territories further south. At Zimbabwe there are four such huts on the higher floors of filled-in ruins. This class of hut is constructed of cement of a good quality and of great thickness, with no poles to support the roof. It is circular in form, and from its exterior sides are four, sometimes five, short radiating walls of stones extending outward some 5 ft. or 6 ft. The walls are about 4 ft. wide, and in height reach almost to the top of the cement sides of the hut. The entrance usually has an immense cement buttress on either side, while between each radiating wall, and at the base of the side of the hut, runs a cement bevel rounded on its outer edge as if to form a seat. This bevel is about 14 in. high and 16 in. wide. In all weathers and at any time of day the occupiers could have sat in some one of these partially open spaces between the radiating walls sheltered from sun, rain, or wind. The remains of two such huts were found in the Western Temple on the Acropolis, and one of the radiating walls of one of them, which was more exposed and less ruined than the other short walls, was fixed upon by Swan as an “altar.” This wall is B wall, mentioned in the description of the Western Temple, which follows in Chapter XV.
PASSAGES
Every writer on Zimbabwe appears to have been greatly struck with the number of passages both at the Elliptical Temple and on the Acropolis, and particularly with their labyrinthine character. During 1902–4 further passages were discovered and opened out, and these had a total length of 2,130 ft. The total length of passages opened out, or which can be clearly traced, now amounts to 5,202 ft. As is shown later in this section, this by no means exhausts the tale of passages to be found at Zimbabwe.
| Elliptical Temple:— | ||
| Situation of Passages. | Cleared. | Traced. |
| Parallel Passage | 193 ft. |
|
| Inner Parallel Passage | 71 〃 |
|
| South Passage | 73 〃 |
|
| *West Passage | 30 〃 | 30 ft. |
| *South Entrance to No. 10 Enclosure | 14 〃 |
|
| Outside Elliptical Temple:— | ||
| Outer Parallel Passage | 125 ft. |
|
| *North-East Passage (remainder of length included in the “Valley of Ruins” passages) | 50 〃 |
|
| Acropolis or Hill Ruins:— | ||
| South-East Ancient Ascent | 349 ft. | 1260 ft. |
| Higher Parapet | 78 〃 |
|
| Central Passage | 103 〃 |
|
| *Sunken Passage, Eastern Temple (traced further) | 28 〃 |
|
| North Passage, Eastern Temple | 23 〃 |
|
| *South Cave Passage | 46 〃 |
|
| Covered Passage (cleared in 1902) | 10½ 〃 |
|
| Parallel Passage | 71 〃 | 20 ft. |
| *Cleft Rock Enclosure to foot of Platform stairs | 10 〃 |
|
| Winding Stairs | 14 〃 |
|
| Upper Passage | 28 〃 |
|
| East Passage | 80 〃 |
|
| Buttress Passage | 39 〃 |
|
| *South Passage | 38 〃 |
|
| Pattern Passage (upper portion cleared in 1902) | 51 〃 |
|
| North-West Ascent:— | ||
| *Sunken Passage in Platform Enclosure | 72 ft. |
|
| Ditto through main wall | 16 〃 |
|
| Ditto on Northern Parapet | 28 〃 |
|
| *Ditto from Northern Parapet to Visitors’ Part | 223 〃 |
|
| *Ditto from Visitors’ Part to Water Gate | 150 〃 | 510 ft. |
| Minor Ruins:— | ||
| *Outspan Ruins | 56 ft. |
|
| Ridge Ruins, Parallel Passage | 246 〃 |
|
| *Ridge Ruins, other passages | 25 〃 |
|
| No. 1 Ruins | 142 〃 |
|
| Valley of Ruins:— | ||
| *North-East Passage | ... | 600 ft. |
| Passage referred to by Mr. Bent | ... | 300 〃 |
| *Posselt Ruins, Parallel Passage | 65 ft. |
|
| *Philips Ruins | 51 〃 |
|
| *Maund Ruins | 24 〃 |
|
| *Mauch Ruins | 99 〃 |
|
| *Renders Ruins | 31 〃 |
|
———— | ———— | |
| Totals | 2,752 ft. | 3,620 ft. |
* These passages were discovered in 1902–4.
In addition to these totals of lengths of passages cleared out or traced, there are many other passages still buried in débris, the outcrop of their side walls being seen here and there on the surface near several ruins. Many, of course, must be completely buried under the veld, for some were lately discovered at least 3 ft. below the surface, with native paths crossing them in all directions, while it is quite reasonable to suppose that with the great area of ruins yet unexplored very many more passages will yet be found, especially when it is recollected that the discovery of one buried passage has most frequently led to the discovery of several side passages.
Traces were found of two other passages leading from the base to the summit of the Acropolis Hill, and these remain unexplored, and each would be fully 900 ft. in length, while traces of several lines of passages are to be seen encircling at various heights the south, west, and north faces of the Acropolis Hill. These also at present remain unexplored.