[1] The major portion of this Preface was read before the British Association at Cambridge, August 17, 1904.

[2] Stanford, 1901.

[3] On this crucial point I am glad to find myself in accord with Dr. A. H. Sayce, who has independently arrived at the same conclusion. “There is no gold in Southern Arabia,” he writes, “and consequently Ophir must have been an emporium to which the gold was brought for transhipment from elsewhere” The Early History of the Hebrews, 1897, p. 463).

[4] Somewhat similar terraced slopes are to be found in the Lydenburg district of Transvaal Colony.

[5] See Lundi Ruins, in Ancient Ruins, p. 178.

[6] So also M. L. Gallois, in a review of The Gold of Ophir, contributed to the Annales de Géographie for September 15, 1902: “Ces monuments de l’Afrique du Sud ont une parenté certaine, avec les monuments himyarites de l’Arabie méridionale. Les hommes qui ont construit les forteresses de la Rhodesia venaient, portés par la mousson, de la côte méridionale d’Arabie chercher l’or du Manica et du Mashona.”

[7] Babel und Bibel, p. 44.

[8] Assyria, pp. 110, 116.

[9] Gold of Ophir, p. 6.

[10] Ruined Cities, p. 167.

[11] And, it may be asked, in the above-quoted passage from 1 Kings, does the expression “ships of Tharshish” mean “ships of the sea”? The Hebrew text has אֳנִיּוֹת תַּרְשִׁישׁ, “ships of Tharshish.” And if for Tharshish we substitute Ophir—Oppert’s alternative suggestion—we get nonsense; “ships of Ophir go to Ophir.” Even the “higher critics” will scarcely accept this.

[12] Das Problem scheint jetzt in der That gëlost (No. 19, 1902, p. 357).

[13] Correctly, Zim-bāb-gi (zimba, pl. buildings; mābgi, pl. stones), words in common use in Chicaranga, the language of the Makalanga. Authorities on Chicaranga agree that zimba, though applying to dwellings, is also applied to buildings which are not dwellings.

[14] See Appendix, Note A. Government Notice, No. 103 of 1904, “Great Zimbabwe, Notice to Visitors, with Regulations.”

[15] Remains removed to Matoppas, 1904.

[16] Correctly, Motirikoi (Chicaranga, “a river that rises suddenly”).

[17] Correctly, Togue (passive); in Chicaranga, “a river where people are swept away.” The Togue is a strong and fast-running river.

[18] In Chicaranga, “the hill of those who ran away.”

[19] “Black.”

[20] Chewers, probably of tobacco.

[21] Usually but wrongly spelt Kaffir. It is the Arabic كافِر, Káfir = Infidel, Unbeliever, applied indifferently to all non-Mohammedan peoples, hence has no ethnical significance.

[22] In Chicaranga the Zulu l becomes r. The Sebele l in Abolse (see pp. 3, 17, 133, 134, and 191 The Ancient Ruins, 2nd edition) becomes r—or Barose, Barotse, etc.

[23] The Mogabe Handisibishe is called Benzi, “the quarrelsome man,” owing to his frequent quarrellings with the chiefs of other Makalanga tribes.

[24] See also Isafuba, Ancient Ruins, pp. 79, 80, 140, 152, 268.

[25] Waterfall (Chicaranga).

[26] Bingura’s people are Amangwa.

[27] Mashona, probably a corruption of Mashuli, Mahuli, “slaves,” is the name by which the Makalanga are known to the whites; hence “Mashonaland,” the now established name of their territory, which should properly be Makalangaland.

[28] Barotse, Barose, Marose, and Varose are all variant forms of Baharutse, who appear to be the original stock of the Bechuana nation, hence are regarded by all the other branches of the family as their “elder brothers.”

[29] The proper totem of the Barotse people is the Chuene (Cape baboon), but sub-tribes of Barotse each have also a totem of their own. The Mamba (puff-adder) was the totem of the Barotse of Thabas I’Mamba districts.

[30] Coillard, pp. 220, 224, and 333.

[31] See Dr. Keane’s Introduction to this volume; also The Gold of Ophir; also M. Grandidier’s work on the Sabæan, Phœnician, and Idumean Jew influences on South-East Africa and Madagascar; and The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia (2nd edition).

[32] See The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia, 2nd edition, pp. 141–3, for descriptions of relics found at Zimbabwe in 1891 and 1892. See Appendix hereto, Note F, for inventory of relics found by the author at Zimbabwe, 1902–4.

[33] All the birds found at Zimbabwe either by Mr. Bent and the author were discovered occupying an eastern position, cut off from south-west, west, and north by cliffs or large and high walls.

[34] Professor Dr. Flinders Petrie informs the author that this pattern is decidedly of Eastern origin, possibly Assyrian.

[35] See also Preface, “Two Periods of Gold Manufacture at Zimbabwe.”

[36] Dr. Flinders Petrie has informed the author that calcedony beads, identical in shape and size to those found in ruins in Rhodesia, are of mediæval Arab origin.

[37] Dr. Budge, Head Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, considers this glass to belong to the thirteenth or fourteenth century of this era.

[38] The author is preparing a monograph on the pottery of the Barotse and Makalanga.

[39] See Note C, Appendix to this volume, which gives a fuller description of this “find.”

[40] For descriptions of ancient architecture in the ruins of Rhodesia generally, see The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia (2nd edition), Chapter XII.

[41] For a probable explanation of the absence of inscriptions, see Dr. Keane’s Introduction to this volume.

[42] See Preface.

[43] Figures in round brackets are points of the circumference of the interior face of the main wall measured from the south side of the west entrance and going south.

[44] This has now been discovered. It had been removed by relic hunters in 1892.

[45] Since the above was written further exploration in the ruins shows several lengths of these granite cement dadoes, one 16 ft. and another 33 ft. long, still intact. Cement dadoes have also been found round the faces of buttresses and on the side walls of entrances, thus reducing the width of such passage-ways by at least 5 in.

[46] Most of the Sabæan temples were round. El Masoudi (940 a.d.).

[47] All the birds found at Zimbabwe occupied eastward positions.

[48] For Areas of varying styles of Ancient Architecture see Ancient Ruins, p. 164, section (a).

[49] See Preface, West Wall Controversy.

[51] See Appendix, Note G, as to formation rock under the temple.

[52] See Frontispiece.

[53] Several independent astronomical calculations point to the age of the Elliptical Temple being from 1100 to 1300 years b.c.

[54] This has been now found by the author. It had been removed in 1892 by relic hunters.

[56] Two rounded buttresses are built on the larger buttress, and are against the summit of this wall.

[57] Discovered 1902.

[58] For description of these ruins, see p. 358.

[59] Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia (2nd edition).

[60] See Author’s Report on Slanting Monolith, Note E, Appendix.

[61] The author was the first to break through the old habit of bestowing misleading or suggestive titles to various architectural features. These recesses unfortunately have thus always been known as “buttresses.” A long list of such incorrect titles could easily be compiled from printed descriptions of ruins.

[62] The author has since discovered similar recesses elsewhere at Zimbabwe.