51-2 KHODESIAX RUINS. 



this \vay, that the Arahs may have acted as clerks of work.N, 

 while the chiefs supplied the lahour. From what we know of 

 the power of native chiefs in recent times, it is quite certain 

 that they could have commanded the services of thousands of 

 labourers ; forced labour, of course. The thing is possible, and 

 may have been done in this way, and if so, it would altord an 

 explanation of the supposed Semitic characteristics of the walls, 

 and would bear out the assertion of late medieval date. As to 

 tlie object for which the buildings were erected, to " worship 

 their Amadhloz: in," that is quite in keeping with Dr. Alaciver's 

 suggestion that part of Zimbabwe was used as a temple by a 

 witch doctor or priest king, and this is borne out by the re- 

 ligious customs of the Makaranga, where 



The chief acts in the capacity of high priest. The persons possessing 

 second sight or prophetic inspiration (nioiidoro) assist liim in the per- 

 formance of the rites. The nioitdoro. h\' reason of being inspired by the 

 shades of the departed, can give the nature of the sacrifice \vhich will 

 propitiate tlie ofYended s))irits.* 



That the Mashuna have considerable ritual competent 

 observers are now agreed. Dr. Wilder, in his ])aper on '" Xdau 

 Religion " in the Hartford Seminary Record for 1907, shows 

 clearly that the Ndau people, who are a 1)ranch of the r\Iaka- 

 ranga, have a large and fairly elaborate ceremonial, just such 

 as would be required by a building like Zimbabwe. Not all 

 Ziml)abwe was used for this exclusive purpose, but as the chief 

 is the priest and rain-maker, the two offices were discharged 

 by the same person in the same place. This is cer- 

 tainly a remarkable confirmation of ]\Iaciver's shrewd 

 guess at the object for which Zimbabwe was built. ]\Iy infor- 

 mant also told me that there w^as a smaller Zimbabwe on the 

 Sabi River, in Portuguese territory, and that a king lived there 

 till the Amaswazi came, and that they killed him and drove the 

 peoj^le out, and that they never went back ; that this king was 

 also the head doctor of that tribe. He gave me his name, but 

 I neglected to write it down at the time. 



I now come to my third witness, Chiminya, a Batonga from 



the neighbourhood of the A^ictoria Falls. Fie is neither Mate- 



bele nor Mashuna, and so his testimony is all the more valuable 



on that account. He is an intelligent man, and has resided in 



Bulawavo for many years, and I have found him careful in 



all his statements. I have repeatedly raised this f|uestion with 



him. and he always gave the same version each time. It runs 



as follows : 



T have heard from the old \rakaranga and Matebele that the Mambo 

 lived at Thaba's ka Maml;o. built Thaba's ka Mambo and Khami. I 

 have heard them say so many times. He did not use these places to live 

 in. but he used them to figlit in, when anybody came to fight him like 

 the Amaswazi (i.e.. he used to retire to these places for defence). I 

 have heard it said that the Mambo of Thaba's ka Mambo ruled as istr 



* Posselt : " Social Condition of the Natives of Mashonaland,'" — Proc. 

 Idihodcsia Scicitfific Association. 12, 1,31. 



