494 WHO BUILT THE RHODESIAN RUINS? 



worthy historical documents."* They cannot be contemptuously 

 cast aside as if they were no better than the fictitious adventures 

 of Christian Frederick Bamberger. 



The next Portuguese authority which I beg leave to select is 

 Damao de Goes, Keeper of the Archives at Lisbon from 1546 to 

 1 571. He was "of a noble Portuguese family, brought up in the 

 Court of King Emanuel, and occupied important diplomatic posts 

 in Poland, Sweden, and Denmark. As Chief Chronicler of the 

 Kingdom of Portugal he compiled the ' important and authorita- 

 tive Chronicle'" from which, Part II., Chap. X., the following 

 extract is taken : — 



In the middle of this country (Kingdom of Bcnomotapa), is a 

 fortress built of large and heavy stones, inside and out. It is a very 

 curious and well-constructed Imildiny, as, according to report, tio lime 

 to join the stones can be seen. An inscription is cut so ancient that 

 no one know what it means. Tn other districts are other fortresses 

 built, in all of which the king has captains to guard the gold mines, 

 tlie prince at whose command they were built receiving the duties on the 

 gold paid by the officials whom lie sent there for the purpose, because 

 this is what is at present done by the present kings of the aforesaid 

 kingdom of Benomotapa. . . . The houses are all built of. wattles, 

 plastered with clay, such as I described that of the sheik of Sofala.f 



The above passage has been cited by Dr. Randall Maciver 

 as " including the valuable statement " that in other districts of 

 the said plains there are other fortresses built in the same manner, 

 in all of which the king has captains. "J 



This is so, and it is a matter of common knowledge (that so- 

 called " prehistoric " ruins exist elsewhere than at Ziiribabwe, and 

 that they were and are used and occupied bv Bantu ; but there is 

 no evidence, nor does De Goes say that the natives contemporary 

 with his day built them. Scouting this as an unjustifiable attempt 

 on Dr. Randall Maciver's part to Ijolster up his theory of 

 " medic-eval Zimbabwe," Mr. R. N. Hall endeavours to discredit 

 De Goes as a witness on the ground that he was " a compiler, 

 not a historian. "§ But De Goes can safely be accepted as an 

 authority on contemporary opinion as to the age of the ruins. 

 His passing remark on " an inscription so ancient that no one 

 knows what it means '" sufficiently indicates what that opinion 

 was. It is clear that it is incompatible with a belief that the 

 l)uildings were of quite recent origin. 



Don Damao, it is true, never visited South-East Africa, but 

 many of those who constituted his sources of information did ; 

 and if we cannot accept his conclusions, then neither can we those 

 of the " Argus-eyed Venetian Envoys " for whom John Lo^hrop 

 Motley has such admiration, and who followed similar careers at 

 about the same time. 



The generally recognised authorities on the Portuguese ex- 



*" Jesuits in North America," London (1909), 6. 

 ■\ Records of S.E. Africa. 3. 129, 131. 



t David Randall-Maciver : " Medi;eval Rhodesia." London (1906) 60, 

 98-9. 



S Richard X. Jlall: "Prehistoric Rhodesia." London (.[909), 112-13. 



