WHO RUILT Tlir. RflODESIAN RUINS? 495 



plorations and conquests in Africa and Asia are, however, De 

 Barros, De Couio and Bocarro. 



The first (T quote from Dr. Theal)" was .horn in 14<)6. of 

 a p[Ood family, and received the best education that could be g^iven 

 in his day. From 1522 to 1525 he was captain of S. Jorp^e da 

 Mina, on the western coast of Africa; from 1525 to 1.S32 he was 

 Treasurer of the Indian Department, and in i_S32 he received 

 the appointment of factor in 'the India House. He died October 

 20th, 1570. De Barros had access to the journals, letters and 

 reports of the earlier discoveries and ofificers of all classes in 

 India and Africa, just as De Goes had, and here he found his 

 sources of information, but he used them all with more literary 

 skill, if not with greater judgment. 



The following- extract concerns generally with the briefer 

 statement of De Goes. It is taken from Decade I., Book X., Chap. 

 I. of " Da Asia." 



The land is rich in gold . . . but one of these negroes must be 

 very hungry before he will dig for it. . . . There are other mines on 

 a district called Toroa, which, by another name, is known as the 

 Kingdom of Butua, which is ruled by a prince called Burrom, a vassal 

 of Benomotapa, which land joins that aforesaid, consisting of vast 

 plains (i.e., Manica, see p. 260), and these mines are the most ancient 

 known in the country, and they are all in the plain in the midst of 

 which there is a square fortress of masonry within and without, built of 

 stones of marvellous size, and there appears to be no mortar joining them. 

 The wall is more than 25 spans in width. Above the door of this edifice 

 is an inscription, which some Moorish merchants, learned men, who 

 went thither could not read, neither could they tell what the character 

 might be. The edifice is almost surrounded by hills upon which are 

 others resembling it in the fashioning of the stone, and the absence 

 of mortar; and one of them is a tower more than 12 fathoms high. 



This would be an accurate descriotion of the Great Zimbabwe 

 except for the term " stones of marvellous size " (De Goes has 

 "large and heavy stones"). This possibly applies to the large 

 granite boulders among which the buildings there are situated, 

 or it may be a simple error, large stones being connoted illogically 

 with large buildings. I continue the quotation: — 



The natives of the country call these edifices Symbaoe, which, 

 according to their language, signifies " Court, "f for every place where 

 the Benomotapa may be is so called, and they say that, being royal 

 property all the king's other dwellings have this name. It is guarded 

 by a nobleman, who has charge of it, after the manner of a chief alcaide, 

 and they call this officer Symbacayo, or, as we should say. Regent of 

 the Symbaoe, and there are always some of the Benomotapa's wives 

 therein, of whom the Symbacayo takes care. 



When and by whom these edifices were raised, as the people of 

 the land are ignorant of the art of writing, there is no record, but they 

 say they are the work of the devil, for in comparison with their power 

 and knowledge it does not seem possible to them that they should be 

 the work of man. Some Moors who saw it, to whom Vicente Pegado, 

 who was Captain of Sofala, showed one fortress there and the work 

 of the windows and arches, that they might compare it with the stone 

 work of the said edifice, said they could not be compared with it for 



* Records S.E. Africa, 6 r. 



t /.t'., cidcdc, or "great place" in original Corte. 



B 



