KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[July, 1905. 



Eastern appearance to the building, which is very 

 striking. The summit of the main cast wall was once 

 decorated with tall granite monoliths, the bases of some 

 twenty-six monoliths still remaining in situ. The outer 

 face of the east wall bears a pattern of chevron in two 

 rows worked in granite blocks (Fig- 2). This pattern 

 is one of the earliest decorative designs known to 

 research, and is the ancient emblem of Water and 

 Fertility of the old Nature worshippers. 



The Conical Tower, 32 ft. in height, is one of the 

 principal architectural features of this building. Its 

 lines are worked out with marvellous skill. It is per- 

 fectly solid, and with it is associated a high stone plat- 

 form approached by steps. The tower is considered by 



Fl(t. 2.-Chci 



on Pattern on Eastern W all. IZlMplicol Temple 

 Great Zimbabwe. 



many leading men of science to be identical in purpose, 

 if not in general form, with the Baal towers of Arabia, 

 I'hfi-nicia, Canaan, and Babvlon, referred to in Holy 

 Writ. 



The interior f)f this immense building is divided into 

 some Fifteen enclosures, and there is no less than 700 ft. 

 length f)f passages within the walls, the most famous 

 being the Parallel Passage, which leads directly from 

 the north or main entrance into the Sacred F^nclosure 

 in which stands the Conical Tower. Many leading 

 European experts place the age of the Temple at some 

 period between iCkjo and 1100 B.C. 



There is great similarity between the architecture of 

 Zimbabwe and that of several ancient temples in South 

 Arabia. The Temple at Zimbabwe is admitted to be 



the finest example of an ancient Nature worshipping 

 shrine known to the world. No inscriptions have been 

 found at Zimbabwe, the earliest inscriptions found in 

 anv Phrrnician Temple being not older than 700 B.C. 



At Zimbabwe there are evidences of an ancient 

 civilisation and arts whose only parallel in many re- 

 spects, especially in their associations, is to be found 

 in the ancient kingdoms of South Arabia. According 

 to the Scriptures, and ancient Roman and Grocian 

 historians, the Sabrcans of South Arabia were the gold 

 purveyors of the then know'n world. Rhodesia con- 

 tains the most ancient and most extensive gold mines 

 yet discovered. 



The Gold Mines and 

 Gold Prodviction. 



The history of Africa as a gold producer dates back to 

 very early times. It was not, however, till compara- 

 tivelv recently that .South .'\frica, as now known, was 

 found to be a gold-bearing country. In 1882 

 the Ue Kaap goldfields were started, while it was 

 three years later before the famous Sheba fninc was 

 discovered and the town of Barberton founded. The 

 existence of gold, however, had long been surmised, 

 and was actually discovered in 1868, Carl Mauch re- 

 ferring to it as occurring near the Oliphants River. 

 In 1870 it was found in the Murchison Range, and the 

 next discovery was in the Lydenburg district, at 

 Pilgrim's Rest. In 1884 Struben Brothers started a 

 5-stamp battery on the farm Wcltevrcden, in the 

 western district of the 'iVansvaal, for quartz mining, 

 which is very dissimilar to " banket," as the huge 

 conglomerate bed of the Witwatei^srand basin has 

 come to be known. The deposits consist of quartz 

 pebbles held together by a siliceous cement containing 

 iron pyrites. The gold exists in the finest particles, 

 showing sharp crystalline structure on examination by 

 the microscope, as against the rounded forms, through 

 attrition, in alluvial deposits. Gold was first panned 

 from the " Ijanket " beds of the Witwatersrand (or 

 white waters ridge) in 1885, and in 1886 Johannesburp-, 

 the " Golden City," sprang into existence, as if from 

 the wand of a fairy. The goldfield is situated on a plain 

 about ft, 000 feet above the sea-level, across which the 

 northern outcrop of the gold basin rises slighllv, and 

 roughly represents the watershed between the Atl.intic 

 and Indian Ocerms. The formation h.is been traced 

 pr.ictii-.iliy continuously for about f.o miles along the 

 strike of the Main Reef, from Randfontcin in the west 

 to Holfonlein in the east. A length of about 12 miles 

 of this, with the Langlaagtc Block B on the west and 

 Knights on the east, is described as the " Central 

 Rand," the companies operating which are stated to 

 be responsible for about three-fourths of the gold won 

 down to the outbreak of war in i8gg. But the con- 

 glomerate beds have been traced over far greater areas, 

 outcrops and borings having revealed continuity for 

 164 miles, while nearly 150 miles are estim.-ited to be 

 concealed by recent measures and short interruptions 

 by faults or dykes. Judging from the dip of the 

 formation at the central northern outcrop of the basin, 

 It was for some time supposed that the depth would 

 become prohibitive for mining at a distance (say) f)f 

 two miles. Enormous engineering feats will apparently 

 not have to be undertaken, as exploration has shown 



