Manchester Memoirs, Vol. lix. (191 5), No. 10. 71 



models. The subterranean megalithic burial chamber in 

 association with an oblong mastaba-Xike superstructure 

 at once recalls the distinctive features of the Egyptian 

 tomb. But there is a curious feature suggestive of 

 Babylonian influence, namely, the situation of the temple 

 of offerings on the top of the mastaba. In some respects 

 this type of grave recalls those found in the Bahrein 

 Islands by Bent (4), which he compares with the Early 

 Phoenician tombs at Arvad (55). There can be no 

 question that the latter were copied from Theban tombs 

 of the New Empire {vide supra). 



This seems to point quite clearly to the fact that the 

 Betsileo burial practices were inspired by Egyptian 

 models, possibly modified by Southern Arabian influences. 



In Hall's " Great Zimbabwe" (1905, pp. 94 and 95), 

 it is stated that ''the Baduma, who live in Gutu's country, 

 and also the Barotse, still embalm, or, rather, dry the 

 bodies of their chiefs, and also the dead of certain 

 families, though generally the bodies are buried length- 

 ways on their right side, facing the sun. " The body is 

 placed in the hut on a bier made of poles near a large 

 fire, and continually turned until the body is dry. Then 

 it is wrapped up in a blanket and hung from the roof " 

 [as is done in the Dore Bay region in New Guinea]. 



There has been considerable controversy as to the 

 origin of the vast stone monuments in this region. The 

 writer from whom I have just quoted, with many others, 

 believed the Zimbabwe ruins to be the work of Early 

 Sabaean or Phoenician immigrants, who were attracted 

 by the Rhodesian gold-fields. Randall-Maclver believed 

 that he found Chinese and Persian relics (no earlier than 

 the 14th or at earliest 13th century) under the founda- 

 tions ; and recklessly jumped to the conclusion that the 

 local Negroes had conceived and built these vast monu- 



