following the course of
the stream, until, about noon, we arrived in the midst of what in the
distance had appeared to be a cluster of curiously shaped kopjes, but
now proved, to my great surprise, to be ruins, thickly overgrown with
vegetation. Here, my curiosity being powerfully aroused at so
unexpected a sight, and it being also time to outspan, I called a halt;
and while Piet busied himself in the preparation of my midday meal, I
took my rifle and sauntered off to examine the ruins.

They proved to be very much more extensive than I had imagined, for when
I came to inspect them at close quarters I found that the structures
which had at first attracted my attention formed but a very small part
of the whole, the greater portion of the buildings having been razed to
the level of the ground, large heaps of rubbish and the foundations
being all that now remained, with the exception of the ruins
above-mentioned, of a town or village that had originally covered more
than a hundred acres of ground.

But it was to the ruins which had originally arrested my attention that
I now chiefly devoted myself, entirely forgetful of the fact that a meal
was awaiting me at the wagon. And these remains I found to be
extraordinarily interesting, for I had not been among them ten minutes
before I became convinced that they were the work of a people of far
higher intelligence than the Mashonas--that they must indeed have been
built by a race having some pretensions to civilisation. For, while the
walls were for the most part built of dry rubble masonry, the lintels
and doorposts were of dressed stone, and--most remarkable circumstance
of all--were in many cases adorned with sculptures in low relief, of a
character strongly resembling those which I had seen portrayed in
pictures of Egyptian ruins. For example, there were figures of men
ploughing with oxen, driving laden asses, leading by the horns antelopes
which were perfectly recognisable as the oryx and springbok, others
leading baboons, leopards, giraffes, dogs, lions, and elephants, human
figures with heads of birds, lions, and rams, and figures of sphynxes
with human heads, or the heads of rams. And these figures were not by
any means the rough efforts of uncultured savages; on the contrary, they
were distinguished by a precision of line, a delicacy yet firmness of
touch, and an artistic beauty that could only have resulted from a very
high state of civilisation and culture.