Читать книгу Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia. An account of two years' examination work in 1902-4 on behalf of the government of Rhodesia онлайн

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Now my turn begins. Mogabe and the elders of his headmen have a sixty years’ knowledge of the ruins, and he is acquainted with everything that took place at Zimbabwe during the time of Chipfuno his brother, who was the previous Zimbabwe chief. Pointing to a gap in an obviously ancient wall which had been rudely filled in with blocks, I ask him who filled up the gap. After a long consultation with his headmen, he says that the Makalanga did it to keep in the cattle, for this part of the temple was used as a cattle kraal, and that was when Chipfuno was a young man. Another gap was filled up when Chipfuno was a young man. I then hand him over some pieces of pottery with geometrical patterns not at all crudely executed, which we have just unearthed, and ask him if the Makalanga made them. For ten minutes he and his headmen are closely examining the pottery, noting the quality of the clay, the correctness of the pattern, and the glaze on both sides. Yes, the Makalanga made it, but not the Makalanga who are now alive, nor their fathers’ fathers. The pottery was of Makalanga make, but meningi dara (very old). The assertion he emphasises by gesture, manifestly meaning a great age. Mogabe thus confirms the expert opinion of antiquarians that this class of pottery was made by the mediæval Makalanga. Mogabe comes to see us at every place we work at, and his opinion on “finds” belonging to recent generations of Makalanga may be taken, so old hands affirm, as perfectly reliable. The information so obtained is valuable both as to later walls and to articles found.