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Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land

Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land Page of 449 Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
72 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
The extent of these old workings has been proved beyond doubt by the reports of Hartley, Mauch, Baines, Nelson, and later explorers, and a precise and graphic study of Zimbabwe and
other ancient structures in Mashonaland was made in 1891-92 by J. Theodore Bent and his associates in the expedi­tion chiefly promoted by the Royal Geographical Society, the British Char­tered Company of South Africa, and the British Association for the Ad­vancement of Science. Bent's expedition located Zimbabwe in latitude 20° 16' 30" south, longitude 310 7' 30" east; slightly differing from the position given by Mauch.1 Bent holds that Zimbabwe is of Abantu origin and may be freely translated
" Here is the great kraal," meaning the kraal of the native head chief of the dis­trict. This name, however, marked only the native occu­pation of the buildings, and Bent sees in the ancient ruins and workings " evidence of a cult known to Arabia and Phoenicia alike, temples built on accurate mathematical prin­ciples, containing kindred objects of art, methods of producing gold known to
have been employed in the ancient world, and evidence of a vast population devoted to the mining of gold."
1 " List of Stations in Mashonaland astronomically observed, with Altitudes," by Robert M. W. Swan.
Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land Page of 449 Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land
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