Gold Plating. Numerous bronze and iron instruments, particularly arrow, and spear-heads and battle-axes, have been discovered which had evidently been very thickly plated with gold, large portions of the plating still remaining. The plating had caused the partial preservation of the ironwork.

Goldsmiths' Tools.-Burnishing-stones, some with gold on the surface of the burnishing portion, have been found at most ruins where gold-smelting operations have been carried on, also a soapstone gold-beater's hammer. London jewellers who have examined some of the gold bangles bearing herringbone and chevron patterns have given their opinion that such patterns were stamped on with a whole and perfect stamp. The patterns on the beads, however, were carved in with a sharp instrument,

CHAPTER VIII

ANCIENT BURIALS

Where were the ancients buried?-Methods of ancient burial described -Buried treasure-Old Kaffir burials-Ancient garments.

WITH

ITH the patent evidences of vast populations of ancients having resided round about the ruins of Rhodesia during successive periods, each embracing many centuries of time, it is the most natural question to ask, "Where were all these ancients buried?" Many theories, both probable and improbable, have been enunciated to explain the inability of modern explorers of these ruins to discover the burying-places of the ancients.

Over forty skeletal remains of the ancients have been discovered in and close to the ruins, and these had been buried; also some twenty remains of ancients who had not been buried, and these are described later. But supposing the ruins had been wholly devoted for purposes of ancient burials, and this is not the case, not one thousandth part of the ancients could have received sepulture in them. We have still to search for their cemeteries, and, perhaps, these may be found at some distance from each ruin, hidden in valleys among the kopjes, where the modern prospector may not have trodden, or where the sub-tropical rains of very many centuries may have silted the surface soil, or the falling of débris from the summits may have completely covered them out of sight.

The conditions of the burials of the two score ancients

so far discovered demonstrate beyond question that the ancients, either for motives of personal veneration of their dead or of religious faith, were exceedingly anxious to preserve the remains to the utmost and to provide against their resting-places being easily desecrated and despoiled. This anxiety, it may be reasonably argued, was a national instinct, applicable to the general mass of the population, as well as to the few skeletal remains so far discovered. The first thought, even of the poorest Chinese labourer in foreign countries, is to save sufficient money to pay for the removal of his dead body to his native land, and well-to-do Chinese travelling abroad take their coffins among their luggage. This anxiety for burial, either in their native land or in the vicinity of some celebrated shrine, or in some particularly safe spot, is a characteristic manifested by many ancient peoples. The Arabian kinsmen of the ancients of this country removed their dead to the Bahrein Islands, in the Persian Gulf. This custom of deporting the dead to some unfrequented locality prevails likewise among the Mohammedans of Persia, India, and elsewhere.

However, it does not seem probable that, at such a great distance from the sea as is Rhodesia, and in a climate which causes the decay of dead bodies to be so exceedingly rapid, the remains of the ancients could have been taken to the coast for deportation to Arabia or any other country, especially as the discoveries so far made fail to show that the practice of embalming their dead was adopted by the old occupiers. Possibly there were certain shrines among the many temples in Rhodesia which might have been held by them in peculiar reverence, and in the vicinity of these temples may be found the main burial-places of the ancients, for, as their temples evidence, their religious faiths had strong hold upon their habits and customs. But at present the location of the burying-places of the ancient populations remains a mystery.

Some writers have suggested that as the periods of occupation by the ancients of this country cover the period when it was the practice of Mediterranean nations to cremate their dead, this practice of cremation might have been in vogue in Rhodesia, but so far there has been no evidence of such being the case.*

Mr. Bent considered that the ancients were "but a garrison in the country," and consequently their number was not considerable, and so an attempt is made to explain the paucity of buried ancients. But the later knowledge of the existence of over five hundred ruins in Rhodesia, as against the twentythree described and mentioned by Mr. Bent, some of which five hundred ruins being of large size and major importance, some consisting of whole groups of ruins occupying areas of over a square mile, altogether destroys this argument. The ancient population was by no means "but a garrison." We have already shown that the results of the examination of the vicinities of the larger ruins proved that large populations of ancients, apart from any slave or native race peoples, dwelt round about the ruins. But so far inland, and at such great distances from their base at the coast, no mere garrison could both have held its position in the country and have superintended and guarded the many and extensive goldmining districts scattered between the Murchison Range, in the Transvaal, in the south, to Tete, on the Zambesi, in the north, and from Penda-ma-tenka in Wankies, on the west, to Sofala on the east.

(1) The ancient gold-workings, especially those of lower grade, must have been worked by huge gangs of slaves, as was the custom in all the ancient countries of the world. (2) Huge gangs of slaves must have been employed in the tedious methods of crushing quartz by hand, and with crude implements. (3) Many of the five hundred Zimbabwes must

* "Cremation was not practised by the Phoenicians."-PERROT et CHIPIEZ, The History of Art, vol. i. p. 285.

have taken years to build, and slave labour to a great extent must have been engaged in quarrying for the granite blocks and in transporting them, in some instances, for considerable distances. (4) It would also be required for agricultural purposes, for grain would be necessary to maintain the large populations of ancients as well as for feeding the slaves themselves. (5) Slave labour would be necessary for carrying on the other industries and undertakings of the ancients.

Such a vast slave population as we are assured, both by examination and most reasonable probability, existed for many centuries in this country presupposes a vast population of the alien ancients to protect the towns and the many and scattered gold-mining districts, from both the hostile native races as well as from uprisings of the slave population, which were not infrequent in ancient history. To carry on gold-mining, gold-smelting, and every other industry imperative to the existence, well-being, and comfort of the ancients, all this covering periods of many centuries, but testifies that these ancient hives of industry which so thickly covered the country possessed a vast population of ancients, who resided here permanently, having their women and children, as shown, for instance, at Chum and Umnukwana ruins, surrounding them in their homes.

It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that in due time the cemeteries of these ancients will be found, and as the minimum amount of gold found with the remains of each ancient so far discovered has not been less than one and a half ounces, not only may valuable finds be struck, but many clues may be found in the patterns and manufacture of the ornaments, which may lead to the solving of the great mystery of the Rhodesian ruins.

Most of the burials of the ancients whose remains have so far been discovered took place under the original floors of the builders within the ruins, and apparently directly under the inner dwellings. Two only were found just outside the main