In A Clear Day Another Range Beyond This May Be Seen,
Which Is Gorongozo, Once A Station Of The Jesuits.
Gorongozo is famed
for its clear cold waters and healthiness, and there are some inscriptions
engraved on large square slabs on the top of the mountain,
which have probably been the work of the fathers.
As this lies
in the direction of a district between Manica and Sofala,
which has been conjectured to be the Ophir of King Solomon,
the idea that first sprang up in my mind was, that these monuments
might be more ancient than the Portuguese; but, on questioning some persons
who had seen them, I found that they were in Roman characters,
and did not deserve a journey of six days to see them.
Manica lies three days northwest of Gorongozo, and is the best gold country
known in Eastern Africa. The only evidence the Portuguese have of its being
the ancient Ophir is, that at Sofala, its nearest port, pieces of wrought gold
have been dug up near the fort and in the gardens. They also report
the existence of hewn stones in the neighborhood, but these can not
have been abundant, for all the stones of the fort of Sofala
are said to have been brought from Portugal. Natives whom I met
in the country of Sekeletu, from Manica, or Manoa, as they call it,
state that there are several caves in the country, and walls of hewn stones,
which they believe to have been made by their ancestors;
and there is, according to the Portuguese, a small tribe of Arabs there,
who have become completely like the other natives.
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