The Palace Of The Queen Of Sheba.

THE PALACE OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA .

CARL MAUCH ' JOURNEYS IU SOUTH-EAST AFRICA . ( Continued from pa , ge 390 . )

WE all know the disappointment experienced by those AVIIO flocked to our shores expecting to find read y to their hand the riches Avhich the mineralogist had seen ,

Avith rather his mental than his bodily eyes . But Ave also believe that had Mauch confined himself to a less globing 'statement of Avhat he had actually seen , his words Avould haA * e failed to startle Eurooe

from her propriety , aud attract hither the expeditions which , under all the vicissitudes of failure or success , have been since then working out the problem , and some of which are now realising the truth of

Mauch ' s prophetic words . Hopeless , however , at the time of overcoming unaided the opposition of the natives and other difficulties in the way of further exploration , Mauch returned to Natal , and , with

such an equipment as his slender finances could supply , returned to the TransA * aal , Avhere , travelling eastward from Pretoria , he reached the sources of the Umkomati , or King George ' s River ; then , turning

north , he visited L ydenburg , and in July , noted a " probable goldfield on the north of Olipant ' s River ; " then , crossing the Limpopo , in latitude about 22 ° 10 ' , and longitude about 32 ° 15 ' , he turned

northwest , and , after along and weary pedestrian journey , Avorn out with fatigue , Avith hunger , and Avith thirst , he ( accompanied , we believe , by a fellow-countryman named Jebe , ) reached the Kraal of Mutigaau , a

principal induna of the Matabili , who , knowing that his Sovereign had granted no liberty of ingress to his dominions from the Transvaal Republic , detained him until the pleasure of the autocrat should be

known , sending out meanwhile to shoot a rhinoceros , that his prisoner might not perish from hunger . After some delay , permission Avas granted for Mauch ' s advance to the mission station of Inyati , Avhence

he had to return to the Transvaal , and make a second visit to the diamond helds . In February , 1870 , he again set out on a journey through Hew Scotland toward Delagoa Bay , where he suffered

The Palace Of The Queen Of Sheba.

from attacks of fever , and made his Avay back to the Republic . Later in the same year he undertook a daring and adventurous voyage down the Vaal River from near Potchefstroom to the diamond fields in a

flat-bottomed boat , Avhich occupied twentyone days , passing thirty-three rapids and cataracts , one of which was about twentysix feet high , during the voyage . The last and greatest of his journeys , hoAvever , in

Avhich he may claim to have struck out an entirely neAV , and in some parts an entirely untrodden trackAvay , commenced iu the year 1871 , Avith the express object of discovering ruins marked on the old

Portuguese maps as Zimbayo , knoAvn to the surrounding tribes as Mazimbaowa , described in the old legends as rivalling those of ancient Rome , and supposed , though on insufficient ground , to be the Queen of

Sbeba s palace . The Journey to the Ruins of Zimbabye , 1870-72 . — -About the end of January , ' 71 , Mauch prepared for his fourth great journey , intending to explore a district of the

Transvaal that was as yet unknown to him , and then to seek for the ruins to which tradition had long pointed between the Limpopo and the Zambesi . Clad in leathern garments , and provided with

firearms , ammunition , astronomical instruments , sextant , artificial horizon , quicksilver , prismatic and pocket compasses , a sti'ong Avatch , lantern for night observation , aneroid barometer and thermometer ,

botanical papers and geological hammer , and materials for Avriting and sketching , his personal equipment of instruments and weapons weighed 50 lb . or 6 b lb . His library AA'as limited to the nautical almanac ,

logarithmic tables , and a work or tAvo on botany and geology ; his " diky bag " contained needles , thread , awls , Avhetstone , and the most needful articles of the toilet , and beads , brass wire , neck rings , anklets

and armlets , and other goods for barter , packed in leather bags or Avaterproof mats of grass or palm-leaves bound with bark , and divided into convenient loads for the native porters provided by St . Albasini , the Portuguese Consul .

About the end of July and beginning of August , he passed through the fertile district of Spelonken , or " The Caves , " watered by the Limvuba , and other rivers coming from the Zoutpansbergen , and dotted over by huts and villages built under the shelter