"Perhaps not; but people may talk about it, and I have always told you that it is very unladylike to flirt." "You used to say so when we were poor," retorted Minnie. "Minnie, you are speaking very unbecomingly. I wished to tell you simply that I do not mean my daughters to get the reputation of being fast, flirting girls. Major Bond has been paying you marked attentions, and you must make up your mind at once; I cannot have scenes or— Minnie was galled; this was in truth the first time her mother had interfered with her liberty. Why was she doing so now, when in their present independent condition it could not matter whether she was unmarried for years to come—if she so pleased? "I don't care to make up my mind before I am asked,” she muttered. Her mother caught the words. "You know very well, Minnie, that a man does not always make an offer till he is sure of success; some men, especially if they are not mere boys, prefer to find out what a woman feels on the subject. Major Bond has made every advance, and has shown very plainly that he-admires you; but I must put an end to the intimacy if you are merely amusing yourself. I have never wished to interfere with my children's inclinations, but I must warn you that I shall think it my duty——" Minnie shrugged her shoulders impatiently, but she was nevertheless alarmed; if her mother knew that Harry had made her an offer, and that she had not really refused him, she might put an end to any idea of the Major. Minnie felt all at once that she must choose this evening-her mother would be watching her-and yet, in her heart, she was just a little sorry for Harry. What would he think of her He really did love her; but what would life be in a stupid old country house with a husband who cared for dogs and horses, and for nothing more? Again, through her life-influence, Mrs. Gordon had succeeded, though without knowing how well. Minnie went downstairs with flushed cheeks and a more than usually stately tread, determined that she would follow her mother's advice; she would show the Major that he need not be afraid of asking her to be his wife. As to caring for him personally, she knew well enough that she did not do so in the least. He was only a stepping-stone to a more fashionable and distinguished life and society than she could expect as a squire's wife. It would have been a curious psychological study could the real motives and feelings of the company have been laid bare that evening. Bee was unusually quiet and thoughtful-at rest and happy about her own affairs, but troubled about Austin. Mrs. Gordon, whilst perfectly acting her part of hostess, felt that she was, figuratively, treading on thin ice which might break at any moment, and bent on preparing for herself a surer foundation for the future; and Minnie, angry with her mother, showed it by displaying her powers of fascination. She could conquer where she chose. This was the last party they would give before the wedding, and, therefore, Mrs. Gordon meant it to be specially brilliant. The two drawing-rooms were pleasantly filled, the busy flow of conversation was heard like a distant rumble of thunder, and men remarked that the widow was a woman of taste and talent. Evidently the Major had found sufficient encouragement, for he persistently kept near the beautiful Miss Gordon; and she, looking flushed and eager, seemed to be recklessly drawing him on. Poor Minnie little knew that on his side the Major believed himself irresistible. He was reported to be rich, but, alas! the Major lived a life before which any fortune would melt, and he, too, fancied that with Miss Gordon as his wife he should get a handsome portion with her. If her beauty drew him on, he did not greatly care about her personally. How could he when they knew nothing of each other's heal character or peculiarities ? "Wherever has Minnie gone ?" thought Beatrice, during the course of the evening, as once or twice she missed her sister from among the gay company; then deciding that she was in the smaller drawing-room, thrown open on these occasions, she dismissed her from her mind till she saw her re-enter the room followed closely by the Major. Minnie looked excited and selfconscious; she was laughing and talking all the rest of the evening, and when she sang her voice seemed to have a ring of triumph and hardness in it. Mrs. Gordon noticed this, and drew her own conclusions. What happiness if both her daughters were provided for before the catastrophe! Then, indeed, there would be some consolation. Of course, Austin's affair still weighed heavily on her mind, AFRICA because she felt that she could not calculate really engaged, in all but one thingupon his actions; but she had kept her she could now no longer feel jealous of own counsel. Austin had not found out Beatrice. that Grace Evans was the same as James Gordon's eldest daughter. It must come out in time; but much must first be ac- THE LATEST MARVEL OF SOUTH complished before the discovery came about. Fate was blind, Mrs. Gordon thought, because she knew so well how to lead her about. At last the guests took their departure, and only Mrs. Gordon and her three daughters remained in the large drawing-room, where the wax candles were burning low, and the last bright embers tempted the girls to sit on and chatter about the departed guests. "The next fuss will be your wedding, Bee," remarked Minnie, laughing excitedly. "It is a week to-day! I wonder that Colin was able to tear himself away for this week. I hope he won't be like the bridegroom one reads of in novels, and fail to put in an appearance at the appointed hour." "Minnie!" said her mother, reprovingly; whilst Bee turned away to hide a little blush of anger which, in spite of herself, would rise to her cheeks. "Minnie doesn't mean it, Bee," said Frances, following her sister out of the room. "She is oxcited this evening and doesn't seem to know what she says.' But Minnie did know what she said when, as she quietly played with her bracelet, she turned round and addressed her mother: "I have accepted Major Bond, mother. He made his offer, and I believe you wished me to "You meant me to do it," replied Minnie, impatiently, "and I have done it." But she added to herself: "I don't know what Harry will say, poor fellow." There was at last-now that the time was past for it a touch of real feeling and regret for the discarded lover. With Harry, Minnie had been a goddess; with the Major, she was the pretty Miss Gordon, who would look well as his wife, and had a little money; while with her, the Major was a man who could bring her to a choice circle of military society. Minnie allowed her mother to ks her, and even returned the greeting; but are did not feel any real burst of affection for the parent who had urged on her decision. It was much nicer flirting than being FROM Mashonaland, that latest boom of the pushing Africander, about which we hear so many conflicting accounts, comes news of a wonderful deserted city which has awakened a good deal of curiosity and interest. The existence of remains of an ancient and populous city in this wild, uncivilised region is a surprise to most people, although it has for some years been known that relics of massive buildings and huge constructions in masonry were to be met with, of which the origin and history were utterly unknown. The rush of gold-seekers and prospectors of all kinds into Mashonaland has brought the conviction that we are not by any means the first discoverers of gold in that wondrous region, and that its riches have already been to some extent exploited by adventurers in distant ages. As to the newly discovered city which bears the native name of Zimbabwe, no very full accounts have yet reached us. Antiquarian discovery is hardly in the programme of the restless pioneers of civilisation in these remote lands. To reach the scene of the discovery involves a trek of fifteen hundred miles or so from Cape Town, while the shorter land route from the nearest coast passes through a belt of low-lying fever country, and reaches the uplands by tracks inaccessible for waggons, while the tetze-fly is more formidable than a lion in the path, although lions themselves are well represented in the fauna of the district, which abounds in elephants, buffaloes, and wild animals of every description. A breezy highland region succeeds the fever-haunted plain, with forest glades and sweeps of lovely pasture, and among these regions the South African Company has established a chain of fortified posts. About fifteen miles from the post known as Fort Victoria stands the ancient solitary city of Zimbabwe. Its ruins are scattered over a wide area embracing a circuit of several miles, in the midst of which rises a great central building, circular in form, which seems evidently designed as a temple, for in the middle stands a great altar on the top of which twenty or thirty people might bivouac, while it is well adapted for the purpose it possibly fulfilled of human shambles. Within the temple enclosure rises also a circular tower, to the height of about thirty feet, of symmetrical proportions and conjectured to be a religious emblem of the type indicated by the poet : Full of pomp and gold, And devils to adore for deities. Connected with the temple by an avenue of ruins is a rock fortress of marvellous strength, with walls thirty feet high, and twelve or thirteen feet thick. These are built with great regularity and skill of small blocks of granite broken and shaped by the hammer, and built up without the aid of mortar. Yet the use of cement was well understood, as evidenced in floors which have withstood the assaults of time and the rough usage of generations of savage wanderers. The mode of construction, indeed, seems to point to an abundance of forced labour, and to the existence of an enslaved people compelled to break stones by hard taskmasters, but not capable of the skilled labour of the mason. Thus it may be inferred that at the date, presumably remote, of these constructions the unhappy aboriginal races were already acquainted with the miseries of slavery. The mention of taskmasters might have suggested the thought that it is within the bounds of possibility that Egypt, in the time of her greatness, might have had a hand in the foundation of this great citadel and temple. But Egypt generally writes her name unmistakeably on her buildings, and there is nothing suggestive of Egyptian influence about Zimbabwe. All the probabilities, indeed, point to the newly discovered city as a Phoenician colony, and it would be all the more wonderful as the only existing sample of a city belonging to that race. Tyre and Sidon have perished utterly-great cities which were the mart of all the then known world-and the site of Carthage is a heap of broken ruins, out of which the most diligent research has brought little of value to light. But such relics as Mr. Bent has recovered at Zimbabwe, and the sculptures on the walls as shown in photographs, have a somewhat Phoenician cachet, for a kind of grotesqueness is inherent in the race, and while skilful artificers, they are of a very limited artistic capacity. So far as we are aware no inscriptions have been discovered which might set the question of origin at rest. Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns, Inhabited by whatever people, the city of Zimbabwe was undoubtedly rich and populous. The ruins embrace a circuit of several miles, with indications of streets and avenues, market-places, and public buildings. Cultivation must have spread around, and the flora of the district ought to exhibit some traces of the sojourn of this strange race, which has now so utterly disappeared, and which must surely have introduced plants and flowers not native to the soil. But we are not without some indications of the general occupation of the inhabitants and of the purpose for which the colony was founded. A zealous explorer, Mr. Theodore Bent, has recently been among the ruins searching for antiquities, and has discovered a number of relics of much interest. Among these were crucibles used in the melting of gold, with particles of the precious metal still adhering to them, a mould in Soapstone for ingots of gold, and a furnace which had been used in smelting the ore, with fragments of the quartz rock which had been subjected to its heat. In fact, here was a gold-mining colony, obtaining its gold from reefs of a richness to which it is to be feared there is no existing parallel. The mode adopted of burning out the gold from the quartz is one which would only be profitable with rock most richly charged with gold. It must be noted, too, that the nearest coast to Zimbabwe is that of Sofala, distant some four hundred miles, where, doubtless, the gold would be shipped to to see what an excellent shot the old-time the mother city. And here it is curious geographers made, as shown in "Paradise Lost," where the archangel Michael gives Adam a "coup-d'oeil" of the future kingdoms of the earth, among which Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Malind, And we really seem to have jumped upon Ophir at last, and actually to have put foot upon King Solomon's mines. Hence, in all probability, came the great store of gold which was lavishly used to In these regions, too, were the haunts of that enormous bird, the roc, which was capable of carrying huge stones in its talons to break and destroy the ships of intruding adventurers, ornament the temple of Jerusalem. "And | tion. the navy also of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees and precious stones." That the regions in question were evidently the site of the ancient Ophir was shown with considerable force in an article in this journal, written when Zimbabwe was yet unknown, under the title, "Where is Ophir?" and later discoveries have only strengthened the conclusions drawn with great geographic insight by the writer of the article. * Not that any one is likely to claim for the newly discovered city an antiquity ascending to the building of Solomon's Temple. The mines may have been worked by the Phoenicians even long before that date, but the city itself and the great citadel probably are of a more recent age. Yet it was perhaps coexistent with Carthage, and may have been occupied by a colony from that great city, before its destruction by the Roman power. Here, perhaps, in this deserted South African city is to be found one of the secrets of the greatness of proud Carthage. Given the existence of enormous gold-mines in this secluded corner of the earth, and we cease to wonder at the marvellous recuperative power of Carthage when she kept up her great armies of mercenaries, and after every crushing knock-down blow came up again, smiling as it were, and ready to renew the fight with her great rival, Rome. If this were the secret, how well it was kept! Something may have leaked out among mariners and Arab traders concerning this wonderful city of gold, and hints of its existence may be found even in that wonderful storehouse of such traditions, "The Thousand and One Nights." But a veil of gloom and mystery, which only the knowing ones ventured to penetrate, hung over all these coasts. The Carthaginians, we know, had sailed round Africa, and the dark continent - not so dark really then, perhaps, as now-had few secrets for them. But time out of mind all other Arab sailors had regarded the island of Madagascar and the adjoining coasts as a region given up to demons and magicians. The strong current that sets into the Mozambique channel was then reputed to hurry away any ship that came within its influence to inevitable destruc # ALL THE YEAR ROUND, Third Series, No. 29, p. 56. As to how the gold was transported to the mother city, there is plenty of room for speculation. There may have been a caravan route northwards to the shores of the Mediterranean, for there is no physical impossibility involved in such a route. It would be an awful "rek," certainly, of about four thousand miles, but the dangers of such a journey would, at the present day, arise rather from the hostility and jealousy of the people on the way than from the inherent difficulties of the transit. But the Phoenician trader penetrated everywhere without causing friction or arousing the hostile feelings of native tribes. He was equally at home among the tin-workers of Cornwall as among the gold-workers of South Africa. Yet, in the latter case, he probably made use of the sea route. The Phoenician had his fortified ports along the Red Sea littoral, the trade winds, or monsoons, would waft his vessels to and fro, as they still waft the rude dhows of the Arabs. The land transit by this route would be short, even were there no "Suez Canal" at the date, which it would not be safe to assert. The ships of Tarshish, which came home every three years laden with gold and ivory, apes and peacocks, to the address both of King Solomon and of Hiram King of Tyre, laid in their stores of gold and ivory at the port that served Zimbabwe, although they probably first crossed over to India or perhaps Ceylon for the more lively part of their cargo. The difficulties of transport to the coast would not be very great with an abundant supply of slave labour, such as the Portuguese still employ, on the coast. Marvellous it is to think that we should have chanced upon such a find as this, which seems to give us a chance of guessing at the secrets of a peculiar people, who, for all their widespread influence, have left us so little in the way of record of all their wonderful doings. They seem to have succeeded in inspiring other peoples with an inexpugnable hatred. "Delenda est Carthago," cried even the humane and tolerant Roman; and at a much later date probably this secret city was delivered over to desolation. That some sudden and dreadful fate overwhelmed the population of the city seems evident from the researches of Mr. Bent. He found the gates walled up as if in prospect of a siege by beleaguering hosts, with no hope of rescue or relief, while there was some evidence of an entry having been made, and of the city having been stormed and captured. Mr. Bent conjecturally identifies the destroying host as the Zendj tribes from Abyssinia, who overran the continent, it is believed, in the tenth century of our era. The secret of those wonderful mines has perished, too, although abundance of gold is found in the neighbouring quartz reefs. Indeed, the district of Mashonaland may eventually prove to be the richest gold-bearing country in the world, and vindicate the fame of the ancient Ophir. But the discovery of Zimbabwe and its apparent identification as a gold-mining centre gives rise to some curious' speculations as to the history of that industry. Up to the date of the discovery of visible gold in the quartz rocks of California and Australia, the world's supply of gold had been derived from stream washing, and consisted of gold dust found in river detritus. The plan of crushing the quartz with huge beams called stamps, and extracting the gold from the mass with quicksilver, is entirely, as far as we know, modern. Then how did the Phoenician miners win their gold? Where are their adits, their lodes, their winzes, and their drives; and when they got their ore how did they treat it? If they smelted the ore, of which process some hints have been found as already told, either they had secret methods which we do not possess, or fuel was in great plenty, or the ore was of richness unexampled. All these questions and doubts may be solved some day, but in the meantime, however encouraging these traces of former productiveness may prove to the gold-seekers of to-day, one disquieting thought obtrudes. If gold has been gotten here for such long, almost fabulous periods, is it not probable that the rich veins are all "pinched out," and that only those of inferior productiveness are left for modern prospectors? But even in this case the use of modern machinery and appliances will make a good profit out of ore of which the Phoenicians, with all their secret lore, could make nothing, while there is always the chance of coming upon some wonderful find which would make one rich "beyond the dreams of avarice." EASTER-TIDE RECOLLECTIONS. EASTER and Volunteering run so naturally hand in hand that in no better way can a review of past Easters be opened than by briefly glancing at the chief features of one or two holidays spent by the writer as an unpaid servant of Her Majesty. My personal reminiscences may be deemed interesting, inasmuch as they exhibit in the strongest possible light the contrast between Volunteering as it was and as it is. In the year 1871, although the movement was twelve years old, Volunteering was very literally mere playing at soldiers, even in corps which claimed to go in for the business in a practical fashion; but in no corps could the spirit of play have been more lamentably remarkable than in that which I first joined. In two senses it was considered a crack corps; but to-day it would probably be disbanded for inefficiency. Our The first of our claims to crackness was selectness. We were very particular as to whom we elected as members. Apparently we were much ashamed of our uniform, not entirely because it closely resembled that worn by railway guards, but because the wearing it in public placed us on a level with other Volunteers who took a legitimate pride in appearing in uniformwhich, of course, was intolerable. drilling would have disgraced a modern schoolboy battalion, its sole redeeming feature being that we marched past very well; and everybody knows what an essential point in modern warfare it is to be able to march past well. Our second claim to crackness was legitimate. We were a good shooting corps, owing, probably, to the fact that a large number of our members were well-to-do men who could give plenty of time for practice. Beyond this, judged by the modern standard, we were absolutely worse than useless, and, in our railway guard uniform, not very ornamental. One instance will suffice of our style of "working." Being essentially a social corps, our camp at Wimbledon was always a strong feature. It was our practice to send down a baggage waggon with the tents some days before the opening of the meeting. Usually, this was a mere carrier's movement; but one year it was proposed that it should be done in military fashion, and that the occasion should serve as an exercise in route marching. |