| Show THE K CONTINENT ix IN a lecture delivered in the salt lake the theatre a tre several years ago among other subjects referred to the rev henry ward beecher alluded to the dark continent in ia rather contemptuous terms he said that no great real invention or intellectual advancement had ever originated there and declared that I 1 it if that whole coutin continent ent was to sink I 1 nto into the sea the bubbles that rose on the surface would be as valuable as anything that ever emanated froba africa 91 this was a very broad assertion to say the least and in the absence of accurate information as to all that has occurred in Pa past stages ages upon that great continent would seem to admit of some little qualification if the old monuments and pyramids of egypt could reveal all that has transpired even since t their heir erection it might throw a very different light upon the intellectual achievements of the inhabitants apropos of this subject auble ct the tb new york sun us says some way south of river t there here is a large region extending from the sea nearly miles inland and to miles toward the south in wb which cb ruins are constantly beings beaul discovered proving that lit la prehistoric times the country was wan inhabited by a civilized people today to day only the rudest black tribes inhabit this laud land save in a few places where the portuguese have established establish od stations the little beehive huts buts of the natives are seen among massive ruins rains betokening a degree of architectural skill which rivals that of the ancient aztecs azteca our knowl knowledge efte of these ruins to is still far from perfect our earliest records of travel and trade on the east african coast extending back to the beginning of the christian era desot d not mention them only in recent years davff davd the travels of selous erstine mauch balnes mohr and oneill revealed to us the monumental evidence this country contains the coast down Sofala ls is shown on all maps of east africa near that hat town carl mauch found extensive ruins remarkable for their enduring nature and stran strange e shapes es there are partly ruined wag walls s stil still F thirty feet high and twelve feet wide at the base built of small hews blocks of granite in these walls wallai sometimes fifteen or feet the are em bedded one sod end of blocks of stone atone eighteen to twenty feet long which were evidently used used to support galleries here nod and there built in the walls or standing stan dinc by themselves are round stone towers which evidently rose to heights of thirty to fifty feet similar masses of masonry are found as far as miles inland and A little north jeaa the coast I 1 it Is not positively known yet who built these ancient structures no trained has visited thim them and no search has yet been madeloy ma made delor for inscriptions though oneill says he be has no doubt from what he has recent ly heard that there ther therease eare are numerous inscriptions script ions on the ruins about manica all these ruins rains are surrounded by surface gold mines it is believed that all this country was occupied some time before the christian era by a great colony probably of Pho phoenician origin and that lie its chief occupation was gold mining mr oneill says that these numerous ruins are nearly as well preserved as those of ancient empt egypt and better than those of assyria some omeda day no doubt they will be systematically systematically studied their existence shows conclusively that a large region of inner africa now given up to savage men and wild beasts was subject many centuries ago to the control of ofa a people who ivere were consider ably advanced in theares the arts of civilization |
