ABSTRACT
Zimbabwe is a term compounded of two native words, and means" houses of stone." In the form" Zimbaoe," or " Simbaoe," it frequently occurs in the Portuguese records, but it would be a grave error to suppose that the sites usually referred to by that name are identical with that which is to be described in this chapter. As used by the Portuguese writers, " Zimbaoe" is merely a synonym for the principal residence of any important chief quite irrespective of locality. The place most frequently alluded to by this title is far distant from Victoria, and can be approximately located. It was in the neighbourhood of Mount Fura, and within easy reach of the Portuguese stockade-fort of Masapa, which stood on the river Mazoe, IS0 miles (40 or 50" leagues") from Tete. The Portuguese maintained a garrison at this" Zimbaoe" in the seventeenth century, when the Monomotapa, whose "empire" had shrunk to a fraction of what it had been a few generations earlier, was their nominee, if not their puppet. I '!
