by Dan Arnold
More amazing still, he was able to see other stone circles in the distance. There was a kind of trail or pathway, lined with similar rocks, going from this circle off to the next nearest circle.
“Have you seen the people who built this village?” He asked the scouts.
“No. There are no people here and there is no sign anyone has been here in many years. Also, there is no wood for fires, roof beams, or thatch for roofing. Those smaller rings over there are too small to be huts and have no gaps or other entrance.”
The Chief touched a wall in amazement. “We build our enclosures with thorns and brush. Our huts are made of mud. They built all of this with these carefully stacked stones. Truly, this is a strange thing. The people are gone, but the walls remain. How can this be so? I don’t understand. Where are the people?”
He turned to the shaman.
“What do you see, Inapitak? What is this place?”
“This is the work of both men and gods, oh Chief. The people who built this are here no more. The gods have destroyed them.”
Chief Onga-Oma whipped his hand away from the stone wall.
“Is it cursed?”
“I do not know, my Chief. Tonight I will make my camp among these stones. I must consult the spirits. Perhaps they will grant me a vision. Give me a few days and I will tell you the answer to your question.”
10-Gods, serpents and men
“So, you say your people believe the first man came from up on a high plateau near here. He was put there by the gods?” Harry found this information startling.
The interpreter turned to the old shaman, Obedinga Suptib, repeating Harry’s question.
“No, not all of our people know this, most are Christians or Muslims. They worship Tiqua. They do not listen to the old tales. If they did, they would know the first man—the one you call ‘Adam’—came from up there.” the shaman said.
Even though he could make no sense of it, the strange language with its glottal stops, clicks and pops, fascinated Harry. If it weren’t for the young man interpreting for him, the conversation would’ve been impossible.
There are eleven official languages spoken in South Africa and many more spoken by people from distant lands. Harry suspected the shaman spoke other languages beside the San dialect, but he was enjoying this opportunity to speak the old tongue. Perhaps he was testing the young man.
Harry asked the obvious question, which the interpreter repeated.
“Who made the first man?”
The old shaman chuckled and grinned. He made some sounds with pops and clicks which seemed to startle the interpreter. He turned to Harry and said, “He says, who indeed?”
Perplexed, Harry caught the old shaman’s eye, asking, “Do you not know?”
When the interpreter repeated the question, the shaman raised his eyebrows.
“Do you not know?”
Harry wasn’t put off by the man’s attitude. He’d worked with drug dealers in Harlem, human traffickers in Thailand, and studied the horse culture in Kirgizstan. A person speaking in unusual ways was nothing new to him. He’d just ask the question in a different way. The back and forth through the interpreter had become natural and wasn’t even noticed now.
“As a child, when you heard the story of the first man, who did they say made him?”
The old Shaman nodded thoughtfully.
“The Zulu say, Unkulunkulu was both the Creator of everything and the first man. He created everything we see. They brought this belief with them when they came here. My people have a different history.”
“Tell me about that.”
The shaman squinted at Harry.
“You must understand, my people the San, are the only, true, first people. We have always been here. CvcgbvCagn is the principle god of the San. Perhaps it was he who made us, but he is not alone. Tsui’goab is the god of thunder and lightning. The plateau is his domain. Gaunab is a god of sickness and death. Where there is life, there is death. I am a servant of !Zu. It is he who gives me power. He gives me dreams and shows me signs and wonders.”
The interpreter paused for a moment.
“Is this helpful at all? I’m having a hard time making sense of what he’s saying.”
Harry slapped the young man on the shoulder, nearly knocking him over. He’d intended to encourage the fellow, but catching him off guard probably frightened him.
“Yes, thank you. This is exactly what I want to learn. You’re doing a great job.”
The interpreter shrugged with a crooked smile
Harry smiled back, nodding for him to go on.
The young man knit his brows in a thoughtful expression.
“You know, he may be the very last person to ever speak that language.”
“No, he won’t be the last.”
“How do you know?”
Harry grinned again, and said, “Because you speak it.”
He offered the young interpreter a fist bump.
“Ok, ask him to tell me more about the first man…”
***
“I’ll have to pick a spot to set down pretty soon, Jake. Fuel will be an issue if we go much further north. I could fly up into Zimbabwe, but I’m afraid if we try to refuel up there they might greet us with machine guns.”
“That’s OK, Phillipe. Take us back to that hilltop we passed a few miles to the south, you know the one with all those terraces?”
“Not for sure, but at least it’s on the way back toward civilization. OK, coming back around, now.”
Fifteen minutes of flying time brought them to a forested area of rolling hills where circles of stone were dotted all over the landscape. One hilltop had several stone circles connected by lined paths and what appeared to be terraces all around.
“That looks interesting, Boudreaux One, Let me get a few pictures, then you can set us down over there.”
“Roger that, LT…approaching the LZ now.”
As they hovered a few hundred feet above it, the site revealed a series of terraces, stone circles, and what looked like roads lined with stones. The interconnected structures covered the entire surface of the hill. The complex must have encompassed one hundred acres or more. The stone lined paths or roads disappeared into the distance. Jake felt excitement as his eyes took in the sight and his mind raced, attempting to find meaning. This was incredible.
Once on the ground, Phillipe said he wanted to do some maintenance on the chopper.
“Hey, Adrienne, I’ve got goodies in a cooler. If you get hungry come on back and I’ll feed you lunch.”
“That sounds like a date, Sugar. I’ll look forward to it.”
“You won’t mind if I tag along will you?” Jake said, with a smirk. After all, he was paying for everything.
Adrienne winked and said, “Of course not, darling. You bought me breakfast.”
The first stone circle was only a short walk across open ground, at the edge of a forest.
“All of the kraals we’ve seen are out in the open savannah or on farmland. I wonder if any of them are in the forests,” Jake mused.
“Maybe, but the woodlands are mostly low-lying, along streams and in the valleys. These structures are mostly on high ground. Forests may have grown over them, but I’ll bet they weren’t built in the forests. Wow, this one looks like it could’ve been built last week. The masonry is top notch. I can’t imagine how long it would take to build a dry stone wall as well-crafted as this is.”
“No,” Jake said. “It took considerable skill.”
They were standing outside a stone circle roughly five feet in height, a little less than shoulder high for Jake. The wall was almost uniformly built to a width or thickness of about two feet. Jake reckoned the circumference to be in the neighborhood of ninety feet. Inside, another smaller circle built of the same stones also stood without any form of entrance.
“This is very disappointing,” Jake said.
“Why do you say that?”
“This isn’t as ancient as I’d hoped
. Either this structure has been rebuilt over an older one, or it isn’t as old as the others.”
“That’s what I was thinking. But what we saw from the air is all around us. That little hummock over there is part of that path or road connecting all the other structures. The stones are low, silted in and overgrown. You can barely make it out on the ground. It would’ve taken centuries to do that. This whole complex is ancient. Don’t let this one circle of stone discourage you.”
“Thanks, Adrienne. I guess I was missing the forest because I focused on a single tree.”
“Right and we’ve seen hundreds of these structures from the air. It almost looks like they’re everywhere. There could be thousands—even tens of thousands of them.”
“I’ve heard there are more than that, maybe hundreds of thousands spread all across southern Africa.”
“Where did all the rocks come from? What type are they? I need to examine them more closely.”
Bending down, Adrienne reached for a dislodged rock which lay near her feet. Suddenly she jerked, staggering backward with her hands out in front of her face.
Alarmed, Jake grabbed her elbow to steady her.
“What’s wrong? Are you alright?”
“No, a snake, it spit in my eyes.”
Jake looked where she had bent down. He saw a loosely coiled serpent with its head raised about a foot off the ground. The flair of the hood and black and white stripes on the throat told him it was a cobra. He knew it was some type of spitting cobra, but which one? There wasn’t time to research that.
He helped Adrienne step farther back and eased her to a sitting position on the ground. Shrugging out of his back pack, he removed a bottle of water.
“Adrienne, we need to flush out your eyes. It may sting and you need to keep your mouth closed. There’s venom all over your face. I know it hurts, but look at me. Keep your eyes open. Ok, here we go.”
Jake wasn’t shy with the water. Each time Adrienne closed her eyes, he told her to open them. She was trying to claw at her eyes, so he had to bat her hands away from her face. He continued pouring and flushing until the bottle was empty.
“Listen to me. You’re OK. It hurts right now, but you’ll be fine. Give me your hands. Come on, up we go. You probably can’t see very well. Lean on me. I’ll lead you to the chopper.
Phillipe saw Jake and Adrienne approaching. Jake was giving the “spin it up” sign with his free hand. Phillipe knew it meant trouble.
As Jake got Adrienne strapped in, he instructed her to avoid rubbing her eyes. He looked at Phillipe and said,
“I think the nearest hospital with a landing pad is probably down in Pretoria. Can we make it there?
“Roger that,”
“OK, wait for me. I’ll be right back.”
11-A night among the stars
Inapitak, the Khoikhoi shaman, fasted during his vigil. Although he only missed one meal, it helped him focus on the heavens. He neither ate nor drank, but stood in the center of a stone circle observing the lowering of the sun. He prayed to the god of daylight and warmth, asking that he be given insight as he observed the stars and planets.
As the last pink light diminished on the horizon he began to shake his rattle and dance, quietly chanting to himself. He had no idea he was being watched by a small, wiry man on the edge of the forest.
Seeing the Khoikhoi shaman was disturbing to the hunter/gatherer. It meant sharing this land with yet another group of interlopers. He’d seen these people before, farther north. They were many and they loved to be close together.
There were never many people in a group of San. The various bands of his people were mostly clans or extended family groups. They only gathered with other clans on special ceremonial occasions. The San had learned through much suffering to avoid other tribes and people. Theirs was a life of freedom and isolation from other people groups.
The San regarded the Khoikhoi in the same way they did the other recent arrivals, the Bantu people—they were slow travelers.
His own people were not tied to livestock or agriculture, so they could move without any delay. They wandered the land following migration patterns and seasonal fluctuations. They lived off the land, but called none of it their own.
Why the Khoikhoi shaman danced in one of the circles of stone, was a great mystery. The San avoided such places. Indeed, the San never returned to any encampment where someone died. These stone circles were constant reminders of death. In this place there would be many spirits watching the shaman dance. Sitting on his heels, the San decided to watch and see what the spirits would do to the Khoikhoi.
When full darkness descended, the moon grew bright, attempting to dominate the early night time sky.
The Khoikhoi shaman, Inapitak, paid little attention to the glowing orb on this night. It was weakened, showing only a sliver of itself. Soon enough it would fatten and create mischief, but in its present state he would not be harmed. The sun god alone dominated this cycle and season of time
Within an hour, his eyes were filled with the wonder of the celestial host. The heavens were filled with more lights than could be counted. He danced, praying for a vision. As he danced he began to see the gods arrange themselves in the grouping of brighter stars, forming constellations.
The shaman felt himself becoming one with the heavens. In his mind there was no beginning or end, just a vastness beyond human understanding, and he was part of it. He no longer felt the earth beneath his feet or the beating of his heart.
Shooting stars passed across his vision. At first he paid little heed because there were always some shooting stars at night. As the number began to grow, he became excited. This was a message. Surely it spoke of the gods descending from above. Soon there were as many stars falling as all the people on earth. They were cascading toward the top of a distant mountain.
At the edge of the forest, the lone San was observing the same phenomena, and he began to understand. That mountaintop was the place where the gods came to earth.
12-One down, three to go
“The doctor says Adrienne will make a complete recovery. They’ve given her some medicated eye drops, something for the pain, and put her on antibiotics, just to be safe.” Jake informed Phillipe.
“That’s a relief. She gave me quite a scare. I knew it was serious. She didn’t make a single inappropriate remark or crack a joke the whole way here.”
“Yeah, it must’ve been horribly painful and frightening for her.”
“What kind of cobra was it?”
“Something called a Ringkhall. It was a beautiful snake. Now I feel bad about killing it, but I thought they would need to see what kind it was.”
“Well, maybe they did, but I didn’t. When you climbed into the chopper with that thing, I nearly wet myself. I was glad Adrienne couldn’t see it.”
“It turns out they didn’t need to know either. They treat this type of thing quite a bit. You never told me you’re afraid of snakes, Boudreaux.”
“Why do you think I fly around in helicopters?”
Jake chuckled.
“She’ll be out in a minute. I say we call it a day. How long will it take you to fuel up the chopper?”
“It’s a short hop over to the commercial aviation depot. I can have us back in the air in no time.”
“That’s good, she’ll need to rest. I want to get her into bed as soon as possible.”
“So that’s how you boys talk about me when you think I’m not listening.” Adrienne said, from the doorway.
Jake hung his head.
“Hey, Adrienne, am I glad to see you.” Phillipe said.
“I wish I could say the same, but I’m not even sure who I’m talking to.”
“Oh no! You’re not…”
“…Blind? No, but my vision will be a bit blurry for a few more hours. Thanks for getting me here in one piece, Phillipe.”
“My pleasure, mon chere.”
“Oooh, I love it when you speak French.”
Phillipe
chuckled.
“Yeah, LT, she’s going to be just fine.”
***
“I learned many things today,” Harry said. “I met a shaman of the San people. Those are the people the first Europeans called Bushmen. Evidently they’re the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa and the last of the hunter gatherers. Many were still living in the stone age only a century ago.”
“Wow, Harry. That’s fast work. We met an angry man and a frightened cobra. Can you top that?” Adrienne said.
“Maybe I can. The shaman told me this is the place where the gods made the first man.”
“Here at this hotel? Yep, that tops my story.”
Harry chuckled.
“No, he said it was up on a high plateau. Does that sound familiar?”
“Adam’s Calendar,” everyone spoke at once.
Harry said, “He called the place something I can’t pronounce. The San language is nearly lost to history. Very few speak it and it sounds really strange to us.”
“That jibes with what the custodian we met on the plateau said. Doesn’t it Adrienne?” Jake asked.
“Yes, he told us we shouldn’t go back to the calendar site. He said if we did it would anger the gods. I wonder if he was speaking of the same gods.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.”
“How’s that?” Phillipe asked.
Jake smiled and said, “We’ll go back up there and see what he has to say.”
13-An unlucky number
“Hello, this is interesting. Remember what I said about ferromagnetism occurring in rocks with a high crystalline content? Look at this.”
Adrienne was holding an old fashioned plastic compass. As she passed by the largest standing stone in the center of the calendar, the needle swung away from north.