THE GOLD OF OPHIR
Discovery in Africa Believed To Be Ruined
City Once Ruled by tlie Beautiful
(Jueen of Sheba.
R. \V. Hall, 1'". R. Cl. S., an ling
lish archaeologist, has recently te
turned to London after two years
spent delving into the tuins ot
what is supposed to have been the
City of Ophir ol biblical times, llis
researches are said to have settled
to the satisfaction of scientific men
the location of the mines of King
Solomon and the wealth of the
kingdom ovei which ruled the
beautiful Queen ol Sheba. For two
years he and his African assistants
have labored in isolated Camp
Havilah, in the heart of the Great
Zimbabwe, on behalf of Sir William
Milton, administrator of Rhodesia.
The Zimbabwe country is located
in South Mashonaland, in a region
of sand and jungles, hundieds of
miles from the outposts of civiliza
tion. Here Mr. Hall has lived with
scarcely the sight of a white face,
save the occasional Portuguese
ivory or slave trader who finds his
way into the innermost recesses of
the dark continent, excavating and
discovering ruins, until now his life
work is practically completed and
the source of Solomon’s wealth is
secret no longer.
In the ruins of an old city Mr
Hall las f d evidences of a wealth j
of gold even beyond the dreams of |
the many who have lost life and
reason on the sands of Sahara and
in the jungles of Mashonaland
searching tor the gold of Ophir.
Apparently gold was the most
common thing in this city. The
floors of the houses were built of it,
and the utensils of the home, cook
ing pots, drinking cups, food bowls
and knives were all made of the
precious metal. All the ornaments
found in the ruins are of gold and
of excellent design and make
When the maideu of ancient
Ophir w ished to l>e considered well
dressed she twined ropes of g dden
beads about her neck, wore a girdle
of the solid metal, and her hair was
caught up in combs of massive si/.c.
The young warrior studded his
shield with tai ks of gold, his sword
was ornamented with it as gctier
ously a> the A meric an Indian orna
ments his tomahawk w i'll red and
yellow ochre ll there had Lceu
stoves and stovepipes in Ophir it is
certain that j a pa would in the
moving days have got upon the
chair and swore when he disc >vered
that the gold wtie ol the bouse hold
was alt out. tor among the discov
eries made in the ruins are thou
sands of pieces of thin gold wire.
In fact, for every purpose where
men use tin and brass and copper
today, th.e people of Opliir used
pure gold.
Zimbabwe is believed to be what
is left of a colony of the ancient
empire of Saba (Sheba), over which
the beautiful Queen of Sheba ruled
in the early days that Solomon
ruled in the temple before they met
and loved. It was in its day the
gold purveyor of the world. To its
bordeis came caravansaries from the
tar-off shotes of the Dead Sea, from
the Mediterranean Sea, from the
shores of ancient Greece and from
tlie empire of Solomon to secure the
precious stuff with which the colony
was supplied to satiety.
The colony flourished and Sheba
was the richest queen in the world.
Down in the desert and jungle of
what is now Rhodesia a city sprang
up whose wonders of architecture
and construction aie marvels to
this day. Temples of beauty and
grandeur approaching tire one in
Jerusalem; pal ices, monoliths, and
houses whose equals were few,
arose in the wilderness, conjured
into existence by the most powerful
force in the world—gold. Around
it all there arose a wall of granite
budded so solidly and well that to
day Mr. Hall is able to uncover it
practically untouched by the sands
and storms of cei.turits.
The existence of this wonderful
city of ruins in the heart of Africa
was first known in ts'o. In that
year Arab trader* found their way
into this region and brought back
tales which the early Portuguese
heard and gave to the world. Then
tne ruins were still standing nearly
intact, but no wl ile man ever pen
etrated the country to gaze upon
them in this state. From then the
ruins were lost sight of until 1868,
when Adam Renders, an intrepid
elephant hunter, followed his native
htinier far into the continent and
rediscovered tht-nr l!y this time
the sands ot the desert, carried by
the winds of hundreds of years, had
swept down .1 d 1 uned them. The
dc'i rtplie is given f y Retains were
vague, but tin their the theory
was ad valued that the ruins were
the ictmiants • f the ■ i?> • f Ophir,
where weir boated tie mines of
King SoleUlon.
T hern etoiih the ieleti that hoard*
wheretu-ni it«>|on»<m etrnv his va»l
riehes were lying wasted and in
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NOME NEWS ITEMS
1' .. the Nome Gold Digger, Feb. 22.
Nathaniel Nortliout was given fifty
days for selling whisk \ to natives.
Butler, Dodd and Savage have again
struck rich pay on tin famous Summit
bench, Specimen gulch.
Phil Sullivan, a miner, died Feb. 17 at
Holy Cross. The same day an old miner
known as “old man Willy” died at Bluff
City
The Daisy claim is the richest property
on the famous Dexter hills. One pan
netted $10, and two cubic yards of gravel
contained two pounds and a half of gold.
At the instance of the Humane Society
Andrew White was brought in from his
cabin near Sinrock liver and placed in
the hospital, suffering terribly from
scurvy
J. E. Frobese is the inventor of a new
prospecting machine, built on the princi
ple of a borer with the addition of a
shoveling apparatus. It is for thawed
ground only.
Two men employed to kill a dog chlo
roformed it and removed the pelt with
neatness and dispatch. Shortly the poor
brute revived from the effects of the drug
and started to walk away, but wasquick
lv put out of its misery.
C. N. Steele and John Bower have in
stalled an automatic scraper with which
to work the beach at Bluff City in the
spring. It is capable of handling 600
cubic yards of dirt daily and under favor
able conditions may lie operated all the
year.
known in the wilds of Afiica
became a chitmia foi the adventur
ous and avaiicit a s minds at' the
times to dwell upiii. 1'ieak com
panies weie organized to ioim ex
peditions fir tl.e di.M oveiy of the
lost mines Kider Haggard discov
ered them between the covets ol a
novel; the cia/e of Solomon’s gold
and the lost min,.-. ..a-, ia the air.
But all was target) .» matter of
conjecture until Mr II ill went into
Zinitxihwf and delved two >*ais.
Now it is fund) established that
the city of gold d d exist, and its
location is detiuitch deter mined
The hand nt Sdi nu n i» show n in
the buildings of the milted city.
Mow he managed to keep the loca
tion of his treasures so absolute a
sei ret is one ol the wondeis that
tin reign of Solomon has handed
down the ages
The ruins are composed of three
groups of temples and forts, an I
encompass a total area of about two
miles. From recent discoveries it
is believed that the original build
ings extended much further. The
must imposing structure of all is an
elliptical temple, a massive pile
built entirely ot small granite blocks
masoned carefully together.
The oldest portion of the walls
are 15 feet wide at the base and M
feet across the top. liespite the
wear and tear of centuries the walls
stand now from „>6 to 31 feet high.
The entrance- to the temple ate all
narrow and defended bv buttresses
The interior is divided into incto*
ures or courts, and in one of the-e
stands & solid pile ol masonrv 30
feet high, evidently a si fine of
worship - Imoiu a story printed iu
the IHi w-on News.