KING SOLOMON’S GOLD

Hokitika Guardian, 6 November 1925, Page 4

KING SOLOMON’S GOLD

THE QUESTION OF LOCATION

The mention of Ophir, the land of gold, whoso mines contributed to the splendour of King Solomon's I emple. still stirs the fancy. Since Alexandria times fortune hunters, archaeologists and explorers have sought the country of ivory, apes and peacocks. r lo the many speculations on the exact location of Ophir a new one lias just been added . From Vienna Dr von Hunch reports that he has discovered that Ophir lay in the Western Hemisphere; that the long vovage which kept Solomon s fleet abroad'for three years took it to South America. l)r von Hauch has recently been exploring the forests of Peru. He says he found an Indian tribe of 300 with features of a Jewish cast, and a language containing many words resembancient Hebrew. The name of Solomon had been not infrequently bestowed upon men of the tribe Tn the Pampas del Saeremcnto the natives told Dr von Hauch legends of seafaring men who, in times almost forgotten, had made their way to the hanks of the River llaulla, where they fouml gold mines from which they esuried off great quantities of precious ore. The land on the shore of the 11 ualla they called Opbira. Dr yon Tlauch says that lie believes that the ancient mariners of the legend may have been King Solomon’s Phoenician sailors. SOME EARLIER THEORIES. Down through the ages Ophir has been like a mirage rising from the mists of the unknown past, glittering ivitU gold and gems. only to vanish mm ill into the vapours of speculation. Many have been the theories advanced regarding it, the most accepted of which have placed it in one ol three countries—lndia, Arabia or South Africa- . . , f , The most conclusive evidence lound ini to the, present day seems to point, to Ihe hinterlands ol South-eastern Africa between the Zambesi and the Sabi Rivers. Yet Dr Hauch is not the first to think that Ophir may have been in the Western Hemisphere. When Columbus set fool on the A\ est Indies he lielieved that he had discovered the home of Solomon’s riches. Certain scientists sweep asiile the suggestion that Ophir lay in Arabia with the statement that ill that case Solomon would scarcely have* requited mi line an argosy, since his caravans were familiar with the overland routes. It was not until the latter half of the past century that attention was fixed upon the hinterland of South-eastern Africa. In 1876 n German traveller, Carl Mailch, came upon the extensive ruins at Zimbabwe, south of the Zambesi River. He was not the first to discover the relies of the ancient mines. In the sixteenth century the Portu-

guese were told ot their existence when, on their voyages to the Indies, they look (In' eastern coast of Africa Ironi the Arabs. COIIIO, in the .seventeenth century, wrote; ‘‘The richest ol all mines are those ot Massapa, where the Arabs point out one a.s the Abyssinian mine from which the Queen ot Sheba took the greater part of the gold which she gave Solomon for the temple. And tliia is, indeed. Ophir, lor the Knfiirs ■ all it Fur, and the Arabs call ii Afur." IXQU TIMES IN AFRICA. An Englishman. Mr T. .1. Beni, billowed in the footsteps of Herr Munch. He too saw the ruins of mines and strong defences, and was convinced that the cyclopean walls were the work of the ancient Phoenicians. He had found, he was sure, the remnants of an ancient settlement—in fact, the very mines from which the servants who hoarded the navies at Tharshish and of Hiram had fetched home the yellow ore. He saw that the mines had been exploited after the most approved lashion. They were sunk from (51-111 Ip PG*lft.. and in some cases were down even 4000 f- ft has been estimated that the number of diggings reached 7.1.C00.

Dr Carl Peters made slill further discoveries in Ihe section lying between the Zambesi and (lie Sabi Rivers about a quarter of a century ago, strengthening the belief of many historians Unit most of the gold ol Egypt and Arabia was obtained from the Zimbabwe mines. He makes an atlemnl (•> link the Ophir of King Solomon with the Punt of Ilat-Khepul. Queen of Egypt, in loin B.C. The mines were long known lo the Egyptians, ho believed, and from them was derived much of their wealth. The freight shipped northward to Egypt and the cargoes which found their way into Palestine were of much the same nature.

suggested proofs. The explorer holds that the relations hoi ween the Phoenicians and the Egyptian- were intimate, while the Semitic raie. in all probability, followed the routes opened up hv the latter. Did not the two Kings. David and Solomon, own the seaport of Eziouheger on the Gulf of Akalia. the Red Sea port which was a gateway leading into the sphere of the Egyptians? Professor Defers found proofs, lie believed, that the ancient mining district ci.ntailied relies ot both Phoenician and Egyptian influence. And bringing philology to his aid lie .strengthens his argument by showing that the name of Africa is Latin in its origin, an adjective taken from the Hebrew ot Ophir, or the Salmon Afur. “Africa," bo wrote, “in the language of the ancient Semites, was Afur or Ophir.