A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LAND OF SOUTH.

Southland Times, Issue 707, 9 August 1867, Page 2

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LAND OF SOUTH.

(From an Arabian Manuscript of Alii Abbas.) Chaptee I. I (TO THE EDITOB OF THE SOUTHIiAITD TIMES.) And it came to pass in the days of Satrap Menz, in the land of South, that a mine of gold was found in the land of Ota, a country to the north of the land of South. And the gold of that land was good ; it glittered and shone, even as the gold of Ophir. And when the men in the land of South had seen the gold, how it glittered and shone, as the sun shines in his glory at mid-day, then it came to pass that the eyes of the men in the land of South became dim, and some of them became quite blind by reason of the lustre of this gold And all the wise men and all the great men, and all the mighty men of the land of South gathered together in council. And the first wise man opened his mouth and said: "Listen to the words of tny mouth all ye wise men of the land of South, sons of the noDle race of the great Britt! Incline your ears to my sayings, and give heed to the utterings of my tongue. As it is known by small and great, therefore it must be known to this august council, that a mine of gold has been found in the land of Ota, which mine of gold is very near to our land,andnotmanyfurlongs off. And whereas we have no mine of goldnor silver in our goodly land of South, and as all our hearts delight at the sight of this precious gold, and as we all desire to obtain this gold, so much so as the camel desires the cool waters of the brook when the wind blows hot, and the hot sun has burnt the grass. Now I, the son of Stul, a member of this august council, do move, that we do procure three good* stout ships, and that we send these ships every year to this mine of gold, and that, at their return, the gold they bring be measured out by an epha, and that each man receive one epha of gold ; and that the rest be measured out by agomerand each woman receive one gomer. And that the rest if any to be drawn for by lots. : And that this august council may all the better understand and take to heart that this no innovation, and that such things have been done in like manner in times past, this august Council will allow me to read a passage from old history — " And there was a wise king called Solomon, who sent, ships to a very far off country, yea, to the land of Ophir, to bring home gold, and those ships did return every three years laden with gold. I have said my saying." And the second wise man opened his mouth and said : " The son of Stul has spoken. The camel knows not where lies the strength of the elephant, and the elephant knows nothing of the recent ways of the leviathan, so the son of Stul knows nothing of the ways which lead to the mine of gold. And as this august Council well knoweth that I, the son of Ci, have been at this mine of gold not many days past, and with my eyes, have I not seen & road, nor have I heard with my ears of any road where ships could travel to this mine of gold; for know ye, this- mine of gold is in a place where high mountains circumoass it round about, and these mountains are so high — I can't tell how high — - the tops of the highest I could not see by reason of the snow which covered them ; but for all that, they must be very high ; by even getting on an other man's shoulders I could, not see the tops of them. I, the son of Ci, do therefore move as an amendment, that the words ' three good stout ships ' be struck out, and 300 chariots, 600 horses, and 2000 bulls of Basham be put instead. I have said my sayings ; let the wise man of the wise men speak ; my heart desireth to hear the words from his mouth — the man - in whose girdle are placed the keys which lock and unlock the treasures of gold and silver in the land of South." "And" now the wise man of the wise men opened his mouth -and he spoke thus:" Silver and gold have I counted for many a year ; never one piece slipped through my fiingers; the base coin never escaped my fiageia touch; nor did. the false notq

escape the glance of my spynx's eyes. My accounts at the close of the year agrees to the mite ; my concience testifies me tbat I have performed my duty.. ,The son of Stul has spoken concerning the ships of the wise king of old, going for gold to the land of Ophir ; let me therefore explain to this august assembly that the ships of the wise king went to barter for gold to the land of Ophir, and that they carried from the land of the wise king the wheat, the barley, and the fine flour, the juice of the vine, the olive, the figs, the pomegranet, the garments of purple, of scarlet, and of fine linen, and sandaller, and spices, the incense, the myrrth, and the balm of Q-ilead, &c. ; and when they had bartered these things for the gold of Ophir, after three years they returned home laden with gold. Now let this august council well understand this business, although they only obtained this gold by bartering. It is further said of this wise king, that they made gold of such plenty as iron, and silver as stones, and copper as the mud in the streets. It was by what we now call trading that this wise king got possession of all this gold, silver, and copper. Now I, the son of O. 0., do therefore propose to this august Council, that we do with all speed set to trade with the people of this mine of gold, in the land of Ota, not with ships, as the son of Stul, has proposed, by reason of the high mountains of which the son of Ci has spoken ; neither does it seem wise to me to send all our chariots, and horses, and bulls, for the gold to the land of Ota, as the son of Ci has said ; for all the bulls and all the horses we have in the land of South, we shall want to till the ground, to grow wheat, oats, potatoes, and hay, and stubble, and cabbage ; wherewith we want to traffic for gold at the mine in the land of Ota ; but it seems good to me, that we send to the land of En, for iron horses, and chariots, and roads of iron ; for they have these sort of horses and roads in the land of En, and in the land of Am, and in many another land. For, behold ye wise men of the Land of South ! these iron horses are of prodigious strength, and are very hardy animals, which draw very heavy loads, yea, one of them will draw twenty heavy chariots, and they run like lightning ; for know ye, their horses have muscles of iron and sinews of steel, and their bones are of solid brass ; and moreover they want no other food but wood, or the coals from out of the bowels of the earth, and they drink water like our horses. Now, as I have said afore, my advice is — that we keep our many horses and bulls, and our man-servants and our- maid-servants to till the ground, and then when we have gotten the iron horses, and chariots, and roads, all of iron, fom the land of En, we will then have wherewith to traffic with the people of the mine of gold, and for all things we bring them they will pay us in gold; for our hay and our stubble they will pay us the price of wheat, and for our fine flour they will pay us the price of cinnamon, aiid for our potatoes, and turnips, and carrots, they will pay us the price of fiigs, and raisins, and the price of dates. And moreover our merchants will send to them by the iron horses the picks, shovels, and boots, and coats, and hats, and bacon, and cheese, and bacco, and whisky, and porter, and brandy, and Holloway's Pills and Ointment ; then they will pay us for all these things, and many others their weight in gold; and before Ions; we will have as much gold as iron, and the poorest of us will be richer than the son of Bothschild. And our good city, the city of Incar will become a proverb in the " mouths of all nations." They will exclaim — a city as great as the ' great city of Incar ; a city as rich as the rich city of Incar ; for here now crows the pine of the .forest, there will stand the stately palace, and where the bramble and the briar spread now, there will be gardens of roses, yea, as the garden of Eden, and where the pool of muddy water stands now, there will be cisterns of living waters, with fountains of fine marble from the land of Greece, and where the ka-ka screeches now, the harp, and the trimble will be heard, and our houses will be like the palaces of the kinds of the east. Oye sons of the land of South, all these things lay before you, stretch out your arms take hold, and all is yours.- . [We are obliged to hold over the remaining portion of this letter from its extreme length, and pressure on our columns caused by electioneering intelligence. We would feel obliged by the writer calling at this office. — Ed. S. T.]

Friday, 9 8.14 a.m 8.47 p.m. Saturday, 10 9.33 „ 958 „ ♦