The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-21

Been Found the LOng-LOst Mines
From Which the Great Jewish
King Drew So Large Share of
His Riches-They May Soon BE
Worked by a Chartered Company.
Ophir has been discovered. and the
mines of King Solomon may soon be
worked by chartered company. After
the lapse of many centuries, white men
again have stood on the spot from which
the great Jewish king drew so large
share Of his riches; the place from which
the ships of Hiram of Tyre returned once
every two or three years with gold and
silver, apes. peacocks and ivory.
DR.. Carl Peters has arrived in London
from his explorations In the regions OF
the Zambesi, and announces that with
out doubt he has discovered the long lost
mines Of Solomon the Great. They are
in Portuguese East Africa, on a small
river. the Muira, about fifteen miles from
where it empties into the Zambesi. The
Muira here flows through a pass in the
mountains called the Lupata Gorge, and
at the eastern entrance to the gorge the
mines were located. He found extensive
ruins of Semitic type and ancient work
ings. There were not only the remains
of surface workings. but also shafts and
roads hewn in the solid rock, Under the
ruins in a large, alluvial tract, gold
was found, and near by magnificent
quartz reefs. He found great cyclopean
walls, inclosing courtyards and the Sru-
ms of what might have been a temple.
There were the ruins Of forts which pro-
tected the mines. and store houses work.
ed into the solid rock of the mountain.
The natives who live about this place,
DR.. Peters says, are entirely unlike 9TH
decidedly Hebraic cast of countenance.
In his opinion they are mixture of the
original inhabitants of the country with
their Asiatic conquerors. After the rainy
season, these people still wash gold, and
storing it in quilts, do fairly large trade
in it with the towns on the zambesi.
And the place Is called Fura, a native
corruption of the word Afur, the name by
which this region was known to the
Arabs of the sixteenth century. Now
Afur, says DR.. Peters, is the Sabaean or
name Ophir, and Ophir means NINE So
today, in the language Of the people Of
this district, "Afur'' means mine, and
by that name they distinguish the place
where DR.. Peters found the old workings
and the ruins. DR.. Peters not only has
rediscovered King Solomon's mines, but
he has ''staked out his claim" for before
he left he built two stations in the dis
trict, and left them In charge of trust
ed Europeans.
DIR. PETERS REPORT.
In his report DR.. Peters says of HIS
first visit to the ruins: 1--WE stood in a
courtyard before an ancient cyclopean
wall, partly fallen to pieces, partly ris-
Ing up to twelve or fifteen feet In height
With feeling of awe stood amid these
remains of an ancient, very ancient,
activity" 80
The explorer has what he believes to
be abundant proof that he has made no
mistake in his assumption that the mines
discovered by him are those once worked
for the glory of King Solomon. The al
fusion to the Ophir is found in the ninth
and tenth chapters Of the first book OF
Kings, where it is said: "
And King Solomon made a navy of
ships in Ezion-Geber. which is beside
Eloth, on the shore Of the Red Sea. In
the land of Edom. And Hiram sent In
the navy his servants, shipmen that had
knowledge Of the sea, with the servants
OF Solomon. And they came to Ophfr,
and fetched from thence gold four hun
dred and twenty talents, and brought 1t
to King Solomon. And the navv
also of Hiram, that brought gold from
Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty
OF almug trees =" pillars for the
house of the Lord, and for the king 3
mouse, harps also and psalteries for sing
ers. There came no such almug trees.
nor were seen unto this day
In another place, telling of the plentiful
ness OF gold in Jerusalem In the DAYS of
the great and wise king, 1t is stated:
The king had at sea a navy of Thar
slsh' with the navy of Hiram; once in
three years came the navy Of Tbarsisb
bringing gold and silver, ivorv and aDaS,
ana peaeocks; sc King Solomon exceed e5
an the Kings of the earth for riches and
DREAM FOR CENTURIES