The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-10
AN EXPEDITION TO OPHIR
The Search of a German Explorer
for SOlom0n'S Mines.
DIR. Carl Peters Endenvors to Dis
cover the Biblical Land of Gold
Ruins of Semitic Tyne and
Ronds Ecwn Into Rocks Found.


This is a story quite on the modern
literary lines. for it ends with a note
Of Interrogation.
It begins with the scene of Or. Carl
Peters, the German explorer. rumaging
about in an old German castle a few
years back
In this ancient Teutonic schlcss Or.
Peters came upon musty volume, to-
gether with quaint old map, PUBLISH
in France in 1719 or thereabouts.
This work and map, according to one
of Dr.. Carl Peters associates, dealt
with the doings Of the Portuguese 20O
years earlier in the country bordering
on the Zambesi. and are to form the key
TO the whereabouts of gold mines in the
/ heart of Africa The course of the Fam
! best was shown on the map roughly but
accurately, and on the south bank Of the
/ river appeared Mount Fura. Now, con-
corning Mount Fura, a thirst for science
and n thirst for gold had already bred
! in the coed doctor certain suspicious.
So he set to work il is recorded in
| systematic fashion to get all the works
| he could find on the subject. He Is
credited with possessing a wonderful
memory and of being capable of recol-
| lecting minute details forsly years aftsr-
ward. Some of the old writings thus
hunted up went back to the seventeenth
| century, and for two years was the trail
followed up says an admiring chronicler.
through the dim and dust strewn realms
of centuries old bookland
The recent works were studied, too. and
at the end of two years. in July, 1885 the
German traveller promoted in London
company-the DR.. Carl Peters Estates and
Exploration Company, Limited-for the
purpose of purchasing properties and rights
which had been acquired by him in south
| eastern and Central Africa, and for the
conduct by DR.. Peters of well equipped
and carefully selected expedition TO the
district where he hopesl 20 discover Mount
Fura and to test his surmises about that
mysterious locality.
The vendors took 1900 81 shares in
part payment, and the expenses of this ex-
petition and sufficient working capital
would be provided said the prospectus, by
the issue of 25.0oo shares.
Well. the expedition, with DIR. Peters at
its head, and the clews afforded by the old
writings and the old map in constant use,
duly discovered the mountain of Fura by
the middle of 1899; and DR.. Peters was
convinced his cherished hopes were well
founded. Those hopes were nothing more
or less than that Fura was Ophir, the bib
lical land of gold, the source Of Solomons
fabulous riches.
Fura. the good doctor contended. was
the native corruption of the word Afur
by which name the Arabs OF the sixteenth
century knew the district. Afur was the
Sabean, or South Arabian, form of the
Hebrew name 0phir AS DR.. Peters after
ward assured a representative of Reuters
Agency. FOR the information of the world
at large, he had ample proof that the
Fura which his expedition had discovered
and explored in the summer of 1899 was
the ophir of the Old Testament-the ophir
whose incalculable wealth is referred TO
in the first Book of Kings. in both Books
of Chronicles, in Job, in the Psalms, and
in Isaiah
A chief, the doctor said, gave him valu-
able information regarding the position of
ancient ruins and workings, which he at
once Investigated. Going to the spot in
dictated he found ancient ruins OF I'M
doubted Semitic type. Fura itself he
found 10 possess formation of ~ ritz
itic slate and diorite. between which gold
reefs were running. The ancient workings
which he found were not only surface
workings. but there were also, he de-
clared, shafts and roads hewn into the
rock.
How the shareholders must have pal
plated when they read, in a report Dr.
Peters presented TO the directors, that
when the Portuguese arrived in East
Africa about the year 1900 the Arabs
called the district Afur, and told the
Portuguese it was the ophir of the Old
Testament. For a glance at Chronicles
chapter xxx. verse 4. would show them
that David gave to overlay the walls OF
the Temple 5000 talents of the gcl6 Of
Ophir and upon the authority of F. ".
Madden, VI. K. A. S, author of History
OF Jewish Coinage etc, they would
know that a talent of gold was worth
e6.O0O.
Here. then. was $4,000 COO worth Of
gold from Ophir. and the inexhustible
nature of the supply would be apparent
when they pursued their Biblical re-
searches to find, in l Kings. chapter tx,
verse IS, that there was brought from
ophir to Solomon 400 talents in gold
equal TO a modern value of s2,520.0C0
and that again in II Chronicles chapter
viii. verse. Is, mention is made of an
other dip by solomon into the Ophir
mines TO the extent of $50 talents Of
gold, or e2.7O0 0C0.
But by now cold shiyers OF doubt may
have succeeded to The first warm thrills;
Tor year has passed since the wonderful
discovery was made, and two years since
the company was formed and millions
Of pounds nor hundreds OF thousands. nor
thousands, nor hundreds. nor tens. nor
even units have yet come the way nf the
expectant shareholders.
But instead come unexpected whispers
that what purported to be King Solomon's
mines are not works thousands of years
old but just mere ordinary collection
of sand and rock hills.
Is 1t vertically the Land OF Ophir: and II
so. have David and Solomon left much
gold for the shareholders in DIR. Peters
Estates and Exploration Company?-Lon-
don Mail.