The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-28

~ 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 three years
with gold and silver. apes. peacocks and
ivory.
DR.. Carl Peters has arrived In London
from his explorations In the region Of the
Zambes, and announces that without
doubt he has discovered the long lost mines
Of Solomon the Great. They are in Portu-
guese East Africa, on a small! river, the
Muira, about fifteen miles from where 1t
empties into the Zambesi. The Muira here
flows through a pass in the mountains
called the Lupata gorge. and at the east
ern entrance to the gorge the mines were
located. He found extensive ruins of
Semitic type and ancient workings. There
were not only the remains of surface work.
ings but also shafts and roads hewn In the
solid rock. Under the ruins. in a large al
luvial tract, gold was found. and nearby
magnificent quartz reefs. He found great
cyclopean walls. inclosing courtyards and
the ruins Of what might have been tenn
pie. There were the ruins OF forts which
had protected the mines. and store houses
worked into the solid rock Of the mountain.
The natives who live about this place, DR..
Peters says are entirely unlike other At
ricans in appearance. and have decidedly
Hebraic cast Of countenance. In his opin-
ion they are a mixture Of the original in
habitants OF the country with their Asiatic
conquerors. After the rainy season these
people still wash gold, and, storing 1t in
quills do fairly large trade In 1t with
towns on the Zambesi.
Fura the Modern Name Of Ophir.
And the place Is called F'ura, native cor
ruption of the word Afur, the name by
mkt ob hfo urou r In fho rah u
Of the sixteenth century. Now Afur. says
DR.. Peters, Is the Sabaean. or South Arab
ian, form Of the Hebrew name Ophir, and
Ophir means mine. $50, today. In the Ian
guage of the people of this district, "Afur"
means mine. and by that name they dis
tinguish the place where DIR. 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 district and left them in charge Of
trusted Europeans.
In his report Dr. Peters says Of his first
visit to the ruins: I'VE stood in a court
yard before an ancient cyciopean wall.
partly fallen to pieces. partly rising up to
twelve or fifteen feet in height. With a
feeling Of awe stood amid these remains
Of an ancient, very ancient, activity"
The explorer has what he believes to be
abundant proof that he has made no mis-
take in his assumption that the mines dis
covered by him are really those once
worked for the glory Of King Solomon.
The allusion 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 Ophir,
and fetched from thence gold 40 talents.
and brought It to King Solomon. -
And the navy also of Hiram, that brought
gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir
great plenty Of almug trees, pill
lars for the house of the Lord, and for
the kings house. harps also and psalter-
les for singers There came no such almug
trees. nor we're 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 that
1.-THE king had at sea navy Of Tharsish.
with the navy Of Hiram: once In three
years came the navy of Tharshish, bring
ing gold and silver, ivory and apes and
the kings of the earth for riches and for
wisdom"
Cecil Rhodes q Backer Of Expedition
The location of Ophir has been for GEN.
turtles the subject Of discussion-the re-
discovery of the place dream which few
have dared to hope would ever become a
reality. Tradition has long located King
Solomon's mines in Southern Africa, and
1t was these traditions among the natives
which Rider Haggard heard when living
in South Africa that induced him to write
his story of king Solomons Mines"
What in the hands of Rider Haggard be-
came a thrilling romance has become In
the hands of Cecil Rhodes and Carl Peters
a substantial and auriferous reality DR..
Peters in his African explorations had
heard the legends of the mysterious
'Fura," which word he SO cleverly traced
to Ophir. Cecil Rhodes also had heard
the legends-no one could be long in South
Africa and not hear them. To Cecil Rhodes
they suggested no romantic novel of adj
venture. but they did suggest a picture Of
the vast wealth which the Jewish king
had drawn from these long-lost mines.
1t is believed generally that Rhodes was
one of the principal hackers Of DR.. Peters
expedition.
The doctor left England quietly last
April. 1t was given out that his trip was
one Of the lesser exploring expeditions, to
which little general interest attached.
He had simply, 1t was said, been ordered
in behalf of British capitalists to proceed
to Africa for 'the exploration and ex-
ploitation of the auriferous territories on
the southern affluent of the Zambesi."
The officials of the company which sent
out DIR. Peters could not afford to invite
ridicule by admitting that what they were
after was the discovery Of King Solomon's
mines, but, as a matter of fact for sew
eral years many hard-headed and prosaic
capitalists had been working with geog
raphers, Biblical students and antiquari-
ans on the problem of the location of the
ancient Ophir. DR.. Peters went out with
a large and lavishly equipped expedition.
His second in command was Capt. George
Silver, of the famous Black Watch. The
start to the interior was made from the
town of Chinde on the northern mouth OF
the Zambesi. A stern-wheeled steamer
OF shallow draught was built especially for
the purposes of the expedition, and car
ried in sections to the Chinde, where II
was put together. On this steamer the
party proceeded up the Zambesi to find