Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-04-25
A SOLID TOMB.
Buried Where He Brought An End
to the War.
WHERE RHODES RESTS.

Inc speclai train conveying the re-
mains of Mr.. Cecil Rhodes TO Bulu-
wayo made a long trip northward.
The distance from Cape Town to Blu
luwayo is 1850 miles, and the journey
occupies four days.
One a easily appreciate the cir
eumstances which induced the lead
Colossus to select for his resting
place the solemn, peaceful grandeur
of the Matoppo Hills. For it was there
that the most tragic episodes Of his
life were enacted. and it was there,
also. that, in the dark days of the
Matabele rebellion. he saw men will
ingly sacrifice themselves in the
cause Of empire.
But, of the many brave deeds per-
formed by the men who took part in
what has beef described as 'the ace
for the V. c." near the place of his
tomb, one surpassed the act of hero
ism by which Mr.. Rhodes brought .-e
war to an end. Unarmed, he rode into
the heart of the enemy s encampment,
called a great indaba or conference Of
the chiefs, spoke to them as a father
might to his rebellious children, and
did not leave until he had induced
them to proclaim peace. The rock
upon which Mr.. Rhodes sat at this
historic assembly will be the place of
his sepulture-a tomb enduring
than the Pyramids.
The Matoppo Hills stretch in a
~north-easterly direction from Bulu-
wayo for a distance Of a hundred
miles, their greatest breadth being
t~hirty-five miles. The place of burial
is situated about thirty miles from the
town.
Near by is a part of the hills which
bears the important title of "The
Worlds View" The prospect from
any chosen summit makes a deep i'm
preston on the spectator. 1t Is i'm
pressive without being picturesque.
As far as eye can see there is spread
out before him a panorama of treeless
mountains of varied shapes, mostly Of
abrupt outline, suggestive of a turbu-
lent sea stilled by an omnipotent hand.
The base of the hills Is fringed with
trees. and here and there is a clump
of thick bush. In places great gorges
draw black lines between the noun
tains, which, moreover, are punctured
with giant aves, where the Matahele
took refuge during the rebellion, and
could have held out for an indefinite
period had not the genius and daring
of Mr.. Rhodes put an M to the out
break.
The predominant note is massive
ness and stability, for the hills are of
granite; but the hardness is toned
down by the green OF the lower fol-
lage and the soft, velvety azure of the
sky alb We. 1t was the poet in Cecil
Rhodes which impelled him to his
choice.
In places the traveller comes upon
groups OF ruins, which, in this out-of-
the world region, strangely stir the
imagination.
1t is difficult to realize tina, these
habitations were occupied By gold
seekers so long ago as 1000 B C..
When one thinks of Rhodesia, it is
invariably of the great possibilities
which the future holds for the country.
But what of Rhodesia's past? Three
thousand years ago men as gold-hun-
CRY as the ~''greenest" prospector of
today secured the Matoppos and
the surrounding country for the prec-
ious metal. These crumbling ruins
nee contained the furnaces for retort-
ing and smelling of the gold. In many
quarters huge excavations are found
~ hhC ohN-NiNo uuS a hONh ihte
the bowels of the earth in search OF
the metal. Several of these mines are
still the largest on the earth's surface,
The galleries are caked with layers OF
SCOT from the torches of the workers
One historian estimates that the an.
cient miners discovered millions OF
pounds worth of gold in Rhodesia.
These early emigrants are believed
to have been Pnoenicians, who. as the
Old Testament shows, were a great
colonizing people. Several writer's have
lately arisen TO proclaim Rhodesia as
the veritable land of Ophir, "a LAND
teeming with gold and precious
stones" Hitherto India has been re
garded as the Ophir of the ancients
but savants now claim that in the lighr
of recent discoveries India must re
nounce that distinction in favor o
Rhodesia.
One writer goes so far as to asser
that Job vas a Rhodesian. basing hi
inquiries on the words in the book o
Job: Surely there is a vein for thu
silver and a place for the gold wher'
they find it," The historian attempt
to identify the place" as Zambabye