The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-03-07
PROF. HAMMOND'S LECTURE
':IHE LAND OF OPHIR"---TELLS OF INTERESTING DISCOVERIES.

Profuseiy Illustrated With steriopticnn
 -Rhodesis, in South Africa, the Land
 of Biblical Refersncs-The Audience a Large One-IThe Lecture iu Substance. ! Last evening Professor John Hays Hammond delivered one of the Sheffield course lectures in College street hall. His subject was ''The Land of Ophir" |" It was sprofusely illustrated with ster- eopticon views. Types of the native in- habitants were shown, ruins of the an- cient peoples, mines, idols, dishes, gold ornaments, soapstone moulds, etc., were all shown on the huge white back ground. The following will serve as a resume of Professor 'Hammond's lec- ture:
 In southeastern Africa lies Rhode sia, named after the late English finan- cier Cecil Rhodes. It has an area of 750.000 scuare miles and is divided by the Zambezie river into north and south Rhodesia. It is with the latter that this subject deals Scattered over this territory are thousands of temples, ruins, towns and mines and excavations. Millions of dollars worth of gold have been taken from these ancient workings. The present inhabitants are mongrel Kaffirs who are too blissfully lazy to work. The labor question, in fact, is one of the most serious in South Africa. Rhodesia is for the greater part feat ureless plateau, we'll watered. in parts covered with sparse tree growth. It I is well .watered iand3on the while well adapted to European colonization, ex- eept in some parts infected with mala- ria and the South African fly. The pop | ulation consists of about 15,000 white and some half a million blacks. Some years ago an American re-discovered these old mines which the blacks were working in desnltory fashion Cecil Rhodes in 1889 procured a permit from the native chief to occupy the country. and later secured a royal charter to mine and govern the territory. To-day there are many valuable mines in oper- alton connected by railroads.
 In a few years there will be 3.000 miles of railroad in Rhodesia. The Cairo-Cape Town road will be 5000 miles long. It will be completed within several years and will be continuous with the exception of several ferries over the big lakes.
 The present gold output is four mill Hons year. one- third of California's g annual yield.
 The quartz veins are similar to the western veins. They were never fol- lowed but by superficial methods. The deepest digging is one hundred feet. They followed the vein by excavating deep crevice or ditch, the rock being piled up on either side. The method of excavating was by building fires against the lodges, then throwing water on the hot stones. causing them to crack so they could be more easily removed. The ore was then broken up and smelted in furnaces sunk in the solid rock. Gold may be seen to-day in smears and splotches on the sides of these ancient smelters.
 Much speculation has been made on the cause of the abandonment of these rich mines. The most probable one is that trouble in the mother country, of which more later called the colonists away.
 The first workers of the mines lived about HOO B. c. Next came the Phoe- incians and Isaelites. 1000 B, c. and then the Mohammedan Arabs. The Portuguese came later
 Arabia was the source of the coloni- zation. The many parallels of a relig- ious and domestic nature satisfactorily explain this. Inscriptions. manuments. temples, ruins, relics, all point to Arabia as the mother country from which mame th ancient Rhodesian miners.
 The Semites were star and nature worshippers. Many proofs are extant of the oneness of the inhabitants of the two countries.
 Z1mbabye is the principal one of the old ruins. It was used as a refuge. g. temple, residence for the higher off, cials and a citadel for the storage of the gold. Many valuable finds have been made hereabout, consisting of soapstone moulds gold bracelets. inn ages, platters, bells and ingots. The walls of this ruin are 2S0 feet in diam eter, thirty-five feet high and from five to thirty-f1ve feet thick. A thirty-five- foot high circular bone, built of solid masonry. and evidently a symbol of some religious value, is one of the in- teresting features of the ruin. The symbols are peculiar and of much irf- terest.
 A soapstone ingot-meuld was found. The tin ingot found on England's coast corresponded to it exactly. There is no | doubt but that, in view of the striking proofs, the Land of Ophir and the mines of Solomon were situated in Rho- desia. The symbols, carvings, utensils, religions-all correspond with those of ancient Arabia and Pheonecia.