Waterbury Democrat., 1903-02-03
TREASURES OF KINGS
Uncovered by Explorers in Mashon-
 aland's Ancient Mines.
Rare Antiquities Which May Have Belonged to King Soloanon- Vast Stores of Gold and
 Diam n dG Found.

treasures, is believed by Dr. Carl Pe- ters, the German scientist, to be lo- cated in Mashonaland, in South Africa, where be has been making some ex- plora tions Here are huge shafts of disused gold mines, great walls of gi- gantic stones, and hills terraced for irrigation hundreds of feet up from the valleys.
 Few questions have been more de- bated than the loca tion of this won derful treasure land. Many who are well qualified to judge put the land of Ophir in India. A resident in the Wynaad, in southern India, recently asserted that he empha tically differed from Dr. Peters. Having washed gold in it's rivers, dug silver on its hills, hunted elephants in it's forests, and captured apes and peacocks in the same locality, he was perfectly certain of the identity of the Wynaad with Solomon's land of Ophir, says the Chi cago Tribune.
 The vast stores of gold and diamonds already taken from the mines of South Africa give much weight to the claims of Dr. Peters, and are evidence of the enormous resources of the land in the way of hidden treasure.
 There is no authentic story to point the way of the seeker in either case, cries to establish the claims of one side or the other
 The mines of Ophir are shrouded in the same mystery as hangs over the lost Atlantis, which has been held to be the location of the Garden of Eden. Atlantis in itself is one of the great est mysteries known to the historian. Every race that lived around the Ned iterranean held the belief that some where to the west of the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) there existed a vast island in the ocean. Plato men tions it as having been ingulfed by the waves s,OOo years before his time. The extraordinary similarity between the remains found in the peninsula of Yu- catan, in Central America, with those so well known in Egypt, lends weight to the tradition. It is supposed that both the Egyptians and the ancient people which preceded the Aztecs of Mexico were descended from race which once inhabited Atlantis
 Geological researches prove that such an Atlantic continent did once actually exist, and that the Canary is- lands are it's remains. But the geolo- gists say that this continent perished n tertiary times, and cannot, there fore, have evei been the home of civil
 ft i. # ized msn Ir ;iS possible faar fresh dredgings iu the ,,ottcm of the .Atlan- lie on the sire of the lost continent mag throw more light on this aues- tion, upon which there already ex- ist over Q dozen different volumes.
 Although it is fairly certain that the tower of Babel stood somewhere near the present ruins of the city of Babylon, its actual site is quite uncer- tain. Some say it is the Birs Nimroud, great pile whose remains still rise 153 feet above the plain Sir Henry Rawlinson found that this consisted of seven stages of brickwork, all of different colors- Others put the tower at Amram, some ten miles away, and there are two or three other possible sites.
 Mention of Babylon brings to mind the Babylonish captivity, and the extraordinary disappearance of the Ten Tribes after they had been car- ried off by Sargon in 721 B. c. They have been identified with the Sacae, or Scythians, who a little later swept westward into northern Europe and were supposed to be the forefathers of the Saxons, who ultimately colon ized England. But there is absolute ly no proof either that the lost tribes became the Scythians, or that the lat ter were the progenitors of the Saxon colonists of Britain
 Britain has her mysteries. Who built that giant stone circle at Stone henge is one of them. Its origin has been attributed to the Belgae, the Phoenicians, the Druids, the Danes l and the Saxons. Some have said that it was erected to commemorate the treacherous murder of the British l chiefs by Hengist. It has been called a temple of the sun, shrine of Bud l aha, a center of serpent worship, and a l calendar in stone. Lord Ayebury as l signs it to the bronze age. Recent re l searches go to prove that it's age is ] enormous. Long before Solomon's tenn. pie was built it is probable that the double circle of sarsen stones stood dim and silent in the center of Sails. bury plain, monument to some for gotten chieftain whose name and race perished thousands of years ago.
 Arthur's seat, Arthur's oven and Ar. thurs head commemorate the name o1 one whom we are fond of considering the first of our great British mon archs. But did King Arthur ever ex ist at all is a question which has been lately troubling the heads of histo. rians and antiquarians. He is said to have lived in the sixth century A. D. and to have led the British in a great contest against the Saxons under Ger.
 die. The Saxon chronicle, however
 never mentions him at all. He is claimed as prince by countries SC
 far apart as Cornwall, Brittany
 Wales, Cumberland and the lowland:
 of Scotland The stories of the Round Table, of the wizard Merlin, and o1
 the Quest of the Holy Grail are known
 to be romances pure and simple. Ii