Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-03-17
"OPHIR" In AFRICA
OR. PETERS CONFIDENT he HAS
FOUND FAMOUS LAND.
H-il-Known Explorer Brings Forward
Many Arguments to Prove Claims
OF Dark Continent to
Distinction.

DIR. Carl Peters, SO well known In
connection with the opening up OF
Africa. has started on lecturing
tour In Germany with two objects
in yiew-first, TO win recruits to the
cause OF German expansion In the
dark continent: second. TO prove that
he has found the famous gold land
OF Ophir.
The reader who has forgotten where
the word "Ophir'' occurs win find IL
In the biblical books OF Kings and
Chronicles. One thousand years be
fore Christ King David and the wise
Solomon. his son. sent TO ophir ships
which brought back from thence gold
and precious stones. ivory and valu'
able timber. which these magnificent
rulers employed in bv.lding their gor
geous temples and palaces.
Peters began to think OF this sub
!ect after he had discovered an cid
Flemish map OF the eighteenth cen.
fury on which he saw the word
"Ophir" printed across one OF the
least-known districts OF southern Cen
trail Africa The first thing that
struck him was the similarity of the
names Africa and Ophir. There was
first the Arabic word Afr (0Dhir},
which when Latinized became Afer.
II was an easy translation from Afer
10 Africa. He thought further and
deeper and began to read Christian
tradition. All pointed to South AZ
rica
The ancient literature he read mace
Peters also acquainted with the fact
that at all ages since Solomon's tine
Ophir had been sought in numerous
parts of the world--in Arabia, Persia.
Mesopotamia, India; il had even been
sought in America, and there are ar
cient Spanish records which state
that among the early conquistadore"
OF Peru and Mexico were not few
who believed that they had found not
only Eel Dorado but Ophir as we'll.
Suddenly it occurred TO Peters that
the famous gold land must be in the
neighborhood OF Simbabje I'm southeast
Africa. II was an inspiration.
He was attacked for this belief ard
theologians and others with a different
theory cast on him the reproach tina;
he was not a Semitic scholar.
But he maintained that he was
right. The ships of Solomon, he said,
passed through the Red sea and
skirted the coast OF Africa until they
arrived at their port. And they Ger.
tainly must have brought back mil.
lions in gold.
Only Africa could have produced
fhat nf Gold Arabia n N.
dia have never produced gold in re-
markable quantities
In his description of the Zambesi
territory Peters says he has seen in-
Vulnerable traces which compel him TO
believe that there and nowhere else
was the land of Ophlr. Forsaken
mines by the score are there, and no
less than $4,000 places where gold has
oeen dug at depths Of from 30 to 10
feet. Ruins of towns and villages, 10
mains of temples and palaces speak
eloquently of the past glories of the
region.
They point moreover to Phoenician
origin. Mighty terraces and towera
raised by the hand Of man are sta
traceable. These builders were Ger.
tainly of race superior to the negro.
One still finds in the graves remnants
Of things which point to the worship
1e 9aal
But Peters wejghtiest argument is
that in the ~;Septuagint translation u
che Bible Ophir is called Sofala, ard
she Arabs to the present day call the
ZsInbesi district indiffereDtly Scfal9
and the land OF gold"