Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1909-12-04
KING SOLOMON'S
RICH MINES
Explorer Tells Of Sojourn In
Country Made Famous
By Haggard.

| HAS just TetuEHeu IFOiu u lOuT years So
journ in Mashonaland, in the neighbor-
hood of King Solomon's mines, in Rho
desia, South Africa, described by II.
Rider Haggard, Mr.. Sechrist gives an
interesting account of the country and
the condition of affairs there. He went
''out" in the service of Methodist
missionary society to erect American
concrete buildings for missions, which
the society purposed to establish near
that historic spot.
The English Government has taken
possession of the prehistoric ruins of
Great Zimbabwe, which. according to
distinguished authorities, are supposed
to mark the site of the famous mines
supplying the gold of Ophir. in King
Solomon's time. Tarshish, mentioned
in the Bible, was seaport on the Afri-
can coast opposite Madagascar, whence
ships carried the gold of ancient Havi-
lah, now Rhodesia, to the Arabian gold
marts on the Red Sea, whence it was
distributed to the world. A large part
of it at one time was required in orna-
menting King Solomon's temple in Je-
rusalem.
MIR. Sechrist says the country is semi
mountainous, with few hard wood
trees. The altitude is that of Colorado,
from four to five thousand feet above
the sea. The climate is semi-tropical.
with hot days and very cold nights. as
in the Rocky Mountain parks and in
the upper valleys along the lower Hima-
layas. Lions. leopards, monkeys. ba-
boons, jackals. antelope in great num-
bers and millions of snakes abound.
The refractory character of the gold
bearing quartz and the great depth
of the Veins prevent mining on pay
ing scale, except by rich companies with
extensive mining machinery, stamp
mills, smelters and laboratories. The
Cape Railway, on its way north to the
Great Lakes and the Nile, with its
destination at Cairo, has already been
completed through the district, reach
ing the towns of Bulawayo, Salisbury
and the rich mining region of Kimber-
ley.
''The boom which we expected, J."
said MIR. Sechrist, collapsed about the
time / reached Rhodesia, and the money
promised for the mission buildings ! was
to erect failed to materialize, and still
we were near Solomon's mines, in the
richest mineral country IN the world.
was forced to get job on farm that
might not starve.
Farms there of less than four or five
hundred acres are considered of no ac-
count. Everything is on stupendous
scale. The slopes and valleys, savage
and vast. stretch far away. Curious as
it may seem. this marvellous land of the
Zulus and the Matabeles the Havilah
of Genesis-famous from earliest an
tiquity for fabulous wealth, is like Colo
RADIO. equally good for agriculture, cat
tie and sheep. as well as for gold and
other minerals.
''The chief drawback is the lack of
water, absolutely necessary for both
mining and agriculture as well as for
stock. The streams are neither numer-
Gus nor large. But the configuration of
the country is such that reservoirs of
enormous capacity might easily be built
and irrigation established, which would
make Rhodesia garden of fertility.
Wheat, corn, vegetables, apples, peach
es, as well as citrous fruits of all kinds,
and most of the tropical fruits, are
raised there in perfection.
lone can find any climate he wishes
by locating his farm or garden at the
desired altitude. On The higher plateaus.
where the nights are cool and the sun
hot by day, apples and all the New Eng
land products thrive. while tropical
fruits grow luxuriantly further down
the slopes.
1.-The distances are SO great that when
one becomes reconciled to the country
little trip of three or four hundred
miles seems no more than fifty-mile
| jaunt in America. As cattle country
Rodesia will become one Of England s
NEST important food colonies
my experience as q farmer there
convinced me of the country's wonder
full future for cattle and agriculture.
while am sure its mineral wealth must
be boundless. In mining the ancients
sank shafts about sixty feet down to
water, then tunneled along just above the
bed of the subterranean stream Of gold.
"By modern methods engineers sink
their shafts deep into the hard rock,
then tunnel in all directions. cutting and
prosecuting to find rich veins of gold.
In excavating among the tremendous
Zimbabwe ruins Englishmen have found
plates of gold, with gold tacks still in
the holes which once held the plates
fast to the wood they ornamented IN
the days of the ancient kings. The
wood, which has decayed and vanished
left the gold plate and the tacks and nails
just as they were driven thousands Of
years ago."