Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-03-24
RHODESIA: A 1921 LAND
OF OPHIR

Suggestions by archeologists that
Rhodesia may be the land of Ophir,
mentioned in the Bible as a source of
Solomon's riches, lends added interest
to a region already attracting attention
for it's present-day resources. The act
creating the important Union Of South
Africa to the south reserves the right
to add Rhodesia to that dominion Of
the British empire. R. u. Parsons,
writing to the National Geographic So
ciety, describes some phases Of Rhode
sian life as follows:
''The wet season in Rhodesia begins
in November and lasts until the first
of June. All kinds of garden seeds
and cereals are in the ground by
Christmas and in January the first
crop of millet is harvested. Great
ceremonies attend both sowing and
reaping. The dry season begins in
June and lasts until the end Of Octo-
ber. 1t is occupied with threshing,
boarding grain, storing wood and burn
the wood ashes.
mo matter how hot the days are,
the nights are cool and campfres are
needed. On the elevated tablelands or
| plateaus the nights are very cold.
"TaXes are not onerous in Rhodesia,
as each hut pays only three shillings a
year, which is 72 cents, or a rate Of
6 cents per month.
"The Zambezi river, which forms the
southern boundary Of North Rhodesia,
is spanned at Livingstone, just below
the Victoria falls, by an American
Cape to Cairo railroad. AS the water
plunges 400 feet, the electrical energy
| to be developed is incalculable. 1t is
proposed to carry the wires on steel
| poles fashioned like oil derricks, to
| the Kimberly mines, johannesburg,
Pretoria and around to Cape Town, on
the one hand, and up through Khar-
tum and the Nile valley. Even the
pyramids may be decorated with lights
! made to glow by current from these
| mighty falls.
"In a country like Rhodesia where
there are no roads either good, bad or
| Indifferent, getting about is no fun. All
the British officials have bikes but
| they are more ornamental than useful,
so they use the 'machilla' which, to
| quote them, is an invention of the
devil. 1t consists of a long pole with
! two natives at each end. Midway
hangs the hammock for the 'broana,'
n, 1;el, xrso hoo ol-
is lacerated by bushes and stumps and
| his body more or less submerged when
| going across river. The bearers keep
up a chant that sounds like the wall
of lost spirits, and it never occurs to
| them that the passenger is not as
happy as if in a Pullman chair car.
"Some of these African tribes have
alert, active minds. They can COM
NIT to memory page after page of a
| textbook, but the trouble is they do
not comprehend the meaning. They
learn telegraphy, typewriting, the
manual of arms, ETC., with wonderful
rapidity and as nothing is more dear
to the African heart than ceremony,
they go into ecstasies over parades
and the morning and evening flag tao
| tics.
"In most of the tribes are to be
found skilful artificers. Show them a
piece of imported furniture and they
will exactly duplicate it. They weave
bark fabrics of every kind and manu-
facture musical instruments, keyed,
string, wind and percussion.
Wherever suitable clay is found,
they make pottery, tiles and brick. Al
most every English official has a pic
turesque residence of brick with tile
roof, surrounded by beautiful gardens.
"When Rhodesia gets proper trans
portation facilities, it will supply the
British empire with cereals, cotton,
tobacco, rubber, cattle, nuts and
fruits"