Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1921-03-18
RHODESIA: A 1921 LAND
OF OPHIR

Suggestions by psychologists 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 its 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: !
1.-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-
Der. 1t is occupied with threshing,
boarding grain, storing wood and burn
ing brush on seed beds for the sake Of
the wood ashes.
"No matter how hot the days are,
the nights are cool and campfires 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 70 cents, or rate OF
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
made cantilever bridge bearing the
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.
SIN 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. It consists of long pole with
two natives at each end. Midway
hangs the hammock for the 'broana,
alias the English victim, whose back
is lacerated by bushes and stumps and
his body more or less submerged when
going across 8. 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
mx to memory page after page OF q
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
sIn 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 pic
turesaue 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"