KING SOLOMON’S MINES

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 212, 4 June 1929, Page 3

KING SOLOMON’S MINES

SEARCH IN WORKINGS ALL-FEMININE EXPEDITION And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon . . she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones. . . And she gave the King an hundred and twenty talents of gold. . . . Every one of us knows how the tala continues —how the navy of Hiram also brought Ophir’s treasure, how the weight of the gold which came to tha wise Solomon in only one year was “sixe hundred threescore and six talents of gold.” Muc’ ink has been spilled and many heavy tomes have been written to shows just where King Solomon’s mines were, but still no one knows.

Whether of not the Queen of Sheba was the original feminist, the fact remains that three young English women may originate this latest gold rus h—“Ophir or bust.” For Miss Gertrude Caton-Thompson, Miss Ncrie, a trained architect just out of Oxford, and Miss K. Kenyon, daughter of Sir Frederic Kenyon, director of the British Museum, have left London with instructions from the British Association to expore,'among other places, the ruins of Zimbabwe, in southern Rhodesia, the legendary site of King Solomon’s mines. This is a fascinating commission, on which all readers of H. Rider Haggard’s story, whether they be young, middle-aged or old, will wish, in imagination, to accompany tne enterprising young women. _ Not content with introducing feminism into this latest gold rush, the British savants feel that an aeroplane should be used for the survey. In the words of Miss Caton-Thompson, preconceived ideas will be eliminated. She considers that the ’plane will be of great assistance in exploration work. She is not, however, taking her “flying burro” with her. but hopes to buy it in Bulawayo, the nearest settlement. The all-feminine expedition has the following instructions: — “To undertake an examination of the ruins of Zimbabwe or any monument or monuments of the kind in Rhodesia which seem most likely t reveal the character, date, and source of the culture of their builders.” At present two views are held by archaeologists regarding the more than three hundred ruins of supposed fortresses and temples at Zimbabwe and Dhlo-Dhlo (pronounced Flo Flo): (1) That they are of remote B.C. date; (2) that they are medieval. Here archaeology steps aside and romance walks in.

Local legends, handed down in the manner of Norse sagas from father to son among the natives, say King Solomon and the flirtatious Queen of Sheba were associated with an older civilisation at Zimbabwe. Rider Haggard tells us that the beautiful queen and the wise king had very large dealings in gold. Rhodesia is a. gold mining country. Voila. They won't go to Alaska to hunt for Ophir. Although the older theory that Ophir was “somewhere in Arabia,” isn’t ruled out, for it is conceivable it might have been in Asia Minor, these loyal English girls are going to concentrate on the British Empire proper, not the turbulent Arab protectorates. Even when the early Portuguese and Dutch navigators reached the coast of Mozambique, in the Middle Ages, they found a very strong tribal organisation, far above the savage state, located there. And the “Emperor Jones” of the period was Mono Motapa, who held magnificent sway over his dusky subjects. ~ .. . Everyone hopes that these three girls will find the ancient workings, that the old workings will prove to be good mines, not copper, and that the gold mines will prove to be King Solomon’s—or the Queen of Sheba’s.