SOLOMON’S MINES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20282, 17 April 1934, Page 1

SOLOMON’S MINES.

Expedition Finds “ Lost ” Land of Ophir. LONDON, April 10. Members of the Prorok Expedition, in the heart of Abyssinia, are convinced that they have discovered the “ lost ” land of Ophir. Famed in Biblical days for its rich gold mines, Ophir provided most of the great wealth of King Solomon. Huge quantities of precious -‘tones were also obtained there by the Egvptians and Phoenicians. Nobody to-day knows exactly where Ophir was, although south-eastern Arabia is the site most generally accepted. Now, it is stated, in a message to the “ Egyptian Gazette,” the Abyssinian expedition, under Count de Prorok, have traced at several points between Kurmuk and Megali the worn, rock trail of the ancient gold caravans between Egypt and Abyssinia. They have also found, in the vicinity of gold washings near Dul, • ough hieroglyphics indicating that the mines there were worked thousands of years ago at the time of the earliest Egvptian dynasties. The quality of the gold taken from the washings is said to be identical with that discovered in the tombs of the Pharaohs. It is also suggested that several vast mounds, found in the Beni Slnggul Hills, house the remains of slaves employed bv the gold-mad rulers of Egvpt in exploiting Ophir’s vast resources The natives of the western Beni Shaggul are negroid sun-worshippers, whose chief occupation is prospecting for gold dust. The main object of the Prorok Expedition, which is backed bv the British, French. American. Italian, Egyptian and Abyssinian Governments, is to search for traces of prehistoric man. Tt is hoped to complete the knowledge obtained—-in other parts of the world—of the ancient civilisati >n of Atlantis.— Reuter.