"My discoveries show particularly that the "Ophir" of the time of Solomon was the country between the lower Bambesi and the Limpopo River."--Introd.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ...saw the natives wash a few grains of gold out of a bucket of river-mud. They had dreamt of Inca treasures, but forgot that also the gold of the Peruvian Children of the Sun " was obtained a grain at a time." We newcomers are not frightened by this method of going to work. When we call to mind that the modern miners on the Rand fetch up hard ore from more than a thousand feet, out of the bowels of the earth, which ore mostly yields no more than 6 to 8 dwts., or not even half an ounce; when we consider that the companies that undertake this work still manage to show large profits, we shall be better able to appreciate the riches of Manicaland. If the old works go down to modern times they still go back in parts to times prehistoric. To the east of our Count Moltke Mine we found old underground buildings just like those in Inyanga. Throughout Manicaland one finds ancient Phoenician gravestones. The religious views of the Manicas are those of the Makalangas. From the Zambesi down to this region of the Upper Pungwe we find one and the same civilisation. And this reaches, as I discovered later, unbroken, down to the Sabi and the Lundi. In fact, I believe that everywhere where one finds the negro washing gold to-day, one may conclude that his first impulse to do so was derived from other races. PHOENICIAN GRAVESTONE IN MANICALAND. The negro himself is much too indolent and lazy to obtain any metal grain by grain through labour, when there is not the prospect of receiving something for his belly in exchange. It would never occur to him to wash or dig for gold, not even to satisfy his own desire for ornaments, if strangers had not come who had offered him something to eat and drink for it. I find it altogether superfluous to follow here every...

The pyramids are a fascinating part of our history--but have you ever wondered if they were related to aliens from outer space? Is there really a city made of gold like in the story of El Dorado? This fascinating book examines the many myths and legends about our ancient past, searching for and finding facts about fascinating sites that include Stonehenge and the lost city of Tiahuanaco.

The stone ruins of the Nyanga area of eastern Zimbabwe have aroused much interest since they were first reported to the outside world at the end of the 19th century. Early fanciful speculations about their meaning have slowly given way to better understanding based on archaeological research, most recently by the University of Zimbabwe in co-operation with the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe and the British Institute in Eastern Africa. The ruins represent the remains of family homesteads and extensive stone-built agricultural terraces. Successive stages of development have been traced, starting with settlements on some of the highest peaks around AD 1300 and expanding gradually for five centuries to cover an area of over 5000 square kilometres. These stages show how the farming community adapted to and exploited the opportunities offered by the varied environments of the Nyanga highlands and lowlands to develop a specialised agricultural system integrating cultivation and livestock. In this book, Robert Soper sets out the accumulated knowledge and understanding of the old Nyanga society, in particular the significance of its agricultural works to which the landscape bears eloquent witness.

Taking his leads from a mixture of texts including The Septuagint, the earliest known form of the Bible, as well as using geological, geographical and folkloric sources, Tahir Shah sets out for Ethiopia in search for King Solomon's gold mines.