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WHERE OPHIR STJOD.
(Daily Press, 27th June.) Where was Ophir? With the recent in- crease of our relation with Arabia, m especially Yemen and Hitra na't, as well as the growing importɩnca of Misho ia- land, the question has considerably mɔra than a mere academic interest. The ques tion is, moreovar, quite distinct from the cognate enquiry as to whence came the gold of Ophir. This latter question may be considered as set at rest by the modern discovery of the remains of extensive ancient gold workinga, as well as of exten- sive ruined cities in the districts between the Zambazi and the Limpopo rivers in South Africa, taken in connection with the accounts in the Books of Kings and Chron- icles, of the naval expeditious organise by king Solomon in conjunction with his close ally HIRAM of Tyre. One of the first objects of King SOLOMON was to obtain a satisfactory foothold on the Idumean pen- insula, where he founded the city of Elth; and having thus obtained command of the Gulf of Akaba, ha procedel to build a fleet of seagoing merchant vessels, with the object of trading in the mors distint parts of the Erythriau Seas,- - tern which anciently corered, not only the Red Sea of to-day, but included th Persian Gulf, and all the western portion of the India Oce in. Nearly two hundred years later, in the reign of AMAZIah, we fnd_Elath still in possession of the kings of Judah, so that we may consider the keping open of the trade with the Sofala Cast to have been part of the tra litional policy of the Jewish monarchy. The Jews in King SOLOMON's time were only gradually emerging from their nomadic condition; they never, even to the end, took kindly to the sel, and SOLOMON was entirely dependent on his friend and neighbour HIRAM for the con- struction and manning of the fleet. On the other hand, HIRAM was glad of the military assistance of SOLOMON, as also of the opportunity, afforded by the understanding of opening to Pheniciau commerce the whole of the Eastern seas, where trad had hitherto been a practical monopoly in the hands of the inhabitants of Arabia, whether Nabateans, Mingaus or Babeans. This treaty had, in fact, more far reaching con- sequences than have been usually cre litel to it; and was largely instrumental in the growth of Mediterranic commerce, with its concomitant result the increase of political power in Carthage, Greece and Rome. A conservative estimate of the value of the
1
actually extracted during this period from the South African mines places it at, at least, seventy five millions sterling, and of this the greater part seems to have foun l its way to the coasts of the Mediterraneau.
The question: Whence came the "Gold of Ophir ?" a phrase which for long centuries was in current use, is thus easily answered. The origin of the phrase is not of such simple explanation, an hun Ire is of con troversies have risen over it. The Periplus of the Erythrian Sea spaks of Aphir the metropolis of CHARIBAEL, King of the Homerites, and this has always been identified with Ophir; it seemingly occurs with PLINY as Saphar or Sabe. Not im probably we have here a reference to the kingdom of Sabas, and hence even in the days of DAVID before SOLOMON's alliance with the QUEEN of Sheba, we fial the gold of Ophir already become proverbial. It is, however, notorious that the land of the Sabans never, itself, produced gold, and
it has always been concluded that it was merely the point of distribute, the gold being produced in the South African lands
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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屋源
[July 1, 1906.
Now Hukairys in Zend, as Havilah in Hebrew, have no inherent meaning: the two words may, however, be accepted as identic il, the change of guttural k to a being of the commonest: hwarism changes to Urva, Hyrkania to Vehrkana, &c. Both are connected, cariously enough, with gold; but gold certainly now does not occur in ONESIKRATES, however, quoted Susina. by STEABO, speaks of the rivers of the adjoining province of Kernan yielding gold dust, and Afzal KerwANI tells of the soil of Jirust being gold, and adds that gold was formerly foual in its dust. Probably, then, at the beginning of human history, there did exist alluvial washings along the stream of the Karun, in the course of time exhauste 1, when other Ophirs were found. If we are right in placing Havilah or Hukairya on the ancient Pasitigris, we find the name still surviving in a but slightly altered form. There is no doubt about the identity of the ancient Pasitigris with the modern Karun. Now actually the Karua
between the Zambezi and the Limpopɔ, aad | Ardvi-çura-anahita, Lady of Increase, the that ages before the time of king SOLOMON, equivalent at once of the Babylonian Nana Mother of all the ancient inhabitants of Saba made and the Hebrew Khavah, voyages to the Subi River, but with true living," is ever present to be invoked by Arabian cunning they kept the secrat to her worshippers. themselves. There is no improbability in the surmise, which may be acceptel as the true explanation so far. Bit the very indefiniteness of the name Ophir seems to suggest that it was to a particular spot, and herein it is on a par with many other names in or about ancient Arabia. Where, for instance, was the land of Paat, whenc, cam the first emigrants to Egypt? We find it as difficult of definition; it has been placed in the Sinaitic Peninsula, in South Arabia, in Somali Lan, and on the Zımbзzi. Who
HOMER Ethiopians?
mikes MEMNON their Chief, a son of Eos, the Dawn Goddess, and old Greek tradition connects them with Susian. HERODOTUS puts them in Abyssinia, and later authori- ties even further west in the land of Lybia. Where was the original Erythria which gave its name to the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sai? ARRIAN in his Periplus of the voyage of NEA BOKUS would place it in the island of Bahrein in the Persian Gulf, where he says ERYTHRAS, | its first king was buried. But ERYTHEAS here can only be a translation of ADAM, the Bed; au 1 this brings us in touch with the very old legend that the Punic peoples, whom some would associate with Punt, really emigratel some five thousand years ago from these very regions.
were
the
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rich country
compassoth the province of Hawiza, which although not literally a land of gold, is still a carrying on a great trade in wheat anl sugar, and exporting largely to India. Its capital town is Ahwaz, in which we find the same phonetic elements; and this is pro- bably the result of Chaldean_intercourse.. Such repetitions of names hive always At all events in the Book of Dant■L, and been common amongst migratory nations. also in EZEKIEL, we find the phrase "Gold The index to the Times Atlas contains of Ophir" giving way to the form “Gold of an Uphaz." There is little doubt that the sǝlf- awenty Yorks; Professor Kaane,
word is intended, but the scriba sume ucknowledged
authority on ancient uthnology, while he tells us that Ophir was undoubtedly in Southern Arabia, would have
believe that the
us
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NATIONAL COMPACTS, ENTENTES, AND ALLIANCES.
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accustomed to the then more modera form of Hawiza for the older Havilah, translit- Land of Havilaberated it in Chaldean fashion as Uphaz. where, according to the Book of Genesis, According to KIEPERT the most ancient there was Gold, was situated at or name of Susiana was Afarti; and PLINY the River Eulacus, the about Sofala on the east coast of Southplaces here on Africa. This is very like saying that York town of Forath, so that the chain of evidence is undoubtedly in Yorkshire, but that Ebor- connecting original Ophir with the head of acum must be looked for in America on the the Persian Gulf is fairly complete.
As a fact, banks of the Hudson River. Ophir, Sapher, Sheba, Sofala and Havilah, and pobably many other places are one and the same. True, Semitic scholars will have none of this. All Semitic roots, say they, are tri-literal, and Ophir, A. F. R., is no exception; the bones must remain, and the only possible variation is in the covering of flesh and skin. This is, however, only beg. ging the question: Is Ophir Semitic? There is no proof that it is, but much presumptire vidence that it is at least pre-Semitic. And this brings us in contact with one of the oldest of old world legends,-that of the Garden of Elen. There is much presump- tive evidence to connect the legend with the upper part of the Persian Gulf. There were, at all events four rivers there;
that is Tigris Euphrates; Hiddekel, Gihon, the Paraian Huvaspa, now Kerkha, which embraces the land of Kush, the Greek Kissia: and finally, Pison, the Pasitigris of the Greeks, "which cɔm- passeth the whole land of Havilah, where We find the legend of there is gold." Paradise duplicate in the Zn1 Avėsti, anl in the same region, where appro priately enough the two civilisations, that of the Blond Iranians, and Red," (Adamic, Ethiopian, that of the " Erythrian, Idumain or Himyaric), Proto Somites first
the
(Daily Press 28th June.) The difficulty which arose with regard to the action of the French in Cochin-China in allowing the Russian war vessels to remain so long upon their coasts is strongly illus- ttrative of the degree to which alliances ma times, become embarrassing; and of the necessity of extreme reservation and caution in coming to such arrangements. Like all agreements which extend over any length of time, they necessarily depend very much upon the discretion and good faith of the parties to them. Where these two essentials are wanting, such agreements nay, as time goes on, assume a very different aspect to that which they had at their inception. If both parties are willing to act not only with scrupulous fairness but with calm and deliberate judgment, sach under- standings may often prove of signal advan- tage; but unfortunately this cannot be always relied and it is consequently necessary, at the outset, to know very well with whom one is dealing in such matters. It is too much to be feared from all its traditions to say nothing of acts withia recent memory-that the Russian Govern- ment is not one upon which prudent persons can care to have to place too much reliance according to the Aban Yasht, is the holy either for discretion or scrupulous good land of Hukairys with its precipices, of gold," down which tumbles the ever living spring, and where the fair goddess a very poor thing for anyone to presume
most ancient
came in contact.
Hare
"made
faith.
upon,
In private life it is looked upon as
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