practical side first.

Rhodes had great hopes of Rhodesia as a gold-producing country. He
wanted the economic value of the country to rank with the political.
Thousands of years ago the natives dug mines and many of these ancient
workings are still to be seen. They never exceed forty or fifty feet in
depth. Many leading authorities claimed that the South Arabians of the
Kingdom of Saba often referred to in the Bible were the pioneers in the
Rhodesian gold fields and sold the output to the Phoenicians. Others
contended that the Phoenicians themselves delved here. Until recently it
was also maintained by some scientists and Biblical scholars that modern
Southern Rhodesia was the famed land of Ophir, whence came the gold and
precious stones that decked the persons and palaces of Solomon and
David. This, however, has been disproved, and Ophir is still the butt of
archaeological dispute. It has been "located" in Arabia, Spain, Peru,
India and South-East Africa.

Rhodes knew all about the old diggings so he engaged John Hays Hammond,
the American engineer, to accompany him on a trip through Rhodesia in
1894 and make an investigation of the workings. His report stated that
the rock mines were undoubtedly ancient, that the greatest skill in
mining had been displayed and that scores of millions of pounds worth of
the precious metal had been extracted. It also proved that practically
all this treasure had been exported from the country for no visible
traces remain. This substantiates the theory that perhaps it did go to
the Phoenicians or to a potentate like King Solomon. Hammond wrote the
mining laws of Rhodesia which are an adaptation of the American code.

The Rhodesian gold mines, which are operated by the Chartered Company
and by individuals, have never fully realized their promise. One reason,
so men like Hammond tell me, is that they are over-capitalized and are
small and scattered. Despite this handicap the country has produced
L45,227,791 of gold since 1890. The output in 1919 was worth
L2,500,000. In 1915 it was nearly L4,000,000.

Small diamonds in varying quantities have also been found in Rhodesia.
In exchange for having subscribed heavily to the first issue of British
South Africa Company stock, the DeBeers which Rhodes formed received a
monopoly on the diamond output and with it the assurance of a rigid
enforcement of the so-called Illicit Diamond Buying Act. This law, more
commonly known as "I. D. B." and which