Without entering into the varied researches supporting the
views of Schlechter, Keane, and other leading authorities, it may
be observed that the main conclusions pithily summarized by
Professor
Keane are strongly backed. Ophir was not a source of gold, but its
distributer, as the port on the south coast of Arabia through which
the flow of gold came by sea. It is identified with the Moscha or
Portus Nobilis of the Greek and Roman geographers.
Havilah was the land whence came the gold of Ophir, a great tract in southeastern Africa, lying
north of the Limpopo and largely identified with the range of
the modern Rhodesia. The ancient gold workings of this region
were first opened by
the South Arabian
Himyarites, who
were followed (but
not before the time
of Solomon) by the
Phoenicians, and
these very much later
by the Moslem
Arabs. Tharshish
was the outlet for
the precious metals
and stones of Havi-
