278 CHEV. W. P. JERVIS, F.G.S., ON THE MINERALS AND 



from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil, and I will turn mine 

 hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take 

 away thy tin." (Is. i, 25.) 



B.C. 593. " The house of Israel is to me become dross : all 

 they are brass and tin, etc. As they gather silver and tin, etc., 

 into the midst of the furnace to melt it : so will I gather you in 

 mine anger and my fury." (Ezek. xxii, 18, 20.) 



General Deductions. 



The generic word for gold is zohov, poetically khoriits; kethem 

 is pure gold; poz and zohov zukok signify refined gold, and 

 zohov tohur, clean, pure gold ; touraiph is a refiner ; keseph 

 nivkhar, choice silver. 



Alas ! Abraham contracted in Egypt the (to him) useless 

 passion of amassing great wealth of the precious metals, a lesson 

 too faithfully learned throughout all ages by his descendants 

 and non-descendants. Amongst the most ancient arts was that 

 of extracting and refining the precious metals. Job speaks of 

 God trying him, to come forth as gold. The working of them 

 was familiar to the Israelites in Egypt, for they were so skilful 

 in casting the golden calf, even in the wilderness. 



At the fourth International Geographical Congress, at 

 London, 1890, Mr. Bent exhibited the model of a most interest- 

 ing group of stone buildings in Mashonaland, with which the 

 writer was so remarkably impressed, from their wonderful 

 analogy to the Phoenician nuraghi he had visited in Sardinia, 

 that he pointed out the fact to him. Mr. Mcol Brown speaks 

 of hundreds of ancient ruined structures in proximity to 

 hundreds of shallow gold mines, less than 100 feet deep, and 

 which are being now sunk still deeper on the same lodes. The 

 ruins of ancient gold-smelting furnaces have been identified, 

 even the crucibles and blowpipes with traces of gold still 

 adhering to them, and Mr. Bent figures an astragalus-shaped 

 ingot mould, corresponding to the wedge of Ophir, perhaps 

 weighing a talent of gold ? Mr. Brown, amongst others, is 

 fully convinced that this is the Ophir whence Hiram procured 

 the gold for Solomon ; and the expression wedge clearly points 

 out the acquaintance that Tyre possessed of the mining and 

 metallurgy of gokl No wonder that Tyre should heap up gold 

 as the mire of the streets. At the present time not a trace 

 remains of the ancient native population, entirely exterminated, 

 for in none of the many languages of South Africa is there a 

 word signifying gold. 



