 But there is no evidence of Solomon having maintained mines for precious metals and diamonds in the depths of Africa, such as provide the book's title and the center of its plot.Haggard knew Africa well, having travelled deep within the continent as a 19-year-old during the Anglo-Zulu War and the First Boer War, where he had been impressed by South Africa's vast mineral wealth and by the ruins of ancient lost cities being uncovered, such as Great Zimbabwe.His original Allan Quatermain character was based in large part on Frederick Courtney Selous, the British white hunter and explorer of Colonial Africa.