  We present observations of 11 high redshift quasars ($3.9 \la z \la 5.0$)
observed with low spectral resolution in the restframe ultraviolet using FORS 1
at the VLT UT 1. The emission-line fluxes of strong permitted and
intercombination ultraviolet emission lines are measured to estimate the
chemical composition of the line emitting gas. Comparisons to photoionization
calculations indicate gas metallicities in the broad emission line region in
the range of solar to several times solar. The average of the mean metallicity
of each high-z quasar in this sample is $Z/Z_\odot = 4.3 \pm 0.3$. Assuming a
chemical evolution time scale of $\tau_{evol} \simeq 0.5 - 0.8$ Gyrs, we derive
a redshift of $z_f \simeq 6 {\rm to} 8$ for the onset of the first major star
formation episode (H$_o = 65$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, $\Omega_M = 0.3$,
$\Omega_\Lambda = 0.7$), corresponding to an age of the universe of several
$10^8$ yrs at this epoch. We note that this epoch is also supposed to be the
era of re-ionization of the universe.
