VII DISTANT VIEW OF THE FALLS 131 



the less dense portions of the spray, the broad blue 

 river, studded with thickly-wooded islands, and even 

 distinguish here and there the tall thin stems and 

 graceful feathery crowns of several lofty palm-trees. 

 Between our station and the river lay spread out 

 beneath us the rough, rugged country of which I 

 have before made mention, cut up in all directions 

 by innumerable fissures and ravines, whose very 

 inequalities, aided by the enchantment distance 

 invariably lends, rendered it pleasant to the eye, 

 though to walk across, it is one of the most awkward 

 bits of country I know of. On the other side of the 

 river rose, one behind the other, range beyond range 

 of low, well-wooded hills, the farthest of which, 

 blending with the distant horizon, bounded one of the 

 most beautiful panoramas that it has yet been my fate 

 to look upon. 



Our Bushmen and Kafirs from the Matabele 

 country could not understand the cloud of spray at 

 all, and made the most naive remarks concerning it, 

 asserting it to be steam rising from boiling water, 

 and then asking our guide how their people had 

 managed to make so large a pot ! As it was still 

 early when we first sighted the falls we hoped to be 

 able to reach them or their immediate vicinity before 

 nightfall ; but never were erring mortals more 

 deceived, for, owing to the numberless ravines, each 

 one deeper and more precipitous than the last, we 

 were still when the sun went down at least eight or 

 ten miles from the wished-for goal, though not more 

 than one from the deep chasm at the bottom of which 

 the river runs below the falls. That night we camped 

 on the summit of a small round hill, and were lulled 

 to sleep by the deep continuous roar of the most 

 glorious waterfall in the world. 



