VII VICTORIA FALLS BY MOONLIGHT 137 



over, the river was still, on our arrival, excessively 

 high, and the volume of water at the falls much 

 greater than is usually the case, for, with the 

 exception of where it was broken by the two islands 

 I have before mentioned, the face of the falls pre- 

 sented one even, uninterrupted sheet of foam, and 

 nowhere were the rocks to be seen that marred its 

 regularity when Mr. Baines made his excellent and 

 very precise drawings of it in 1862. I myself 

 subsequently paid a second visit to the falls in the 

 following October, at the very end of the dry season, 

 when the river was at its lowest ; and although they 

 were still a grand sight, and at the same time the 

 spray being very much less, a far more extended 

 view was obtainable than on my first visit, yet to 

 my mind the effect was not to be compared with 

 that produced by the fall of the far greater volume 

 of water which I then saw. 



During the two following days, Monday and 

 Tuesday, we remained at our camp near the tails, 

 making short excursions up and down the river, and 

 ever and again returning to feast our eyes once more 

 on the mighty cataract ; and on Monday night, the 

 moon being at its full, we went to view the falls by its 

 light. Its pale, soft beams were, however, unequal 

 to the task of piercing the dense volumes of silvery 

 spray, on which they nevertheless imprinted a most 

 perfect double lunar rainbow, whose soft tints rivalled 

 in beauty the more gaudy colours of its diurnal 

 relative. 



During these two days very many natives came 

 across in canoes from their villages on the northern 

 bank (the southern side is here uninhabited, owing 

 to fear of invasion by the Matabele), bringing baskets 

 of corn, maize, beans, and ground-nuts tor sale. 



