62 Fin 1 BR, Some South African Scenes iind Flowers. [voi' C \xxii 



like spray hundreds of feet into the air. One could spend many 

 days, always seeing fresh sights, in that wonderful world of 

 water, and each day we set off in another direction to see what 

 further charms still lay before us. A walk to Danger Point 

 in the moonlight, to see the lunar rainbow — unpaintable, in- 

 describable in its mysterious beauty — was not easily forgotten. 



The next day we were to visit Livingstone Island, named, of 

 course, after the great explorer, David Livingstone, who carved 

 his initials, " D.L.," in deep-cut letters on a large tree on the 

 island. We were paddled across the river in and out of quite 

 a fairyland of islands, where gorgeous butterflies flitted about 

 in great numbers, the Canadian canoe and native oarsmen 

 adding to the charm and novelty of it all. The vegetation on 

 the island is very dense, and the Jequiritz, or Prayer-bead 

 Climber, Abrus precatorius, is climbing over many of the trees, 

 so that the fierce rays of the sun never reached us as we 

 wandered from one view of the falls to another. My enthusiasm 

 was unbounded when I came across a patch of buttercup- 

 yellow gladiolus, growing about four feet high, and quantities 

 of crimson and gold tiger-lilies — Gloriosa speciosa I think they are 

 called — supporting themselves up the trees with their tendrilled 

 leaves, and many other flowers that were quite new to me. 



I was very loth to leave that lovely island, and should have 

 been quite happy to have wandered about it in solitude, taking 

 in all the details, that to me mean so much. I did long for 

 someone who could tell me something about the interesting 

 things around, but we had to return to the canoe and make 

 for the mainland once more, where the natives were to meet 

 us with the luncheon hampers. Back again on the banks <>l 

 the river, we found our way down and down along a winding 

 path among the palms and tropical creepers to the water's 

 edge below the tails— on to the rocks beside the boiling pot, 

 which we had seen not long before from Livingstone Island. 

 man\- hundreds oi feel above. It is wonderful how the little 

 fresh-water crabs <>t three or four inches across manage to 

 scramble over the rocks at the edge of the river in spite o\ 'he 

 rushing water. 



The next day we found our way to the w it was 



by far the coolesl place, ami one could almost forget the day 

 was so hot beside that expanse "I water. 'Ibis time we wi lit 

 to the opposite bank, above the falls, and there found we could 

 walk along the water's edge, among the palms and tret >, foi 

 several miles in the -hade, and there, in a cool spot, we had 

 om Lunch, which the natives had again broughl as. Along 

 here we saw one of the largesl oi the baobab trees in the 

 district, with its large hibiscus-shaped (lowers, now almost 

 over, and the lon| cucumber-like fruits forming instead: wme 



