The Conquest of the Desert 



momentary thought, and it wronged the 

 friendly savages. They are themselves a timid 

 race ; and they were alarmed lest my temerity 

 should lead me into danger. They hurried me 

 back from the brink, and then explained their 

 motive, and asked my forgiveness. I was not 

 ungrateful for their care, though somewhat 

 annoyed by their offlciousness. 

 ....... 



" I returned to my station to take a sketch of 

 the scene, but my attempt was far too hurried, 

 and too unworthy of its object, to please myself, 

 or to be presented to the reader. The character 

 of the whole of the surrounding scenery, full of 

 rocks, caverns, and pathless woods, and the 

 desolate aspect of the Gariepine mountains 

 beyond, accorded well with the wild grandeur 

 of the waterfall, and impressed me with feelings 

 never to be effaced. . . . The river, after pour- 

 ing itself out in this beautiful cascade, rushes 

 along in a narrow chasm or canal, of about two 

 miles in length, and nearly 500 feet in depth, 

 apparently worn in the solid rock, in the course 

 of ages, by the force of the current. 



" In the summer season, when the river is in 

 flood, the fall must be infinitely more magni- 

 ficent ; but it is probably at that season alto- 



160 



