THE HIGHLAND WILDERNESS 189 



its face, and they are met by other vines thrusting up- 

 ward from the mass of vegetation at its foot, glistening 

 in the perpetual mist from the cataract, and clothing even 

 the rock surfaces in vivid green. The river, after throwing 

 itself over the rock wall, rushes off in long curves at the 

 bottom of a thickly wooded ravine, the white water churn- 

 ing among the black bowlders. There is a perpetual rain- 

 bow at the foot of the falls. The masses of green water 

 that are hurling themselves over the brink dissolve into 

 shifting, foaming columns of snowy lace. 



On the edge of the cliff below the falls Colonel Rondon 

 had placed benches, giving a curious touch of rather con- 

 ventional tourist-civilization to this cataract far out in 

 the lonely wilderness. It is well worth visiting for its 

 beauty. It is also of extreme interest because of the prom- 

 ise it holds for the future. Lieutenant Lyra informed me 

 that they had calculated that this fall would furnish thirty- 

 six thousand horse-power. Eight miles off we were to 

 see another fall of much greater height and power. There 

 are many rivers in this region which would furnish almost 

 unlimited motive force to populous manufacturing com- 

 munities. The country round about is healthy. It is an 

 upland region of good climate; we were visiting it in the 

 rainy season, the season when the nights are far less cool 

 than in the dry season, and yet we found it delightful. 

 There is much fertile soil in the neighborhood of the 

 streams, and the teeming lowlands of the Amazon and 

 the Paraguay could readily — and with immense advan- 

 tage to both sides — be made tributary to an industrial 

 civilization seated on these highlands. A telegraph-line 

 has been built to and across them. A railroad should 



