292 " pEporr—1905. 
Report on an Investigation of the Batoka Gorge and Adjacent Portions 
of the Zambesi Valley. By G. W. Lampiuau, F.R.S., FG. 
_ Introduction.—Having undertaken at the request of the Council of 
the Association to examine the geological structure of the country around 
the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi River before the meeting of the 
Association in South Africa last summer, I made a preliminary study of 
the literature, and found that there were two essential matters on which 
our information was very inadequate. The first was with respect to the 
origin of the Falls themselves and the reason for the singularly erratic 
conformation of the gorge immediately below the Falls. The second 
was as to the course of the great river for 70 or 80 miles below the 
Falls, respecting which there appeared to be nothing definitely known. 
I therefore proposed to devote the short time at my disposal mainly to 
the elucidation of these two matters. 
Before I left England, however, fresh information became available 
on both points that enabled me to modify and extend my plans. Strong 
evidence was brought forward by Mr. A. J. C. Molyneux, of Bulawayo, 
in an able article on ‘The Physical History of the Victoria Falls,’ pub- 
lished in the ‘Geographical Journal’ for January 1905, to prove that the 
majestic waterfall and its concomitants have been slowly developed by 
the erosive power of the Zambesi itself, and not by the sudden opening 
of a zigzag crack in the earth’s crust by subterranean forces, as all 
previous travellers, adopting the opinion of David Livingstone, had sup- 
posed. My own investigations have fully corroborated Mr. Molyneux’s 
conclusions in this matter by confirmatory evidence gleaned in the 
immediate vicinity of the Falls, and still more by evidence gained from 
examination of the rough country below them. With regard to this 
country, although no description of the Zambesi valley for the space of 
about 70 miles intervening between the Victoria Falls and Wankie’s 
Drift has been published, the authorities of the British South Africa 
Company in London most courteously communicated to me the substance 
of a manuscript report prepared by their distinguished officer, Mr. F. W. 
Sykes, the District Commissioner at Livingstone, who had succeeded 
three years ago in penetrating the previously untraversed ground border- 
ing the left or northern bank of the river for a distance of some 40 miles 
to the eastward of the Falls. This report and the beautiful photographs 
by which it was illustrated afforded an excellent basis for the study of 
the physical configuration of the country, and enabled me to appreciate 
beforehand the nature of the problems that required investigation. 
Route.—I reached Victoria Falls on July 2, where, through the kind- 
ness of Sir Lewis Mitchell, I found that preparations had been already 
made by Mr. Sykes for the equipment of an expedition to enable me to 
investigate the wild country into which the Zambesi disappears after its 
waters are gathered into the deep gorge below the Falls. Through the 
hearty co-operation of Mr. Sykes, who, at much personal inconvenience, 
undertook to conduct the expedition through the country north of the 
river, native porters were at once called in, and the final preparations 
soon made. It was arranged that during the earlier stages of the journey 
we should enjoy the companionship of Lieutenant T. A. G. Budgen, in 
