390 THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE VICTORIA EALLS. [Aug. 1909. 



21. Some Notes on the Neighbourhood of the Victoria Falls 

 (Ehodesia). By Thomas Codrington, M.Inst.C.E., F.G.S. 

 (Bead March 10th, 1909.) 



A stay of nearly four months at Government House, Livingstone, 

 in 1908, afforded me the opportunity of making observations at 

 leisure and gathering the information which is embodied in the 

 following paper. 



Livingstone, now the seat of the Administration of North- Western 

 Bhodesia, is within easy reach of the Zambesi at the boathouse 

 2| miles above the Victoria Falls. From that point all parts of 

 the river are accessible as far as the rapids, 5 miles farther up, 

 and downwards nearly to the Falls, which can also be reached by 

 railway. Much time was passed on the river, and every facility 

 was afforded me for visiting both sides of the Zambesi for some 

 miles above and below the Falls, and for seeing the valley of the 

 Maramba for some 6 miles upwards from its confluence with the 

 Zambesi. I had the advantage of Mr. G. W. Lamplugh's recent 

 papers on the Geology of the Zambesi Basin, and on the Occurrence 

 of Stone-Implements around the Victoria Falls, 1 and also of access 

 to maps, plans, levels, etc., prepared by the engineers of the 

 British South Africa Company, to whom, and many others, my 

 thanks are due for help and information. 



In bringing forward these observations, it is not necessary to refer 

 to what has previously been written, as the literature has been 

 recapitulated as lately as 1907 in Mr. Lamplugh's paper above 

 mentioned. With what is said in that paper about the gorge 

 below the Falls I entirely agree, and to it I have little or nothing 

 to add. 



Near the Victoria Falls the broad valley in the high plateau in 

 which the Zambesi flows is 6 or 7 miles wide, bordered by hills of 

 no great height, capped by sand like cayenne-pepper in colour and 

 grain, which has been identified with the Kalahari Sand. The 

 floor of the valley around and below the Falls is of basalt with a 

 scanty covering of soil, and for 2 miles above the Falls basalt is 

 seen in the islands and rocks in the rapids. It appears above the 

 soil in places in the lower ground on the right bank, and rises 

 100 feet above it at and about Dales Kopje. 



On the left bank basalt shows at the surface along the railway 

 as far as the Maramba River, where an instructive section has 

 lately been revealed. A quarry was opened where the basalt 

 appeared as loose angular fragments of a size suitable for road- 

 metalling, and many hundreds of tons of it have been taken to 



1 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. Ixiii (1907) p. 162, & Jouru. Anthrop. Inst. 

 vol. xxxvi (1906) p. 159. 



