THE LEEAMBYE. 5 Q\ 



mass of water leaping at once clear of the rock, and but slowly 

 breaking up into spray. 



I have mentioned that we saw five columns of vapor ascending 

 from this strange abyss. They are evidently formed by the com- 

 pression suffered by the force of the water's own fall into an 

 unyielding wedge-shaped space. Of the five columns, two on the 

 right and one on the left of the island were the largest, and the 

 streams which formed them seemed each to exceed in size the falls 

 of the Clyde at Stonebyres when that river is in flood. This was 

 the period of low water in the Leeambye ; but, as far as I could 

 guess, there was a flow of five or six hundred yards of water, 

 which, at the edge of the fall, seemed at least three feet deep. I 

 write in the hope that others, more capable of judging distances 

 than myself, will visit the scene, and I state simply the impressions 

 made on my mind at the time. I thought, and do still think, the 

 river above the falls to be one thousand yards broad ; but I am a 

 poor judge of distances on water, for I showed a naval friend what 

 I supposed to be four hundred yards in the Bay of Loanda, and, 

 to my surprise, he pronounced it to be nine hundred. I tried to 

 measure the Leeambye with a strong thread, the only line I had 

 in my possession, but, when the men had gone two or three hund- 

 red yards, they got into conversation, and did not hear us shout- 

 ing that the line had become entangled. By still going on they 

 broke it, and, being carried away down the stream, it was lost 

 on a snag. In vain I tried to bring to my recollection the way 

 I had been taught to measure a river by taking an angle with 

 the sextant. That I once knew it, and that it was easy, were 

 all the lost ideas I could recall, and they only increased my vex- 

 ation. However, I measured the river farther down by another 

 plan, and then I discovered that .the Portuguese had measured it 

 at Tete, and found it a little over one thousand yards. At the 

 falls it is as broad as at Tete, if not more so. Whoever may come 

 after me will not, I trust, find reason to say I have indulged in 

 exaggeration. With respect to the drawing, it must be borne in 

 mind that it was composed from a rude sketch as viewed from 

 the island, which exhibited the columns of vapor only, and a 

 ground plan. The artist has given a good idea of the scene, but, 

 by way of explanation, he has shown more of the depth of the 

 fissure than is visible except by going close to the edge. The 



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