562 WEAK OF THE ROCKS. 



left-hand column, and that farthest off, are the smallest, and all 

 ought to have been a little more tapering at the tops. 



The fissure is said Tby the Makololo to be very much deeper 

 farther to the eastward ; there is one part at which the walls are 

 so sloping that people accustomed to it can go down by descend- 

 ing in a sitting position. The Makololo on one occasion, pursu- 

 ing some fugitive Batoka, saw them, unable to stop the impetus 

 of their flight at the edge, literally dashed to pieces at the bottom. 

 They beheld the stream like a " white cord" at the bottom, and 

 so far down (probably 300 feet) that they became giddy, and were 

 fain to go away holding on to the ground. 



Now, though the edge of the rock over which the river falls does 

 not show wearing more than three feet, and there is no appear- 

 ance of the opposite wall being worn out at the bottom in the parts 

 exposed to view, yet it is probable that, where it has flowed be- 

 yond the walls, the sides of the fissure may have given way, and 

 the parts out of sight may be broader than the " white cord" on 

 the surface. There may even be some ramifications of the fissure, 

 which take a portion of the stream quite beneath the rocks ; but 

 this I did not learn. 



If we take the want of much wear on the lip of hard basaltic 

 rock as of any value, the period when this rock was riven is not 

 geologically very remote. I regretted the want of proper means 

 of measuring and marking its width at the falls, in order that, at 

 some future time, the question whether it is progressive or not 

 might be tested. It seemed as if a palm-tree could be laid across 

 it from the island. And if it is progressive, as it would mark 

 a great natural drainage being effected, it might furnish a hope 

 that Africa will one day become a healthy continent. It is, at 

 any rate, very much changed in .respect to its lakes within a com- 

 paratively recent period. 



At three spots near these falls, one of them the island in the 

 middle, on which we were, three Batoka chiefs offered up prayers 

 and sacrifices to the Barimo. They chose their places of prayer 

 within the sound of the roar of the cataract, and in sight of the 

 bright bows in the cloud. They must have looked upon the 

 scene with awe. Fear may have induced the selection. The 

 river itself is to them mysterious. The words of the canoe-song 

 are, 



