522 THE LEEAMBYE. Chap. XXVI. 



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 vapour 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, wliich, 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 this 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 

 hundred yards, they got into conversation, and did not hear us 

 shouting 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 

 vexation. 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, wliich exhibited the columns of vapour 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 



