Chap. XXVI. WEAK OF THE ROCKS. 523 



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 by 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 

 descending in a sitting position. The Makololo on one occasion, 

 pursuing some fugitive Batoka, saw them, unable to stop the im- 

 petus of then 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 appearance 

 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 

 beyond the falls, 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, witliin a 

 comparatively 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 — 



