250 VICTORIA FALLS. Chap. XII. 



CHAPTER XII. 



Mosi-oa-tunya, or Victoria Falls — Visit Garden Island — Words fail to 

 describe the Falls — Twice the depth of Niagara — Mosi-oa-tunya bears the 

 palm — Filled native mind with awe — No Portuguese record of them — 

 Two slaves reach Tette from Cassauge — And make the " Portuguese road " 

 across Africa ■ — Mashotlane, and his prisoner. 



We proceeded next morning, 9th August, 1860, to see the 

 Victoria Falls. Mosi-oa-tunya is the Makololo name, and 

 means smoke sounding; Seongo or Chongwe, meaning the 

 Rainbow, or the place of the Rainbow, was the more ancient 

 term they bore. We embarked in canoes, belonging to Tuba 

 Mokoro, " smasher of canoes," an ominous name ; but he alone 

 it seems knew the medicine which insures one against ship- 

 wreck in the rapids above the Falls. For some miles the 

 river was smooth and tranquil, and we glided pleasantly 

 over water clear as crystal, and past lovely islands densely 

 covered with a tropical vegetation. Noticeable among the 

 many trees were the lofty Hyphsene and Borassus palms; 

 the graceful wild date-palm, with its fruit in golden clusters, 

 and the umbrageous mokononga, of cypress form, with its 

 dark-green leaves and scarlet fruit. Many flowers peeped 

 out near the water's edge, some entirely new to us, and 

 others, as the convolvulus, old acquaintances. 



But our attention was quickly called from the charming 

 islands to the dangerous rapids, down which Tuba might 

 unintentionally shoot us. To confess the truth, the very 

 ugly aspect of these roaring rapids could scarcely fail to 

 cause some uneasiness in the minds of new-comers. It is 



