258 MATABELE LAND. 



almost destitute of foam, which seems so gentle and 

 proves so overpowering when one tries to stem it." 



It is the view from this point — "one of the 

 prettiest and most comprehensive " that can be 

 obtained of the Falls, says Chapman — that is 

 represented in the preceding woodcut ; in the fore- 

 ground are seen the gliding waters flowing through 

 the escape-channel, the spray of the falling cataract 

 rising up beyond ; whilst on the horizon, above that 

 section of the Falls which is visible from here, ex- 

 tends the distant outline of one of the river's banks. 

 "This point," writes Baines, "is the only spot, with 

 the exception of the west end in calm weather, that 

 is free enough from spray to allow the use of water- 

 colours." 



And this brings us to our second illustration of 

 the Falls, the coloured one, which is taken from the 

 other point here mentioned — the west end of the 

 cataract. In this picture is represented the first 

 portion of the Falls, at the western extremity of the 

 abyss, where the flow of the water over the edge is 

 more broken than it is in many places farther on (in 

 at least one of which it continues, says Chapman, with 

 very little interruption for a distance of a quarter 

 of a mile or more), and apparently before the water 

 in the bottom of the channel has commenced that 

 tumultuous course which it afterwards pursues as it 

 gathers volume farther eastward. In the foreground 

 and on the high land to the right is seen some of that 

 brilliant tropical vegetation, the absence of which, 

 except the evergreen part of it, was so regretted 



