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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



ever-increasing thunders of the waters 

 lent an added solemnity to the view. 



Hardly could we wait to reach our 

 destination, so great was our enthusiasm. 

 But our hopes were doomed to momen- 

 tary disappointment, only to be more 

 than realized after a study of the en- 

 vironment ; for, notwithstanding their 

 magnitude, the first view of Victoria 

 Falls is decidedly disappointing. 



Although nearly a mile in width and 

 400 feet in height, the grandeur of their 

 proportions is eclipsed by the sudden dis- 

 appearance of the river, as it plunges into 

 a narrow, rocky fissure extending across 

 its entire width. Only at a single central 

 point is there a breach in this fissure 

 through which the Falls can be seen and 

 appreciated in their full proportions, 

 where the converging waters rush madly 

 to the zigzag canyon below. So re- 

 stricted is this view that there is an en- 

 tire absence of that awe-inspiring and 

 almost paralyzing effect which strikes the 

 visitor dumb with wonder and amaze- 

 ment when Niagara bursts on his near 

 vision. On first sight of the Victoria 

 Falls one involuntarily exclaims, "Oh, 

 how beautiful !" but they lack the maj- 

 esty of our grand Niagara. 



No single visit can adequately reveal 

 the fulness of their charms, but repeated 

 excursions must be made to their islands 

 and precipices, their grottos and palm 

 gardens, their rain forests and projecting 

 crags, their rainbows and cataracts and 

 many-sided views of their exquisite set- 

 ting in the emerald framework of tropic 

 forests, before their indescribable beauty 

 can be appreciated. The fascination of 

 discovering new and hidden charms from 

 different points of view grows on the 

 visitor and becomes one of the greatest 

 attractions. 



Had the Falls been in America, the 

 Indians would surely have named them 

 Minnehaha, Laughing Waters; for like 

 a coy maiden are their fascinations, half 

 concealing, half betraying their beauties, 

 and requiring much wooing before re- 

 vealing all their loveliness of hidden 

 treasures and charm. 



As the rainy season commences in 



Rhodesia in November and continues in 

 the form of tropical showers until April, 

 the most advantageous time to see the 

 Falls is in May, when the seething tor- 

 rents are at their flood. November also 

 has its attractions, when the river is low, 

 for then the chasm is comparatively free 

 from mist, disclosing vistas and views 

 of the great abyss of rare beauty, which 

 before were wholly obscured by the 

 whirling columns of spray. 



The bridge of the Cape Town and 

 Cairo Railroad is the favorite point se- 

 lected by artists, as the picture through 

 the narrow gap at Danger Point exhibits 

 the full extent of the angry waters, as 

 they leap from the precipices to the abyss 

 below. 



The Chartered Company of Rhodesia, 

 which controls the reservation miles 

 above and below the Falls (as well as 

 most everything else, mo\able and im- 

 movable, in South Africa), has erected 

 a temporary hotel near the railway, 

 where visitors are fairly well enter- 

 tained, while from its verandas a mag- 

 nificent panorama of the canyon and 

 Batoka Gorge can be seen. 



A walk of half a mile brings one to 

 "the place where the rain is born," as 

 the natives call the Rain Forest. This is a 

 phenomenon of rare beauty and interest, 

 especially to the botanist, for here the 

 tropic heat and constantly falling spray 

 produce a wealth of vegetation of won- 

 derful luxuriance and variety. Every 

 living thing bursts forth spontaneously 

 here, from the delicate maiden-hair fern 

 to the feathery-leafed palm and the 

 hoary baobob, 70 feet in circumference, 

 and under conditions so favorable that 

 the great struggle for existence and the 

 survival of the fittest is fought out with 

 the intensest bitterness. Parasites and 

 hungry climbing vines seize, like monster 

 pythons, upon the great monarchs of the 

 forest, sucking their life-blood or strang- 

 ling them in their desperate effort for 

 supremacy, only in turn to be reduced 

 to mould or to fall the victims of new 

 appearing and equally destructive ene- 

 mies. 



