6 
The Victoria Falls. — Zambesi River. 
thought of before, probably for want of some one careful 
enongh to do it. Poor Bill seems to have more appreciation of 
beauty than I have observed in any of his country people. As 
soon as he overcame the nervousness of first looking over the 
edge, he laughed and clapped his hands with childish glee at 
the rushing waters ; and when I sent him into the mist to see 
the rainbow, he not only stayed some time, but called Eoode 
Baatjie also to admire it. While I was taking angles, as far as 
objects could be seen through the spray cloud, I sent them 
both to try and find a path to the bottom ; but they did not 
succeed. We saw a pair of beautiful birds, in form and size 
like toucans (probably hornbills), but of a deep blue or purple, 
with the ends of the quill feathers white, forming, when the 
wings were spread, a transverse line I'ight across. 
The grey ghostly forms of the baboons glided as usual 
among rocks and forest ; but so cautious were they and wary, 
that, though we should have been glad of one for supper, I 
could barely obtain a passing glimpse of these grotesque 
caricatures of the lion. 
The 30th and 31st were occupied in sketching the Great 
Western and Garden Island Falls, stretching in long per- 
spective into the misty distance, and broken by the dividing 
rock and other prominences. Choosing a point opposite the 
broad face of Three Rill Cliff", where, of course, no spray 
arose, I sat, till the east wind drove that of the falls just 
named upon me, and forced me to retreat ; for though an 
artist may work in wet shirt or shoes, he cannot work 
with wet paper, and, perhaps, it is as well for his health 
that it should be so. The wet forest, however, with its vine- 
tangled and fern-clad trees, afforded numberless scenes well 
worthy of separate study, and among them I soon selected 
one suitable for my purpose : a trunk had fallen down, but 
had been partially supported by others, and before decay had 
quite destroyed it, some of its younger shoots had struggled up 
again into the light, and now, increasing into fine young trees, 
had sent down roots, lacing roimd the old and rotting trunk, 
from a height of twelve or fifteen feet, to seek for moisture in 
the earth. (View No. 5.) 
Friday, August 1st. — I climbed a tree near the western 
side, in hope of obtaining a general view of the Falls ; but 
could not, on account of the dense foliage of others taller and 
more inaccessible before me. I therefore turned south-east by 
south, about 500 yards, toward the angle of the lower river ; 
and stationing myself above the deep green tarn formed in its 
abrupt bend, could see up the stream, on my left, right into 
the first bend of the outlet, nearly a mile distant, with the 
"smoke of the Falls" visible beyond the dense line of forest, 
and about the same distance down it on my right, the course 
of the two portions being straight and parallel, their most 
distant points forming, from the spot on which I stood, an 
angle of only twelve degrees. The water is here, as elsewhere^ 
inaccessible, from the height and steepness of the red and 
yellowish grey precipices that enclose it. The cliff" that divides 
the two portions of the stream must be nearly a mile in length, 
more than 300 feet in height, and, as I subsequently ascer- 
tained, only 115 yards wide at its base ; at its point it seems 
much narrower, and is probably twice as high as it is wide. 
I remained till nearly sunset, and, as in all the views 
I have taken, found that the magnificence of the principal 
features so dwarfs everything else, as rocks, trees, &c , which in 
common subjects would occupy large portions of the picture, 
that I can hardly bring my pencil to a point fine enough to 
represent them; still, unless these accessories are minutely 
and distinctly painted, the vastness of the whole is much 
invalidated. 
I begin to believe that no man but an artist can appreciate 
these wonderful Falls, and not even he till he strives patiently 
day by day to study and represent them. 
One great hindrance, when removed from the influence of 
the spray-cloud, is the annoyance caused to the painter by the 
incessant persecution of the tsetse. At the moment when one 
requires the greatest steadiness and delicacy of hand, a dozen 
of these little pests take advantage of his stillness, and 
simultaneously plunge their preparatory lancets into the neck, 
wrists, and tenderest parts of the body, one or more cunning 
fellows actually selecting the places where the lines of fortune 
radiate or cross, with a skill in palmistry that would do honour 
to an experienced gipsy. 
August 2nd. — Moliti, one of the old head-men, brought 
over a basket of milk for me, and I crossed to the eastern side 
in his canoe. We passed at least three large islands, weli 
wooded, with groves of tall palms towering above the ordinary 
trees ; the glassy surface of the broad river giving back their 
forms so perfectly, that it was hard to tell where reality ended 
and reflection began. Moshotlani, the petty chief of the ferry, 
and Madzekazi, who had known me in Tete, were sitting under 
the shadow of their principal hut, which in form is cylindri- 
conical, like those of the Bechuanas, or not much unlike a 
rifle-bullet set up on end. Fortunately for me, the chief wished 
me to cut him a jacket, spreading before me for that purpose 
a length of four cotton handkerchiefs, the price for which they 
usually sell a slave to the Mambari ; and consenting to do this, 
I made it the ground of a request that he would give me a 
canoe to go down to the Falls next day. 
Being advised not to tempt the rapids in our present skiff", 
I landed below the side-creek, and walked the rest of the 
way. The boatman proved rather an expert cicerone ; he 
brought me first to the rocks over which the eastern rapid 
flows, before allowing me a perspective view from the end of 
the chasm. About one-fourth of the whole cataract seemed to 
be on the east side of the outlet ; and the hollow in which the 
first bend of the lower river runs came round so close to the 
face of the cliff" that it seemed a wonder another outlet had not 
broken through, a hundred and fifty yards nearer to the 
eastern end. (AHew No. 9.) 
Here the bed of the river seems to have preserved its 
original height ; and the water, consequently more shallow 
than on the western side, is broken into numberless rills, 
forming falls of various magnitude, some on a grand scale, but 
the majority mere threads compared with the mighty rapid 
that forms the Leaping- Water at the other extremity. 
The view along the face of the Falls was limited only by 
the body of vapour filling the chasm ; and the rocks here, not 
being drenched with spray, were covered with a drier vege- 
tation, among which the scarlet triple spikes and reddish-green 
leaves of the aloe, springing from the cliff's, or drooping 
chandelier-like from the black face of the rock, formed an 
important and interesting feature. The dark-blue hornbills 
flew among the trees, while little honey-birds hovered like 
brilliant gems over the flowers. The natural inference from 
this marked diff"erence is, that the east wind must prevail 
during the greater portion of the year, and that these rocks 
must be permanently to windward of the spray-cloud. Two or 
three waterbucks were seen as we returned ; but it is a mere 
chance to hit them as they dart through the thick bush. 
We reached the village before sundown ; and a hut was 
assigned me with Madzekazi, where, while 1 cut out a pair of 
trousers for the chief, half-a-dozen of the Makololo, who had 
known me in Tete, gladly busied themselves in making a fire 
and doing other little offices for me. 
August 4th. — I halted on the bank of the broad blue upper 
river, studded with islands to the very edge of the Falls, 
with the forest-clad cliff"s beyond, and the clouds of smoke 
rising from the (to us invisible) chasm, wanting only a few ships 
upon the surface, or batteries upon the islands, to make it the 
very picture of a naval engagement. While admiring the scene 
I saw the head of a hippopotamus rising suddenly from the 
depths of a quiet reach. Now, the act of breathing subjects the 
'potamus to the chance of a shot about his ears, and so well is 
he aware of this, that unless he feels perfectly secure, he 
