THE 
MOSI-O-A-TFNYA* (SMOKE- SOUNDING), OR VICTORIA FALLS, 
ZAMBESI RIVER. 
HE popular idea of Africa has long been that 
its interior was a vast desert. The traditions 
of inland waters were discredited, and in 
1849 Lake Ngami j- was erased from our 
maps, at the time it was being discovered 
in the very place native report had assigned 
to it. 
Nevertheless, those who held communication with the half- 
caste traders, or had access to the early Portuguese records, 
knew that extensive lakes and river systems were to be found 
there. 
In Ogilby's Africa, published in 1670, the map shows 
two great lakes nearly corresponding with the Victoria and 
Albert Nyanzas, with branches of the Nile flowing from them, 
and the Zambesi is given nearly in its true position, though the 
Manice or Rio de Spirito Santo is erroneously connected with 
it. The Atlas Geographus, in 1714, less correctly even than 
the earlier record, describes the Lake Zambre as the common 
source of the Nile, the Cuama (or Zambesi), the Manice, and 
the Zaire or Congo, on which are " cascades in the middle of 
its channel falling from rocks with a noise that may be heard 
two or three leagues off." 
1. The Upper Zambesi River^ 1^900 yards wide. 
2. The Chasm of the Palls. Length, 1,900 
yards ; breadth at Garden Island, 75 yards ; 
ditto at widest parts, 100 to 130 yards; 
depth, 400 feet. 
3. The Leaping-Water or Western Cataract. 
4. Three-Rill Island and the Chasm of the Three 
Rills. 
5. The Great Western or Main Fall. 
6. Garden Island. 
7. Zanjueelah's Cove. 
8. Eastern Palls. , 
9. Centre Rock Fall. 
10. Wet Forest. 
11. The Buffaloes' Cliff. 
12. The West Headland. 
13. The Outlet. 
14. The East Headland, with the narrow neck 
connecting it with the Eastern Cliffs, 
15. Buffalo Point. 
16. Narrow Gorge of the Lower River. 
17. The Tarn. 
18. The Tarn Promontory. 
19. The Profile Cliffs. 
20. Mimosas and dry Vegetation. 
Plan oe Bird's-eye View oe the Victoria Falls. 
{View No. 1.) 
It has for some time been known that wnthin the southern 
tropic, and nearly equidistant between the eastern and western 
coasts, the course of the great river Zambesi was interrupted 
by similar falls ; and in 1852 or 1853 my long-known and 
highly-esteemed friend Mr. James Chapman, who crossed the 
continent of Africa in those years, had engaged a canoe, and 
was embarking for a visit to the Falls, when the crew were 
recalled by Sekeletu, their chief, and he was obliged to forego 
the honour of being their discoverer. In 1855 they were 
seen by Dr. Livingstone, who M^as then preparing for his 
journey to the east coast, and was the first to bring them to 
the notice of the British public. 
Various branches of the Zambesi appear to rise not far 
from the west coast, and flow through a country so level that 
* This name may be pronounced nearly as Mosi-wa-tunya. 
t If the pronunciation of this should occasion any difficulty, it will be near enough to drop the g, and call it Nami. 
B 
