IX 
THE MISSION STATION 
123 
bright things all flashing in the sunlight. Now between 
rocks or cliffs, all hung with ferns and fairy draperies, we 
rowed, and under arching trees in dense shade where 
feathery creepers dipped their heavily-laden blossoms, 
and gigantic tree roots formed such networks in the 
narrow passage, that we had to push and twist 
our way through them to gain an outlet, then with 
steady strokes we glided into glowing sunlight, over 
deep dark pools into a sound of falling waters, where 
the shallow under -bed gleamed red and yellow over 
pebble stones and where we had to be lifted bodily 
over the rapids. 
A picturesque group of natives in single file went 
by, as they forded the river, going off on a hunt, with 
their spears and nullahs slung over their shoulders, and 
not a vestige of clothing covering their copper-coloured, 
shiny bodies. They pulled the boat here into the 
bank to pick me some bright scarlet, gourd -shaped 
fruit. A wood-pigeon broke from its cover and a big 
frilled lizard went off with an ungainly roll. Then 
swiftly again they rowed from under the drooping 
branches and across to the other side of the river, 
where we put in-shore and they moored the boat while 
we made our way up the bank to the cottages of the 
Moravian Missionary Station. Here we rested for lunch, 
and then walked a mile up to the foot of the falls. 
Walls of rocks towered high on both sides of us, 
while huge boulders and stones below were thrown in 
heaped-up confusion, as if an army of Titans had played 
a game of pitch and toss. The water rushed in frantic 
haste in and out between them in its downward course, 
and with a roar of thunder from the heights above, in 
front of us, fell the mighty deluge, scattering clouds of 
mist and foam as it struck, swirled, then twisted, and 
leapt from one ledge to another, forming double rainbows 
