‘34 AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
we unexpectedly had practical proof of the correctness 
of this view, and of the rapidity with which the falls, 
grand as they are even at low water, assume dimensions 
that must exceed even the volume of Niagara. 
We were down at the bottom of a small gorge, near 
the Hercules Falls, when we suddenly heard a terrible 
rumbling, roaring noise. 
“ What’s that ? ” I said to Fritz, who looked up the 
rapids and said, — 
“ Ye never some peebles vill tell, eef ve don’t some 
plendy quicks make — dot rivare is down coming, dat’s 
vat dat noise was. Run ! ” 
After our previous experience we took in the situa- 
tion in an instant, and fled for our lives bo a rock 
several feet higher than the surrounding ones, whence 
we watched the oncoming flood, the swollen river sweep- 
ing everything before it with a sullen roar. The rocks 
on which we were standing soon became surrounded by 
a raging torrent ; the wall of water, not taking time to 
follow the streamlets, burst over the rocks on all sides, 
and rushing headlong into all the holes, pools, and 
cracks and crannies, overflowed them in an instant. 
The main channel was soon filled, and absorbed each 
little winding stream in the general flood. 
What a grand transformation scene ! On every side 
of us was the boiling water, bearing on its surging 
bosom uprooted trees, logs, poles, and other debris. 
The booming of the drift-wood as it bumped against 
the rocks, and the roar of the rushing and falling waters 
were deafening. If the flood rose much more our fate 
was sealed, for, although the rock we were on was a 
large one, and appeared to be the dividing line between 
two channels of the river, it bore unmistakable traces 
of being water worn, and no doubt was quite submerged 
at high water. Our German friend consoled us by 
saying the flood, at this time of year, would not rise for 
more than twelve hours, and that the first rush was 
always the heaviest. This proved to be the case, for, 
although the level kept slowly creeping up, the rise was 
not much after the first hour. 
