284 AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
south of the Falls, near a ridge of rock rising abruptly 
from the ground. We could not choose a nearer spot, 
as farther to the north the ground is too damp, owing 
to the never-ending fall of spray. 
On the east, parallel with the Falls, and some forty - 
five paces to the south of them, ran the glorious forest, 
its outline broken here and there by the surging veil 
of spray, which has already been described by Living¬ 
stone, Baines, and Chapman, and which, in luxuriance, 
beauty, and variety of vegetable forms,, equalled any¬ 
thing I had ever seen either in India, Ceylon, the 
Malay peninsula, or Java, The ferns assumed the 
proportions of trees ; gigantic creepers, with stems as 
thick as ships’ cables, ran from branch to branch, and 
high above all waved the feathery crowns of the palms, 
whilst fine clumps of bamboo reminded me of the shores 
of the Irrawadi. 
I will now endeavour to give a feeble description of 
the great cataract itself. The majestic river, a mile 
wide, comes down from the north-north-west, and flings 
its waters down four hundred feet into a rocky ravine, 
varying in width from two hundred and forty to three 
hundred feet, which runs across its bed. From the 
river above the Falls rise many islands, all adorned 
with the richest tropical vegetation. The banks are 
covered with vast but not dense forests, in which occur 
whole groups of tall-stemmed palms, giving a thoroughly 
southern character to the scenery. Near the Falls the 
water hurries along with Hying speed, and the long 
ribbons of foam everywhere to be seen made it look as 
if it were boiling. Near the western brink lies a little 
island, about a hundred and twenty feet from the bank, 
and here the bed of the stream seems to dip suddenly, 
for the water leaps down with a roar and a rush like 
a huge sea-wave. At this point, quite at the western 
corner, a ridge of rock juts out, on to which anyone 
not subject to giddiness can step, when he will have, 
on the left, the fall just described, and in front the long 
line of the great cataract, which can of course only be 
partially seen, for the compressed air drawn down with 
