522 
THE LEEAMBYE. 
Chap. XXVI. 
mass of water leaping at once clear of the rock, and but slowly 
breaking up into spray. 
I have mentioned that we saw five columns of vapour ascending 
from this strange abyss. They are evidently formed by the com¬ 
pression suffered by the force of the water’s own fall, into an 
unyielding wedge-shaped space. Of the five columns, two on the 
right, and one on the left of the island were the largest, and the 
streams which formed them seemed each to exceed in size the falls 
of the Clyde at Stonebyres, when that river is in fiood. This was the 
period of low water in the Leeambye, but, as far as I could guess, 
there was a flow of five or six hundred yards of water, which, at the 
edge of the fall, seemed at least tlmee feet deep. I write in the 
hope that others more capable of judging distances than myself 
will visit this scene, and I state simply the impressions made on 
my mind at the time. I thought, and do still think, the river 
above the falls to be one thousand yards broad; but I am a poor 
judge of distances on water, for I showed a naval friend what I 
supposed to be four hundred yards in the bay of Loanda, and, to 
my surprise, he pronounced it to be nine hundred. I tried to 
measure the Leeambye with a strong tliread, the only line I had 
in my possession, but when the men had gone two or tliree 
hundred yards, they got into conversation, and did not hear us 
shouting that the hne had become entangled. By still going on 
they broke it, and, being carried away doTO the stream, it was 
lost on a snag. In vain I tried to bring to my recollection the 
way I had been taught to measm^e a river, by taking an angle 
with the sextant. That I once knew it, and that it was easy, 
were all the lost ideas I could recall, and they only increased my 
vexation. However, I measured the river farther down by another 
plan, and then I discovered that the Portuguese had measured it 
at Tete, and found it a httle over one thousand yards. At the 
falls it is as broad as at Tete, if not more so. Whoever may come 
after me will not, I trust, find reason to say I have indulged in 
exaggeration. With respect to the drawing, it must be borne in 
mind, that it was composed from a rude sketch as viewed from 
the island, wliich exhibited the columns of va]3our only, and a 
ground plan. The artist has given a good idea of the scene, but, 
by way of explanation, he has shown more of the depth of the 
ifissure than is visible, except by going close to the edge. The 
