LIVINGSTON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 
3i9 
been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambesi. ... In 
looking down into the fissure on the right of the island, one sees noth¬ 
ing but a dense white cloud, which, at the time we visited the spot, had 
two bright rainbows on it. From this cloud rushed up a great jet of 
vapor exactly like steam, and it mounted two or three hundred feet 
high; there, condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark smoke, and 
came back in a constant shower. . . . On the left of the island 
we see the water at the bottom, a white rolling mass moving away to 
the prolongation of the fissure, which branches off near the left bank 
of the river. . . . The entire falls are simply a crack made in a 
hard basaltic rock from the right to the left bank of the Zambesi, and 
then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or forty miles 
of hills. . . . The walls of this gigantic crack are perpendicular, 
and composed of one homogeneous mass of rock.” 
These falls are about three hundred feet high and eighteen hun¬ 
dred yards in width. The fissure into which they plunge is so narrow 
as to be invisible till the verge is reached. Livingstone was so im¬ 
pressed with this splendid creation that he retraced his steps and per¬ 
suaded Sekeletu to visit the falls with him. The effect on the native 
mind was one of intense awe. 
The country through which they passed after leaving the falls 
was exceedingly beautiful. At first furrowed by wide fertile glens, 
and afterwards opening out into a luxuriant plain, abounding with 
animal life and vegetation, and possessing the inestimable advantage 
of salubrity, the Doctor felt that he had at last reached the land of 
promise for the missionary cause. Many of the hills were of pure 
white marble, and pink marble formed the bed of more than one of 
the contributory streams. Upon the plains enormous herds of zebras, 
buffaloes and elephants grazed between the patches of dense forest 
which here and there studded the grassy level. Through this country 
the Zambesi rolled toward the coast at the rate of about four miles 
an hour, while flocks of water-fowl swarmed upon its banks or took 
their flight across its waters. 
So plentiful was game, that the leading men had frequently to 
shout to the elephants or buffaloes which stood in their path. Some¬ 
times an elephant would charge right through the little party; at 
