middle of which you expect every moment to see some
repulsive monster rising in anger.
The stream above the Falls is about 1800 yards wide:
all of a sudden it disappears into a gulf about 130 yards
deep and at most 100 yards broad. All the water that
falls to the bottom of this chasm leaves it through a
gorge just as deep and hardly 100 ft. broad. This gorge
winds in and out for many miles towards the east, then
Gradually broadens until the river has resumed its normal
course and proportions. It is only by means of a plan
that it is possible to understand the topography. The one
shown here is from Mr. F rys survey, arid conveys a far
better idea of the place than any description. If it were
possible to see the Falls in all their height and breadth, the
spectacle would certainly be magnificent. But the water,
hurled down from such a tremendous height, gets broken
against the rocks and forms a current of air which sends
up above the chasm a c o l u m n of water—mixed with
vapour—which rises to an enormous height and falls
back again in the form of rain. At certain points the
water pours on you in pailfuls.
\ few hours after my arrival I made my men build
me a strong shelter of branches (about thirty feet long),
hoping to pass several days near the Falls, that I might
take a series of photographs of them, and, as far as
possible, get out an exact plan.
I went out to take some photographs, and as I returned
to my camp I fixed up my photographic tent in order to
develop the plates. I had just begun developing one of
them when I experienced a feeling of faintness that
gradually grew so strong that I had to abandon the plate
I was washing, and had only strength enough to rush to
the shelter and throw myself down on my blankets, i or
the next three days I was almost the whole time unconscious
with heavy fever. My servant Joseph had been
feeding me with a little sour milk one of the men had
bought from some native fishermen. The third day, when
I recovered my senses, I found that one half of my porters
were also attacked with fever, so I determined to leave
this pestilential spot and to move a few miles higher up
the river. I was hoisted on my donkey, and, supported by
a man on each side, I managed to reach a spot higher up
and drier, where I found an old shelter. I then discovered
VICTORIA FALLS
BjrW. EHerton "Fry
WmmÊ.
G. Philip <& Son,j
PLAN OF THE VICTORIA FALLS.
at the bottom of a bottle a few of Messrs. Burroughs and
Wellcome’s tabloids of Warburg’s fever tincture. I took
four of them, and half an hour later began to perspire
profusely. In the evening I felt so much better that I
decided to make a start the following day. My men told
me that the natives whose villages were on the northern
bank of the river could not be induced to bring us food,
as there was a rumour that the Matabele were raiding in
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