clear drop, but the river, being forced through
a ehasm only 500 yards wide, is flanked by
curling waves of destructive fury, which meet
in the centre, overlap, and strike each other,
while below is an absolute chaos of mad waters
leaping waves, deep troughs, contending watery
ridges, tumbling and tossing for a distance of
two miles. The commencement of this gorge
is a lengthy island which seems to have been
a portion or slice of the table-land fallen flat,
as it were, from a height of 1000 feet. More
geologically speaking, it is a mile-long fragment
of the gneissic substructure of the table-land
which appears to have suddenly subsided, retaining
its original horizontal stratification. On the
sides, however, the heaps of ruin, thick slabs,
and blocks of trap rock, bear witness to that
sudden collapsing from beneath which undoubtedly
formed this chasm.
The natives above Inkisi descended from their
breezy homes on the table-land to visit the
strangers. They were burning to know what
we intended to do to extricate ourselves from
the embarrassing position in which we found
ourselves before these falls. I had already explored
the ground personally twice over, and
had planned a dozen ways to get over the
tremendous obstacle. I had also ascended to
the table-land to take a more general view of
the situation. Before replying to their questions,
rApril 24-26. i877-1 t u c k e y ’s c a t a r a c t a t l a s t ? 93
I Inkisi Falls. J<
I asked if there was another cataract below.
“No,” said they, “ at least only a little one,
which you can pass without trouble.
“Ah,” thought I to myself, “ this great cataract
then must be Tuckey’s Cataract, and the Tittle
one,’ I suppose, was too contemptible an affair
to be noticed, or perhaps it was covered over
by high water, for map-makers have a clear,
wide—three miles wide— stream to the Falls of
Yellala. Good! I will haul my canoes up the
mountain and pass over the table-land, as I must
now cling to this river to the end, having followed
it so long.”
My resolution was soon communicated to my
followers, who looked perfectly blank at the
proposition. The natives heard me, and, seeing
the silence and reluctance of the people, they
asked the cause, and I told them it was because
I intended to drag our vessels up the mountain.
“Up the mountain!” they repeated, turning
their eyes towards the towering height, which
was shagged with trees and bristling with crags
and hill fragments, with an unspeakable look
of horror. They appeared to fancy the world
was coming to an end, or some unnatural commotion
would take place, for they stared at me
with lengthened faces. Then, without a word,
they climbed the stiff ascent of 1200 feet, and
securing their black pigs, fowls, -or goats in
their houses, spread the report far and wide