The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-07-13
GREAT AFRICAN RIVAL
FOR NIAGARA FALLS
An American Suggested that Victoria Cataract be ar-
messed and Now the Actual Work
is About to Begin
WILL FOLLOW THE AMERICAN PLANS
Bv CURTIS BROWN,

S BROWN,
lent of The Times.
dancing around the beach and Launching
curses at two or three crocodiies "hlch
lay placidly some little distance out IN
the stream.
They are thieying rascals!' he shout
ed as the Englishman came up lheS
just carried off one of my girls anu ltS
her-and she was wearing beauu1ul
bead necklace that l had let her take
for the day,
blacks drive their cattle over to the IS
lands. in midstream and let them feed
there, and usually they haven't been 90
ing so long before the cry of "Nkanga!
Nkanga," (the lion, the lion) goes up
Two or three times the administrator Mr.
Corindon, has been hesought to shoot
monarchs of the jungle that We're carry
ing off fat cattle. and he has forded the
river and tracked their lonships through
the grass of the islands. which grows
over ten feet high.
The less civilized natives believe that
the bodies of lions are inha bited by the
spirits of departed chiefs. and 1t some
times happens. when one of these peasts
has been making trouble in kraal. that
the headman has gone out and iectureo
him-at a safe distance-on the error OF
his ways One lion made special null
sance of himself by carrying off every
buffalo that the men of a certalnn camp
near the Zamzesi had shot for meat, ana
the chief decided to make some sort of
protest. Every night the villages are
surrounded by a circle Of fires to keep
off the lions, and outside of these, the
cleaning eyes of the intruder could be
seen as the headnan and his chief war
riors stalked forward AS the chief
saw the lion he called out too him:
All there you are. are you? Are you
not ashamed of yourself. now, great
warrior like you, to sneak up here at
night to steal our buffalo meat! Making
a mere scavenger Of yourself! Why
don't you so and kill your own buffa-
loes2''
Whether the lion understood or not. he
skunk off into the forest and the natives
said there was no doubt he had been
much confused.
PLENTY OF WORK FOR ELECTRICI-
TY.
In speaking to the writer tho other
day. w \. Wills the secretary Of the
syndicate which is going to harness the
W; ioria ais said that they expected TO
be supplying power wholesale in about
fifteen years from now No one knows
yet how much power the falls can fur
rish, but Niagara is supposed to be
capable Of supplying about million
is.S
420 feet high, as compared to Nlagara's
l5S and a whole mile instead of half i
piie wide.
Nothing definite has been decided yet
about the ma chnery that will be used for
the plant, but it is almost certain to be
en- the exact lines of that used at Nj
agala, and will probably came from
America. Already the syndicate has been
considering plan Of having the entire
in tall Ia made bv the WeStilChOuSe
Company.
There will be uses enough for the power
wherever it can be supplied The syndi-
cate is planning to cover a radius Of $50
miles to begin with, and probably first
CT all the Cape to Cairo Railway will
be electrified for this distance. both
north and south of the falls which.
BY the way. it will cross by means of a
steel bridge over the narrowest point
Of the canyon of the Zambesi. Within
this reach of $50 miles lie the great sand
stone quarries that supplied walls for
most of the houses in Bulawayo; the
great teak forests Of the Gwai district,
the immense copper fields north of the
falls. which are among the richest of the
World and which will furnish almost on
the spot all the copper needed for the
installation, and the Wanlhie coal fields,
covering 400 square miles.
Naturally the exploters Of the Victoria
Falls vii, viii work along the lines which
have been followed at Niagara and in
other parts of the United States, and
their plans for the future are being based
chiefly on the results of American expert
mentS. They are encouraged to believe
that in time they will be able to trans
nit electricity economically to a distance
of four hundred miles. supplying power
to the gold fields of Mazoe Hartley and
Lo Maghunda, as well as to the towns of
Rulawayo. Salisbury and Gwelo-power
for electric lighting. telegraphs and tele-
I ,ol,o = o.111 -
veniences that make such startling
contrast to the hippopotami and lions.
The promoters are finding, encourage
ment in the successful working of the
street. car lines in Oakland. Cal. with
power from the Yuba river. one hundred
and forty miles away. II Tesla,s promise
of a method of transmitting power with
out much leakage over still greater dis
tanceS holds good. force from the great
cataract of the Zambesi may be sent
down TO aid the industries of the Rand
but that is too big a prospect 10 be even
considered now.
But after ALL the immediate possibili-
ties Of the Victoria Falls in South Africa
count for little in comparison with the
remoter future III which Rhodesia may
step forward as the great industrial coun-
try of the world. That is my dream.
said Mr. wills. land it seems to me not
at all an absurd one. In the first place
it is the richest gold country of the
world-one-third of the worlds most pre-
cious metal within eleven square miles
the richest diamond country, with seven
Fights of the worlds most precious gems
The whole land is a mass of coal. The
copper mines may be expected to make
an immense difference in the worlds
copper trade. The country is well water
ed; all kinds of cattle flourish. and
reals of every sort do we'll. There is any
amount of cheap labor-the Kaffrs-and
unlike the red Indians, they multiply I'M
der white control. White children thrive
in the country. for we are from four to
five thousand feet above the sea level.
with a climate much like that of Cali
forna In time. Rhodesia Will be the one
place in the world for a young man to go
TO- In fifty years We shall have a ire
mcndous population there and what the
country may become and what part the
Victoria Falls NAV play then is sub
iect that is too big even for my imagi-
nation
NORTH CAROLINA INDUSTRIES