The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-09-20
GREAT. WITHOUT BEAUTY.

South Africa, as the world accepts
that term in describing the geographi-
cal features of Africa, is bordered on
the north by the Zambesi river. slug
gish stream, deep and carrying a great
volume of water. : The Zambesi starts
from the high plains of the southern
norton of the Congo Free State, in
Western Central Africa, and goes in an
easterly direction across Africa to the
Indian ocean. AS the river goes east
ward across the high plains it strikes
the jungles on the western borders Of
Matabeleland, one of the States Which
made up Cecil Rhodes's empire, Rhode
STA. AS the river reaches Matabele-
land it pIunges into the jungle and has
cut an immense. canyon to the sea. To
know the greatness Of Victoria Falls.
they must be compared with Niagara.
The Victoria Falls, unlike Niagara,
possess little beauty.
The volume of water in the Zambesi
is, in the rainy season, five times the
volume that hurls itself over Niagara
from Lake Erie. The height of Victo-
ria Falls is almost three times the
height of Niagara, and yet the African
cataract as compared with our Ameri-
Niagara ona can stand off and see the
huge mass of water tumble over the
edge of a preeipice and watch it drop
the entire height of the falls. With
Victoria it is different. Imagine river
almost exactly mile wide; imagine in
the river bed at right angles to the
course Of the stream a number of gla-
cler-like assures about eighty yards
wide and four hundred feet deep. Into
this crack the water falls and escapes
at the bottom through similar zigzag
assures of the same depth. One cam
not see the water falling. 1t is like
porting water into a long, narrow, deep
dish. There is little of the spectacular
in that process. One can hear the roar
Livingstone heard it twenty miles off
and one can see the high columns of
mist caused by the air, which the fall
ing water carries down and congresses,
rebounding to a great height and car
rying spray with it. These high
columns of mist, bending gracefully
with the wind, make about all the
scenic effect there is with Victoria Falls.
One man who visited the falls says:
I'VE had been travelling for days from
Bulawayo to the falls, sometimes cut
ting our way through rank grass and
weeds which reared themselves to a
height of over fifteen feet. When near
the falls we heard what might be
termed the continual roar of powerful
cannon. Tt sound like one would ina
CINE were he to come UP to the jumping
off place of the world and listen to
thousands of acres of land dropping off
into space. Soon we could see a mist,
not so much a mist as a collection of
rainbows for the great clouds of fine
fog like substance which spurted into
the air were studded with rainbows,
caused by the rays of the SUM-
The mist which rises from the Vic
toria Falls pit is called by the natives,
in their own peculiar words, Smoke
that sounds This is why they call
the falls tMossi- GA tuna" or Roaring
Smoke" Around this pit of the falls
are perpendicular walls of basalt.
The total length of the zambesi river.
from its delta at Chinde. East Africa,
is between 1900 and 1900 miles.