Danville intelligencer. [volume] (Danville, Pa.) 1859-1907, 1905-07-21
VICTORIA CATARACT
1T is ONE OF THE NOTABLE WON
DERS OF THE WORLD.

| sibtlity of Com pa rtson Between It
and Our own Niagara.
1t was on the 22d Of November, 1855,
that the friendly natives with whom he
was travelling brought DR.. David Liv-
ingstone for the first time within sight
and sound of the wonderful cataract
on the Zambezi river, now known as
the Victoria falls. Before finding It,
the good missionary had journeyed for
nearly two years, and from his point
of departure at Kuruman, In Cape Col
ony, had traversed quite 1000 miles Of
hitherto unknown country.
Today one takes the train at Cape
Town Oh Wednesday, passes through
Kimberley on Thursday. reaches Bulu-
wayo on Saturday, and late in the aft
ernoon Of Sunday begins to see In tho
distance the rising pillar Of mist from
the great cataract.
The natives call 1t "Mosl-o -oa -tuni," :"
meaning the roaring smoke" Twenty
miles away the spray thrown back
from the depths OF the tremendous cav.
ern Into which the river tumbles ap-
from burning village. and during the
last mile of the railway journey the
/ roar Of the falling water becomes no.
tlceable. Finally, when the edge Of
the chasm is reached. II the river is In
food, the eye and ear are assalled by
a combination of phenomena that prob
ably cannot be duplicated as marvels
anywhere else on the planet.
The first question that Is asked of an
, American who has seen this African
wonder generally is, How does 1t COM
| pare with Niagara?" There Is no pos
sibllty Of comparison, The two are as
I different as daS asd night. Niagara Is
a perfect picture in a lovely natural
framework. Every point and line and
curve Of motionless rock, trembling
verdure and gliding water Is a touch OF
majestic beauty. Victoria Ia simply u
phenomenon, u terrific cash In the floor
OF an apparently unending plain, which
as one gazes simply swallows river
In manner that produces almost q
thrill Of horror.
The Hambezl valley for a hundred
miles or more In every direction from
the cataract Is rough and broken
plateau covered with low brush and
stunted trees, with here and there an
Outcrop of somber basaltic rock, all
thoroughly unlnteresting. The herbage
Is but falntly green and the tropical
sky only family blue. 1t Is hazy
half tone landscape. wanting In clear
in a L., Ill,
above everything else that element
we always unconsciously seek In a
nature plcture-life. The. absence Of
this produces In the mind feeling Of
loneliness and often Of fear. Across
this solemn scene appears river that
IN tiood time IL perhaps half Il mile
wide. IL Il deaf man were following
down one of its banks he would notice
little but the quiet water aud the odd
looking column Of smoke ahead. AS
this column was approached he would
expect to see the river banks bending
and the water flowing away to one
side Of the confagratiop and might
glance to the right ana left to note the
| direction taken. But the panorama
changes as he gazes. The river Is no
more, and there. where 1t should be,
Is only the brown plain, as lonely,
brush covered and monotonOus rs ever.
One must go twenty niles farther be-
| fore the vanished water and the sur
face OF the land again cOmmlngle, be-
fore 1t will be possible to walk along
the bank In company with the river.
| N audi 10 lao, N,,p,, 40.
| Meantime the pillar Of smoke has re-
solved Itself into dense mist forced
upward In terrible puffs from yawn-
Ing cash stretching directly across the
bed Of tho river. This fearful abyss is
every second swallowing thousands of
tons of green and white water and
belching up blasts OF mist that rise
hundreds OF feet into the air and hurry
away with the winds as II rejoicing
at their escape from the inferno be-
low. And somewhere. nearly 400 feet
below, the entrapped river is fighting
Its way between sheer; walls of black
rock toward narrow cleft In the
eastern wall. whence 1t escapes. foam.
ing and boiling. through the zigzags
and curves Of deep gorge leading off
TO tile eastward. One goes to an edge
OF this delivering chasm and looks
down upon the tossing waters, ever
pressed from behind by other foods
struggling out Of the narrow black
gateway. and perhaps the most prom
inent mental sensation Is that Of thank
fulness that even In such grim and
ghastly way nature has provided a
means by which the fearful slit of u
throat above that has swallowed the
stream can disgorge 1t again without
causing an overwhelming catastrophe.
The Victoria cataract should be visit
cd ut least twice before one IL compe-
tent to pass an opinion upon It. When
the river Is In food July the scene Is
simply terrible. One sees nothing but
an enormous sheet Of water disappear.
ing into the bowels Of tho earth with
noise rs OF mountains falling upon
one another. while from the awful cash
comes back In fierce gusts and swirls
the foaming breath of the tortured ele-
ment below. But In December when
the water IL low. the edge OF the cata-
ract shows as n long. creamy tllm Of
lovely lace; the rising mist flows soft
ly away through the little rain forest
below the cavern's lip; the gigantic
vault itself becomes wonderful spec
tacle, dream Of neutral tints. n cave
of beauty. Far down in its dark
depths the waters. gliding along the
rocky walls and bending gracefully
around the corners toward the narrow
outlet pass gayly and laughingly to
freedom. For time the demon of the
cataract Is sleeping F. Van
Wagenen in Century.
Hair Color.
In fhe caqe NJ hOrsaa whero tho shin