Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1905-07-20
VICTORIA CATARACT
IT is ONE OF THE NOTABLE WON
DERS OF THE WORLD.

! 1t was on the 22d of November. 1855,
| that the friendly natives with whom he
! was travelling brought DIR. David Ldv-
/ ingstone for the first time within sight
/ and sound Of the wonderful cataract
on the Xambezi river, now known as
| the Victoria falls. Before finding It,
the good missionary had 1ourneyed for
nearly two years, and from his point
, of departure at kuruman, in Cape Col
! ony, had traversed quite 1900 miles Of
hitherto unknown country
Today one takes the train at Cape
Town on 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 IT "Mosi-oa tunL"
meaning the roaring smoke" Twenty
miles away the spray thrown back
from the depths of the tremendous cav
ern into which the river tunbles ap-
pears like a column Of smoke rising
from n burning village, and during the
last mile Of the railwX Journey the
roar Of the falling water becomes no
/ ticeable. Finally, when the edge of
the chasm is reached, If the river IL in
flood the eye and ear are assailed by
a combination of phenomena that prob
ably cannot be duplicated as maryels
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
sibillty of comparison. The two are as
different as day and night Niagara is
perfect picture in lovely natural
framework Every point and line and
curve of motiOnless rock, trembling
verdure and gliding water is touch of
majestic beauty Victoria is simply
phenomenon. Il terrific cash In the floor
of an apparently unending plain, which
as one gazes simply swallows river
In a manner that produces almost
thrill of horror.
The Zambezl valley for a hundred
miles or more IN every direction from
the cataract is Il rough and broken
plateau covered with low brush and
stunted trees, with here and there an
Outcrop of sOmber basaltic rock, all
thoroughly uninteresting. The herbagc
is but family green and the tropical
sky only family blue 1t is Il hazy
half tone landscape wanting in clear
cut lines in every direction and lacking
above everything else, that element
we always uncousciously seek In a
nature picture life. The absence Of
this produces In the mind feeling of
loneliness and often of fear Across
this solemn scene appears Il river that
In food time is perhaps half mile
wide. If Il deaf man were following
down one of It's banks lie would notice
little but the quiet water and 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 cOnhagration and might
glance to the right and left to note the
direction taken. But the panorama
changes as he gaZes. The river Is no
more, and there, where II should be-
Is only the brown plain, as lonely
brush covered and monOtonous as ever.
One must 90 twenty miles farther be
fore the vanished water and the sur
face OF the land again commingle, be
fore 1t will be possible TO walk along
the bank in company with the river.
So sudden Is the transformation.
Mpg tho t,illur. % u,,,,Iyn ba. ~
solved itself into a dense mist forced
upward in terrible puffs from a yawn-
ing cash stretching directly across the
bed of the 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 If rejoicing
at their escape from the inferno be
low. And somewhere. nenrly 400 feet
below, the entrapped river is lighting
It's way between sheer walls Of black
rock toward Il narrow cleft In the
eastern wall. whence 1t escapes, foam
ing and boiling, through the zlgzags
and curves of u deep gorge leading off
TO the eastward. One goes TO an edge
of this delivering chasm and looks
down upon the tossing waters, ever
pressed from behind by other floods
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 d
throat above that has swallowed the
stream can disgorge It again without
causing an overwhelming catastrophe.
The Victoria cataract should be visit
ed at least twice before one IS 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 the earth with
noise as of mountains falling upon
one another, while from the awful cash
comes back in fierce gusts and swirls
the foammg breath of the tortured ele-
ment below. But In December, when
the water is low, the edge of the catu-
ract shows as a long creamy film 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 Il wonderful spec
taclc a dream Of neutral tints, a cave
of beauty Far down In It's 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 II time the demon of the
cataract is sleeping Theodore Il. Van
Wagenen In Century.
Lace Work Trees.
The inn r bark Of many trees, such
as tn vine and horse chestnut, Is con
tinuous and uninterrupted In others,
such as the ash ani the oak the fberS