The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-16

miles wide It is full of green islands which are covered with a dense growth of papyrus and small trees. The banks are low and we saw the spoor of many hippopotami as we made our way up the river We did not attempt to cross un- til we were perhaps a mile above the falls, and we rode in our canoe far out into the stream before we attempted to steer ourselves down to the island. When we started the water was quiet. The current was swift, however, and the va DOT of the falls could be seen rising in clouds. We had four canoe men, half naked blacks with bracelets on their arms and bands of brass wire tied about their legs between the knee and the calf As we made our way on into the stream, we could see little droves of hippopotami swimming about. They looked much. like the rocks, and it was not until they raised up their black heads that we knew what they were Our boatmen were afraid of them and we padded off to one side We went by one beast which threw Its head high into the air. and opened it's mouth almost in our faces It looked as though a side of beef had been split apart and opened in two halves. The teeth were as big around as my wrist, and I could see the great white tusks imbedded in the red jaws
 When we reached the middle of the river the canoemen stopped padding and began to steer. Our speed increased as We went down and we had great trouble i, making our way through the rocks. We soon came into the line of the spray. It fell down like rain. The thunder of the waters was now so great that we had to yell to make ourselves heard, and at times we seemed to be rushing right into the Devils Cascade. After a number of narrow escapes we fought our way out of the current and came to the black rocks of Livingstone Island. Here we fastened the boat and waded through the woods and across the pools to the kuife edge or rock over which the Zambesi pours in
 its mighty cataract
 In the Midst of the Falls.
 If you could double the height of Mi agara and make it twice it's width and then imagine yourself standing in the cen ter upon a space barely wide enough for your feet, with the raging torrent on either side, you might have my position as I stood there in the midst of the Zam- besi. I was on a little section of bare black rock in the heart of that mighty cascade. All around, above and below me was mist so thick that I could see beyond it only when the wind camel and blew it away. The water rose in great clouds. dropping down in a warm rain which, notwithstanding my rubber coat, drenched me to the skin. There were times when l could not see ten feet in front of me.
 Then the mist would break, and I look ed down into a bottomless pit filled with steam, which rose up in clouds and ex- tended for half mile into the sky. l tried to take notes, but the rain poured down upon my paper, oblterating the pencil marks and washing them off as fast as I made them. I shut my memo randum book and put it into the pocket of my waterproof. When 1 took it out 1t was turned almost to pulp. The water had caught in the pockets and 1 carried a pint or so with me to land.
 Holding tight to the rocks I picked my way along the knife edge of the falls as far as I could, looking down now and then into the gorge, as the wind blew away the rain. It was peepng into an in ferno, a bowling, foamng, raging hell, that needed only birthstone and flame to fit 1t for the devil and the damned. l did not dare look long for fear an insane desire might come and make me jump into that boiling mass-down, down, down into that wide gorge, up which the winds were hurling those clouds of spray I cannot describe the beauty of the cataract It Is beyond description. The scenes change every moment and each additional moment seems more terrible and more grand. , Going back, we had a hard struggle to get to land. The current down which we foated was impossible and 1t was tough work ot reach thep laces where the river work to reach the places where the river paddling md fighting the rocks, we at last got intof smooth water and tired out came back td the banks where we started. Wa naxt axIl nrAat ~xA1V