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

Victoria Falls, Africa Y HAVE been wandering for days
 about the Niagara of Africa. US ! awful wonders grow upon me ana I am appalled, at it's grandeur. Away off here in the wilds of the black con tinent, far below the equator several hundred miles south of Lake Tan ganyilxa, as far north of Cape Town as Galveston is distant from New York, hundreds of miles west of the Indian ocean, and still farth CT from the At lantic, is one of the grandest natural features of old Mother Earth. It is the falls of the mighty Zambes1, one of the great rivers of the globe It has been compared to the falls of Mag ara. Now that have seen both, find it almost impossible to liken one to the oth er Each is of its own kind and each beyond description beautiful From the point of striking views, and as a raging convulsion of nature, l should call Victoria falls by far the greater The two may be compared to a play. Niagara Is a drama with but one act. Victoria is equally great but of many acts and many scenes, each of which has features of its own.
 As to the volume of water, the Mag ara Falls probably surpass those of the Zambesi, for over them pours the watershed of half continent. The great basin of Lake Superior is 600 feet above the Atlantic, and almost one third of it's drop Is at Niagara. The Zambesi has it's source In swamp which have already fallen 2SOo feet in their course of 800 miles before they .s--l~+ 1,-Av. ft,t h fS hn neil tic gorge.
 The falls of the Zambesi are twice as broad and more than twice as high as Niagara. The river is two miles wide above the falls, and 1t narrows to a mile where 1t plunges straight down over the cliffs into gorge which Is more than 400 feet daap. I heard the thunder of its waters when I was more than 10 miles distant and the spray, which rises up in five great columns, can be seen 50 miles away. The na- tives call the falls ''Thundering Smoke" and they are said to worship them.
 As to the electric force which may be generated 1t is said to be greater than that of Niagara, but I will write of that in the future.
 In the Heart of the Wilderness.
 Of these two mighty wonders of nature. that of the Zambesi has by far the best natural setting. Niagara has been de- stroyed by commercialism. One goes along its gorge in an electric trolley; upon land ing he is fought for by guides and hotel keepers. and the peddler and fee hunter tag at his heels. The manufacturing cities of Buffalo and Toronto foul the air with their smoke, and the factories which use the power turn the sublime into the sor- did.
 Victoria Falls is in the heart of will derness. It is surrounded by a forest filled with monkeys, baboons, antelopss and other wild game. There are birsbn of strange plumage in the trees. and tiia great river itself has many hippopotami Standing here upon the porch of the Vic land densely wooded. With a powerful glass you can see nothing but this vast expanse of green, broken only by the windings of the gorge at your feet. and by the pillars of mist which rise like the vapor from five volcanoes until lost in the low-hanging clouds The only settle ments near the falls are Livingstone. which is seven miles off, and the group of iron bungalows which comprise the hotel. the railroad station and the post office. Everything is in harmony with the surroundings, and it Is the intention of the people to keep it so.
 All the land within radius of five miles of the falls has been set aside as public park which Is to be left as nature made it. Outside that radius Is another of fifteen miles one side the river, and on the other block of forest fifty miles square, which will prevent farms or build angs of any kind marring the falls In these woods no shooting Is allowed. l have met, droves of monkeys as wan- dered from, fall to fall, and at times have