The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1909-09-10
THE RAIN FOREST.
A Glimpse Of the Greatest Wonder OF
the World in Savage Africa.

Intll only few years ago. the great
est wonder Of the world lay hidden
away in one Of the most savage parts
\ OF Africa. The natives of that region
I terrified by its mysterious columns Of
yapor and its subterranean thunder
/ did not venture within many miles OF
I II. The white men who had looked up
on il could be counted on the fingers of
/ one hand
And yet. more than fifty years have
passed since the explorer Livingstone,
iourneying eastward along the Fam.
best, first beheld that rainbow mist
rise above the forest OF its cause he
could learn nothing from the savages (:
and SO. except for his own con lectures.
he came quite unprepared upon his
splendid discovery He approached il
by the river. which above the falls is a
mile wide. and below them runs for
fifty miles at the bottom of a gorge be
tween four and five hundred feet deep.
whose twin walls of black. precipitous
rock show for all that distance scarcely
a ledge or slope where the smallest
plant may cling. So after a peep.
downward at the falls, from the island
on their brink which now bears his
name he left his newly found marvel
less than half seen, and departed
whence he came
And the loneliness OF those vast soil
tudes brooded once more over forest
and river. 10 be broken only at rare
intervals by some wandering hunter
or perhaps by a party of men adyen-
turing through endless toll and danger
10 behold a wonder whose fame. even
then. spread as far as that tiny portion
of South Africa where white men dwelt
and civilization held sway So things
remained until the day of Cecil Rhodes.
under whose name auspices went forth
the voortrekkers. or pioneers TO colo.
nize the vast land now called Rhodesia.
in the heart of which Victoria falls lie
Many of these voortrekkers. and their
wives and children. died at the hands
Of the savage Amatabeie tribe Of ma
tives. but the survivors in the end were
victorious. and the country became
their own
Cecil Rhodes died and was laid in
his lonely grave among the Matpuo
Hills, on a rocky summit which looks
far out over the land he loved. But
his wishes were remembered. the
greatest and the least of them. and
still. year by year. the Central African
railway grows. every year a little
northward through the forests And
now IL has reached the Zamhesi. and
over that hitherto unconquerabie gorge
has been thrown one OF the most won
derful railway bridges ever built: and
close by has sprung up a great hotel
so that the Victoria Falls and their
lttr "a al ..l1 n. Ia.
all the world
For many days the approaching trav-
eler has been flying through mighty
tropical forest, IN which a path has
been cut for the railway line. but
which is otherwise so undisturbcd. 80
vast and silent and lonely. that ii is
hard 10 believe white men can ever
make home in IL. Here the lion
prowls az his own sweet will. and
legions OF antclopes. great and small,
Craze on the sweet yeldt. And here
elephants wander in troops OF fifty or
more. and in the swamps the hippOpot-
anus plows his way through the papy-
rus reed and the ten-foot Rhodesian
grass. The little iron shanties OF the
railway men are the only signs OF civ
ilizied life. The natives Of the country
are few and far between their kraals,
with the conical huts peculiar to this
race Of Africans. look down from the
rare. slight emnences
There is no change in the scenery.
little TO give warning OF the wonder
that one approaches. Only above the
noise Of the train, a far-off murmur OF
sound grows upon the car. and a little
while after. floating upward from out
OF the forest, there comes in sight a
long line Of snowy vapor. which as the
low sun touches IT, glows with soft,
many -coored lights This mstcloud
is caused by the sudden narrowing OF
the great Zambesi river in the chasm.
not POO yards wide. which receives the
falls at the end Of their leap The
cloud rises at times as much as 500
feet into the air. and there condenses
into rain. which falls in eternal show
ers glorious in this thirsty land. and
makes in the country close about the
falls one perpetual spring.
This trat. OF land Is known as the
rain forest and in It's tropical mag
nificence. its soft and delicate beauty.
can surely be surpassed by nothing on
earth.-St. Nicholas