The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-21
Ed w. Howe in his monthly letter to his

Ed w. Howe in his monthly letter to his
magazine
n DOUBT If anyone has ever seen, or
ever will see, all of Victoria Falls. /.
= may be seen only in pieces, and spray
will always hide much of the wonderful
spectacle from the most Industrious vis-
itor; whereas Niagara may be seen in a
single glance, in all its majesty. Vic
toria Falls is a mile long; about twice as
long as Niagara. and 400 feet high, where
as Niagara makes a leap of only 162 feet.
Every time I looked at Victoria Falls
there was usually an Englishman present
to inquire: "Well, what about it?" Mean
ing, How does it compare with your Nj
agara?n The two falls are not alike and
cannot be compared; both are wonder
full in different way. Niagara is within
a few miles of Buffalo, N. Y, and sur
rounded by a fertile and well settled
country. Niagara is in the center of parks,
hotels, mills, street railways and civiliz-
alton of many other varieties.
An American bride who is not taken
to Niagara ON her wedding trip may get
a divorce on that ground if the facts
are stated to a court of proper judis-
diction. but Victoria Is IN a wild coun-
try in the mountains of Africa, 1900 miles
from Capetown, and Capetown is 10 days
from London, and % from New York.
Niagara makes a straight leap, whereas
Victoria is more of a cataract At
Niagara a great solid wall of seagreen
water pours over a precipice; here. the
force of the fall is broken in many places
by huge rocks-at one place the fall is
separated by 1000 feet of wooded island,
and there are many other smaller breaks.
AT Niagara, the river above the fall is
clean and swift, with no rocks. At Vic
toria, the river above the fall is broken
into 1000 different islands; it looks like
shallow river overfiowing in brush and
timber land after a torrent of rain, and
much of the water pouring over the falls
is yellow and dirty.
Victoria Falls is in shape like a huge
capital I; the falls represented by the
top of the letter, and the outlet by the
stem. The water pours into a, great
pool a mile long. and escapes by a mar
row outlet not more than $50 feet wide in
places. The water pours into the pool
with a roar that may be heard 2S miles,
and stirs up spray that causes constant
rain to fall in its immediate territory.
This spray is so great that it looks like
cloud against the sky, and may be seen
before you hear the roar of the falls.
Yet the water from this great pool es-
capes almost as quietly as water from an
sndisturbed lake. After the water es-
capes from the great pool below the
falls, through the stem of the letter r.
it makes turn at right angles and
sweeps around like the capital letter U;
yet there is no great disturbance in any
part of the outlet from the falls. At Nj
agara the whirlpool rapids is one of the
worlds wonders: here the river few
hundred feet below the falls seems to be
navigable.
AT Niagara you may see the falls from
an electric car, and go down the Niagara
river on Top of the hills, and return be-
side the whirlpool rapids; but seeing Vic
toria is much more difficult. For nearly
a mile you walk in what seems pouring
rain, but which is actually spray from
the falls. Most visitors put on old clothes
at the hotel and quietly submit to the
duckng. During half of this walk or
nearly a mile in pouring rain from the
spray of the falls you pass through what
is called Rain<forest. AS rain Is always
falling. the vegetation is luxuriant, but
not as luxuriant as l had expected. The
path through the Rain forest is always
wet: sometimes you step into water over
your shoe tons: and the trees are always
drippinga you cannot see the falls to the
best advantage without passing through
the Rain forest, and you cannot take this
/, trip without becoming as wet as though
! you had plunged into a lake with your
clothes on During this trip you frequent
ly stand not 100 feet from the falls, and
the spray coming up from the pool is SO
ithick you cannot see 100 feet beyond you.
! And all the time the great roar is re-
sounding in your ears, and the rain shift
/ ing with the wind. The sun nearly al
ways shines here. and on this trip along
the edge of the falls you may see 1000
ranbows; I'm sure I saw that raany to-
day.
The bridge below the falls is the highest
| in the world and in walking across 1t,
, YOU are APO feet above the water In the
gorge below. When 1t was being built in
1903-5, 1t was frequently described as one
of the great wonders of engineering. The
bridge is of one span only, of the can
tilever type. and $40 feet in length. From
the bridge the hotel, a half mile away