The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-25
THE GREAT FALLS OF IGUAZU IN ARGENTINA

1t has one jump of 400 feet into the canyon of which I have spoken.
 The Niagara river is only B miles long, but it carries all the water of the great lakes. The falls really have their source 600 feet above the sea, in Lake Superior. which, next to Victoria, In Africa. Is the largest fresh water lake In the world. The water drops 20 feet in flowing out of Lake Su- perior through the St. Mary river into Lake Huron. and there is another drop of from 150 to 16S feet at Niagara Where the waters of Lake Erie flow into the Niagara river it is as quiet as mill pond. The descent for some distance is not more than foot to the mile. The waters move slowly un- til they are within a mile of the falls, when they rouse themselves for the jump of 16o feet into the great abyss below. After that the river flows for seven miles through a ravine, the banks of which are 200 300 feet high little later it passes Lewiston and then goes peacefully on into Lax e Ontario.
 The Parana river has greater flow than the Zambesi. It's basin ia more than twice as large and its volume is three times as great. These figures, however, are for the whole Parana system. of which the Iguazu is only part. Indeed, the Parana Is about the third largest river of the world, being exceeded only by the Amazon and the Congo. It's volume Is 80 per cent big ger than that of the Mississippi, and if you would take all the water that flows through the Rhine, Danube and Elba and add to them the Volga. the Seine and number of other Euro pean streams they would not be equal to the Parana at low level. The vol ume of the Rio de la Plata, which Is the outlet of the Parana system, Is said to be three times that of the St. Law renee, the downspout of our great lakes, of which the Niagara river is part. The Alto Parana. of which the lguazu forms part, rises in the high lands of Brazil. It covers the whole central part of that republic and its sources are not far from bio de Ja neiro
 The Iguazu rises In the mountains which border the Atlantic coast and flows 300 or 400 miles westward across Brazil before 1t empties into the Alto Parana. The drop at Iguazu in one place is 216 feet or 5S more feet than the highest point in the Niagara Falls. The width of Niagara. including Goat Island. is less than three-fourths of a mile. The whole arc of the circle
 
 broken by any cascades. is about two miles. and when the water Is high at the time of the floods. the whole is one mighty cataract with little island corresponding to Goat Island or to the rocks in the middle of the Zambesi in the center
 The mist of Iguazu rises high. but 1t Is nothing like that of the Zambesi, which can be seen for miles and which gives such a constant dropping that it forms q continuous rain, creating the rain forests nearby, the leaves of which are wet from one years end to the other.
 The Niagara Falls were discovered by Father flennepin in 167s, and at that time they were wildly estimated to be as high as 50G feet. The Zambesi Falls were first described by David Livingstone, who visit ed them in 1So5. He reached the island which now goes by his name, in the midst of the falls, from the upper Zambesi, coming down in canoe. He cut his in- itials and the date of it's discovery upon a tree or that island, and the figures were still to be seen when l visited it eight years ago. It is said that he planted an orchard, but, if so, it must have long Stree been eaten by the hippopotamuses which abound in the river. l saw score of them swimming about during my stay
 
 The Izuazu Falls weer probably known long before the discovery of the Zambesl or tho Niagara. They are in the district which was given to the Jesuits In 16oS by King Philip III of Spain That was 70 years before Father Hennepin discovered Niagara. The Jesuits settled in the pro- vince of Guayra, on both sides of the Parana, and they must have known of the great falls of La Guayra, which are about 125 miles north of the falls of 1guazu and are said to be equally wonderful
 The falls of La Guayra, like most of the wonders of the world which are not thoroughly known are said to be the mightest on earth. There are seven Of them. and they are sometimes called the Sete Quedas. These falls are in the Alto Parana. Just above them the river opens out into lake which is over two miles wide and about five miles long. At the end of this lake it rushes through a deep gorge. and falls over 300 feet It has a