VICTORIA FALLS, called by the natives Mosi-oa-Tunya ()smoke sounds there)), the greatest falls in the world, on the Zambesi River in Rhodesia, South Africa, about 100 miles below ICazungula and the confluence of the Kuando with the Zambesi. The falls ex tend, in four main cataracts, over a breadth of more than a mile, the mass of water falling from a height of over 400 feet. The transverse chasm or rodcy fissure, 400 feet deep, into which the Zambesi plunges, extends straight across the counse of the river, like a gigantic trough, a mile long and from 100 to 300 feet wide, the walls being composed of hard basalt. Front this fissure great colimuis of cloud-like spray rise to a distance of limo to 3,000 feet, according to local atmospheric conditions, and are visible on a clear day 10 miles or snore from the Falls, whilst the thundering roar of the Falls themselves can be heard at a distance of 20 or 30 miles. The spray clouds coupled with the noise gave rise to the native name of °Mosi-oa-Tunya.) There is only one narrow outlet to the chasm, about 200 feet wide, through which the mile-wide waters of the Zambesi have to force their way into what is called the °boil ing pot," owing to its whirlpool turbulence. Thence the river continues a tortuous zigzag course for about 40 miles through a canyon averaging 600 feet wide between basaltic cliffs 400 feet high, before widening out again into a broad river which flows on, broken here and there by small rapids and cascades. until it
pours itself into the sea some 1,000 miles away. One of the highest bridges in the world, with a span of 650 feet, crosses the gorge, a quarter of a mile below the Falls, from which, how ever, the Falls are hardly visible, the bridge be ing almost at right angles to them. A com modious hotel has been built for the immediate accommodation of visitors and a township called Livingstone has been laid out on the north bank of the Zambesi about four miles distant. Livingstone. the great African ex plorer, was the first European to see the Falls, which he named after Queen Victoria. On the brink of the main cataract ari island on which he camped in 1855, the year of his great dis covery, has been named after him and the tree on which he carved his initials still remains. Other islands above the Falls have been named °Princess Christian,) °Princess Victoria* and °Kandahar* in honor of some of the more re cent visitors.
Great care is being taken by the British South Africa Company to keep the beauty of this valuable asset of their territory free from the ravages of vandalism.