the body of the
stream with your hand. But, at its source, there is no doubt just such
a little spring. The great trouble, however, with these long rivers,
is to find out where their source really is. There are so many brooks
and smaller rivers flowing into them that it is difficult to determine
the main line. You know that we have never settled that matter in
regard to the Mississippi and Missouri. There are many who maintain
that the source of the Mississippi is to be found at the head of the
Missouri, and that the latter is the main river. But we shall not try
to decide any questions of that sort. We are in quest of pleasant
waters, not difficult questions.

[Illustration: FALLS OF GAVARNI.]

There is no form which water assumes more grand and beautiful than the
cascade or waterfall. And these are of very varied shapes and sizes.
Some of the most beautiful waterfalls depend for their celebrity, not
upon their height, but upon their graceful forms and the scenery by
which they are surrounded, while others, like the cascade of Gavarni,
are renowned principally for their great height.

There we see a comparatively narrow stream, precipitating itself down
the side of an enormous precipice in the Pyrenees. Although it appears
so small to us, it is really a considerable stream, and as it strikes
upon the jutting rocks and dashes off into showers of spray, it is
truly a beautiful sight.

There are other cascades which are noted for a vast volume of water.
Some of these are well known, but there is one, perhaps, of which you
have never heard.

When Dr. Livingstone was travelling in Africa he was asked by some of
the natives if in his country there was any "smoke which sounds." They
assured him that such a thing existed in their neighborhood, although
some of them did not seem to comprehend the nature of it. The Doctor
soon understood that their remarks referred to a waterfall, and so he
took a journey to it. When he came within five or six miles of the
cataract, he saw five columns of smoke arising in the air; but when he
reached the place he found that this was not smoke, but the vapor from
a great fall in the river Zambesi.

These falls are very peculiar, because they plunge into a great abyss,
not more than eighty feet wide, and over three hundred feet deep. Then
the river turns and flows, for many miles, at the bottom of this vast
crack in the earth. Dr. Livingstone thinks these falls are one of the
wonders of t