tram. And the passengers (particularly on the first journey) were not
pleased with the trip. They shrank with pardonable terror when they
found themselves suspended over that awful gulf by a slender cord that
swayed against the sky. But use soon changed all this.

The bridge was begun from both sides at once. In the rocky sides of the
cliffs excavations were made to receive the four upright columns from
which the arch would spring. On beds of concrete poured into these
excavations was bolted an iron plate upon which the foot of the 'post'
would hinge, so as to allow movement when the iron girders expanded or
contracted with the change of temperature. The 'posts' are one hundred
and five feet tall, and the arch which springs from their feet rises to
a height of ninety feet at the centre. As the two ends grew towards each
other across the abyss, it was found that the weight would require
support before the girders met in the middle. To build a scaffolding
would of course have been impossible; so the following means were
adopted. Into the rocky ground on both sides of the river, two holes
were bored, each thirty feet deep and thirty feet apart, their bottom
ends being connected by another boring. A strong wire rope was then
threaded down one hole and up through the other, to be carried over the
cliff-top and passed under the bridge-end as it hung in mid-air. As the
weight increased the ropes were added to, while, as a further
precaution, the ground between the two holes was loaded with five
thousand tons of railway irons. The wire ropes successfully played their
parts until April 1st, 1905, but when the central girder was ready to
take its place, it was found to be an inch and a quarter too long. It
had expanded in the heat; but after a night's cooling it contracted to
the right size, and was successfully inserted.

One of the principal difficulties in the erection of this bridge has
been the trouble of getting the material to the spot. From Darlington to
the Victoria Falls is eight thousand miles of ocean, bush, and desert,
and sometimes long delay was caused by the railway being washed away by
floods. But once there was interruption from another cause. Many of the
English workmen were unable to stop on account of the climate, and they
were constantly drenched by the spray, until in many cases natives had
to be employed in their stead. These natives were housed in a little
settlement of nicely built huts, lighted by ele