the cold
ground, when Sekeletu kindly covered him with his own blanket, remaining
without shelter himself. Before parting at Sesheke, the generous chief
supplied the doctor with twelve oxen, three accustomed to be ridden on,
hoes and beads to purchase a canoe, an abundance of fresh butter and
honey; and, indeed, he did everything in his power to assist him in his
journey.

Bidding farewell to Sekeletu, the doctor and his attendants sailed down
the river to its confluence with the Chobe. Having reached this spot,
he prepared to strike across the country to the north-east, in order to
reach the northern bank of the Zambesi. Before doing so, however, he
determined to visit the Victoria or Mozioatunya Falls, of which he had
often heard. The meaning of the word is: "Smoke does sound there," in
reference to the vapour and noise produced by the falls. After twenty
minutes' sail from Kalai they came in sight of five columns of vapour,
appropriately called "smoke," rising at a distance of five or six miles
off, and bending as they ascended before the wind, the tops appearing to
mingle with the clouds. The scene was extremely beautiful. The banks
and the islands which appeared here and there amid the stream, were
richly adorned with trees and shrubs of various colours, many being in
full blossom. High above all rose an enormous baobab-tree surrounded by
groups of graceful palms.

As the water was now low, they proceeded in the canoe to an island in
the centre of the river, the further end of which extended to the edge
of the falls. At the spot where they landed it was impossible to
discover where the vast body of water disappeared. It seemed, indeed,
suddenly to sink into the earth, for the opposite lip of the fissure
into which it descends was only eighty feet distant. On peering over
the precipice the doctor saw the stream, a thousand yards broad, leaping
down a hundred feet and then becoming suddenly compressed into a space
of fifteen or twenty yards, when, instead of flowing as before, it
turned directly to the right, and went boiling and rushing amid the
hills.

The vapour which rushes up from this cauldron to the height of two or
three hundred feet, being condensed, changes its hue to that of dark
smoke, and then comes down in a constant shower. The chief portion
falls on the opposite side of the fissure, where grow a number of
evergreen trees, their leaves always wet. The walls of this gigantic
crack are