those two crescents it met
once more in the centre in a mighty clash, being flung up at a tremendous
height in the air. I do not know that I have ever seen such a fearsome
sight, or that I have ever seen water rush with such force anywhere
before. It seemed a pity that there was no one to harness that waterfall
and use the enormous power it could generate.

On the left side of the river also the waterfall made an amphitheatre of
rock somewhat smaller than the right fall. Down below, at the foot of
this, it formed huge masses of white foam, above which profuse spray rose
up like a heavy mist. Just beyond was disclosed a diabolical whirlpool,
far beyond words to describe, which extended--as white as snow with the
amount of foam it carried, twisting and retwisting in a thousand circles
on the surface--for over 500 m. from the lower step of the waterfall.

I measured the height of the fall with a string. The exact height of the
upper terrace was 6 m. 90 cm.; the height of the lower terrace, 7 m. 73
cm.--or a total height of 14 m. 63 cm.

I also took the differential height with the several aneroids I
possessed, and the elevation with the boiling-point thermometers above
the fall and below, with a result of 48 ft. for the actual height of the
fall.

[Illustration: The Wooden Railway constructed by Author in order
to take the Canoe Overland for Two and a Half Kilometres at the August
Falls.]

[Illustration: Formation of Rock below the August Falls.]

One fact was certain, and that was that the canoe could not possibly go
down by water. There was only one way to get out of that difficulty; that
was by taking the canoe overland until we could find a navigable spot in
the river down below. To make things worse, there was a hill range on the
right bank of the river, on which we were. I must find a way to make the
canoe go over that hill range--that was all.

The canoe, I might remind the reader, was 42 ft. long and 31/2 ft. wide, of
heavy solid wood, her bottom being over a foot thick, her sides from 3 to
5 in. in thickness, her stern and prow, roughly carved out, of great
thickness also. I calculated her weight at over 2,000 lb., which was well
under her actual weight.

I spoke to my men, and told them that we must take the canoe over the
hill range. They had been very morose since our arrival at that spot, as
they expected me to give ourselves up for lost when we came to what they
believed to be an insuperable obstacle