316 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

again. A fissure in the hills admitted the blazing rays of the sun, which fell straight on the fall, now becoming visible. At first we could only perceive the spray, which rose up in clouds and was "blown about by the wind ; but when we approached nearer, the magnificent fall burst upon our sight, descending in an unbroken column between two rocks, into a seething mass of water some hundred and twenty feet below. The spray, sparkling and flashing in the sunlight like myriads of jewels, is tossed up right to the top of the cliffs, and for several hundred yards the river is a turbulent mass of stormy water. Our captain approached to within half a mile of the fall, the nearest point to which the steamer can with safety be taken, owing to the tremendous force of the current. So she was run in shore ; two men, watching their opportunity, leaped out and made her fast to a large tree by means of a stout rope.

We were so fascinated by the fall, the splendour of which I cannot attempt to describe, that we were very unwilling to quit the magnificent scene. Two of our party landed, hoping to advance some way nearer, but the tangled underwood was so thick that they returned defeated, and we were reluctantly obliged to be content with the view from the steamer. Of course, with such a strong current to aid our return to Magungo, the journey down occupied far less time than the voyage up.

At one point, while the men were getting wood,