My swarthy guides, although this was unquestionably the first time that
they had ever led a traveller to view the remarkable scenery of their
country, evinced a degree of tact, as _ciceroni_, as well as natural
feeling of the picturesque, that equally pleased and surprised me.
Having forewarned me that this was not yet the waterfall, they now
pioneered the way for about a mile farther along the rocks, some of them
keeping near, and continually cautioning me to look to my feet, as a
single false step might precipitate me into the raging abyss of waters,
the tumult of which seemed to shake even the solid rocks around us.
At length we halted, as before, and the next moment I was led to a
projecting rock, where a scene burst upon me, far surpassing my most
sanguine expectations. The whole water of the river (except what escapes
by the subsidiary channel we had crossed, and by a similar one on the
north side) being previously confined to a bed of scarcely one hundred
feet in breadth, descends at once in a magnificent cascade of full four
hundred feet in height. I stood upon a cliff nearly level with the top
of the fall, and directly in front of it. The beams of the evening sun
fell upon the cascade, and occasioned a most splendid rainbow; while the
vapoury mists arising from the broken waters, the bright green woods
that hung from the surrounding cliffs, the astounding roar of the
waterfall, and the tumultuous boiling and whirling of the stream below,
striving to escape along its deep, dark, and narrow, path, formed
altogether a combination of beauty and grandeur, such as I never before
witnessed. As I gazed on this stupendous stream, I felt as if in a
dream. The sublimity of nature drowned all apprehensions of danger; and,
after a short pause, I hastily left the spot where I stood to gain a
nearer view from a cliff that impended over the foaming gulf. I had just
reached this station, when I felt myself grasped all at once by four
Korannas, who simultaneously seized hold of me by the arms and legs. My
first impression was, that they were going to hurl me over the
precipice; but it was a momentary thought, and it wronged the friendly
savages. They are themselves a timid race, and they were alarmed, lest
my temerity should lead me into danger. They hurried me back from the
brink, and then explained their motive, and asked my forgiveness. I was
not ungrateful for their care, though somewhat annoyed by their
officiousness.--_Thompson's Travels in Southern Africa._