Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/159

Rh they need to expect discomfort while staying there. The hotel, about a mile from the principal points of view, supplies food and lodging on much the same scale as those in other parts of Rhodesia. Perhaps the greatest satisfaction on arrival is the absence of any feeling of disappointment, however much one may have heard or read of the beauty and magnitude of the falls, and civilization has so far done nothing to spoil the views. Mr. F. W. Sykes, who has been appointed conservator by the Chartered Company, has constructed paths so that visitors may approach every point of view and enjoy the scenery without the encumbrance of a hired guide. The new bridge rather adds to the effect than otherwise: as one descends to the bottom of the gorge amidst the

trees and undergrowth in the Palm Kloof, its graceful arch gives the eye a resting place near the top and assists one to appreciate the height of the rugged vertical cliffs. I understood that the power house is to be constructed at the foot of the second bend of the gorge, the water being conveyed from above the falls by a tunnel or canal, so that nothing of it will be visible from the usual points of view. It is intended that no new buildings shall be placed on the general level of the land within a radius of a few miles and plans are even in existence for moving the present hotel further away. As to the available energy for commercial purposes, the latest estimates give a minimum of 300,000 horse-power at low water as against 5,000,000 at Niagara; but after the rains there would be many times this amount so that even if the minimum