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 confined, nor to wear down the barriers by which they are opposed.

It was a subject of much regret to me that our stay could not be prolonged beyond three days. Adequately to explore all the features of the cataract, to visit the islands, and to investigate the character of the opposite shore would be the work of weeks, if not of months; and I am quite resolved that if ever I return to the Victoria Falls my visit shall not be hurried, and I hope that no such drawback as arose from the painful condition of my feet will again interfere to mar my enjoyment of the magnificent scene.

On one of the days that we stayed, I and my servant had a rencontre with a herd of baboons. We caught sight of them in one of the glens or chines which I have mentioned, and to which I afterwards assigned the name of “the baboon glen.” They were on the farther side, and being anxious to obtain a specimen of their skulls, I fired and killed one baboon; but, unfortunately for me, the creature fell into the river. At my second shot I wounded two more. This induced the right wing of the herd to retreat; but the main body kept their ground, and the left flank, moreover, assumed the aggressive, and commenced pelting us so vigorously with stones, that, remembering that I had only one cartridge left, I considered it far more prudent to withdraw than to run the risk of a hand-to-hand encounter. Accordingly we retired, most ignominiously defeated.

Some of the Batokas who resided upon the farther shore, under the dominion of their chief Mochuri, came over to us in their canoes, bringing goats,