SMOKE THAT THUNDERS

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21081, 6 April 1940, Page 11 (Supplement)

SMOKE THAT THUNDERS

Symbol of Britain’s Power :: Victoria Falls

(S.H.S. in Christian Science Monitor)

J)URING endless centuries the dark veil of mystery lay over Africa, but through the vision and enterprise of an adventurous few the veil has at last been drawn aside. And in perhaps the most beautiful spot on the whole vast continent can be found a monument to the two most famous of these intrepid ones. Down on the South African plateau, as the mile-wide Zambesi River flows placidly along, it suddenly plunges 400 feet into a slit-like abyss spreading across its course. Blocked by the vertical walls of this deep gash in the earth, the river has chiselled, after centuries of pounding, a narrow exit gorge, through which the foaming waters thrash their way toward the distant sea. As the mass of water churns itself against the bottom and sides of the abyss, it sends up clouds of concentrated sjaray that rise high into the air, hundreds of feet above the forests. To the Matabele tribes who once owned the territory the majestic waterfall was labelled on the strength of this peculiar characteristic “Mosi-oa-Tunya,” or “The Smoke That Thunders.” To us it is known simply as Victoria Falls. It is pleasant to sit on the wide veranda of the Victoria Falls Hotel on a hot afternoon and gaze at the Ever-rising Spray Clouds in the distance and listen to the muffled roar of the invisible falls. Yes, smoke that thunders! Before climbing into our bathing suits for a foray into that drenching spray for a close-up of the magnificent cataract, we ponder the transformation of Victoria Falls from a mere scenic masterpiece into a symbol of the British power in Africa. First among those responsible was David Livingstone, that sincere and unselfish missionary who struck out into the wilds of Africa from the little settlement at the Cape, armed only with an indomitable desire to save the unknown tribes Defore him from their incessant wars through the strength of his example of service. Forgotten by everybody but a few other missionaries, Livingstone worked his way northward bit by bit until he reached the Zambesi. Hearing from the natives of a thundersounding smoke, he paddled down the tremendous stream until he heard the mysterious noise for himself. He continued almost to the brink and then landed on the island since named for him. When Livingstone finally looked on the gorgeous sight of a falls higher and broader than Niagara, completely encircled by the silent

forest, the swelling elation that he felt caused him to name the new-found wonder after the young Queen who then reigned in London. That was in 1855. Queen Victoria, to be sure, never visited Africa, but her reign was at that time becoming symbolic of England’s imperial expansion. British prosperity through Years of Unchallenged Peace was fomenting a new yearning for empire. Before Victoria’s reign came to a close, this urge had brought nearly all Africa into the modern imperial, system. No Briton was more inspired by this impelling desire for empire than Cecil Rhodes. In the 1890’s the Matabele tribes were surprised to see another unarmed white man in their midst, but what a different kind he was! This one showed little interest in their religion, but was very anxious to make treaties with them. The fascinating story of how Rhodes mollified the warlike chieftain Lobengula and annexed his land to the fast-expanding British African Empire is one of the high points in the history of South Africa. Rhodes was determined to push a band of British territory straight up through Africa, from the Cape to Cairo. He extended the narrow tracks of his railroad as he went along, and contributed vast sums of money to establishing an English civilisation in the wilderness by founding the cclony of Rhodesia, named for him. Following in the steps of Livingstone, he soon reached the Zambesi. Rhodes wondered where to have his railway cross the mighty stream. Cross it he must, or else the Portuguese, the Germans, the French, the Boers, and even a native confederation might block his way. And he finally decided to throw a span across the river where it was the narrowest, and yet the most difficult—over the gorge below Victoria Falls. Today every train that crosses from Southern Rhodesia to Northern Rhodesia is drenched by The Spray and the Rainbows of the “Smoke That Thunders.” Rhodes designed it that way. To him Victoria Falls had a majesty symbolic of Britain. To every passenger the view brings to mind the fact that British influence does stretch from the Cape to Cairo, but more than that, as the traveller drinks in the sight of the mighty falls before him, and the bridge spanning in one graceful arch the seething whirlpool beneath him, he immediately realises that the strength of the empire in this part of the world began with the vision and hope of two men.