called the Checheta. At one part it rippled in narrow streamlets over stones, and at another flowed through a reedy morass, where its clear waters formed a deep broad pool. The soil of the valley was rich, and the grass in some places as much as five feet high. These limpid pools in the upper affluents of the Panda ma Tenka are some of the most interesting spots in the hilly district around the Victoria Falls, and many an hour have I spent by their side stretched upon the grass and investigating the multiplied examples of animal and vegetable life beneath the glittering surface, so clear that I could feel assured that no crocodile was lurking below.
Nevertheless since the long grass on the borders of the South African rivers is very frequently the resort of various animals of the feline race, it is always advisable to throw a few stones into the middle of it before venturing to enter; but this precaution taken, it may be approached with security.
The pond that was closest to our encampment was thirty feet long and twelve feet wide, its depth about six feet. It was fed by a tiny thread of water scarcely three inches wide; its outlet in a reedy thicket being somewhat wider. The water was as clear as crystal, so that every object, even to the bottom, was plainly discernible. Half the pond, or nearly so, was occupied by a network of delicate algæ,—here of a light colour, there of a dark green—and everywhere assuming the most fantastic forms. In some places it seemed to lie in strata one above another like semi-transparent clouds in the azure depths; in the part near the
