Vol. II.
Page 184.
A TROOP OF GIRAFFES SURPRISED.
The little river beside which we were staying was 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 outflow it formed a dark labyrinth of grottoes; whilst on the right it might seem to represent a ruined castle, so well defined was the foundation from which rose the square watch-tower with its circular turret, the tender weeds turning themselves into a Gothic doorway, through which small fish kept darting to and fro. On the top of the tower were some projecting growths, that kept up the similitude of broken battlements.
Making a dark green background were the lower stems of the reeds that rustled above the water, and in the open space between the water-weeds and the margin of the pond rose the three spiral stalks of a large flowering nymphœa, two of them throwing out their flat glossy leaves, and the third a beautiful pale blue lily, that lay like a gleaming star upon the surface of a crystal mirror. Besides the algæ that I have described, there were others at the bottom of the pool, with their lobulated and dentated leaves, rivalling ferns in the gracefulness of their form.
At first this miniature plant-world appeared to lie in motionless repose, and it was not until the eye grew quite accustomed to the scene that it detected the gentle current that the streamlet made. Once perceived, the effect was very charming; the reed-stems were seen to vibrate and quiver with ever-varying degrees of motion, the fictitious towers of algæ were observed to tremble without any disturbance to their general outline; the very grottoes had the appearance of being impelled forward by some secret force to seek admission to some other pool. From the bottom of the water, plants with bright yellow blossoms and serrated cryptogams, stretched up their heads as if they aspired to share the honours of the water-lily, the acknowledged queen of all, and longed, like her, to rock upon the bosom of the lake, to be greeted by the sunbeams, to be refreshed by the morning dew, and sheltered by the shades of night.
Vol. II.