The
arches, buttresses, and columns suggest a temple, and the deep tone
of the fall is as organ music. It is all beauty, solemnity, and
worship.
It was sad to leave it and to think how very few eyes can ever feast
themselves on its beauty. We came back again into gladness and
sunshine, and to the vulgar necessity of eating, which the natives
ministered to by presenting us with a substantial meal of stewed
fowls and sweet potatoes at the nearest shanty. There must have
been something intoxicating in the air, for we rode wildly and
recklessly, galloping down steep hills (which on principle I object
to), and putting our horses to their utmost speed. Mine ran off
with me several times, and once nearly upset Mr. M.'s horse, as he
probably will tell you.
The natives annoy me everywhere by their inhumanity to their horses.
To-day I became an object of derision to them for hunting for sow-
thistles, and bringing back a large bundle of them to my excellent
animal. They starve their horses from mere carelessness or
laziness, spur them mercilessly, when the jaded, famished things
almost drop from exhaustion, ride them with great sores under the
saddles, and with their bodies deeply cut with the rough girths; and
though horses are not regarded as more essential in any part of the
world, they neglect and maltreat them in every way, and laugh
scornfully if one shows any consideration for them.
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