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Chalmers, James, 1841-1901

"Adventures in New Guinea"

The native name is _Round_. We found the falls in
a deep gorge formed by the west end of Astrolabe and east end of Vetura
Range. On each side of the gorge the mountains run sharp down, in many
places precipitous rocks. The falls are E. from Port Moresby, E.S.E.
from Moumili, and S.E. from Vetura proper. They are grand, and well
worth seeing. I wish we had seen them from below. For a long distance
up there are small falls and rapids. The water comes surging on, and
then takes a fearful leap of many hundred feet on to a ledge, and from
there to the boiling cauldron below. The noise is deafening. Where we
stood, nearly level with the water, it was 1340 feet above sea-level, and
I do not think that from there to the cauldron could be less than 900
feet. I think it may be possible to get to them from the north side by
Mangara, and then we can rightly tell the height of the falls.
5_th_.--Left Chokinumu this morning at eight, and had a pleasant walk for
three hours, ascending gradually the Astrolabe until we reached the
summit at the back of Tupuselei, 2300 feet high.


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