Wednesday 31 October 2012

Engulfed in water



      Falling down one of the highest waterfalls on earth (so far as I know on the Victoria Falls are appreciably higher) is not like toppling from the lofty side of a ship (which I’ve done) or from any other dry height. I say “dry” because being engulfed in water which is undoubtedly drowning you quite takes away the sensation of falling, and there is no shock of entering the water at the end of your enforced dive; you arrive cocooned in the stuff and borne into the depths in a state of complete confusion: you can see nothing but blinding light and hear nothing but continuous thunder, you can’t tell which is up and which is down, and only at the uttermost limit of your plunge does some inkling of your situation enter your consciousness and you begin to rise again.


Flashman on the March, p.142, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2005.


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