I70 THE DESICCATION OF AFRICA. 



Below Kinga the Cunene enters the rocky defile through 

 the coastal rampart and flows down a series of cateracts and 

 waterfalls, one of which is 330 feet high; there is no doubt 

 that the vigorous erosion going on here will shortly deprive 

 the inland system of all drainage from the Angola plateau. 

 The waters that once went to fertilise many thousands of 

 square miles m the Kalahari will all be diverted and hurried 

 uselessly to the sea. It is not practical politics to advocate 

 the building of a 900 feet dam across the Congo at Stanley 

 Pool to turn the whole of the Congo waters northwards into 

 the Sahara, but it is worth while pointing out that a weir 

 built across the Cunene River below Kinga, of very moderate 

 dimensions, would re-divert all the western waters of the 

 Kalahari into their original channels and make of that desert 

 a fertile, habitable region. 



At the present time the flood waters of the Cunene River, 

 after filling the Etosha Pan, work their way up the Ovambo, 

 and eventually by the Omatako reach the Okavango River. 

 The latter river has in flood discharged into the Omatako during 

 recent .years, but in the floods of 1908-1909 the Omatako 

 became a raging torrent pouring into the Okavango- As far 

 as I can find them, the levels are: Kinga 3,501 feet, Etosha 

 Pan 3,447 feet, and where the Omatako flows into the Oka- 

 vango, 3,510 feet. A weir of 30 feet will give an elevation 

 of 21 feet above the Omatako confluence, and the depth of 

 water in the Etosha Pan 73 feet. These levels will have to 

 be adjusted by actual survey. 



The Okavango River has its source m the highlands of 

 Angola, not far from that of the Cunene; between Cuangar 

 and Andara, the Libebe of Livingstone, it flows in a broad, 

 open valley, and the reed-bordered stream winds through 

 extensive flood-plains that are under water for a considerable 

 part of the year. It is a deep, clear river, having an average 

 width of about 100 yards, and is navigable for light craft 

 throughout this portion of its course. The river is m many 

 places bordered by aUuvial terraces of mud and sand, no 

 gravel being present, and on these forests of luxuriant growth 

 flourish. Just below Andara the river broadens out, with 

 sandy wooded islands in mid-stream, and then encounters a 

 bar of reddish quartzite striking north and south across the 

 stream. Over this the river, which is here 700-800 yards 

 wide, falls vertically some twenty feet. The river then enters 

 a sort of estuary, between the high walls of the Mabula 

 and Koka Plateaux, _where it divides into many inter- 

 communicating branches. This estuary lies in the floor of 

 the old Ngami Lake, now dried up all but a few swamps, of 

 which the present Lake Ngami is one. The original lake now 

 appears as a depression, like a shallow rift-valley, directed 



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