■9.. I STl-.VKNSON— FORMATION OF COAL BEDS. 545 



Kuntze-' sailed almii^' [lie I .(iiiri'iK^o river tlirou.i^li tlic vasl wDodcd 

 svvani]) occupyiiij; lliixx' dcj^rccs of laliliidc. Tlu' rcmai-kahk- fea- 

 ture, for liiiu, was the absence of transported vej^etable detritus. 

 Rare fragments of the swamp ari' lorn off during high water, but 

 these consist not of detritus l)ut of Hving plants; and these frag- 

 ments become stranded elsewhere or go to sea broken into bits. 

 'I'lie ri\er water is brownish. l'"ver\ where on the Paraguay as well 

 as on its tropical an<l subtropical tributaries, nwv linds the dense 

 forests coming down to the river, which are overllowed during 

 lloodtime ; yet there is no outgoing organic detritus except frag- 

 mentary driftwood from trees, which tumbled in from midermined 

 banks. Kuntze followed all the great streams above the mouth of 

 the Parana. 



Liviiigstone-'' has given admirable illustrations of the resistance 

 offered by vegetation. Many times he encountered the rivers in 

 Hood, when water s])read tar owv the plains. The conditions within 

 the area of the Chobe ;ind in that of the I.ecambxe are of the familiar 

 type, lie reached the l.t't'ba river at the beginning of the rainy 

 season. The river is bordeied by a ])Iain, at least 20 miles wide, 

 where, at that lime, the water was already ankle deep in the slial- 

 lower ])arts, while on the Lobale ])lain it was thigh deep and impass- 

 able. This Hooding was not due to the river, for that had not over- 

 flowed its banks. The condition was the same as that observed prior 

 to the coming of great Hoods in the Mississippi lowlands. The 

 Lobale plains are too nearly level to permit the r"ain water to How 

 ofT rapidly; while the thick sward, so dense as to conceal the water, 

 prevents furrowing of the surface and formation of rivulets. On 

 approaching the Kasai river, he crossed valleys, half a mile to a mile 

 or more in width, with clear fast-Howing water almost chin deep. 

 One, half a mile wide, was deeper and the men crossed it by seizing 

 the tails of their oxen. The extremely rapid cm"ri'nt "soon dashed 

 theniagainst the o])positebank." Themiddle of the Hood was where 

 a rivulet exists during most of the year. P'Oggy ])laces are extensive 



'' O. Kuntze, " (Jeogeiietisclie Bcitriige," Leipzig, iH<;5, pp. 67, 68. 

 "'I). Livingstone, "Missionary Travels and Researclies in Soutli Africa," 

 Now York, 1S5K, pp. 191-105, ^34, 235, 333. 363, 364, 39-'. 



143 



