DEEP VALLEY. 355 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



The Watershed between the northern and southern Rivers. — A deep Valley. — 

 Rustic Bridge. — Fountains on the Slopes of the Valleys. — Village of Ka- 

 binje. — Good Effects of the Belief in the Power of Charms. — Demand for Gun- 

 powder and English Calico. — The Kasai. — Vexatious Trick. — Want of Food. — 

 No Game. — Katende's unreasonable Demand. — A grave Offense. — Toll-bridge 

 Keeper. — Greedy Guides. — Flooded Valleys. — Swim the Nuana Loke. — 

 Prompt Kindness of my Men. — Makololo Remarks on the rich uncultivated 

 Valleys. — Difference in the Color of Africans. — Reach a Village of the Chi- 

 boque. — The Head Man's impudent Message. — Surrounds our Encampment with 

 his Warriors. — The Pretense. — Their Demand. — Prospect of a Fight. — Way in 

 which it was averted. — Change our Path. — Summer. — Fever. — Beehives and the 

 Honey-guide. — Instinct of Trees. — Climbers. — The Ox Sinbad. — Absence of 

 Thorns in the Forests. — Plant peculiar to a forsaken Garden. — Bad Guides. — 

 Insubordination suppressed. — Beset by Enemies. — A Robber Party. — More 

 Troubles. — Detained by Ionga Panza. — His Village. — Annoyed by Bangala 

 Traders. — My Men discouraged. — Their Determination and Precaution. 



24th of February. On reaching unflooded lands beyond the 

 plain, we found the villages there acknowledged the authority of 

 the chief named Katende, and we discovered, also, to our surprise, 

 that the almost level plain we had passed forms the watershed be- 

 tween the southern and northern rivers, for we had now entered a 

 district in which the rivers flowed in a northerly direction into the 

 Kasai or Loke, near to which we now were, while the rivers we 

 had hitherto crossed were all running southward. Having met 

 with kind treatment and aid at the first village, Katema's guides 

 returned, and we were led to the N.N.W. by the inhabitants, and 

 descended into the very first really deep valley we had seen since 

 leaving Kolobeng. A stream ran along the bottom of a slope of 

 three or four hundred yards from the plains above. 



We crossed this by a rustic bridge at present submerged 

 thigh-deep by the rains. The trees growing along the stream of 

 this lovely valley were thickly planted and very high. Many 

 had sixty or eighty feet of clean straight trunk, and beautiful 

 flowers adorned the ground beneath them. Ascending the oppo- 

 site side, we came, in two hours' time, to another valley, equally 



