310 GEASS OF THE PLAINS. Chap. XVII. 



vegetation has prevented the country from becoming furrowed by- 

 many rivulets or " nullahs." Were it not so remarkably flat, the 

 drainage must have been effected by torrents, even in spite of the 

 matted vegetation. 



That these extensive plains are covered with grasses only, and 

 the little islands with but scraggy trees, may be accounted for 

 by the fact, observable everywhere in this country, that, where 

 water stands for any length of time, trees cannot live. The 

 want of speedy drainage destroys them, and injures the growth 

 of those that are planted on the islands, for they have no depth 

 of earth not subjected to the souring influence of the stagnant 

 water. The plains of Lobale, to the west of these, are said to 

 be much more extensive than any we saw, and their vegetation 

 possesses similar peculiarities. When the stagnant rain-water 

 has all soaked in, as must happen during the months in which 

 there is no rain, travellers are even put to straits for want of 

 water. This is stated on native testimony ; but I can very well 

 believe that level plains, in which neither wells nor gullies are 

 met with, may, after the dry season, present the opposite ex- 

 treme to what we witnessed. Water, however, could always be 

 got by digging, a proof of winch we had on our return when 

 brought to a stand on this very plain by severe fever : about 

 twelve miles from the Kasai my men dug down a few feet, and 

 found an abundant supply ; and we saw on one of the islands 

 the garden of a man who, in the dry season, had drunk water 

 from a well in like manner. Plains like these cannot be inha- 

 bited wlrile the present system of cultivation lasts. The popu- 

 lation is not yet so very large as to need them. They find 

 garden-ground enough on the gentle slopes at the sides of the 

 rivulets, and possess no cattle to eat off the millions of acres 

 of fine hay we were now wading through. Any one who has 

 visited the Cape colony, will miderstand me when I say that 

 these immense crops resemble sown grasses more than the tufty 

 vegetation of the south. 



I would here request the particular attention of the reader to 

 the phenomena these periodically deluged plains present, be- 

 cause they have a most important bearing on the physical geo- 

 graphy of a very large portion of this country. The plains of 

 Lobale, to the west of this, give rise to a great many streams, 



