554 A HOT FOUNTAIN. 



other of his nation has ventured so far since. They do not lose 

 much by remaining away, for a little ivory and slaves are all 

 that Casembe ever can have to sell. About a month to the west 

 of this the people of Katanga smelt copper-ore (malachite) into 

 large bars shaped like the capital letter I. They may be met 

 with of from fifty pounds to one hundred pounds weight all 

 over the country, and the inhabitants draw the copper into wire 

 for armlets and leglets. Gold is also found at Katanga, and 

 specimens were lately sent to the Sultan of Zanzibar. 



"As we come down from the watershed towards Tanganyika 

 we enter an area of the earth's surface still disturbed by internal 

 igneous action. A hot fountain in the country of Nsama is 

 often used to boil cassava and maize. Earthquakes are by no 

 means rare. We experienced the shock of one while at Chitim- 

 ba's village, and they extend as far as Casembe's. I felt as if 

 afloat, and as huts would not fall there was no sense of danger ; 

 some of them that happened at night set the fowls a cackling. 

 The most remarkable effect of this one was that it changed the 

 rates of the chronometers ; no rain fell after it. No one had 

 access to the chronometers but myself, and, as I had never 

 heard of this effect before, I may mention that one which lost 

 with great regularity 1'5 daily, lost 15 s ; another, whose rate 

 since leaving the coast was 15", lost 40'; and a third, which 

 gained 6" daily, stopped altogether. Some of Nsama's people 

 ascribed the earthquakes to the hot fountain, because it showed 

 unusual commotion on these occasions ; another hot fountain 

 exists nearer Tanganyika than Nsama's, and we passed one on 

 the shores of Moero. 



" We could not understand why the natives called Moero 

 much larger than Tanganyika till we saw both. The greater 

 lake lies in a comparatively narrow trough, with high land on 

 each side, which is always visible ; but when we look at Moero, 

 to the south of the mountains of Una, on the west, we have 

 nothing but an apparently boundless sea horizon. The Luapula 

 and Rovukwe form a marsh at the southern extremity, and 

 Casembe dissuaded me from entering it, but sent a man to guide 

 me to different points of Moero farther down. From the 

 heights at which the southern portions were seen, it must be 

 from forty to sixty miles broad. From the south end of the 



