Chap. XXV. THE WATERSHED. 531 



north or south. But a hot, dry north wind is quite excep- 

 tional on the Kalahari Desert, and lasts usually but three 

 days at a time. The chief supply for the South African 

 rainfall conies from the Indian Ocean to the south-east, in 

 the same way that at a later period of the year the south- 

 west monsoon takes refreshing rains from the same great 

 reservoir to the plains of India. 



"We had taken pains to ascertain from the travelled Babisa 

 and Arabs as much as possible about the country in front, 

 which, from the lessening time we had at our disposal, we 

 feared we could scarcely reach, and had heard a good deal 

 of a small lake called Bemba. As we proceeded west, we 

 passed over the sources not only of the Loangwa, but of 

 another stream, called Moitawa or Moitala, which was repre- 

 sented to be the main feeder of Lake Bemba. This would be 

 of little importance, but for the fact that the considerable river 

 Luapula, or Loapula, is said to flow out of Bemba to the west- 

 ward, and then to spread out into another and much larger 

 lake, named Moero, or Moelo. Flowing still further in the 

 same direction, the Loapula forms Lake Mofue, or Mofu, and 

 after this it is said to pass the town of Cazembe, bend to 

 the north, and enter Lake Tanganyika. "Whither the water 

 went after it entered the last lake, no one would ven- 

 ture an assertion. But that the course indicated is the 

 true watershed of that part of the country, we believe from 

 the unvarying opinion of native travellers. There could be 

 no doubt that our informants had been in the country beyond 

 Cazembe's, for they knew and described Chiefs whom we after- 

 wards met about thirty-five or forty miles west of his town. 

 The Lualaba is said to flow into the Loapula — and when, for 

 the sake of testing the accuracy of the travelled, it was asserted 

 that all the water of the region round the town of Cazembe 

 flowed into the Luambadzi, or Luambezi (Zambesi), they 



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