532 NATIVE GEOGRAPHY. Chap. XXV. 



remarked with a smile, " He says, that the Loapula flows 

 into the Zambesi — did you ever hear such nonsense ?" or words 

 to that effect. We were forced to admit, that according to 

 native accounts, our previous impression of the Zambesi's 

 draining the country about Cazembe's had been a mistake. 

 Their geographical opinions are now only stated, without any 

 further comment than that the itinerary given by the Arabs 

 and others shows that the Loapula is twice crossed on the 

 way to Cazembe's ; and we may add that we have never 

 found any difficulty from the alleged incapacity of the negro 

 to tell which way a river flows. 



The boiling-point of water showed a descent, from the edge 

 of the plateau to our furthest point west, of 170 feet ; but 

 this can only be considered as an approximation, and no de- 

 pendance could have been placed on it, had we not had the 

 courses of the streams to confirm this rather rough mode of 

 ascertaining altitudes. The slope, as shown by the watershed, 

 was to the "Loangwa of the Maravi," and towards the Moitala, 

 or south-west, west, and north-west. After we leave the feeders 

 of Lake Nyassa, the water drains towards the centre of the 

 continent. The course of the Kasai, a river seen during Dr. 

 Livingstone's journey to the West Coast, and its feeders 

 was to the north-east, or somewhat in the same direction. 

 Whether the water thus drained off finds its way out by the 

 Congo, or by the Nile, has not yet been ascertained. Some 

 parts of the continent have been said to resemble an inverted 

 dinner-plate. This portion seems more of the shape, if shape 

 it has, of a wide-awake hat, with the crown a little depressed. 

 The altitude of the brim in some parts is considerable ; in 

 others, as at Tette and the bottom of Murchison's Cataracts, 

 it is so small that it could be ascertained only by elimina- 

 ting the daily variations of the barometer, by simultaneous 

 observations on the Coast, and at points some two or three 



