18G8.] SYDE BIN HABIB SPEAKS OF FOUNTAINS. :j-'j 



of the Liambai and of the Lufira. Each comes out of a 

 fountain ; the Lufira one is called Changozi, and is small, 

 and in a wood of large trees S.W. of Katanga ; the fountain 

 of the Liambai is so large that one cannot call to a person 

 on the other side, and he appears also very small there — 

 the two fountains are just five hours distant from each other. 

 He is well acquainted with the Liambai (Leeambye), where 

 I first met him. Lunga, another river, comes out of nearly 

 the same spot which goes into the Leunge, Kafue (?). 

 Lufira is less than Kalongosi up there ; that is less than 

 80 or 200 yards, and it has deep waterfalls in it. The 

 Kone range comes down north, nearly to Mpnieto's. Mkana 

 is the chief of the stone houses in the Baloba, and he may 

 be reached by three days of hard travelling from Mpweto's ; 

 Lufira is then one long day west. As Muabo refuses to show 

 me his " mita," " miengelo," or " mpamankanana " as they are 

 called, I must try and get to those of the Baloba of Mkana. 

 Senegal swallows pair in the beginning of December. 



Note. — Inundation. 



The inundation I have explained in the note on the 

 -climate as owing to the sponges being supersaturated in 

 the greater rains, when the sun returns from his greatest 

 southern declination, the pores are then all enlarged, and 

 the water of inundation flows in great volume even after 

 the rains have entirely ceased. Something has probably 

 to be learned from the rainfall at or beyond the equator, as 

 the sun pursues his way north beyond my beat, but the 

 process I have named accounts undoubtedly for the inun- 

 dations of the Congo and Zambesi. The most acute of the 

 ancients ascribed the inundation with Strabo to summer 

 rains in the south ; others to snows melting on the Moun- 

 tains of the Moon ; others to the northern wind — the 

 Etesian breezes blowing directly against the mouth of the 

 river and its current : others, with less reason, ascribed the 



