Chap. XIV. the watershed. 379 



ceeded west, we passed over the sources not only of the 

 Loangwa, but of another stream, called Moitawa or Moitala, 

 which was represented 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 westward, 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 

 venture 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 afterwards 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 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 



