BEDS FLOODED. 289 



brought to a stand on this very plain by severe fever : 

 about twelve miles from the Kasai my men dug down 

 a few feet, and found an abundant supply ; and we saw 

 on one of the islands the garden of a man who, in the dry 

 season, had drunk water from a well in like manner. Plains 

 like these cannot be inhabited while the present system 

 of cultivation lasts. The population is not yet so very 

 large as to need them. They find garden-ground enough 

 on the gentle slopes at the sides of the rivulets, and possess 

 no cattle to eat off the millions of acres of fine hay we were 

 now wading through. Any one who has visited the Cape 

 colony will understand me when I say that these immense 

 crops resemble sown grasses more than the tufty vegetation 

 of the south. 



I would here request the particular attention of the 

 reader to the phenomena these periodically deluged plains 

 present, because they have a most important bearing on 

 the physical geography of a very large portion of this 

 country. The plains of L/obale, to the west of this, give 

 rise to a great many streams, which vmite, and form the 

 deep, never-failing Chobe. Similar extensive flats give 

 birth to the Loeti and Kasai. and, as we shall see further 

 on, all the rivers of an extensive region owe their origin to 

 oozing bogs, and not to fountains. 



When released from our island bv the rain ceasing, we 

 marched on, till we came to a ridge of dry inhabited land 

 in the N.W. The inhabitants, according to custom, lent 

 us the roofs of some huts to save the men the trouble of 

 booth-making. I suspect that the story in Park's 

 1 Travels ' of the men lifting up the hut to place it on the 

 lion, referred to the roof only. We leave them for the 

 villagers to replace at their leisure. No payment is ex- 

 pected for the use of them. By night it rained so copiously 

 that all our beds were flooded from below : and from this 

 time forth we always made a furrow round each booth, 

 and used the earth to raise our sleeping-places. My men 

 turned out to work in the wet most willingly; indeed, 

 they always did. I could not but contrast their conduct 

 with that of Intemese. He was thoroughly imbued with 

 the slave spirit, and lied on all occasions without com- 

 punction. Untruthfulness is a sort of refuge for the 

 weak and oppressed. We expected to move on the 4th, 

 but he declared that we were so near Katema's, if we did 

 not send forward to apprise that chief of our approach, 



u 



