FOUNTAINS AND EOGS. 307 



really deep valley we had seen since leaving Kolobeng. 

 A stream ran along the bottom of a slope of three or four 

 hundred yards from the plain above. 



We crossed this by a rustic bridge at present sub- 

 merged thigh- deep by the rains. The trees growing along 

 the stream of this lovely valley were thickly planted 

 and very high. Many had sixty or eighty feet of clean 

 straight trunk, and beautiful flowers adorned the ground 

 beneath them. Ascending the opposite side, we came, 

 in two hours' time, to another valley, equally beautiful,, 

 and with a stream also in its centre. It may seem mere 

 trifling to note such an unimportant thing as the occurrence 

 of a valley, there being so many in every country under 

 the sun ; out as these were branches of that in which 

 the Kasai or I^oke flows, and both that river and its 

 feeders derive their water in a singular manner from the 

 valley sides, I may be excused for calling particular atten- 

 tion to the more furrowed nature of the country. 



At different points on the slopes of these valleys which 

 we now for the first time entered, there are oozing foun- 

 tains, surrounded by clumps of the same evergreen, 

 straight, large-leaved trees we have noticed along the 

 streams. These spots are generally covered with a mat 

 of grassy vegetation, and possess more the character of 

 bogs than of fountains. They slowly discharge into the 

 stream below, and are so numerous along both banks 

 as to give a peculiar character to the landscape. These 

 groups of sylvan vegetation are generally of a rounded 

 form, and the trunks of the trees are tall and straight, 

 while those on the level plains above are low and scraggy 

 in their growth. There can be little doubt but that the 

 water, which stands for months on the plains, soaks in, 

 and finds its way into the rivers and rivulets by perco- 

 lating through the soil, and out by these oozing bogs ; 

 and the difference between the growth of the trees, though 

 they be of different species, may be a proof that the 

 stuntedness of those on the plains is owing to being in 

 the course of each year more subjected to drought than 

 moisture. 



Reaching the village of Kabinje, in the evening he sent 

 us a present of tobacco, Iviutokuane or " bang " {Cannabis 

 sativa), and maize, by the man who went forward to 

 announce our arrival, and a message expressing satisfac- 

 tion at the prospect of having trade with the coast. The 



