424 THE KASAI RIVER. 



and Chihombo. The Kasai flows a little to the east of 

 the town of Mai, and near it there is a large waterfall. 

 They describe the Kasai as being there of very great size, 

 and that it thence bends round to the west. On asking 

 an old man, who was about to return to his chief Mai, to 

 imagine himself standing at his home, and point to the 

 confluence of the Quango and Kasai, he immediately 

 turned, and, pointing to the westward, said, " When we 

 travel five days (thirty-five or forty miles) in that direction, 

 we come to it." He stated also that the Kasai received 

 another river, named the Lubilash. There is but one 

 opinion among the Balonda respecting the Kasai and 

 Quango. They invariably describe the Kasii as receiving 

 the Quango, and, beyond the confluence, assuming the 

 name of Zaire or Zerezere. And the Kasai, even previous 

 to the junction, is much larger than the Quango, from the 

 numerous branches it receives. Besides those we have 

 already crossed, there is the Chihombo at Cabango ; and, 

 forty-two miles beyond this, eastward, runs the Kasai 

 itself ; fourteen miles beyond that the Kaunguesi ; then, 

 forty-two miles further east, flows the Lolua ; besides 

 numbers of little streams, all of which contribute to swell 

 the Kasai. 



About thirty-four miles east of the Lolua, or a hundred 

 and thirty-two miles E.N.E. of Cabango, stands the town 

 of Matiamvo, the paramount chief of all the Balonda, 

 The town of Mai is pointed out as to the N.N.W. of 

 Cabango, and thirty-two days or two hundred and twenty- 

 four miles distant, or about lat. S. 5 45'. The chief town 

 of Luba, another independent chief, is eight days farther 

 in the same direction, or lat. S. 4 50'. Judging from the 

 appearance of the people who had come for the purposes 

 of trade from Mai, those in the north are in quite as un- 

 ci vilised a condition as the Balonda. They are clad in a 

 kind of cloth made of the inner bark of a tree. Neither 

 guns nor native traders are admitted into the country, 

 the chief of Luba entertaining a dread of innovation. If 

 a native trader goes thither, he must dress like the common 

 people in Angola, in a loose robe resembling a kilt. The 

 chief trades in shells and beads only. His people kill the 

 elephants by means of spears, poisoned arrows, and traps. 

 All assert that elephants' tusks from that country are 

 heavier, and of greater length, than any others. 



It is evident, from all the information I could collect 



