Cpiap. XYII. 
TRADITION OF LAKE DILOLO. 
327 
Immediately beyond Dilolo there is a large flat about twenty 
miles in breadth. Here Shakatwala insisted on our remaining 
to get supplies of food from Katema’s subjects, before entering 
the uninhabited watery plains. When asked the meaning of 
the name Dilolo, Shakatwala gave the following account of the 
formation of the lake. A female chief, called Moene (lord) Mo- 
nenga, came one evening to the village of Mosogo, a man who 
lived in the vicinity, but who had gone to hunt with his dogs. 
She asked for a supply of food, and Mosogo’s wife gave her a 
sufficient quantity. Proceeding to another village standing on 
the spot now occupied by the water, she preferred the same 
demand, and was not only refused, but, when she uttered a 
threat for their niggardliness, was taunted with the question. 
What could she do though she were thus treated?” In order 
to show what she could do she began a song, in slow time, and 
uttered her own name, Monenga-w5o. As she prolonged the 
last note, the village, people, fowls, and dogs, sank into the space 
now called Dilolo. When Kasimakate, the headman of this 
village, came home and found out the catastrophe, he cast him¬ 
self into the lake, and is supposed to be in it still. The name is 
derived from “ ilolo,” despair, because this man gave up all hope 
when his family was destroyed. Monenga was put to death. 
This may be a faint tradition of the Deluge, and it is remarkable 
as the only one I have met with in this country. 
Heavy rains prevented us from crossing the plain in front 
(H.N.W.) in one day, and the constant wading among the grass 
hurt the feet of the men. There is a footpath all the way 
across, but as this is worn down beneath the level of the rest of 
the plain, it is necessarily the deepest portion, and the men, 
avoiding it, make a new walk by its side. A path, however 
narrow, is a great convenience, as any one,who has travelled on 
foot in Africa will readily admit. The virtual want of it here, 
caused us to make slow and painful progress. 
Ants surely are wiser than some men, for they learn by expe¬ 
rience. They have established themselves even on these plains, 
where water stands so long annually, as to allow the lotus, and 
other aqueous plants, to come to maturity. When all the ant 
horizon is submerged a foot deep, they manage to exist by 
ascending to little houses built of black tenacious loam on stalks 
