Chap. XXIV. PHENOMENON OF THE LOTEMBWA. 
473 
by digging with sticks a few feet beneath the surface. We had 
thus an opportunity of observing the state of these remarkable 
plains at different seasons of the year. Next day we pursued our 
way, and on the 8th of June, we forded the Lotembwa to the 
N.W. of Dilolo, and regained om’ former path. 
The Lotembwa here is about a mile wide, about three feet deep, 
and full of the lotus, papyrus, arum, mat-rushes, and other aquatic 
plants. I did not observe the course in which the water flowed, 
wliile crossing; but, having noticed before that the Lotembwa on 
the other side of the lake Dilolo flowed in a southerly direction, 
I supposed that tliis was simply a prolongation of the same river 
beyond Dilolo, and that it rose in tins large marsh, which we had 
not seen in our progress to the N.W. But when we came to the 
Southern Lotembwa, we were informed by Sliakatwala that the 
river we had crossed flowed m an opposite direction,-—^not into 
Dilolo, but into the Kasai. This phenomenon of a river running 
in opposite directions struck even his mind as strange; and, 
though I did not observe the current, simply from taking it for 
granted that it was towards the lake, I have no doubt that his 
assertion, corroborated as it was by others, is correct, and that the 
Dilolo is actually the watershed between the river systems that 
flow to the east and west. 
I would have returned, in order to examine more carefully this 
most interesting point, but, having had my lower extremities 
chilled in crossing the Northern Lotembwa, I was seized with 
vomiting of blood, and, besides, saw no reason to doubt the native 
testimony. The distance between Dilolo and the valleys leading 
to that of the Kasai is not more than fifteen miles, and the plains 
between are perfectly level; and, had I returned, I should only 
have found that this little lake Dilolo, by giving a portion to the 
Kasai and another to the Zambesi, distributes its waters to the 
Atlantic and Indian Oceans. I state the fact exactly as it opened 
to my own mind; for it was only now, that I apprehended the 
true form of the river systems and continent. I had seen the 
various rivers of this country on the western side flowing from 
the subtending ridges into the centre, and had received informa¬ 
tion from natives and Arabs, that most of the rivers on the eastern 
side of the same great region, took a somewhat similar course 
from an elevated ridge there, and that aU united in two main 
