476 
KEGION EAST OF LONDA. 
Chap. XXIY. 
being on opposite sides of the equator. The waters of the Nile 
are said to become turbid in June; and the flood attains its 
greatest height in August, or the period when we may suppose 
the supersaturation to occur. The subject is worthy the inves¬ 
tigation of those who may examine the region between the 
equator and 10° S.; for the Nile does not show much increase 
when the sun is at its farthest point north, or tropic of Cancer, 
but at the time of its returning to the equator, exactly as in the 
other case when he is on Capricorn, and the Zambesi is affected.* 
From information derived from Arabs of Zanzibar, whom I met 
at Naliele in the middle of the country, the region to the east of 
the parts of Londa over which we have travelled, resembles them 
in its conformation. They report swampy steppes, some of which 
have no trees, where the inhabitants use grass, and stalks of 
native corn, for fuel. A large shallow lake is also pointed out in 
that dhection, named Tanganyeiika, which requkes three days 
for crossing in canoes. It is connected with another named 
Kalagwe (Garague ?), farther north, and may be the Nyanja of 
the Maravim. From this lake is derived, by numerous small 
streams, the river Loapula, the eastern branch of the Zambesi, 
which, coming from the N.E., flows past the town of Cazembe. 
The southern end of tliis lake is ten days north-east of the town 
of Cazembe; and as that is probably more than five days from 
Shinte, we cannot have been nearer to it than 150 miles. Probably 
this lake is the watershed between the Zambesi and the Nile, as 
Lake Dilolo is that between the Leeba and Kasai. But however 
The above is from my own observation, together with information derived 
from the Portuguese in the interior of Angola ; and I may add that the result 
of many years’ observation by Messrs. Gabriel and Bi'and at Loanda, on the 
west coast, is in accordance therewith. It rains there between the 1st and 
30t]i of November, but January and December are usually both warm and 
dry. The heavier rains commence about the 1st of February, and last until 
the 15th of May. Then no rain falls between the 20th of May and the Ist 
of November. The rain averages from 12 to 15 inches per annum. In 1852 
it was 12,034 inches; in 1853, 15,473 inches. Although I had no means of 
measuring the amount of rain which fell in Londa, I feel certain that the 
annual quantity exceeds very much that which falls on the coast, because for 
a long time we noticed that every dawn was marked by a deluging shower, 
which began without w^arning-drops or thunder. I observed that the rain 
ceased suddenly on the 28th of April, and the lesser rains commenced about a 
fortnight before the beginning of November. 
