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 this lake is ten days northeast of the town of Cazembe;
and as that is probably more than five days from Shinte,
we can not 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 this may be,
the phenomena of the rainy season show that it is not necessary to assume
the existence of high snowy mountains until we get reliable information.
This, it is to be hoped, will be one of the results of the researches
of Captain Burton in his present journey.
The original valley formation of the continent determined
the northern and southern course of the Zambesi in the centre,
and also of the ancient river which once flowed from the Linyanti basin
to the Orange River. It also gave direction to the southern and northern flow
of the Kasai and the Nile. We find that between the latitudes,
say 6 Deg. and 12 Deg. S., from which, in all probability,
the head waters of those rivers diverge, there is a sort of elevated partition
in the great longitudinal valley. Presuming on the correctness
of the native information, which places the humid region to which
the Nile and Zambesi probably owe their origin within the latitudes indicated,
why does so much more rain fall there than in the same latitudes
north of the equator?
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