the
Dilolo plains.

Chapter 18.

The Watershed between the northern and southern Rivers--A deep Valley--
Rustic Bridge--Fountains on the Slopes of the Valleys--Village of
Kabinje--Good Effects of the Belief in the Power of Charms--Demand
for Gunpowder and English Calico--The Kasai--Vexatious Trick--Want
of Food--No Game--Katende's unreasonable Demand--A grave
Offense--Toll-bridge Keeper--Greedy Guides--Flooded Valleys--Swim the
Nyuana Loke--Prompt Kindness of my Men--Makololo Remarks on the rich
uncultivated Valleys--Difference in the Color of Africans--Reach a
Village of the Chiboque--The Head Man's impudent Message--Surrounds our
Encampment with his Warriors--The Pretense--Their Demand--Prospect of
a Fight--Way in which it was averted--Change our Path--Summer--
Fever--Beehives and the Honey-guide--Instinct of Trees--Climbers--The
Ox Sinbad--Absence of Thorns in the Forests--Plant peculiar to a
forsaken Garden--Bad Guides--Insubordination suppressed--Beset by
Enemies--A Robber Party--More Troubles--Detained by Ionga Panza--His
Village--Annoyed by Bangala Traders--My Men discouraged--Their
Determination and Precaution.

24TH OF FEBRUARY. On reaching unflooded lands beyond the plain, we
found the villages there acknowledged the authority of the chief named
Katende, and we discovered, also, to our surprise, that the almost
level plain we had passed forms the watershed between the southern and
northern rivers, for we had now entered a district in which the rivers
flowed in a northerly direction into the Kasai or Loke, near to which
we now were, while the rivers we had hitherto crossed were all running
southward. Having met with kind treatment and aid at the first
village, Katema's guides returned, and we were led to the N.N.W. by the
inhabitants, and descended into the very first really deep valley we had
seen since leaving Kolobeng. A stream ran along the bottom of a slope of
three or four hundred yards from the plains above.

We crossed this by a rustic bridge at present submerged thigh-deep by
the rains. The trees growing along the stream of this lovely valley were
thickly planted and very high. Many had sixty or eighty feet of clean
straight trunk, and beautiful flowers adorned the ground beneath them.
Ascending the opposite side, we came, in two hours' time, to another
valley, equally beautiful, and with a stream also in its centre. It may
seem mere trifling to note such an unimportant thing as the occ