^ofth™01 Wekk-Lualaba. The next great river flowing into this
Argument, section of the river is the Lacustrine Kamolondo,
The Webb-Lualaba section, out of its aggregate
length of main river and larger tributaries, which
amount. to 5000 miles, may be divided into two navigable,
.sections of 550 miles each; the. first included
between the Baswa Falls and Nyangwe' Falls, and the
second between the. Kasongo Falls and the rapids
below Mweru Lake.
. This region, mainly along the river banks-and in a
vast part of its interior, has-been subjected to the deteriorative
influence of slave-raiding for the last twenty
years. Whatever its population may have been before
the desolating system of capturing communities of people
by the slaughter of the males, it would not be safe to
estimate more than twenty souls to the square mile, by
which we have a population of nearly 6,000,000.
The principal tribes in that region are the Bakumu,
Balegga, Banyema, Bakonde, Bagenya, Barua, Bakuss,
Bamarungu, and Balunda.
On the lower navigable section of the Webb-Lualaba
there, are four trading communities of Arabs and their
slaves established at Kasongo, Nyangwe,-Yibondo, and
Wane Kirundu.. To the commercial trader from the
west, coast these communities are-easily accessible, and
would be valuable auxiliaries to the extension of trade
over, the region.; inasmuch as they have hosts of disciplined
slaves, hundreds of whom have been educated
during the last twenty years in the art and practice of
trading. The tastes of these people would be superior,
naturally, to that of the aborigines. Through their The Kernel
of the
assistance, the cattle of Usige, Buanda, Urundi, and Argument.
Ujiji might be brought, in a few weeks’ march, to the
Lualaba; also the cattle of Nyangwe, which have
increased at last accounts to respectable herds, proving
that there is nothing fatal to their growth and
successful propagation in the valley of the Congo.
The natural productions of the land are similar to
those enumerated as belonging to the Upper Congo
section.
The next section for consideration is that of the
Chambezi, having a superficial area of 46,000 square
miles. It is drained entirely by the Chambezi and its
tributaries, which are the headquarters of the Congo.
It lies in a basin elevated about 3800 feet above the sea,
walled around by the Losanswe range of mountains
on the north, and to the south and east by the Lokinga
mountains, or plateau wall of Bisa, and the Chibale
range.
The river is described by Livingstone to be 400
yards wide at the place of his crossing, with a clear
current of two knots and a depth of three fathoms.
One of its affluents, the Lubansenzi, is described as
being 300 yards wide, and three fathoms deep. The
Lokulu is described as being* a still larger affluent.
A few quotations -from Livingstone’s own words will
give 'a better idea of the country than can be gathered
in any other manner.
Immense swampy plains all around except at Kabende.”
"The water in the country is exceedingly large; plains extending