Kama River

“ They did not see the Nile again until they arrived in N. lat. 3 "degrees" 32', which was then flowing from the west-south-west. The natives and the King of Unyoro (Kamrasi) had assured them that the Nile from the Victoria N'yanza, which they had crossed at Karuma, flowed westward for several days' journey, and at length fell into a large lake called the Luta N'zige; that this lake came from the south, and that the Nile on entering the northern extremity almost immediately made its exit, and as a navigable river continued its course to the north, through the Koshi and Madi countries. ”

“ The western stream flows westwards, with an inclination northwards, until it reaches the Don, though when the latter river is running high, its water penetrates some 60 miles up the Manych. The eastern stream dies away in the sandy steppe about 25 miles from the Caspian, though it is said sometimes to reach the Kuma through the Huiduk, a tributary of the Kuma. ”

“ Reached about noon the Kamptee village, Palampan, or rather its Ghat. This Karam river is tortuous, generally shallow, with a more or less stony bed; it is nothing more in fact than a succession of rapids, between each of which the slope is very gentle, so that one makes good progress. Temperature at 6 A.M. 66° in the canoe; but in the hut in which I slept, it is as low as 60°. The dews are very heavy, and the jungle, as before, comes down to the edges of the water, but scarcely affords any marked feature. Kydia calycina is common, as is likewise a large Mimoseous tree. ”

“ The main head-stream, which flows first south-east, afterwards south-west, is joined in 14° 35′ S. by the Lunga or Luanga, an important right-bank tributary, the united stream then flowing first south, afterwards due east. The lower Kafukwe is a large navigable river until about 40 m. from its mouth, but it then descends from the plateau by a series of falls and cataracts, the drop being over 1000 ft. in 15 m., one very high fall occurring in a stupendous chasm. ”

“ There is no chart of the big river worth two cents in the dry season, because unexpected sand banks come barking up in the fairway, and there are whole stretches of river wherein less than a fathom of water runs. Sometimes the boy sitting on the bow of the Zaire, thrusting a pliant rod into the stream, would cry through his nose that there were two fathoms of water when there was but one.
He was, as I have beforetime said, of the Kano folk, and somewhat religious, dreaming of a pilgrimage to Mecca, and a green band round his tarboosh. ”

“ The Kuruman river rises in the south of the Kuruman mission station, and with its small tributaries flows west and enters the Hygap below the great bend. The Back river commences in a range of the Brinus mountains, a beautiful and picturesque group, several thousand feet in height, of granite formation, well-wooded in the kloofs and ravines. The peculiar feature of the river is that it has two outlets, one to the east into the Hygap, the other to the west into the Great Fish river. South of this river three mountain streams drain the southern Kalahara, viz. ”

“ In the western parts of the system they mostly go to feed the Kara-muren or the Cherchen-darya, while farther east they flow down into some larger self-contained basin of internal drainage, such as the Achik-kol, the two lakes Kara-kol, or the Ghaz-kol, and even yet farther east make their way, some of them into the lakes of the Tsaidam depression or become lost in its sands or in those of the Kum-tagh desert on the north, or go to feed the headstreams of the great rivers, the Hwang-ho (Yellow River) and the Yangtsze-kiang (Blue River) in the south. ”

“ The Kioga lake system, lying north of the ridge which separates it from Victoria Nyanza, owes its formation in part to the waters pouring down from the Nyanza, and is in the nature of a huge Nile backwater. The lake itself is rarely more than 20 ft. deep; its greatest length is 85 m.; its greatest width 10 m. Below Mruli, the fall in the bed levels of the Nile, which up to this point has been comparatively gradual, increases considerably. At Karuma, where the western bend to the Albert Nyanza is made, the river falls over a wall-like ledge of rock, 5 ft. high, which extends across its bed. ”

“ At about half way up the lake on the east side the last woods are met; on the edges they are low, bent and creepy, as if in readiness to grasp the soil for support to resist the force of the elements. Nothing further grows but some grasses in favoured spots, and at the rapids, where there is a lot of dampness, willows grow between the crevices of upturned boulders. Above Kasba lake on the route followed even willows do not grow. In the eddies at the foot of the rapids on Kasba river I have seen sticks, some of which had been cut with an axe or other tool. ”

“ Three brothers, Barolongs, fought for the possession of a woman who was considered worth a battle, and the tribe has remained permanently divided ever since.
From the bend up to the north, called Katima-molelo (I quenched fire) , the bed of the river is rocky, and the stream runs fast, forming a succession of rapids and cataracts, which prevent continuous navigation when the water is low. The rapids are not visible when the river is full, but the cataracts of Nambwe, Bombwe, and Kale must always be dangerous. ”

“ The river finds its source in the unknown mountains to the south of Makanda; thence it flows due north towards the Kasai. South of the waterfall the basin consists of a hard, impervious rock. In the region of the jungle, this rock is covered by about ten feet of fertile subsoil: in some places a black, glutinous mud; in others, a red, loamy clay, containing a super-abundance of plant food. At the Long Ravine the rock rises to the surface, in what geologists call an "out-crop." North of the cataract lies a great plain of mud. ”

“ It rises in 6° N, 10° 30′ E. in the mountains of Cameroon, and flows at first N.W. In 8° 48′ E., 5° 50′ N. are a series of rapids; below this point the river is navigable for shallow-draught boats. At 8° 20′ E., 6° 10′ N., its most northern point, the river turns S.W. and then S., entering the Gulf of Guinea through the Calabar estuary. ”

“ The greater part of Cameroon is thus a mountainous country, with, on the coast, a strip of low land. In the south this is very narrow; it widens towards the north save where the Cameroon peak reaches to the sea.
At the foot of the Cameroon peak a number of estuaries cut deep bays which form excellent harbours. The small rivers which empty into them can be ascended for some miles by steam launches. The principal estuary, which is over 20 m. wide, is called, as already noted, the Cameroon river or bay. ”

“ The Kiamesha has been explored from its sources to its confluence by Major Long, who first visited it in 1817. The country about the sources of this river is mountainous, being broken into numerous irregular peaks and ridges, of an old ferruginous sandstone, with its stratifications highly inclined towards the south. The timber in the mountainous country is the yellow pine, intermixed with red, white, and mountain oak, the small chesnut, the American box or hop hornbeam (ostrya virginica) , the red cedar, &c. ”

“ On the Washington side we see two pretty villages, Washougal and La Camas. The first has the historical distinction of being at or nearly at the highest spot reached by the English explorer Broughton in 1792, and named by him Point Vancouver. La Camas is the location of the most extensive paper mills in the North-west.
[Pg 376] If, while we are in this section of the River and our eyes are bent eagerly forward to catch the ever-changing shore and river lines, we happen to glance backward, our gaze is fastened as with a magnet, and for a moment utterance fails. For what do we see? ”

“ The only ones of any importance are in the Pesháwar Valley. These draw their supplies from the Kábul, Bára, and Swát rivers, but the works supplied by the first two streams only command small areas. The Lower Swát Canal was begun in 1876, but the tribesmen were hostile and the diggers had to sleep in fortified enclosures. The work was not opened till 1885. A reef in the river has made it possible to dispense with a permanent weir. The country is not an ideal one for irrigation, being much cut up by ravines. ”

“ The Shushwap branch of the Thompson coming from the south turns to the west, to enter the Shushwap lake, and flows in the same direction to Kamloops, below which its waters are rendered muddy by the accession of the northern branch. Seven miles below, the river expands into Lake Kamloops, and issues from thence again clear and pellucid, to be lost at Lytton in the muddy and turbulent Fraser.
The country round Kamloops is of the Californian character before described. Rolling hills, covered with bunch-grass and scattered pines, rise in every direction. ”

“ This diagonality may result from the compound incline produced by the northern counterslope of the mountains of Karagwah and the south-westward depression necessary to form and to supply the lake. The Katonga is a sluggish and almost stagnant body of considerable breadth, and when swollen it arrests the progress of caravans. Some portions of the river are crossed, according to the Arabs, over a thick growth of aquatic vegetation, which forms a kind of matwork, capable of [188] supporting a man’s weight, and cattle are towed over in the more open parts by cords attached to their horns. ”

“ For several miles from the shore its dark grey stream continues to flow in a separate channel without intermingling with the blue waters of the lake.
The natives have a great veneration for their river, and one of the titles they give it seems to justify the hypothesis that it is really the main headstream of the Nile. According to Stanley they call it the "mother" of the "Stony Current," that is, of the emissary of Lake Nyanza in Uganda. At its north-west angle the lake is joined by the Kalonga, another copious river rising in the west in the neighbourhood of Lake Mwutan-Nzigé. ”

“ Between the rapids named and 7° 40′ S. its valley is studded with a chain of small lakes and backwaters. The largest—Upemba—has channels communicating both with the Lualaba and the Lufira. In the rainy season the whole region becomes a marsh; various grasses, especially papyrus, form floating islands, and the conditions generally recall the sudd region of the Nile. In about 8° 20′ S. the Lualaba and Lufira unite in one of these marshy lakes—Kisale—through which there is a navigable channel. The river issuing from Lake Kisale is called Kamolondo; it has a width varying from 300 to 1000 ft. ”

“ At Kakaman’s drift, thirty miles below the bend at Klaas Lucus, the ancient river Hygap enters it, which is the main stream that carries off the waters from the Kalahara desert, being the only outlet of the river system of that extensive region. At the junction of these two rivers a Korunna chief, Puffadder, had his head kraal—fifteen years ago.
The river from this point is very beautiful and grand; noble and lofty hills flank it on both sides. Many hundred islands, with dense bush, add immensely to the beauty of the country. ”

“ There is a river there called the Kaōma, running into the lake, the sides of which are similar in precipitousness to the rocks before us.' I then asked, 'Do the people cross this river in boats?' 'No; they have no boats; and even if they had, the people could not land, as the sides are too steep: they pass underneath the river by a natural tunnel, or subway.' He and all his party went through it on their way from Loowemba to Ooroongoo, and returned by it. ”

“ The Kalai is overhung on both sides by lofty trees growing on steep banks apparently inaccessible when looked at from the river bank. The river is bridged by two long, stout bamboos resting on a huge boulder in the middle of the stream, and weighted down with slabs of stone.
In the shallow part of the stream piles have been driven to hold bamboo nets for capturing fish. This torrent is well known for its delicious fish; and we saw growing by some of the Limbu houses the na-dag-shig,12 a tree, the leaves of which are used to poison fish which swarm in the stagnant pools in the river. ”

“ Swamps, bayous, and lagoons, are less frequent; the forests are more open, the trees smaller, and the soil less fertile and open; meadows more frequent here than below. A portion of Red river above, between this point and the upper settlements, [67] is but imperfectly known.
[Pg 77]
The average direction of Red river, as far as it has been hitherto explored, from the confluence of the Kiamesha, in latitude 33° 30 ́, to its junction with the Mississippi in 31° 5 ́, is from north-west to south-east. Above the Kiamesha it is supposed to flow more directly from west to east. ”

“ Victoria Nyanza (q.v.) is the great reservoir whence issues the Nile on its long journey to the Mediterranean. But if the source of the river be considered to be the most remote headstream (measured by the windings of the stream) , the distinction belongs to one of the upper branches of the Kagera. Among the feeders of Victoria Nyanza the Kagera is by far the most important, both for length of course and volume of water carried, draining the region of greatest rainfall round Lake Victoria. ”

“ Here I obtained the most consistent accounts of the river system which, within five days' journey, trends through Uzegura; and I concluded, from what I heard, that there is no doubt of the Mukondokua and Wami rivers being one and the same stream. My informants were the natives of the settlement, and they all concurred in saying that the Kingani above the junction is called the Rufu, meaning the parent stream. Beyond it, following under the line of the hills, at one day's journey distant, there is a smaller river called Msonge. ”