Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/305

 4,500 feet above sea-level. It flows at first towards the south-east, and is soon swollen by the contributions of innumerable streamlets into the proportions of a veritable river navigable for the greater part of its course, although obstructed here and there by forests of tall reeds. In this region its basin is separated by a scarcely perceptible sill from that of the Zambese properly so called. Nevertheless it still maintains its independent course west of this low parting line, flow-in a southerly direction parallel with the main stream, and at last emerging on the great alluvial plain which also receives the discharge of the Ku-Bango. The

Kwa-Ndo even occasionally effects a junction with this river during exceptional floods, and then sweeps round to the east, here expanding into the serpentine Lake Chobe, which in many places takes the aspect of a river. When Livingstone explored it, the current had a mean depth of from 14 to 16 feet, but would nevertheless be inaccessible to a steamer of any size owing to its extremely sharp windings.

The junction of the Chobe with the Zambese is effected through an intricate labyrinth of little channels and passages, in the midst of which stands an island

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