After six miles' marching and at an altitude of 4700 feet we entered a cluster of thickly populated villages, and finally reached the river, with its flat, sandy banks covered with bamboo reeds.

We had to cross the river, and on the other side numerous hillocks of varying heights and shape line the valley.

Following the river, our road lay down these heights, past villages and patches of cultivated lands, masses of boulders, rugged cliffs, morasses, and numerous streams, always descending gradually to the north.

[4] The catfish were a major source of food for the villagers, but over-fishing around the end of the nineteenth century significantly reduced the numbers.

[3] Captain Émile Storms established a station named "Mpala" at the mouth of the Lufuko River in May 1883.