1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Leopold II. (lake)

LEOPOLD II., a lake of Central Africa in the basin of the Kasai affluent of the Congo, cut by 2° S. and 18° 10′ E. It has a length N. to S. of about 75 m., is 30 m. across at its northern end, tapering towards its southern end. Numerous bays and gulfs render its outline highly irregular. Its shores are flat and marshy, the lake being (in all probability) simply the lowest part of a vast lake which existed here before the Kasai system breached the barrier—at Kwa mouth—separating it from the Congo. The lake is fed by the Lokoro (about 300 m. long) and smaller streams from the east. Its northern and western affluents are comparatively unimportant. It discharges its waters (at its southern end) into the Mfini, which is in reality the lower course of the Lukenye. The lake is gradually diminishing in area; in the rainy season it overflows its banks. The surrounding country is very flat and densely wooded.

See Kasai; and articles and maps in Le Mouvement géog., specially vol. xiv., No. 29 (1897) and vol. xxiv., No. 38 (1907).