IX VABIOUS PARTS OF THE GLOBE. 229 



tioii down to the very shore scarcely a spot exists which is not 

 covered with vegetation, except the red lines of roads and foot- 

 paths, and the foaming waters of the rivers as they rush down- 

 wards to the ocean. Here and there places are to be seen wliich, 

 formerly inhabited and cultivated, are now left to themselves. 

 Even these spots have been covered with vegetation ; which, 

 however, has this peculiarity, that it seems neither to belong to 

 the cultivated races nor to those which are indigenous to the soil. 

 Nature has here recovered her dominion only in part, and looks 

 as if unwilling to receive back the soil which was once her own. 

 High thickets of unvaried rush-like plants, belonging to the race 

 of sugar-canes, upon whose slender stems hang fluttering tufts of 

 foliage of a snowy whiteness, occujjy the place that once belonged 

 to the natural forest or the corn-field, and mark the neglected 

 soil. These places are monuments of the history of the country, 

 and companions of the fate which the inhabitants themselves have 

 suffered. 



How different is everything when the traveller reaches the 

 primitive mountain forests, far away from human habitation, and 

 never or very rarely visited by man ! Here the vegetable king- 

 dom shows itself in its original state, and for the first time enables 

 us to understand what really is tlie vigour of plants undisturbed 

 in their growth in a tropical climate, and supported by a com- 

 bination of the most favourable conditions. It is not possible for 

 me to convey an idea of the impression which the aspect of the 

 scene produced on me. To give a faithful account of what 

 caused this impression, I should be obliged to detail the effect of 

 every single object. And yet the impression was not so much 

 caused by any particular object, as by their marvellous combina- 

 tion in the place where Nature fixed them. I must therefore 

 confine myself to a representation of general features, although it 

 will give but a feeble idea of the peculiar and magnificent vege- 

 tation of India. 



What is it that stamps with characteristic marks this exuberant 

 growth ? Is it the enormous quantity and extent of the vege- 

 tation ? The plains of the island of Java are more than 2300 

 square miles in extent, and they are considerably enlarged by 

 the mountains, which are from 10,000 to 12,000 feet above the 

 level of the sea. These mountains are almost everywhere 

 covered with dense forests, which may well be called lofty, for 

 there is scarcely a tree in them less than 100 feet in height. In 

 some places they are so dense that the traveller can scarcely 

 move a foot without having previously made a pathway with 

 the axe through the climbing plants and herbage which every- 

 where occupy the spaces between the stems of the trees ; where 

 the ground is insufficient for the support of the luxuriant vege- 



R 2 



