Mar . 

 '9 



£•] Rosenhain, A Naturalist in Java. 161 



The finest railway scenery I have ever seen from a carriage 

 window in any part of the world is the ride from Djokja to 

 Tjibatoe, and I cannot imagine anything finer to be seen any- 

 where. From Tissakmalaya the train commences its run of 

 about ioo miles through the Preanger Ranges ; higher and 

 higher it climbs, over embankments and bridges and viaducts, 

 stretched at a dizzy height, rounding sharp curves, cutting on 

 the edge of mountains, looking down 1,500 feet into rocky 

 ravines, rushing streams, and forests and cultivations in the 

 distance. Everything in the landscape is beautiful, strange, 

 and typical of the wonderland of beauty ; every moment brings 

 some new thrill of pleasure. 



There are fifteen active and about seventy extinct volcanoes 

 in Java. I visited the active crater Bromo. To see this crater, 

 which is 8,000 feet above sea-level, one leaves Tosari, 6,000 feet 

 above sea-level, a sanatorium about 90 miles from Soerabaya. 

 in the Tengger Mountains, at 4.30 a.m., on ponies, which are 

 sure-footed, but otherwse badly trained, for the natives have 

 no idea of handling horses. As the sun rises at 6 a.m., and 

 there is only ten minutes or so of dawn, we were well on our 

 way of fifteen miles before we could see where we were. The 

 mountains here, as all over Java, are very steep ; it was one 

 continuous up-and-down on corduroy road. From the top of 

 the Moenggal Pass (ten miles from Tosari), 8,200 feet above 

 sea-levei, the most extraordinary panorama probably in the 

 world is unfolded bsfore you, awe-inspiring in its grandeur. 

 A thousand feet below is the Sandsea. probably a sunken 

 crater ; then follows one crater alter another, and in the distance, 

 towering above all others, stands Smero, rising to a height oi 

 12,000 feet, still smouldering. This is the highest mountain 

 in Java. The grim grandeur and uncanny beauty of tin's 

 strange landscape are bewildering : there is probably no more 

 extraordinary panorama oi volcanic scenery anywhere. There 

 is such a fantastic formation, such weird colouring, such an 

 absence oi what one is accustomed to — a constant reminder 

 of the mysterious working of a tremendous bidden force — 

 that it is difficult to realize where yon arc The day of our 

 visit was perfect. Standing on the edge of the crater, we could 

 see, 800 feet below, the pit from which sulphur and sulphur 

 fumes were bursting forth : the rumbling noise, the loud reports, 

 the shaking of the ground beneath us, were fearsome. The 

 scene is wonderfully impressive, and brings one to a realization 

 of the fact that these monsters are responsible alike' for the 

 extraordinary richness of the soil and lor those eruptions which 

 take place at long intervals, and without warning lay desolate 

 the valleys around them. 



The temple Boro Boedoer, or the " Shrine ol Many 



