[ 528 ) 



fact thai ill Java the reuioii (»f moss vegetation does not begin lower 

 than at a lieiglit of '2MH) iiieti*es, whereas in Bonu'o it begins 

 at a height of a tlionsaiid niclres. Tiiis is caused bv the followinjï 

 ('i IV u instances. 



Tiie sitnalion of IJofiieo being under the equator, the niiddk^ region 

 is but slightly affected i>y tiie inliuence of the trade-winds, ^vhich 

 e. g. in Java make the dilfei-ence between tlie wet- and tiie (b-y- 

 inonsoon so great. Hence it may haj)])(.']i that more rain falls IVoui 

 December to March than from May to ( Jctobcr, but particularlv in 

 the liighhmds really dry times are unknown, and we may find low 

 water in the rivers in the I'aiii}' j)eiiod. The regular distribution of 

 moisture through the whole year is greatly furthered by Ihecii'ciiiu- 

 stance that the whole island is covered with one large ]»rimitive 

 forest, which itself retains large (|uantities of water, and hai'iM)urs 

 mouldei'ing rocks which do the same. The annual rainfall amounting 

 from .'iOOO to 5()()() m.m. at diifei-ent places, the climate is very 

 humid all thr(uigli the year-, and the sky is always luoi-e (»r less 

 overcast, .so that a cloudless sky is a great rarity in the higher 

 regions. Soon after sunset a low hanging curtain of clouds is formed 

 in the valleys. This does not i-ise until seven o'clock in the moi-iiing 

 or later and envelops the summil> of the mounlains lill pretty late 

 in the evening. In conseipience of this the maximum tenijH'ralure at 

 a height of 250 meti-es is 30 (\ in the shade on the L'^p])er-Mahakaiii; 

 at six o'clock in the morning however it was never lower than 

 20" C Xotewortliy is also that strong wiud> of long duration do 

 not occur there, only some blasts of shoi't duration, A\liich are generally 

 preceded by heavy showers. 



The climate of Apo Kajan and (»f the Mahakam differs but little 

 in most of its })eculiarities, such as humidity, and a cloudy sky, but 

 the latter is a good deal colder on account of the greater height, 

 and what is particularly striking is the continually pi-evailing wind. 

 This accounts for the fact that though in two mctnths I never found 

 a lowei' temperature than 17° ('. at six o'clock a.m. and though it 

 hailed but once, the climate is yet much rougher. The red cheeks, 

 specially of the women and children ])rove this, and also the fVict, 

 that the different kinds of rice require a month longer to ripen in 

 Apo Kajan than on the Mahakam. Yet the method of growing rice 

 is the same, and consists in cutting down and di-ying the wood, 

 after which it is burned and the rice sowed in holes, which ai-e made 

 by pushing pointed sticks into tlu^ soil, which is covered with ashes. 



The geological formation is the same in Aju) Kajan as on the 

 t' jipcr- .Mahakam : we tiuti in boih a ^Irongiy (Icuudcd upland, where 



