Description of a Lake of Sulphuric Acid. 129 
by the Dutch to Bagnia-Vangni for the cultivation of 
coffee and pepper plantations: the latter have obtained 
their personal liberty in consequence of their good conduct. 
A short distance from this place we cross the rivers Serant, 
Bone @’ho*, and Pakis+. The latter is almost entirely dry 
at this season of the year. The banks of all these rivers 
are rugged, and in the rainy monsoons they form im- 
petuous torrents. 
From the village of Litienne to the river Pakis the 
country presents a vast forest of bamboos ; from thence to 
Ohonponoph the bamboo does not grow, nor do we meet 
with any rivers or springs, but we pass through deep valleys 
formed by the torrents which issue through them in the 
rainy season. The higher we rise, the more rapid the 
slope becomes. This part of the mountain is shaded by 
trees of considerable height, and a great variety of vege- 
tables, among which we mect with the fern tree (Pakis 
galar) in abundance, the cabbage palm tree (.Javar), and 
the small kind of wild beetel root called by the Javanese 
Lindpidji. Under this covering of vegetables we may as- 
certain the quality of the primitive soil, because the surface 
1s nothing hut a thick stratum of the remains of vegetables. 
The rays of the sun never penetrate these thick forests, but 
we breathe a cold and humid air in them which affects the 
chest much. The trunks of the trees are covered with 
Mosses, mushrooms, epidendron and parasite ferns: the 
vegetables when trodden down soon putrety, in conse- 
quence of the humidity of the ground. 
In the valley of Ohonponoph we find only some rare 
and isolated clumps of trees ; among which we may re- 
mark, the Casuarma equisetifolia, and a new kind of oak. 
The soil is every where covered with a very long grass, 
which serves as food to the numerous herds of deer which 
people the adjoining forests, and as thatch for the cottages, 
m which we took up our quarters. The valley is of mo- 
derate extent; towards the east it skirts the country which 
extends to the streight of Bali, and towards the west, that 
which extends to the mountains of Kuendan: on the south 
it is bounded by Mount Ranté, and on the north by Mount 
Idienne. When the sky is clear aud serene, we breathe a 
dry and mild air; but in general the vapours which rise 
during the day return at night, and form a cold, thick and 
damp fog, which is very danverous. It was a fog of this 
description accompanied by rain, which in a single night a 
* Rone d'ho is the Japanese name of the Artocarpus inlegrifolia. 
+ Pakis signifies in Japanese and Malayan, Fern. 
Vol. 42, No. 184, August 1813, 1 few 
