34 ASIA 



characteristically overgrown with hanging mosses. On 

 the drier side, the middle zone is constituted by a park 

 landscape of grasslands interspersed with woods. Their 

 dominant tree is a casuarina, locally called ' tjemoro ', 

 whose leafless and shadeless twigs have the appearance of 

 our humble horsetail. The ground vegetation consists of 

 small bushes with a leathery foliage, suggesting the poor 

 ground brush of a thin pine forest. Approaching the 

 tops of the mountains, the trees and even the elfin scrub 

 disappear to make way for the meagre grass -lands. 



The well-watered plains, which are fully developed 

 only on the northern side, are the seat of an active agri- 

 culture, in which tobacco and coffee predominate. 



Intermont plateaus intervene frequently between the 

 southern scarps and the opposite slopes : they are 

 covered with poor pastures. 



Borneo, as a whole, is surrounded by wide coastal 

 plains, most of which, on the Asiatic side, are covered 

 with fields and fallow-lands. The central highlands 

 are densely wooded and, as far as has been ascertained, 

 include a lower zone of equatorial selva and a middle 

 belt of temperate rain-forest carried far into the upper 

 valleys. Above 7,000 feet the ridges are covered with 

 coniferous woodlands passing to elfin woods, and, at 

 higher levels, to elfin scrub and alpine brush. 



The narrow plateaus which form the backbone of the 

 Celebes display typical savanas. 



It is a striking fact that the alpine vegetation of dwarf 

 shrubs and cushion-plants, with their tiny, leathery, or 

 wool-clad leaves, strong roots, and gorgeous display 

 of flowers, which are usually associated with ice and 

 snow, should be found here characteristically represented 

 at comparatively low levels, under the Equator, and 

 entirely free from snow. It is equally remarkable that 



