178 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TPAVEL 



fauna and flora. From Java it differs not a little in 

 both. One of the most characteristic features of the 

 Sumatran flora is the superabundance of the lalang and 

 glaga — rank and worthless grasses which cover a vast 

 extent of ground in the plateau region, and flourish at 

 comparatively low altitudes, while in Java they are not 

 met with much below 3000 feet. This pest is one of 



KAFFLESIA AR>'OLDII. 



the most troublesome with which the agriculturist has to 

 deal, as cleared and fallow land becomes rapidly covered 

 and the soil exhausted. Among characteristic plants are 

 the enormous Majfflcsias {R. Arnoldii, li. Hasseltii), the 

 largest flowers in the world, and the giant arum, Amorpho- 

 jjliaUus titanum, sometimes seventeen feet or more in 

 height, and with tubers seven feet in circumference. The 

 Melastomas, Ternstroemiacese, Cyrtandracete, and Erio- 



