DISCOVERY 



87 



with volcanic ashes to a depth of from 90 to nearly 

 200 ft. We are assured by scientific men who visited 

 the remnant of the island in 1883 that no living thing 

 could possibly have survived. Thus ended a tragedy 

 in which the actors were the volcanic forces hidden 

 below a mountain clothed with a tropical jungle. 



A " Miracle of Earth Re-clad " 



From this stage onwards we are able, partially at 

 least, to follow the steps of botanical reconstruction, 

 to follow Nature as she " strewed flowers upon the 

 barren way " and worked the " miracle of earth re- 

 clad." In 1886, three years after the catastrophe, 

 a Dutch botanist, the late Professor Trcub, visited the 



mountain slopes with a slimy film which enabled the 

 spores and seeds of the higher plants to obtain a hold 

 on life. It was afterwards found that bacteria and 

 moulds were introduced at an early stage and played 

 their part as an advance-guard for the army of more 

 highly organised members of the plant kingdom. 



In 1897, fourteen years after the sterilisation of the 

 island, another visit was paid to Krakatau : sixty-two 

 species of vascular plants were collected, that is, plants 

 higher in the scale than mosses ; since 1886 there had 

 been many new arrivals and in places the groimd was 

 covered with vegetation. Nine years later, in 1906, a 

 party of botanists spent some hours on the island, and 

 a full account of their work was subsequently published 



\ I. it- -I ■ 1 .: M - i.i, - : V ;; < 'i' krakatau, photographed hy 



PROFESSOR ER.NST NINETEEN YEARS AFTER THE ERUPTION. 

 By hind permission of the Cambridge University Press. 



island : he found a few pioneers already established on 

 the beach and others in the interior of the island, both 

 ferns and flowering plants. The plants near the sea 

 had germinated from seeds washed up on the beach 

 and carried from neighbouring islands by currents, 

 while those farther inland possessed fruits or seeds 

 adapted to dispersal by wind. Dr. Treub made the 

 interesting discovery that the inhospitable surface of 

 the volcanic dust and pumice had first been occupied 

 by members of the Blue-green Algse, small, lowly 

 organised plants able to live under conditions which 

 are impossible for the higher forms of life, and readily 

 carried through the air in the form of minute, dust-like 

 spores. These simple organisms covered the surface 

 of the ground near the shore and in the ravines on the 



by Professor Ernst, of Zurich, and translated into 

 English. Professor Ernst wrote : "As we approached 

 the east coast of Krakatau we noticed with growing 

 amazement the remarkable progress made b}' the 

 vegetation. Almost the whole south side, from the 

 beach to the summit and to the edge of the steep 

 promontory, is covered with green. On the south- 

 east coast, where we first thought of landing, a belt of 

 forest runs parallel to the shore, in which we could 

 recognise from a distance numerous grey-green Casuar- 

 ina ' trees. Farther to the south rose the dark green 



1 Casuarina is a genus of trees represented by several species 

 in Australia, Polynesia, and other regions in the Southern 

 Hemisphere ; it is characterised by green, pendulous, whip-like 

 branches, and in some places is known as the She-Oak. 



