139 
tain of Sebesy and that of Gunung Rakata. Where the coasts 
of the islands face each other they are however much nearer 
together. The Northernmost point of Verlaten Hiland is only 
15 K.M. from Sebesy. (See Map of Sunda-Strait on plate XXXVI). 
As Verserx states Sebesy was also entirely overwhelmed by the 
volume of ashes and pumice-stone belched forth. The quantity 
was however a good deal less and though sufficient to cover 
everything that lived and to pull down the trees, yet it may 
be supposed that the layer was not quite thick enough to ab- 
solutely kill all life: seeds, root-stocks and tree-stumps may 
have been spared. On Krakatau the layer of ashes that settled 
down was up to 60 M. deep and much hotter. It is therefore 
almost self-evident that the state of things on the islands of 
Krakatau and Sebesy, although apparently the same immediately 
after the eruption, was essentially different. During the rainy 
season which followed soon after the eruption a great part of 
the covering ash-layers of Sebesy was moreover washed away 
again, which is already discernible in Versexx’s illustration 13, 
and noticed in his remarks to it. Accordingly on my visit I | 
found the soil on the mountain slopes of a different composition 
from that on Krakatan; the banks of ash-debris being clearly 
traceable only near the coast. 
A priori therefore a different result was to be expected, and 
as a matter of fact it did prove different from what was found 
on Krakatau. In many respects there is a clearly-marked dif- 
ference between the vegetations that now clothe Krakatan and 
Sebesy. On Krakatau a small number of species is found to ~ 
prevail in huge quantities of each. The most striking instance 
is the Cyrtandra sulcata, a plant which usually grows as an 
underwood in the forest proper, but which on Krakatau com- 
pletely and densely covers all slopes between 300 and 800 M. 
Qn Sebesy however, this plant only occurs as a forest plant. 
The large stretches of Saccharum spontaneum L. and Imperata — 
cylindrica P.B. which lend such a peculiar aspect to Krakatau 
and Verlaten Kiland are likewise absent here. That on Sebesy 
also the vegetation cannot yet be called normal, is proved by 
the enormous numbers of Musa- -plants covering large patches 
fg 
