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Bl. The narrow stretches of beach bore only a few trees 
of the Barringtonia formation and some big Coconut plants. 
These grow here on the mostly inaccessible cliff-walls a few 
yards above the sea, probably cast up there by high waves. 
Close to the water and higher up not a single cocopalm was 
to be seen. It is out of the question that these trees should 
have been planted there by human hands, for the coast is never 
visited and is practically inaccessible to native prahus. There 
is moreover nothing to be found there. This is a further proof 
of the theory that Cocos nucifera L. can also be spread by sea- 
currents. On the N—E side the cocopalins have certainly been 
planted or at any rate been brought to the interior. I had been 
struck by observing on Verlaten Eiland that so many cocopalms 
stood a long way back from the coast without the possibility 
of explaining this by supposing that the coast-line had shifted. 
The natives however, assured me that it is their custom when 
finding a sprouting coco on the beach which they did not con- 
sume, to dig it out and plant it again at a distance from the 
beach. The custom would seem to be general; the native sailors 
of the ‘Brak’ who mostly hail from the Eastern parts of the 
Archipelago told me the same thing. it is certainly a remark- 
_ able phenomenon that natives should thus provide for the future, 
about which they usually do not bother very much. 
After the “eruption Krakatau was practically left to itself, 
except that since 1917 a European settled there-with a number 
of coolies on the N.E. side for the purpose of working the 
strata of pumice stone which the island possesses. The original 
vegetation was not however interfered with to any extent, a 
small piece of forest only being felled in the immediate vicinity 
of the dwelling-house and a few plantations started. But from 
1919 onward the house has been deserted again and everything 
_ has been grown over once more. On Sebesy there is a different 
state of things, for there are people living there again, who 
have begun to cultivate a small area and lodge in a few 
kampongs. This information as to a new settlement there I 
owe to Mr. Fonrzin the “Gezaghebber’, (an official of the Civil 
Service) of Kaliando. He writes as follows: “Sebesy remained 
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