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off the precipitous wall of the old crater. It was already distinctly 
becoming green, grasses and some ferns having already attached 
themselves to it. At the base of the wall there is a small tract 
of sandy beach passing to the east into a piece of rocky ground 
the so called ,Zwarte-Hoek’ (Black Corner). Here there were 
again all sorts of littoral plants, among which the conspicuous 
Spinifex littoreus Merr, a grass of which the flowers of one 
inflorscence together make up one spiked ball, rolling over the 
sands when driven by the wind, ,like as if Old Nick were 
chasing it” writes Rompnius. Among the thick brushwood stood 
a few young coco-palms, and also a well-developed Cycas-plant. 
These are exceedingly slow growers, yet it is out of the question 
that this specimen should be a survival from before the eruption, 
for the very sufficient reason that this part of the island did 
not then exist. Ernst who explored the same spot in 1906, does 
not yet mention this plant, though he does speak of another 
specimen, which [ was unable to trace. (In the excursion of the 
congress a male specimen bearing an almost ripe inflorescence, 
was found by Mr. Beumiér on the same spot). The former spe- 
cimen is certainly not older than about 15 years and yet it 
already makes a robust impression, one more proof that it be- 
hoves us to be cautious in drawing inferences from the apparent 
age of plants. We did not tarry here long, the cliffs having but 
a meager vegetation, whilst the hundreds of rock fragments . 
that came dashing down every now and then from the top, at 
a terrific speed and with a thunderous crash, made a walk 
along the stretch immediately under the landslip too risky an 
enterprise. 2 
Then our boat carried us to Verlaten-Eiland, where there is 
no mountain, though there are hills up to 550 ft high. Yet the 
precipices and ravines are as hard to climb as those on Kra- 
katau. We stayed there for 2 days which were devoted chiefly 
to the examination of the flats. In contradistinction to Krakatau, 
there are no large glagah-jungles on Verlaten-Hiland, though © 
some grassy glades are interspersed in the forest of Casuary- 
trees, but these are grown with a very common beach-grass, 
 Ischaemum meuticum L. The level beach is especially broad at = 
