72 AUSTEALASIA. 



spontaneous growths, certain Javanese forests still maintain their ground, rivalling 

 in splendour those of Brazil and Columbia. Vast districts in Java, probably 

 occupying one-fourth of the whole area, are no doubt covered with savannahs, 

 where nothing flourishes except the alang {imperata arundinacea) , in which horse 

 and rider disappear together. In the midst of these boundless seas of a light- 

 green herbaceous growth, little is seen except a few scattered clumps of trees. 

 But these savannahs are due to the action of man destroying the forests, either to 

 clear the land or to destroy the tigers and snakes, and in any case the large 

 timber, when left to itself, never fails to recover its lost ground. Forests of 

 acacias and mimosas, which give little shade, also flourish on the slopes of the 

 limestone hills. But on the moist and fertile coastlands and well-watered heights 

 the surface is overgrown with a surprisingly vigorous vegetation. Here every 

 stem is covered with epiphytes, their branches are matted together by the creepers ; 

 while the tall palms, seeking light and air, burst through the surrounding foliage, 

 forming, as it were, a forest above a forest. 



The Sunda Islands have their peculiar species of palms, amongst others, two 

 varieties of the sago {inetroxyhn Rumphii or sag us) and the conjpha {r/ebang), which 

 grows in a narrow zone at an elevation of about 450 feet, immediately above the 

 coast forests. The liana-palms {rattan or rotang) twine round the other trees, 

 hanging in festoons from top to top sometimes for a space of three or four 

 hundred feet, and thus binding together whole forests in a compact mass into which 

 it is impossible to penetrate without the aid of the axe or fire. Some species of 

 bamboo also acquire the trailing habits of the lianas, occasionally growing to a 

 length of 130 feet ; others are armed with thorns and form dense thickets shunned 

 even by the wild beasts themselves. The marvellous development of the parasitic 

 plants in the Sunda Islands is well seen in the blossom of Rafflesia, which grows 

 on the roots and branches of a species of cissus. In Sumatra one variety bears 

 enormous flowers over seven feet round. 



On the slopes of the mountains the various growths are disposed vertically 

 according to the climate, ranging from the tropical zone of the coastlands to the 

 temperate region of the topmost crests. Nevertheless, curious associations are 

 sometimes observed amongst plants belonging natm-ally to different areas. Thus 

 in Sumatra, the oak is found in compan}^ with the camphor-tree. On the same 

 seaboard there are also met certain teaks, which in Java occur only at considerable 

 altitudes on the flanks of the mountains. On the northern uplands of Sumatra 

 are found certain pines intermingled with casuarinas. Here is the southern limit 

 of those conifers, whose true home are the Himalayas. 



Amid this endless variety of forms each island of the archipelago has its own 

 share of endemic growths. Thus in the Sumatran flora, comprising over two 

 thousand six hundred known phanerogams, Miguel enumerates a thousand and 

 forty-nine which are not met in Java, although separated from the larger island 

 only by a narrow strait. Even the western and eastern divisions of Java itself, 

 differing but slightly in their climates, present considerable contrasts in their 

 local floras. Not only the Moluccas, long famous for their valuable spices, but all 



