232 A NATURALIST'S WANDEBINGS 



round had been covered with volcanic dust, and even at the 

 time of my visit the soil of the banks of the Klingi at fifteen 

 miles off was so charged with noxious substances that, when 

 portions fell in during heavy rains, numbers of-flsh died 

 from its effect on the water. The mountain itself was every- 

 where covered with a sheet of black sand ; and above the belt 

 of grass and. ferns I have mentioned, no trees had survived 

 — everywhere their dead trunks stood erect, or lay prostrate 

 on the bleak blasted ground. On such a gigantic scale and 

 so proportionate is the whole scene that one fails to realise the 

 vast dimensions of the caverns ; and it is only when the eye — 

 viewing from the summit and comparing with the littleness 

 of a human figure the blocks of stone and the huge ejected 

 rocks, which seem but the small atoms of which the scene is 

 composed — pauses to estimate its vast walls and its enormous 

 stretch from rim to rim, that some comprehension is attained 

 of the immensity of the powers that have been at work and 

 the effects they have produced. 



In many places, extending over a wide area in an easterly 

 direction, steam could be seen issuing from the ground ; and at 

 one spot on the crest of the Biring peak vapours were issuing 

 from rents which must have been but a few weeks old, as the 

 grass in their neighbourhood had not entirely disappeared, 

 though it was brown and yellow. In many places, too, could 

 be seen large dismal areas and mounds of black sand, ejected 

 in recent eruptions or upbursts. 



The most prominent feature of the landscape on the upper 

 portion of the mountain was certainly the Pandans, which, 

 though but sparsely dotted about, reared their lean ungainly 

 stems and sparse tufted foliage prominently above the shrubs 

 and other bushes, and,, combined in the view with numerous 

 spots blasted by volcanic action, gave a dreariness and a 

 feeling of desolation to the scenery of the Kaba which the 

 great beauty of the Melastoma, which will always remain 

 associated with it in my recollection, could not redeem. 



From the Kaba I directed my course towards the upper 

 reaches of the Musi river ; but the obtaining of transport was 

 very difficult, as there was almost nobody but women left in 

 the district, all the men having gone away to labour in Palem- 

 bang and other centres to earn rice, which had so failed in 



