IV. THE EXPEDITION OF TREUB IN 1886. 



I Ann. lord. Bot. Buitenzorg, 1 me Serie VII (1888), p. 213 seq |. 



T r e u b, curious to know whether a new vegetation was devel- 

 oping on Krakatao gathered information thereabout from sailors. 

 He got different answers: according to some the thick layer of 

 pumice was everywhere bare and sterile, but others affirmed having 

 seen plants of some height here and there with the aid of telescopes. 

 In order to get certainty on this point T r e u b availed himself of the 

 opportunity offered by the renowned Krakatao-specialist Verbeek of 

 visiting the island in the company of that savant and 8 other Europeans, 

 none of them being a botanist. This first botanical exploration took 

 place in June or July ') 1886, almost 3 years after the eruption. 



Already when approaching Krakatao T r e u b observed numerous 

 plants on the island, not only on and near the shore but also in 

 the higher parts and even near the top. Unfortunately this observa- 

 tion did not induce him to extend his researches to those higher 

 parts, where as I have set forth above (p. 26) part of the old 

 vegetation might have survived and which therefore certainly ought 

 to have been investigated. Consequently we do not know, and 

 never shall know, whether in 1883 the vegetation was indeed entirely 

 destroyed. 



I mentioned already that T r e u b, feeling quite convinced of 

 the total destruction of the vegetation, restricted his researches to 

 a comparatively small part of the north-western side of the island. 

 This locality consists of two rather different regions. The first is a 

 level strip of beach, lying on the northern side of the rupture. 

 Bounded on the north-western side by the basaltic rocks of Zwarte 

 Hoek it extends in a south-eastern direction over a length of about 

 750 m. Towards the north-east it gradually slopes down to the sea; 

 on the opposite side it is secluded from the interior by a steep 

 wall of rock and pumice; on the southeast it terminates in a large 

 talus of ashes, wich neither can be crossed nor ascended because 



^Treub liimself gives /line, Verbeek (by letters of April 25st 1922 and 

 May 7th 192!() July as the month of the excursion. A photo of the party, taken at 

 Zwarte Hoek, was published by Wing Easton in a paper dedicated to the 

 memory of Dr. R. D. M. Verbeek, (t April 9th 1926), Bijlage van het laarboek van 

 het Geologisch Mijnbouwkundig Genootschap voor 1926. The legend to this photo 

 wrongly gives the year 1X83 for T r e u b's visit. 



-) I he voyage was made on the steam-vessel Soerabaja, commanded by skipper 

 M a h n e. 



