16 



were provided with water, firewood, goats, poultry and fruits. After- 

 wards Krakatao served as a place of banishment for criminals 

 from the Lampongs (South-Sumatra) and when this was stopped the 

 island remained entirely deserted and was only from time to time 

 visited by fishermen. 



So far the data collected by Van den Berg. Botanical data 

 just as vague as the preceding ones are given by j u n g h u h n 1 ) who 

 says no more than: ,,From its base to its very crown Mount Rakata" 

 (the highest, at the same time the southern-most and, at present, the 

 only top of the island) ,,is covered by woods". A confirmation and 

 partly a correction of this statement is given by Verbeek -) who 

 visited Krakatao in July 1 880, about 3 years before the eruption. 

 He found the southern part of the island coverd with such a dense 

 vegetation, that it would have been very difficult to penetrate into 

 the interior. But in the northern part *) he saw several rather steep 

 lava-streams which bore only a very meagre vegetation and which 

 apparently belonged to the youngest and least weathered rock-for- 

 mations of the island. 



Teysmann, the famous chief-gardener of the Buitenzorg Botanic- 

 al Gardens must have visited Krakatao some decennia before the 

 eruption; the exact year is unknown to me and is of no importance, 

 but cannot lie far from 1860. Five plants, collected by him on the 

 island, are recorded in M i q u e I, Flora Indiae Batavae, Sumatra 

 (1862). These are: 



Loranthaceae 



/ . Loranthus pentandrus L (== Dendrophthoe pentandra Bl). 



2. Viscum articu/atum Burm. 



Leguminosae 



3. Intsia amboinensis Thouars. 



4. Mucuna gigantea D. C. 



Meliaceae 



.5. Dysoxylum arborescens Miq. (= Hartighsea acuminata 

 Miq). 



That is all, In truth, meagre reapings, quite insufficient to give 

 an idea of the composition of the old vegetation. Of the 5 species 

 named, No. 1 and 2 are parasites, very common in the plains of 



1 ) lunghuhn, lava 2nd Dutcli Edition II, 4; German Edition II, 3. 



2 ) Verbeek, Krakatau, Dutcli Edition (1888), p. 7; French Edition (1885), p. 7. 



'') Verbeek, Krakatau, Dutch Edition (1888), p. 5. p. 164; French Edition (1885), p. 5. 



