II. THE VEGETATION OF KRAKATAO BEFORE THE 

 CATASTROPHE OF AUGUST 27th 1883. 



Of the vegetation of Krakatao before the catastrophe but 

 very little is known. From a series of old communications, collected 

 by Mr. N. P. van den Berg '), I derive the following data: 

 Wouter Schouten mentions the high, densely wooded island of 

 Krakatao which he passed in October 1685. In February 1681 

 J. W. Vogel saw to his astonishment ,,dass die Insul Cracketow 

 ,,so bei meiner Hinreise gantz griin und lustig mit Baumen sich 

 ,,prasentirte nunmehr als gantz verbrannt und wiist vor unsern Augen 

 ,,Iag, und an vier Orthen grosze Feuerblocke aus wurffe. Und als 

 ,,ich den Schiff-Capitain befragte, zur welcher Zeit ermeldete Insel 

 ,,gesprungen, so berichtete er mich, das solches in May des 1680 

 [ahres geschehen". 



It is, however, worthy of note that none of the log-books of 

 the numerous ships that in May 1680 and the previous and following 

 months passed the Sunda-straits, records an eruption of Krakatao. 

 In May 1681, only 3 months after the great devastation was noticed 

 by Vogel, Elias Hesse observed 2 ) ,,that Krakatao and all 

 the other islands in the midst of the Sunda-straits are covered with 

 big trees and jungles". Hence probably Van den Berg rightly 

 supposes that Vogel has greatly exaggerated and that the eruption 

 of 1680 can have been only a small one. Presently I shall mention 

 the lava-streams in the then still extant northern part of the island 

 and it is perhaps not quite impossible that these and the basaltic rocks 

 of Zwarte Hoek (Black Corner) were then formed. In February 

 1780 the home-bound ships of the explorer James Cook, who had 

 been murdered on Hawaii a year before (Febr. 14th- 1779), called on 

 Krakatao. On the southside the sailors found a small brook and 

 moreover a thermal spring where the few inhabitants of the islands 

 came to bathe. The island was covered with woods, barring some 

 spots where the natives had cleared the forest and planted rice. 



For yet a long time afterwards Krakatao was inhabited. In 

 1809 Horsfield speaks of a village near a brook where the ships 



1 ) Mr. N. P. van den Berg, Vroegere berichten omtrent Krakatau, in Tijdschr. 

 voor Indisclie Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde XXIX (1884) p. 208 seq. 



2 ) ,.dat Cracatouw en de andere eilanden, welUe alien midden in Straat van Sunda 

 leggen, voorsien syn met hoge bomen en wildernissen. 



