10 



most remarkable that on this point (the littoral flora excepted) never 

 any actual observation or experiment was made; all authors confined 

 themselves to more or less happy guesswork, thereby guided by the 

 old prescription: nearly all Cryptogams and the Phanerogams pos- 

 sessing light or winged seeds were carried over by winds, the plants 

 with fleshy or succulent fruits by birds or bats, the rest by the 

 sea. The possibility of human influence was but seldom thought of. 

 Treub ') went so far as to strongly deny this possibility. But in the 

 tropics as well as everywhere else may be observed that the in- 

 fluence of man on the wild flora is by no means a slight one. This 

 fact may be easily accounted for: how often do not light fruits, 

 provided with hairs, hooks or viscid organs, adhere to garments! 

 How easily seeds and fruits may be conveyed along with luggage! 

 After the eruption, but previous to the excursion of Treub in 1886 

 Krakatao had already been repeatedly visited by man-); in 1883 

 by Verbeek in the company of 4 Europeans, in August 1884 by 

 Verbeek with 2 Europeans, in September 1884 by Verbeek with 

 11 Europeans, in July 1885 by Verbeek with 6 Europeans. All these 

 persons with their native servants and their belongings were embar- 

 ked at Batavia or Tandjong Priok, in the neighbourhood of which 

 ports the flora is very rich. It could hardly be avoided, that at these 

 excursions seeds or fruits were carried along, The natives who are not 

 in the habit of scrupulously cleansing their articles of dress go ashore 

 both in Java and on Krakatao; luggage is placed on the ground at the 

 places of embarkment and disembarkment: to garments, to footgear, 

 to luggage, to articles of food seeds may easily have adhered. 



It is not at all sure, not even probable, that landings on Krakatao 

 were exclusively made by Europeans and their native followers. In 

 the Java-sea fishers in order to cook or eat their meals or to dry 

 the fishes caught are wont to go ashore at uninhabited islands, 

 where driftwood is always plentiful. Before the eruption of 1883 

 Krakatao was now and then visited by Sumatran fishers 3 ) and there 



solchen Katastrophe nacli ; die ,,neu auftretenden" Pflanzen sind nicht, wie bei Ver- 

 schleppunij zu erwarten gewesen ware, zuerst am Ufer, sondern in der Inselmitte 

 aufgetreten und somit erscheint das ganze Problem der Neubesledelung von Krakatau, 

 Verlaten und Lang Eiland In seiner notwendigen Voraussetzung, der I atsache der 

 Neubesiedelung in Frage gestellt 1 have not been able to consult the short 

 paper in question but am glad to state that its author quite independent of me has 

 come to the same conclusions as myself- 



!) Ann. lard. Bot. Buitenzorg, 1me Serie VII (1888), p. 215. 



2) Of this I was informed by Dr. Verbeek, (letter of April 25tli 1922). 



?l ) Verbeek, Kort Verslag, p 6. Van den Berg in lijdschrift voor Indische 

 Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde XXIX (1884), p. 223.- Dr. Arrhenius kindly told 

 me that in 1921 the Wedana (native district-chief) of Anier Kidool informed him, that 

 fishermen were then in the habit of landing on Krakatao. 



