85 



station for goniometric observations. The rains did not come, the 

 Westmonsoon set in extraordinarily late .... In December heavy 

 showers fell .... about the midst of January the observations 

 were completed '). 



Life on the island was very disagreeable in every respect. The 

 days were very hot: in the dwelling-hut the temperature for days at a 

 stretch rose as high as 34 C; by night it did not descend beneath 30 C; 

 the sand heated by the sun had at noon a temperature of somewhat 

 more than 6() D C. Drinking-water had to be supplied from Batavia. For 

 this purpose a steamer visited the island twice a month. There was 

 no living water; a u ell \\hich hod been sunk yielded water that, on 

 chemical analysis, proved to he unfit for drinking-water because of 

 its high percentage of organic substances. 



The vegetation on the little weathered layer of ashes was still in a 

 stage of development. The trees were young, they were mainly Casu- 

 arinas which here and there began to form small groves; the most 

 common plant was the grass Saccliariini sponlaneuni L. Consequently 

 there was but little shadow. In October Dr. B u r c k, the former sub- 

 director of the Botanical Gardens at Buitenzorg and his successor Dr. 

 Boer 1 age paid a visit to the island in order to examine its flora. 



The animal kingdom was represented by some varans ( Varanus 

 sa/vator Laur.), which apparently felt quite at ease here in the 

 sea-water, and moreover by some birds and insects. 



On the beach pumice was found in plenty. For the rest everything 

 was covered with ashes; the sides of the hill-ridge were cleft by- 

 innumerable ravines, formed by erosion, with perpendicular walls of 

 40 and 50 meter high. Ihese ravines were very peculiar; their sides 

 were covered with a thin layer of algae, protecting them from being 

 washed off by rain-water. Slides were formed from beneath by the 

 action of water which had penetrated into the layer of ashes. The 

 bottom of the ravines was in the broader parts, at the entrance f. i., 

 usually flat and almost horizontal. 



On entering a ravine the visitor, secluded from the outer world 

 by the high meandering ash-walls, soon got pervaded by an oppres- 

 sive sensation of forlornness. Here and there on the bottom entirely 

 decayed fragments and stumps of trees were lying, the sad 

 remains of the heavy forest which formerly covered the entire island. 

 Moreover the visitors found rapilli and, sometimes high up in the 



') But in Marcli1897 officials of the Irianqulation brigade were still or anew living 

 on Lang Eiland. Cf. Penzig in Ann. |ard. Bot. Buitenzorg XVIII (1902) o- 105, 



