VIII. THE EXPEDITION OF ERNST, PULLE, CAMPBELL 

 AND BACKER TO KRAKATAO IN APRIL 1906. 



[Dr. A. F r n s t, Die None Flora der Vulkaninsel Krakatao in Viertelialirssclirift 

 der Naturforschendc-n Gesellschaft in Zurich l.ll [1907) Heft 3]. 



On April 26th 1906, 9 years after the trip of Penzig and his 

 companions, one year after that of Golenki n and Valeton, the islands 

 Krakatao and Verlaten Eiland were visited by Hrnst, Pulle, Campbell 

 and myself '). The results of this trip were published by Ernst in 

 the clever and well-written paper mentioned above, by far the best 

 that ever appeared on the revegetation of Krakatao -), though this 

 gifted author was, like all his companions, severely handicapped by 

 lack of knowledge of the tropical flora and by the fact that not yet 

 fully one day could be given to the exploration of the much accidented 

 and densely overgrown locality, a time altogether unsufficient for an 

 accurate botanical investigation. The principal merit of Ernst's public- 

 ation is that he has brought together a great number of facts and 

 speculations which are of considerable value for the study of the 

 problem of revegetation though they have contributed little or nothing 

 to its solution. It might be compared to a finger-post indicating the 

 way to an interesting spot but not going there itself. 



The investigators, who were coming back from a visit to the 

 south-western point of |ava, reached Krakatao from the south-east. 

 Leaving out of account the vague statement of Haeckel in 1901 (See 

 p. 27, footnote 3) and the very few finds of Valeton (See p. 130 seq.) 

 this was the first time, 23 years after the eruption, that attention was 

 paid to the vegetation of the eastern and south eastern side of the 

 island, where as I argued on p. 26, part of the old vegetation 

 may have survived the catastrophe, especially in the higher ravines, 

 which therefore ought to have been carefully explored as soon as 

 possible after the eruption. 



M See also (aarboek van her. Departeinent van Landbouw in Nederlandsch Indie 

 (Annuary of the Department of Agriculture in the Dutch East Indies) 1906, pp. 4, 5. 

 Instead of ,,zuidwest' and ,,westen" (south-west and west) one should read there 

 ,,2uicloost and oosten" (south east and east), 



2 ) By some curious oversight neither this important publication nor even those of 

 I reub and Penzig have been mentioned in the list of litterature on Krakatao 

 contained in Overzicht der Nederlandsch-lndische Natuurmonumenten (Survey of the 

 Nature Monuments in the Dutch Indies) composed by Dr- K W. Dam merman, 

 published in 1924 by the Dutch Indian Society for the Preservation of Nature. This list 

 gives of botanical litterature only the papers of Docters van Leeuwen, discussed in 

 Chapter XI, hereafter. 



