204 



mountains upwards of 1200ft. high is of very recent origin, for Mr. Dem men i, 

 the photographer of the surveying-party, who reached the top in 1908, could 

 give but scanty information concerning the flora. 



This statement is correct except as to the height reached 

 in 1908, which the Dutch text in the Transactions of the 

 Congress rightly gives as 400 m. or about 1350 English feet. 



4. On April 24th 1919 Mr. Doctors van 1. e e u w e n landed on the south-eastern 

 side. He expected to sec plant-growth but that it should be so full was still 

 a surprise. The first impression is of a vegetation similar to what may be found 

 on other islands'): a fringe of coco-palms and higher up the dense forest. 

 On Krakatao the border of coco-palms is replaced by a belt of Casuarina 

 equisetifolia L. There are indeed coco-palms but they are not yet very prevalent. 

 The Casuarinas form a broad zone, the trees being already quite tall and 

 robust and entirely overgrown by Ipomoea (Jenticulata Chois., I- long/flora K. fir. 

 (=1. grandiflora Lamk.) and Columclla trifolia Merr. (=Vitis trifolia 1..). The 

 shore is grown with the usual littoral plants, /pomoea pes caprae Sw., 

 Cc7/7c?va//a rosed D. C. '-') and Vigna marina Merr., which together with Ischae- 

 mum muticum 1.., Spi/iifcx littoreus Merr., and other herbs form the Pes- 

 caprae-formation. Everywhere teems Cassytha filiformis L. Immediately behind 

 the white beach there is a low wall of shore-cliff grown with various plants 

 which Mr. D o c t e r s van I. e e u w e n thinks he need not enumerate all and 

 immediately behind this follows the Casuarina-torest. The belt of Casuarina- 

 forest consists of various kinds of trees, belonging to the /Jarr/ngron/a-formation, 

 which owes its name to Karrinytonia asiatica Kurz. To the same formation 

 belong Terminal/a catappa L. and Hibiscus til/accus L. Birds were heard 

 singing; the oriole was audible everywhere. I he Casuar/na-forest has a thick 

 undergrowth of various bushes and plenty of trailing and creeping plants, so 

 that it is almost impenetrable. Behind the Casuarinas there is a broad stretch 

 consisting of various grasses among which Saccharum spontaneum is most in 

 evidence. On his walk along the beach Mr. Docters van Leeuwen 

 penetrated here and there into the wilds and collected about 100 different 

 plants, which were carried home, labelled and dried. 



Mr. Docters van Leeuwen was astonished to see on 

 Krakatao such a dense vegetation. Whoever takes the trouble to 

 read what E r n s t :i ) as early as 1907 published on this vegetation 

 (See Chapter VIII, p. 143) will be astonished at this astonishment. 

 The statement of the aspect of the vegetation in 1919 is neither 

 clear nor accurate. It seems that Mr. Docters van Leeuwen 

 meant to say that on Krakatao behind the flood-mark lay the beach 

 covered with a fes caprae-formation, behind this the Barring- 

 tom'a-formation and behind the latter the Casuar/na-forest. We are 

 not told whether in 1919 this Cas</ar/na-forest was present on the 

 entire eastern side of the island; in 1906 and 1908 Casuar/Via 



') Here the Dutch text with a fine sense of the picturesque adds: ,,and which was 

 characterised by a jovial sea-captain by these words: ,,first a white beach, then coco- 

 palms, for the rest borecole". 



-) Often confused with C. lineata D.C. 



3 ) Neue Flora Vulkaninsel Krakatau (1907), p. 28; p. 32 seq. 



