208 



From the narrative of Dr. Docters van Leeuwen, who first 

 followed a water-course and afterwards a dry water-channel one would 

 be inclined to deduce that he found living water on the island. But 

 as such water except during and shortly after heavy rains was 

 never seen by Mr- I) a n d I, who was very well acquainted with this 

 side of the island (See Chapter X), and as in the next paragraph it 

 is stated that water was nowhere to be had, I rather think that also 

 the first water-course was waterless. This is a point of importance: the 

 flora along permanent water-courses always differing from the rest. 



Dr. Docters van Leeuwen is quite wrong where he says 

 that a forest as found by him on the lovely spot in the dry water- 

 channel and consisting of but few species, is rare in Java. On the 

 contrary such forests are frequent in thinly populated regions where, 

 in order to obtain temporary rice-fields, part of a forest is cut 

 down by the natives, who, after the fallen trees have been burnt 

 and the otherwise not manured field has yielded a few crops, desert 

 the spot and destroy another part of the forest for the same purpose. 

 In the southern half of the Preanger Regencies and of Bantam 

 (Western Java) this often happens. The secondary forests, developing 

 on such deserted fields in South-Bantam were already in 1913 shortly 

 described by me about as follows (translated from the Dutch ^) 

 original with some slight alterations): 



,,On a travel which Mr. C 1 e r x and I made a few years ago 

 ,,(1911) in the south-eastern part of the Residency of Bantam, the 

 ,,appearance and disappearance of Lantana C amara L. could very 

 ,,well be observed. When the native of South-Bantam leaves his 

 ,,exhausted hooma (dry rice-field) to its fate, first tens of thousands 

 ,,of fruits of alang-alang (Impcrata cy/indrica P. B.) arrive soaring on 

 ,,the wind and soon turn the spot in a rather monotonous grass-field 

 ,,in which however many other plants, for the greater part incon- 

 ,,spicuous, are growing. Numerically these latter form at first but 

 ,,a slight minority. But after a short time shrubs begin to spring up 

 ,,between the grass, especially shrubs with fleshy or juicy fruits, 

 ,,which points to introduction by animals. Me/astoma malabathricum L., 

 ,,derodendron serratum Spreng. and especially Lantana Camara L., 

 ,,appear everywhere. The last species finally often wins, for it grows 

 ,,higher and bears much more fruit than the other ones. Everywhere 

 ,,one sees birds pecking its fruits; everywhere its seeds may be 

 ,,found in bird-droppings. Moreover it does not suffer from leaf- 

 ') De Tropische Natuur II (1913), p. 30. 



