EXPEDITION INTO INTERIOR OF SUMATRA. 53 
barometer and the thermometer. The first indicated 495 
millimétres, the second 7°8.C. On the following day we 
succeeded in reaching the highest summit of the mountain. 
We had been forced to send back five coolies who had 
broken down, and even the Chief of Dourian Taroung himself 
was obliged to leave us through illness. As our provisions were 
sensibly diminishing, and we were afraid that the rest of the 
coolies would not be able to stand the fatigue and cold much 
longer, we decided to return. 
I must not quit this subject without makine some 
observations upon the character of the fauna and flora of 
this volcano, which rises to a height of 5,600 métres. 
As far as the place where we spent the first night, the 
forest generally resembled those we had already so often 
traversed, containing a considerable number of large trees 
linked together by strong creepers and heavy rotén-manau. 
The kalé rises side by side with the waringin, the sacred 
tree of the Hindoos, the koubang, the sianowk, or milk- 
tree, with its white bark, and the wild kabaw or kapok. 
The undergrowth consists of large-leaved bamboos, with 
knotted stems which interlace in every direction, of the 
dahun katari, much used in Malay households, of the balun- 
king with its edible flowers, and a large variety of ferns and 
OTASses. 
Advancing upwards, towards our second halting place, 
bamboos were replaced by varieties of powar, whilst along 
the river banks the djombou-ajar were met with, and further 
on, in the junele, meranti and other straight-stemmed trees. 
At this elevation rattan is stillcommon enough, but as in the 
ease of the lianes, itis finer and weaker than in the lowlands. 
Ascending higher still, the trunks of the various species 
of the kali, and the djirah-pidang diminish in size, and we 
notice that they are twisted, knotted, and covered with 
different kinds of moss. The rattans and climbing plants 
become more and more rare, grasses take the place of the 
pouar, to be replaced in turn by the thick-stemmed pakou- 
rasam, a species of fern which, together with other volcanic 
plants, is found right up to the summit. 
Above a height of 2,500 metres, no trees worthy of the 
name are to be met with, but various kinds of flowering, or 
