210 



A NATUnALIST'B WJNDEMINQS 



against a sky of tlie most delicate tint of seA-green. At 9700 

 feet, tliG summit of what the natives call the Demj>o was 

 surmoiinted, whence I looked down into the Sawuli, or ancient 

 crater of the mountain the site of their sacred feasts and ufler- 

 ings, and across to the Merapi, or Firepeak, a more recent cone, 

 now the trne summit of the Tolcano. Here almost no insects, 

 except annoying swarms of blne-hottle flies, were seen ; but 

 the little 3Vhite-eyes {Zoslerop» chhrata) which had accompa- 

 nied ns all the way np, flitted about on the Vareinium forhemi, 

 their nostrils laden with its pollen, busily performing that 

 important jmrt in the economy of nature by which vigour is 

 added to tlie plants, and size and beauty to their flowers by 

 their cross-fertilisation. 



A steep descent of 200 feet brought me to the Sawah (where 

 I built a camp), whose dark brown and greyish -black sandy 

 soil emitted a jiowerful odour of sulphur. It was dotted every- 

 where with clumps of heaths and rhododendrons and plants 

 with crisp dark green leaves, an<l with white wooUy-foliaged 

 species of Compositw characteristic of volcanic soil (Aiuq>halis 

 javanica and A. mxuUlh), which have a strong aromatic odour 

 somewhat like that of camomile. An infusion of its leaves 

 is supposed, from its sacred habitat (for it grows nowhere 

 else on the mountain), to possess healing poivers. The slope 

 of the cone was dotted with " Long-age " whortleberry get- 

 ting more and more stunted as we ascended, till, within 200 

 leet of the rim of the crater, it almost disappeared except as a 

 low biLsh uf one and a-half to two feet high. The whole face 

 of the ascent was covered with loose stones and pieces of 

 ]>umice and scorim. 



After a puffing clamber from the Sawah we gained the rim 

 of tlie crater, looking down some 300 feet uf precipitous rock, 

 on what seemed a juiro white polished mirror, set in a central 

 basin from which was slowly rising a coloiun of steam. All 

 was quiet and placid, and I sat down a little to take in the 

 details of a scene so novel to me : — a vast circular basin half a 

 mile in diameter, with rocky sides of sheer precipices, dis[)lay- 

 ing at various places horizontal strata ; at the bottom of this 

 another smaller basin, some 2»J0 feet in diameter, tilled to 

 within about 30 or 40 feet of its rim with a sm<»king substance, 

 whose surface, like bnrnisJifd silver, reflected the blue sky and 



