YJSIT TO THE TANKOEBAN PRAHOE IN JAVA, 
293 
rously planted individuals to obtain room must inhabit different sto¬ 
ries. Mountain declivities and ravines are amongst such ; increas¬ 
ing the square surface within a narrow compass: but these are not 
sufficient. Every spot has it separate stories, the bottom feeds alike 
the humble and more proud and towering vegetation, but each stem, 
be it of larger or smaller tree, each branch, however high it may 
wave above the trodden ground, is conquered by a host of plants 
who for their growth and sustenance thus obtain the juices which 
the ground does not, nor the moist mountain atmosphere, furnish in 
sufficient quantity. Hence every tree, from the root to the highest 
branch, is seen clothed with moss, Melastomacese and Orchide® 
show their gaudy and delicate flowers,—greatleaved Zycopodiacea 
here and there surround the stems, and the beautiful Loranthus flow¬ 
ers embroider at intervals this tree carpet with their bright colours- 
But how the scene changes, as we approach the principle crater! 
From whence this change from green to grey, that vanishing of all 
bloom and flower no longer to be found along the stout tree roots co¬ 
vered with moss ? And if wc climb a hundred steps higher—whence 
that grey powder covering the stems, branches and leaves with a lead¬ 
en hue—from whence that withering of foliageand stem,that scorching 
of the more humble vegetation? From whence this separation of life 
and death ? Ascending we arrive at the cause which spread death 
and destruction there, where a few days since fife was vigorous. 
The scene becomes more and more terrific as we approach the Kawa 
Ratoe, which from its unfathomable abyss has thrown an astonish¬ 
ing mass of mud and ashes on the trembling wood which shared the 
earthquake. Thousands and thousands of trees lie blistered and de¬ 
capitated along the mountains side or in the deep ravines, buried 
partly under mud, partly under ashes, some rising out of it, all how¬ 
ever under a direction from West to East prostrated by the destruc¬ 
tive power. Hurricane aud fire appear to have rivalled each other 
in the work of annihilation. Whatever is not thrown down or bro¬ 
ken is bent like reed, from a shrub to.the larger trees. Beneath us 
by the cultivated border was spring, nearer autumn, and higher 
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