The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

vii.l JAVA. 89we were going to make our temporary abode. Here was a smallclearing, with abundance of tree-ferns and some young plantationsof Cinchona. As there was now a thick mist and drizzlingrain, I did not attempt to go on to the summit that evening, butmade two visits to it during my stay, as well as one to the activecrater of Gedeh. This is a vast semicircular chasm, bounded byblack perpendicular walls of rock, and surrounded by miles ofrugged scoria-covered slopes. The crater itself is not very deep.It exhibits patches of sulphur and vai'iously-coloured volcanicproducts, and emits from several vents continual streams ofsmoke and vapour. The extinct cone of Pangerango was to memore interesting. The summit is an irregular undulating plainAvith a low bordering ridge, and one deep latei'al chasm. Unfortunatelytliere was perpetual mist and rain either above or belowus all the time I was on the mountain ; so that I never once sawthe plain below, or had a glimpse of the magnificent -slew whichin fine weather is to be obtained fi'om its summit. Notwithstandingthis drawback I enjoyed the excursion exceedingly, forit was the first time I had been high enough on a mountain nearthe Equator to watch the change from a tropical to a temperateflora. I will now briefly sketch these changes as I observed themin Java.On ascending the mountain, we first met with temperate formsof herbaceous plants, so low as 3,000 feet, where strawberries andviolets begin to grow, but the former are tasteless and the latterhave very small and pale flowers. Weedy Compositae also beginto give a European aspect to the wayside herbage. It is between2,000 and 5,000 feet that the forests and ravines exhibit theutmost development of tropical luxuriance and beauty. Theabundance of noble Tree-ferns, sometimes fifty feet high, contributesgreatly to the general effect, since of all the forms oftropical vegetation they are certainly the most striking andbeautiful. Some of tlie deep ravines which have been clearedof large timber are full of them from top to bottom ;and wherethe road crosses one of these valleys, the view of their featherycrowns, in varied positions above and below the eye, oflers aspectacle of picturesque beauty never to be forgotten. Thesplendid foliage of the broad-leaved Musacere and Zingiberacejv,with their curious and brilliant flowers, and the elegant andvaried forms of plants allied to Begonia and Melastoma, continuallyattract the attention in this region. Filling up thespaces between the trees and larger plants, on every trunk andstump and branch, are hosts of Orchids, Ferns and Lycopods,which wave and hang and intertwine in ever- varying complexity.At about 5,000 feet I first saw horsetails (Equisetum), very likeour own species. At 6,000 feet. Raspberries abound, and thenceto the summit of the mountain there are three species of eatableKubus. At 7,000 feet Cypresses appear, and the forest treesbecome reduced in size, and more covered with mosses andlichens. From this point upward these rapidly increase, so tliat