and arrived at Bandoeng,1 the capital of the Preanger Regency, the same afternoon. The scenery was always interesting, and sometimes fine, as the train passed along deep ravines draped with tropical vegetation and seamed with waterfalls. It was interesting to note the dark-green Nipa palms (N. fruticans) standing with erect fronds in marshy hollows, and to remember that in Tertiary ages the same palm grew in the Thames valley and dropped its fruit into the muddy waters. The sugar palm (Arenga saccharifera), one of the most useful of plants, is always to be seen growing near villages, with enormous bunches of berries pendent from its lofty stem. This palm produces at the bases of its leaves a black fibre, like horse-hair, which is put to a variety of uses, and may be seen covering the ridges of the native huts all over the island.

Bandoeng is the headquarters of the provincial administration, but except a drive of five miles to the pretty Dogo waterfall on the Lambeng road, it does not possess much interest, except as the starting-point for the active volcano of Tangkoebanpraho. This rather alarming name is the Dutch spelling of the Malay words signifying an overturned boat (prao), and is given to the mountain on account of its resemblance to a long flatbottomed boat which has been upset. It is about twelve miles north of Bandoeng, and is well worth a visit. The crater lies on the north side of the forest-covered mountain, and is not seen from

the town. We left the hotel at six o'clock, and after a couple of hours' drive arrived at Lambeng, where we mounted ponies and started for the crater. The ponies one gets in Java are as a rule sturdy little beasts, and up to any reasonable weight. The saddles supplied are usually native, and not very comfortable. Side-saddles I never saw. Dutch ladies seldom ride. The path passes at first through cinchona plantations, and as it rises from the plain commands fine views of the fertile valley and of the mountain-ranges to its south. The cultivation of the cinchona - tree is one of the principal industries of Java, and the chemical process adopted by the Dutch for the preparation of the drug is said to produce the best sulphate of quinine procurable. This is carried out in Holland, whither the bark as stripped from the trees and dried is exported. Cinchona plantations are frequent on the lower hills throughout Java, and the trees are of all sizes from mere saplings up to 30 feet high. The price of quinine has fallen so low in the European markets that its production is said to barely pay the expenses, and most of the cinchona now grown is Government property. After about an hour's ride through the cinchona clearings, the path enters the forest that clothes the hillsides up to the very edge of the crater. The trees, and the shrubs of which the undergrowth is composed, are mostly of a temperate type, and remind one of the vegetation met with at similar heights in the Eastern Himalaya. The com

mon bramble of tropical highlands (Rubus moluccanus) is abundant; also another handsome bramble with five-parted leaves (R. alpestris). An oak (Quercus javensis), bearing large flattened acorns an inch and a half in diameter, is also common. Pink and yellow flowered balsams, and ginger plants (Hedychium), with tall spikes of fragrant white flowers, light up the forest shades, and frequent tree - ferns spread their fronds over the jungle. After crossing the summit of the ridge (6400 feet), the path descends for a short distance on the northern side, and the immense twin crater comes into view. The ordinary conception of a volcanic vent is founded on the inverted-cone type of crater. But the craters before us are vast areas of desolation, lying open to the sky, and look more like the effects of a land

slip than volcanoes. They are separated by a raised ridge which is easily accessible, and whence a near view of their surfaces can be obtained. Their united length is more than a mile, and their breadth, where crossed by the ridge, about half a mile. The whole area is broken up into hillocks and hollows, the latter holding pools of rain-water, while on the former innumerable cracks and small cones give vent to steam and sulphur fumes. Yellow and white are the prevailing surface colours; and the blackened foliage of the bushes overhanging the precipitous edges of the crater attest the poisonous nature of the exhaled gases. It is difficult to imagine a more dreary and desolate scene than this spot presents, a real Phlegrean field, in marked contrast to the wooded slopes and smiling valley below.

We left Bandoeng by rail, and in three hours arrived at Garoet, the present eastern terminus of the line

from Batavia. During the journey we passed through some of the finest hill scenery in Java, and finally descended by a series of zigzags and viaducts into a broad plain, green with rice-fields, and dotted with clusters of thatched cottages. It is curious to see the rice in every stage of development at the same time. In temperate climates agricultural operations are clearly divided by the seasons into seed-time and harvest; but in Java, where an equable temperature prevails throughout the year, there are no such divisions, and we often saw all the different stages of rice - culture in simultaneous progress even in adjoining fields. In one buffaloes were painfully churning up the soil into liquid mud; in the next, women were planting out the seedlings which had been raised in an adjoining nursery; while in a third field men were reaping, and the children tying up the ears for transport to the threshing - floor. Few sights are more picturesque than a Javan peasant, with his rich brown skin and dark-blue waistcloth, staggering under a load of tawny golden rice-sheaves and in the evenings strings of these men are to be met with on the way to their villages from the fields.

Garoet is a capital place to make one's headquarters for some days. Several interesting excursions can be made from thence, and the climate is cool and pleasant. A drive of three miles takes the visitor to some curious hot springs at the base of a mountain, covered with the weather-worn remains of an ancient lava-flow. The springs are much resorted to by people suffering from skin-disease, who appear to spend hours sitting under the gushing spouts of hot water. Another drive of about

eight miles may be taken to the Wanaradja Lake, a picturesque sheet of water; but the best excursion from Garoet is to the active crater of the Papindajan volcano, 8500 feet above the sea. We started at 6.30 A.M., and after two hours' drive arrived at the village of Tjiseroepan, where we mounted ponies. The path for the first mile is through cinchona plantations; and, after passing along the edge of a deep ravine, crowded to the brim with treeferns, bamboos, orchids, and other tropical vegetation, enters a forest, through which it leads directly into the floor of the crater. character of the forest flora bears a general resemblance to that found at similar elevations in the Eastern Himalaya. The path is carpeted with violets, buttercups, and dandelions, and a little Himalayan Pratia (P. begoniafolia) with purple berries is common on the grassy banks. In the

The

forest undergrowth, mussændas, large-flowering melastomas, two or three species of brambles, artemisias, and vaccinium bushes were abundant. The trees are lofty, and as an example of the mountain flora in equatorial regions, I do not think that this forest is surpassed in interest anywhere in Java. The crater presents much the same general features as that of Tangkoebanprao, but is more interesting from the greater activity of the subterranean fires, and from the fact that you ride right on to the floor through a gap in the walls. There is no preliminary looking down from above, but you step at once from the shade of the forest into a desolate plain, enclosed by high precipices of splintered rocks, and with clouds of steam issuing, with a noise like the working of an engine, from open funnels in the

ground. The generally white surface is coloured here and there with bright yellow patches of sulphur, which is also deposited in the form of acicular crystals in the mouths of the caverns whence the fumes issue. Numerous streams of hot water, quite clear, but with a strong taste, have cut a network of channels in the soft sinter of the floor; and in several places the sulphur crystals have consolidated into pillars four or five feet high, that loom large through the thick clouds of drifting vapours. The ground nearly everywhere is more or less hot. The general form of the crater, as seen from a distance, resembles a huge scar in the mountain-side, but when viewed from the interior, its precipitous walls show that it is really a pit broken through at one end.

The next morning we left our hotel at six o'clock for the curious so-called milky lake" of Talaga Bodas, driving first for one hour along a shady road and through several villages, and then riding up the hill on ponies for three hours. The path is very good going throughout, and passes several plantations of teak-trees that seem to be common in this district.

We also saw much rice, coffee, and cinchona cultivation, often separated by hedges of erythrina, the "Indian coral - tree." The views of the valley and distant mountain-ranges as the path ascended were very beautiful. After about an hour's ride we passed over some open grass-land, where a pretty species of iris (Xiphidium), with orange-coloured flowers, was growing in company with scattered tree ferns and thickets of the common English bracken. This fern is remarkable for its wide distribution, and may be seen in

suitable elevations all round the tropical zone, imparting everywhere a homelike aspect to its surroundings. The path then

enters a forest of much the same character as that on the flanks of Papandajan, but possessing taller tree-ferns than we had seen elsewhere, some attaining a height of at least sixty feet. A handsome fern (Dipteris Horsfieldii) grows abundantly in shady nooks, and is remarkable from its large deeplylobed fronds, dark-green above and pale - coloured below. After a couple of miles through the forest we emerged on the shore of a small oval lake, about 300 yards across, filled with water of a dirty milk-white colour, the surface of which was covered with gas - bubbles constantly bursting up from below. This is certainly the crater of a volcano which may be regarded as still partially active; for though the water is cold, the bubbles, and the steam which escapes from cracks on its margin, sufficiently attest its origin. The walls of the crater slope steeply down, and are covered with vaccinium and other common

jungle bushes. The lake is supplied by the drainage from the enclosing hills, and the overflow escapes by a channel cut through the gorge into the valley below. The scene is quiet and peaceful, though at some former period the now thickly wooded hills must have presented much the same desolate appearance as the Papandajan crater. A rough path, used by wood-cutters, passes round the lake, and though difficult to clamber along at some places, is well worth exploring from the variety in the points of view to be obtained from it.

On our return to the house where we had hired ponies, the Javan gentleman to whom it be

longed provided tea for us, and a native band performed some airs on the curious bamboo instruments, and sets of modulated gongs, peculiar to Java and the adjacent countries. The music produced was soft and pleasant.

The

We left Garoet the next morning by rail at 6.30 A.M., and arrived at Tjiandjoer at 12.20. There is a good refreshment-room at this station, and after lunch we drove in two hours to Sindanglaja. This place is the "hill station" for western Java: it is situated at an elevation of 5000 feet above the sea, and the climate is cool and pleasant,-indeed for Java it may almost be called bracing. village is on a spur of the Gede volcano, and fine views of that mountain and of its sister peak, Panggerango, are obtained from the garden of the hotel. Governor-General has a house here, and the public are admitted into its pretty grounds, which contain many trees and plants brought from the neighbouring mountains. Just outside the gate is a bathhouse supplied by hot water from the Gede volcano.

The

Several excursions can be made from Sindanglaja, and we stayed here nearly a week with much enjoyment and benefit. About four miles from the hotel, on an elevated spur of Gede called Tji Bodas, is the Government "mountain garden," containing plants that do not flourish at lower elevations. It is very well kept up by the Dutch gentleman, Mr Lefebre of the Buitenzorg garden staff, who has been deputed to the charge of it. The extensive grounds contain quite a multitude of interesting plants and trees, including a series of the several varieties of cinchona used in cultivation, some tree-ferns, and several of the oaks and coniferous trees

peculiar to the Malay archipelago. We spent two mornings in this garden enjoying the fine views and the fresh cool air. There are two paths to Tji Bodas from the hotel; one leaves the road near Government House, and the other at about half a mile down the Buitenzorg road: either affords a delightful walk or ride. From the latter the cone of Papandajan can be seen on a fine morning. There is much cultivated land round Sindanglaja, and it is curious to observe the mechanical scarecrows which the ingenious Malayan mind has evolved. natives are also fond of keeping birds in cages. Every house has at least two or three; but instead of hanging against a wall, the cages are hoisted up high above the roofs on bamboo poles: and thus the little prisoners obtain fresh air and sunshine, and are clear of the mosquitos and other baneful insects that swarm below.

The

Another excursion (about two hours from the hotel) is to the Tji Burram waterfalls, in a deep glen to the right of the path that leads to the Gede crater. The route passes Tji Bodas, enters the forest, and climbs by a steep rough track up the mountain-side. A tall species of cypress with dark foliage towers supreme among the trees, and the path is so covered in that it is difficult to obtain views of the country below. The tree-trunks are clothed with soft folds of moss, and filmy ferns (Hymenophyllum), the latter with large fronds of exquisitely delicate texture. Among the branches overhead rattan palms (Calamus) hang in long loops, throwing out on either side their graceful shiny leaves, the stalks of which are

prolonged into tails that look like gigantic whip-lashes. The falls are situated in are situated in a glen full of glorious vegetation, kept moist with the spray from three falls that tumble in sheets of foam over a limestone precipice. The view is superb in its combination of foliage, grey precipices with masses of golden moss and ferns, and falling waters. If the visit be made sufficiently early, and the morning be fine, the spray will be coloured by rainbows. After leaving the falls, a short detour should be made to a curious cavern of the kind common in limestone formations: it is nearly full of water, and is worth the short scramble necessary to reach it.

Another pleasant drive or walk may be made to the summit of the Megamendoeng Pass, called Poentjak, on the Buitenzorg road, about three miles from the hotel. A fine view is obtained from near the toll-bar, and a short walk through the forest leads to a small lake, or rather mountain tarn, called Telaga Warna, evidently an old crater like that at Telaga Bodas. The return from the lake should be made by another path, which descends through the forest and comes out on the road about a mile below the toll-bar.

But the most important excursion from Sindanglaja is the ascent of Gede. This has been admirably described by Mr Wallace,1 and as local circumstances have altered but little since his visit, the details he gives still hold good. The climb was beyond my walking powers, but I made careful inquiries as to distances and times, and the following table of stages will be found useful by any one undertaking the expedition :