ejected by the destructive energies of the neighbouring active crater of Gedeh, from which the subterranean forces usually throw up, not red-hot lava-streams, but from time to time tremendous stone and mud currents, which, rushing down the steep flanks of the mountain, overrun and destroy everything around.
About 10 A.M. we reached Kandang Badak, or the spot where rhinoceroses assemble, which is the second station, 7200 feet above sea-level. Solitary specimens of the formidable animals which have given their name to this place are still met with here; but a troop of some hundred men, accompanied by almost as many horses, must necessarily make such a din in the usually solitary forest, as at once to account for our being unable by personal observation to speak as to whether it deserves the name it has received. The rhinoceros, despite his immense size, is a shy, timid animal, who flees before man, and only attacks him when fairly compelled to do so in self-defence. The Pasanggrahan erected at this spot has several times already been burnt down by red-hot stones ejected from Gedeh. Here the path divides, one branch leading to the still active crater of Gedeh, which can only be reached on foot, the other leading to the summit of Pangerango. For the second time we changed horses, and now had the last bit of the way before us—the steep, almost precipitous, cone of Pangerango. It was enveloped in thick clouds, and it was only by the short windings of the path we could realize that we were riding up an isolated
cone of regular form, the slope of which was between 25 and 30 degrees. The cool air of these elevated regions now began to make itself felt, while our sensations bodily testified to the northern character of the vegetation around us. The tree-ferns indeed continued to grow up to the very highest point, but long ere reaching the summit they ceased to be found among the gigantic forest-pillars of the Liquid-ambar, but grew between dwarfish, knotted, stunted trees, whose trunks were overrun with a bright green moss, while from the branches hung festoons of greyish-green beard-moss (Tillandsia usnioides), greatly resembling hair. The trees, instead of stretching out their brown limbs to the air and light above, left them to droop sullenly to the ground, turning themselves, as though in pain, away from the rude wind which swept through their branches, and, as it were, seeking for warmth and sustenance from mother Earth alone. All the plants here showed a tendency to become creepers, as also to a circumscribed growth and extent of foliage, as well as uniformity of species. By 3 P.M. the whole party, including a rear-guard of irregular naturalists and sharp-shooters, had finally reached the summit of the mountain. When Dr. Junghuhn, the first man who trod this solitude, made the earliest ascent of this mountain in 1839, he found not a trace of a human step, and had painfully to make his way by rhinoceros-paths, beneath a thick overhanging canopy of leaves, and through dense underwood. Thus he finally succeeded in forcing a passage through the forest, till he emerged upon a naked patch
in the middle of the peak, where a rhinoceros was lying in the middle of the stream, while another was browsing on the edge of the forest: they fled snorting away on beholding him. How different was what we now witnessed on the same spot!
The flat space on the summit, somewhat concave in shape, and sinking gradually away, the deepest part being towards the S.W., whence issues the highest spring in Java, now resembled the bivouac of a detachment of troops. Everywhere were men and horses, with cheerful blazing fires for cooking and warming, while immediately adjoining a strawberry garden filled with delicious fruit, rose a hut for shelter against wind and weather, in which we found a surprising degree of comfort. Tables, chairs, beds, excellent provisions and drinkables, were ready for us at an elevation of more than 9000 feet above the level of the sea, so that there was nothing wanting which could in any way contribute to our comfort. Even the necessary warmth was supplied by a huge iron stove, constantly kept supplied with fresh fuel by a Javanese servant, cowering on the ground. This was the more necessary that our systems, accustomed of late to tropical temperature, were unusually susceptible to this sudden and extreme change. In the morning when we left Tjipannas the thermometer even at that early hour marked 70°, while the mercury had now sunk to 48°.22 Fahr. The longings we so often expressed, during a sojourn for months together on the bosom of the ocean, amid the moist, sultry strata of the lower atmosphere, in an almost unvarying Turkish-bath-like temperature
of 86°, of being once more re-invigorated by a little cold, were now being gratified to the letter.
Unfortunately our anticipated enjoyment of the view from the summit was entirely frustrated by rain and cloud: we could hardly see anything a hundred yards distant, and the only idea we could form of the gigantic mountains and splendid hill-scenery that we knew surrounded us on all hands, had to be derived chiefly from the topographical charts we found in the hut. It was only during the occasional fleeting glimpses, when the S.E. trade-wind of the upper atmosphere, generally the chief ruler of these lofty regions, and almost always accompanied by a pure, blue sky, overpowered the N.W. trade (which blew from beneath; and, trending upwards along the cleft in the western side of the crater of Mondolawangi, continually enveloped anew in clouds the summit of the Pangerango), that it was permitted us to descry, now here, now there, small stretches of the country lying spread out at our feet, or to perceive closer at hand the inner slope of the crater of Gedeh, lying exposed to our wondering vision. We did what we could to secure a few thermometrical and barometrical observations, as also to shoot, to geologize, to botanize; and many a valuable discovery was made ere night set in and compelled us to seek shelter against the raw, cold night air, in the Pasanggrahan, which had been so carefully fitted up for our accommodation. On the summit we found quite an accumulation of various elegant little plants, which recalled to us
the Alpine districts of our own land, one of which, first discovered by Junghuhn, and named by him Primula Imperialis,[49] is one of the loveliest flowers in Nature, and which has never yet been found in any other part of the globe; while in the brushwood around we heard the cooing of a bird of the thrush species (Turdus fumidus), which, with the exception of a small, very elegant little fellow, somewhat resembling the willow-wren, was the sole representative of the feathered tribe in these elevated regions.
All our hopes were now directed towards the ensuing morning, which it was hoped would bring us better weather. By five in the morning every one was on foot, watching with anxious look the advent of the star of day. But alas! ere long all was once more enveloped for us in a dense but fine vapour, and the thermometer indicated only 47°.33 Fahr.
About fifty feet higher than the two huts for shelter erected on the plateau rises a trigonometrical pole, which, visible from a great distance, serves as a land-mark for the government surveyors during their labours in this neighbourhood. Any clear morning, when the sky is free from clouds, one must enjoy from this free, airy out-look a splendid distant view over a large portion of the Preanger Regency. As for ourselves our panorama continued to be lamentably circumscribed, and all we could do was, to watch for those fleeting