Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
But there is another set of facts, which help us on another step towards the case of the
Javanese mountain flora. On the higher slopes of the Himalaya, on the tops of the mountains
of Central India and of Abyssinia, a number of plants occur which, though not identical with
those of European mountains, belong to the same genera, and are said by botanists to repres-
ent them; and most of these could not exist in the warm intervening plains. Mr. Darwin be-
lieves that this class of facts can be explained in the same way; for, during the greatest
severity of the glacial epoch, temperate forms of plants will have extended to the confines of
the tropics, and on its departure, will have retreated up these southern mountains, as well as
northward to the plains and hills of Europe. But in this case, the time elapsed, and the great
change of conditions, have allowed many of these plants to become so modified that we
now consider them to be distinct species. A variety of other facts of a similar nature, have
led him to believe that the depression of temperature was at one time sufficient to allow a
few north-temperate plants to cross the Equator (by the most elevated routes) and to reach
the Antarctic regions, where they are now found. The evidence on which this belief rests,
will be found in the latter part of Chapter II of the 'Origin of Species;' and, accepting it for
the present as an hypothesis, it enables us to account for the presence of a flora of European
type on the volcanoes of Java.
It will, however, naturally be objected that there is a wide expanse of sea between Java
and the continent, which would have effectually prevented the immigration of temperate
forms of plants during the glacial epoch. This would undoubtedly be a fatal objection, were
there not abundant evidence to show that Java has been formerly connected with Asia, and
that the union must have occurred at about the epoch required. The most striking proof of
such a junction is, that the great Mammalia of Java, the rhinoceros, the tiger, and the
Banteng or wild ox, occur also in Siam and Burmah, and these would certainly not have
been introduced by man. The Javanese peacock and several other birds are also common to
these two countries; but, in the majority of cases, the species are distinct, though closely al-
lied, indicating that a considerable time (required for such modification) has elapsed since
the separation, while it has not been so long as to cause an entire change. Now this exactly
corresponds with the time we should require since the temperate forms of plants entered
Java. These are almost all now distinct species; but the changed conditions under which they
are now forced to exist, and the probability of some of them having since died out on the
continent of India, sufficiently accounts for the Javanese species being different.
In my more special pursuits, I had very little success upon the mountain; owing, perhaps,
to the excessively unpropitious weather and the shortness of my stay. At from 7,000 to
8,000 feet elevation, I obtained one of the most lovely of the small fruit pigeons (Ptilonopus
