On Unconsolidated Grounds
of the hill they began a process of settling back in. The village held shooting competitions for young people at the perimeter of the tree line. The kids were charged with shooting fruit seeds in slingshots as far as possible into the denuded forest to accelerate its regrowth. This was a gift to keep up good relations with the monkeys. Many other villages maintain antagonistic relations with Merapi’s monkeys. They shoot the monkeys and the monkeys steal their crops. Deles feeds them. The monkeys evacuate the mountaintop when it is going to erupt. Giving them friendly passage through Deles allows the villagers an early warning signal of an eruption.
FIG 5 Sand mining Merapi.
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