ANYONE who has planted a tree knows that what grows is not merely an object in space, but also a mark in time. How many centuries are gathered in the virgin forest around Lake Tamblingan? Thousands of trees, ancient, young, crowd together, interweaving with the bushes, tendrils and vines; the dense foliage thickened by ferns that have hidden the path since time immemorial.

I was walking there that evening, along the lake in the hills of nor