(OCTOBER 1858.)
ON returning to Ternate from Sahoe, I at once began making preparations
for a journey to Batchian, an island which I had been constantly
recommended to visit since I had arrived in this part of the Moluccas.
After all was ready I found that I should have to hire a boat, as no
opportunity of obtaining a passage presented itself. I accordingly went
into the native town, and could only find two boats for hire, one much
larger than I required, and the other far smaller than I wished. I chose
the smaller one, chiefly because it would not cost me one-third as much
as the larger one, and also because in a coasting voyage a small vessel
can be more easily managed, and more readily got into a place of safety
during violent gales, than a large one. I took with me my Bornean lad
Ali, who was now very useful to me; Lahagi, a native of Ternate, a very
good steady man, and a fair shooter, who had been with me to New Guinea;
Lahi, a native of Gilolo, who could speak Malay, as woodcutter and
general assistant; and Garo, a boy who was to act as cook. As the boat
was so small that we had hardly room to stow ourselves away when all my
stores were on board, I only took one other man named Latchi, as pilot.
He was a Papuan slave, a tall, strong black fellow, but very civil and
careful. The boat I had hired from a Chinaman named Lau Keng Tong, for
five guilders a month.
We started on the morning of October 9th, but had not got a hundred
yards from land, when a strong head wind sprung up, against which we
could not row, so we crept along shore to below the town, and waited
till the turn of the tide should enable us to cross over to the coast of
Tidore. About three in the afternoon we got off, and found that our boat
sailed well, and would keep pretty close to the wind. We got on a good
way before the wind fell and we had to take to our oars again. We landed
on a nice sandy beach to cook our suppers, just as the sun set behind
the rugged volcanic hills, to the south of the great cone of Tidore,
and soon after beheld the planet Venus shining in the twilight with the
brilliancy of a new moon, and casting a very distinct shadow. We left
again a little before seven, and as we got out from the shadow of the
mountain I observed a bright light over one part of the edge, and soon
after, what seemed a fire of remarkable whiteness on the very summit of
the hill. I called the attention of my men to it, and they too thought
it merely a fire; but a few minutes afterwards, as we got farther off
shore, the light rose clear up above the ridge of the hill, and some
faint clouds clearing away from it, discovered the magnificent comet
which was at the same time, astonishing all Europe. The nucleus
presented to the naked eye a distinct disc of brilliant white light,
from which the tail rose at an angle of about 30° or 35° with the
horizon, curving slightly downwards, and terminating in a broad brush
of faint light, the curvature of which diminished till it was nearly
straight at the end. The portion of the tail next the comet appeared
three or four tunes as bright as the most luminous portion of the milky
way, and what struck me as a singular feature was that its upper margin,
from the nucleus to very near the extremity, was clearly and almost
sharply defined, while the lower side gradually shaded off into
obscurity. Directly it rose above the ridge of the hill, I said to my
men, "See, it's not a fire, it's a bintang ber-ekor" ("tailed-star," the
Malay idiom for a comet). "So it is," said they; and all declared that
they had often heard tell of such, but had never seen one till now. I
had no telescope with me, nor any instrument at hand, but I estimated
the length of the tail at about 20°, and the width, towards the
extremity, about 4° or 5°.
The whole of the next day we were obliged to stop near the village of
Tidore, owing to a strong wind right in our teeth. The country was all
cultivated, and I in vain searched for any insects worth capturing. One
of my men went out to shoot, but returned home without a single bird. At
sunset, the wind having dropped, we quitted Tidore, and reached the
next island, March, where we stayed till morning. The comet was again
visible, but not nearly so brilliant, being partly obscured by clouds;
and dimmed by the light of the new moon. We then rowed across to the
island of Motir, which is so surrounded with coral-reefs that it is
dangerous to approach. These are perfectly flat, and are only covered at
high water, ending in craggy vertical walls of coral in very deep water.
When there is a little wind, it is dangerous to come near these rocks;
but luckily it was quite smooth, so we moored to their edge, while the
men crawled over the reef to the land, to make; a fire and cook our
dinner-the boat having no accommodation for more than heating water for
my morning and evening coffee. We then rowed along the edge of the reef
to the end of the island, and were glad to get a nice westerly breeze,
which carried us over the strait to the island of Makian, where we
arrived about 8 P.M, The sky was quite clear, and though the moon shone
brightly, the comet appeared with quite as much splendour as when we
first saw it.
The coasts of these small islands are very different according to their
geological formation. The volcanoes, active or extinct, have steep black
beaches of volcanic sand, or are fringed with rugged masses of lava and
basalt. Coral is generally absent, occurring only in small patches in
quiet bays, and rarely or never forming reefs. Ternate, Tidore, and
Makian belong to this class. Islands of volcanic origin, not themselves
volcanoes, but which have been probably recently upraised, are generally
more or less completely surrounded by fringing reefs of coral, and
have beaches of shining white coral sand. Their coasts present volcanic
conglomerates, basalt, and in some places a foundation of stratified
rocks, with patches of upraised coral. Mareh and Motir are of this
character, the outline of the latter giving it the appearance of having
been a true volcano, and it is said by Forrest to have thrown out
stones in 1778. The next day (Oct. 12th), we coasted along the island of
Makian, which consists of a single grand volcano. It was now quiescent,
but about two centuries ago (in 1646) there was a terrible eruption,
which blew up the whole top of the mountain, leaving the truncated
jagged summit and vast gloomy crater valley which at this time
distinguished it. It was said to have been as lofty as Tidore before
this catastrophe. [Soon after I' left the Archipelago, on the 29th of
December, 1862, another eruption of this mountain suddenly took place,
which caused great devastation in the island. All the villages and crops
were destroyed, and numbers of the inhabitants killed. The sand and
ashes fell so thick that the crops were partially destroyed fifty miles
off, at Ternate, where it was so dark the following day that lamps
had to be lighted at noon. For the position of this and the adjacent
islands, see the map in Chapter XXXVII.]
I stayed some time at a place where I saw a new clearing on a very steep
part of the mountain, and obtained a few interesting insects. In the
evening we went on to the extreme southern point, to be ready to pass
across the fifteen-mile strait to the island of Kaióa. At five the next
morning we started, but the wind, which had hitherto been westerly, now
got to the south and southwest, and we had to row almost all the way
with a burning sun overhead. As we approached land a fine breeze sprang
up, and we went along at a great pace; yet after an hour we were no
nearer, and found we were in a violent current carrying us out to sea.
At length we overcame it, and got on shore just as the sun set, having
been exactly thirteen hours coming fifteen miles. We landed on a beach
of hard coralline rock, with rugged cliffs of the same, resembling those
of the Ke Islands (Chap. XXIX.) It was accompanied by a brilliancy and
luxuriance of the vegetation, very like what I had observed at those
islands, which so much pleased me that I resolved to stay a few days
at the chief village, and see if their animal productions were
correspondingly interesting. While searching for a secure anchorage for
the night we again saw the comet, still apparently as brilliant as at
first, but the tail had now risen to a higher angle.
October 14th.--All this day we coasted along the Kaióa Islands, which
have much the appearance and outline of Ke on a small scale, with the
addition of flat swampy tracts along shore, and outlying coral reefs.
Contrary winds and currents had prevented our taking the proper course
to the west of them, and we had to go by a circuitous route round the
southern extremity of one island, often having to go far out to sea on
account of coral reefs. On trying to pass a channel through one of these
reefs we were grounded, and all had to get out into the water, which in
this shallow strait had been so heated by the sun as to be disagreeably
warm, and drag our vessel a considerable distance among weeds and
sponges, corals and prickly corallines. It was late at night when we
reached the little village harbour, and we were all pretty well knocked
up by hard work, and having had nothing but very brackish water to drink
all day-the best we could find at our last stopping-place. There was a
house close to the shore, built for the use of the Resident of Ternate
when he made his official visits, but now occupied by several native
travelling merchants, among whom I found a place to sleep.
The next morning early I went to the village to find the "Kapala," or
head man. I informed him that I wanted to stay a few days in the house
at the landing, and begged him to have it made ready for me. He was very
civil, and came down at once to get it cleared, when we found that the
traders had already left, on hearing that I required it. There were no
doors to it, so I obtained the loan of a couple of hurdles to keep out
dogs and other animals. The land here was evidently sinking rapidly,
as shown by the number of trees standing in salt water dead and dying.
After breakfast I started for a walk to the forest-covered hill above
the village, with a couple of boys as guides. It was exceedingly hot and
dry, no rain having fallen for two months. When we reached an elevation
of about two hundred feet, the coralline rock which fringes the
shore was succeeded by a hard crystalline rock, a kind of metamorphic
sandstone. This would indicate flat there had been a recent elevation of
more than two hundred feet, which had still more recently clanged into
a movement of subsidence. The hill was very rugged, but among dry sticks
and fallen trees I found some good insects, mostly of forms and species
I was already acquainted with from Ternate and Gilolo. Finding no good
paths I returned, and explored the lower ground eastward of the village,
passing through a long range of plantain and tobacco grounds, encumbered
with felled and burnt logs, on which I found quantities of beetles of
the family Buprestidae of six different species, one of which was new
to me. I then reached a path in the swampy forest where I hoped to find
some butterflies, but was disappointed. Being now pretty well exhausted
by the intense heat, I thought it wise to return and reserve further
exploration for the next day.
When I sat down in the afternoon to arrange my insects, the louse
was surrounded by men, women, and children, lost in amazement at my
unaccountable proceedings; and when, after pinning out the specimens, I
proceeded to write the name of the place on small circular tickets, and
attach one to each, even the old Kapala, the Mahometan priest, and some
Malay traders could not repress signs of astonishment. If they had
known a little more about the ways and opinions of white men, they
would probably have looked upon me as a fool or a madman, but in their
ignorance they accepted my operations as worthy of all respect, although
utterly beyond their comprehension.
The next day (October 16th) I went beyond the swamp, and found a place
where a new clearing was being made in the virgin forest. It was a long
and hot walk, and the search among the fallen trunks and branches was
very fatiguing, but I was rewarded by obtaining about seventy distinct
species of beetles, of which at least a dozen were new to me, and many
others rare and interesting. I have never in my life seen beetles so
abundant as they were on this spot. Some dozen species of good-sized
golden Buprestidae, green rose-chafers (Lomaptera), and long-horned
weevils (Anthribidae), were so abundant that they rose up in swarms as I
walked along, filling the air with a loud buzzing hum. Along with these,
several fine Longicorns were almost equally common, forming such au
assemblage as for once to realize that idea of tropical luxuriance which
one obtains by looking over the drawers of a well-filled cabinet. On
the under sides of the trunks clung numbers of smaller or more sluggish
Longicorns, while on the branches at the edge of the clearing others
could be detected sitting with outstretched antenna ready to take flight
at the least alarm. It was a glorious spot, and one which will always
live in my memory as exhibiting the insect-life of the tropics in
unexampled luxuriance. For the three following days I continued to visit
this locality, adding each time many new species to my collection-the
following notes of which may be interesting to entomologists. October
15th, 33 species of beetles; 16th, 70 species; 17th, 47 species; 18th,
40 species; 19th, 56 species--in all about a hundred species, of which
forty were new to me. There were forty-four species of Longicorns among
them, and on the last day I took twenty-eight species of Longicorns, of
which five were new to me.
My boys were less fortunate in shooting. The only birds at all common
were the great red parrot (Eclectus grandis), found in most of the
Moluccas, a crow, and a Megapodius, or mound-maker. A few of the pretty
racquet-tailed kingfishers were also obtained, but in very poor plumage.
They proved, however, to be of a different species from those found in
the other islands, and come nearest to the bird originally described by
Linnaeus under the name of Alcedo dea, and which came from Ternate. This
would indicate that the small chain of islands parallel to Gilolo have
a few peculiar species in common, a fact which certainly occurs in
insects.
The people of Kaioa interested me much. They are evidently a mixed race,
having Malay and Papuan affinities, and are allied to the peoples
of Ternate and of Gilolo. They possess a peculiar language, somewhat
resembling those of the surrounding islands, but quite distinct. They
are now Mahometans, and are subject to Ternate, The only fruits seen
here were papaws and pine-apples, the rocky soil and dry climate being
unfavourable. Rice, maize, and plantains flourish well, except that
they suffer from occasional dry seasons like the present one. There is
a little cotton grown, from which the women weave sarongs (Malay
petticoats). There is only one well of good water on the islands,
situated close to the landing-place, to which all the inhabitants come
for drinking water. The men are good boat-builders, and they make a
regular trade of it and seem to be very well off.
After five days at Kaióa we continued our journey, and soon got among
the narrow straits and islands which lead down to the town of Batchian.
In the evening we stayed at a settlement of Galela men. These are
natives of a district in the extreme north of Gilolo, and are great
wanderers over this part of the Archipelago. They build large and roomy
praus with outriggers, and settle on any coast or island they take a
fancy for. They hunt deer and wild pig, drying the meat; they catch
turtle and tripang; they cut down the forest and plant rice or maize,
and are altogether remarkably energetic and industrious. They are very
line people, of light complexion, tall, and with Papuan features, coming
nearer to the drawings and descriptions of the true Polynesians of
Tahiti and Owyhee than any I have seen.
During this voyage I had several times had an opportunity of seeing my
men get fire by friction. A sharp-edged piece of bamboo is rubbed across
the convex surface of another piece, on which a small notch is first
cut. The rubbing is slow at first and gradually quicker, till it becomes
very rapid, and the fine powder rubbed off ignites and falls through the
hole which the rubbing has cut in the bamboo. This is done with great
quickness and certainty. The Ternate, people use bamboo in another way.
They strike its flinty surface with a bit of broken china, and produce a
spark, which they catch in some kind of tinder.
On the evening of October 21st we reached our destination, having been
twelve days on the voyage. It had been tine weather all the time, and,
although very hot, I had enjoyed myself exceedingly, and had besides
obtained some experience in boat work among islands and coral reefs,
which enabled me afterwards to undertake much longer voyages of the same
kind. The village or town of Batchian is situated at the head of a wide
and deep bay, where a low isthmus connects the northern and southern
mountainous parts of the island. To the south is a fine range of
mountains, and I had noticed at several of our landing-places that the
geological formation of the island was very different from those around
it. Whenever rock was visible it was either sandstone in thin layers,
dipping south, or a pebbly conglomerate. Sometimes there was a little
coralline limestone, but no volcanic rocks. The forest had a dense
luxuriance and loftiness seldom found on the dry and porous lavas and
raised coral reefs of Ternate and Gilolo; and hoping for a corresponding
richness in the birds and insects, it was with much satisfaction and
with considerable expectation that I began my explorations in the
hitherto unknown island of Batchian.