The Malay Archipelago, vol 2 | Page 4

repetitions, I will in this chapter combine what
notes I have about Ternate.
A description of my house (the plan of which is here shown) will
enable the reader to understand a very common mode of building in
these islands. There is of course only one floor. The walls are of stone
up to three feet high; on this are strong squared posts supporting the
roof, everywhere except in the verandah filled in with the leaf-stems of
the sago-palm, fitted neatly in wooden owing. The floor is of stucco,

and the ceilings are like the walls. The house is forty feet square,
consists of four rooms, a hall, and two verandahs, and is surrounded by
a wilderness of fruit trees. A deep well supplied me with pure cold
water, a great luxury in this climate. Five minutes' walk down the road
brought me to the market and the beach, while in the opposite direction
there were no more European houses between me and the mountain. In
this house I spent many happy days. Returning to it after a three or four
months' absence in some uncivilized region, I enjoyed the unwonted
luxuries of milk and fresh bread, and regular supplies of fish and eggs,
meat and vegetables, which were often sorely needed to restore my
health and energy. I had ample space and convenience or unpacking,
sorting, and arranging my treasures, and I had delightful walks in the
suburbs of the town, or up the lower slopes of the mountain, when I
desired a little exercise, or had time for collecting.
The lower part of the mountain, behind the town of Ternate, is almost
entirely covered with a forest of fruit trees, and during the season
hundreds of men and women, boys and girls, go up every day to bring
down the ripe fruit. Durians and Mangoes, two of the very finest
tropical fruits, are in greater abundance at Ternate than I have ever seen
them, and some of the latter are of a quality not inferior to any in the
world. Lansats and Mangustans are also abundant, but these do not
ripen till a little later. Above the fruit trees there is a belt of clearings
and cultivated grounds, which creep up the mountain to a height of
between two and three thousand feet, above which is virgin forest,
reaching nearly to the summit, which on the side next the town is
covered with a high reedy grass. On the further side it is more elevated,
of a bare and desolate aspect, with a slight depression marking the
position of the crater. From this part descends a black scoriaceous tract;
very rugged, and covered with a scanty vegetation of scattered bushes
as far down as the sea. This is the lava of the great eruption near a
century ago, and is called by the natives "batu-angas"(burnt rock).
Just below my house is the fort, built by the Portuguese, below which is
an open space to the peach, and beyond this the native town extends for
about a mile to the north-east. About the centre of it is the palace of the
Sultan, now a large untidy, half- ruinous building of stone. This chief is

pensioned by the Dutch Government, but retains the sovereignty over
the native population of the island, and of the northern part of Gilolo.
The sultans of Ternate and Tidore were once celebrated through the
East for their power and regal magnificence. When Drake visited
Ternate in 1579, the Portuguese had been driven out of the island,
although they still had a settlement at Tidore. He gives a glowing
account of the Sultan: "The King had a very rich canopy with
embossings of gold borne over him, and was guarded with twelve
lances. From the waist to the ground was all cloth of gold, and that very
rich; in the attire of his head were finely wreathed in, diverse rings of
plaited gold, of an inch or more in breadth, which made a fair and
princely show, somewhat resembling a crown in form; about his neck
he had a chain of perfect gold, the links very great and one fold double;
on his left hand was a diamond, an emerald, a ruby, and a turky; on his
right hand in one ring a big and perfect turky, and in another ring many
diamonds of a smaller size."
All this glitter of barbaric gold was the produce of the spice trade, of
which the Sultans kept the monopoly, and by which they became
wealthy. Ternate, with the small islands in a line south of it, as far as
Batchian, constitute the ancient Moluccas, the native country of the
clove, as well as the only part in which it was cultivated. Nutmegs and
mace were procured from the natives of