Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Dutch corporal and four Javanese soldiers, the sole representatives of the Netherlands
Government in the island. The village is occupied entirely by Ternate men. The true indi-
genes of Gilolo, 'Alfuros' as they are here called, live on the eastern coast, or in the interior
of the northern peninsula. The distance across the isthmus at this place is only two miles,
and there is a good path, along which rice and sago are brought from the eastern villages.
The whole isthmus is very rugged, though not high, being a succession of little abrupt hills
and valleys, with angular masses of limestone rock everywhere projecting, and often almost
blocking up the pathway. Most of it is virgin forest, very luxuriant and picturesque, and at
this time having abundance of large scarlet Ixoras in flower, which made it exceptionally
gay. I got some very nice insects here, though, owing to illness most of the time, my collec-
tion was a small one; and my boy Ali shot me a pair of one of the most beautiful birds of the
East, Pitta gigas, a large ground-thrush, whose plumage of velvety black above is relieved
by a breast of pure white, shoulders of azure blue, and belly of vivid crimson. It has very
long and strong legs, and hops about with such activity in the dense tangled forest, bristling
with rocks, as to make it very difficult to shoot.
In September 1858, after my return from New Guinea, I went to stay some time at the vil-
lage of Djilolo, situated in a bay on the northern peninsula. Here I obtained a house through
the kindness of the Resident of Ternate, who sent orders to prepare one for me. The first
walk into the unexplored forests of a new locality is a moment of intense interest to the nat-
uralist, as it is almost sure to furnish him with something curious or hitherto unknown. The
first thing I saw here was a flock of small parroquets, of which I shot a pair, and was pleased
to find a most beautiful little long-tailed bird, ornamented with green, red, and blue colours,
and quite new to me. It was a variety of the Charmosyna placentis, one of the smallest and
most elegant of the brush-tongued lories. My hunters soon shot me several other fine birds,
and I myself found a specimen of the rare and beautiful day-flying moth, Cocytia d'Urvillei.
The village of Djilolo was formerly the chief residence of the Sultans of Ternate, till
about eighty years ago, when at the request of the Dutch they removed to their present
abode. The place was then no doubt much more populous, as is indicated by the wide extent
of cleared land in the neighbourhood, now covered with coarse high grass, very disagreeable
to walk through, and utterly barren to the naturalist. A few days' exploring showed me that
only some small patches of forest remained for miles round, and the result was a scarcity of
insects and a very limited variety of birds, which obliged me to change my locality. There
was another village called Sahoe, to which there was a road of about twelve miles overland,
and this had been recommended to me as a good place for birds, and as possessing a large
population both of Mahometans and Alfuros, which latter race I much wished to see. I set
