Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
XXIII
Ternate to the Kaióa Islands and Batchian
(
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
