Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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 wa-
ter 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 vis-
its, 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 vil-
lage, 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 that there had been a recent elevation of more than two hun-
dred feet, which had still more recently changed 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 Buprestidæ 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 house 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, al-
though utterly beyond their comprehension.
