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.
CHAPTER XXIV.
BATCHIAN.
(OCTOBER 1858 To APRIL 1859.)
I LANDED opposite the house kept for the use of the Resident of
Ternate, and was met by a respectable middle-aged Malay, who told
me he was Secretary to the Sultan, and would receive the official
letter with which I had been provided.
