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 Water 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 visits, 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 village, 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.
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