The Volcanoes, Active Or Extinct,
Have Steep Black Beaches Of Volcanic Sand, Or Are Fringed With
Rugged Masses Of Lava And Basalt.
Coral is generally absent,
occurring only in small patches in quiet bays, and rarely or
never forming reefs.
Ternate, Tidore, and Makian belong to this
class. Islands of volcanic origin, not themselves volcanoes, but
which have been probably recently upraised, are generally more or
less completely surrounded by fringing reefs of coral, and have
beaches of shining white coral sand. Their coasts present
volcanic conglomerates, basalt, and in some places a foundation
of stratified rocks, with patches of upraised coral. Mareh and
Motir are of this character, the outline of the latter giving it
the appearance of having been a true volcano, and it is said by
Forrest to have thrown out stones in l778. The next day (Oct.
12th), we coasted along the island of Makian, which consists of a
single grand volcano. It was now quiescent, but about two
centuries ago (in 1646) there was a terrible eruption, which blew
up the whole top of the mountain, leaving the truncated jagged
summit and vast gloomy crater valley which at this time
distinguished it. It was said to have been as lofty as Tidore
before this catastrophe. [Soon after I' left the Archipelago, on
the 29th of December, 1862, another eruption of this mountain
suddenly took place, which caused great devastation in the
island. All the villages and crops were destroyed, and numbers of
the inhabitants killed. The sand and ashes fell so thick that the
crops were partially destroyed fifty miles off, at Ternate, where
it was so dark the following day that lamps had to be lighted at
noon. For the position of this and the adjacent islands, see the
map in Chapter XXXVII.]
I stayed some time at a place where I saw a new clearing on a
very steep part of the mountain, and obtained a few interesting
insects. In the evening we went on to the extreme southern point,
to be ready to pass across the fifteen-mile strait to the island
of Kaiķa. At five the next morning we started, but the wind,
which had hitherto been westerly, now got to the south and
southwest, and we had to row almost all the way with a burning
sun overhead. As we approached land a fine breeze sprang up, and
we went along at a great pace; yet after an hour we were no
nearer, and found we were in a violent current carrying us out to
sea. At length we overcame it, and got on shore just as the sun
set, having been exactly thirteen hours coming fifteen miles. We
landed on a beach of hard coralline rock, with rugged cliffs of
the same, resembling those of the Ke Islands (Chap. XXIX.) It was
accompanied by a brilliancy and luxuriance of the vegetation,
very like what I had observed at those islands, which so much
pleased me that I resolved to stay a few days at the chief
village, and see if their animal productions were correspondingly
interesting. While searching for a secure anchorage for the night
we again saw the comet, still apparently as brilliant as at
first, but the tail had now risen to a higher angle.
October 14th. - All this day we coasted along the Kaiķa Islands,
which have much the appearance and outline of Ke on a small
scale, with the addition of flat swampy tracts along shore, and
outlying coral reefs. Contrary winds and currents had prevented
our taking the proper course to the west of them, and we had to
go by a circuitous route round the southern extremity of one
island, often having to go far out to sea on account of coral
reefs. On trying to pass a channel through one of these reefs we
were grounded, and all had to get out into the water, which in
this shallow strait had been so heated by the sun as to be
disagreeably 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 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. This would
indicate flat there had been a recent elevation of more than two
hundred feet, which had still more recently clanged 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.
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