CHAPTER XXII. GILOLO.
(MARCH AND SEPTEMBER 1858.)
I MADE but few and comparatively short visits to this large and little known
island, but obtained a considerable knowledge of its natural history by sending
first my boy Ali, and then my assistant, Charles Allen, who stayed two or three
months each in the northern peninsula, and brought me back large collections of
birds and insects. In this chapter I propose to give a sketch of the parts which I
myself visited. My first stay was at Dodinga, situated at the head of a deep-bay
exactly opposite Ternate, and a short distance up a little stream which penetrates
a few miles inland. The village is a small one, and is completely shut in by low
hills.
As soon as I arrived, I applied to the head man of the village for a house to
live in, but all were occupied, and there was much difficulty in finding one. In
the meantime I unloaded my baggage on the beach and made some tea, and
afterwards discovered a small but which the owner was willing to vacate if I
would pay him five guilders for a month's rent. As this was something less than
the fee-simple value of the dwelling, I agreed to give it him for the privilege of
immediate occupation, only stipulating that he was to make the roof water-tight.
This he agreed to do, and came every day to tally and look at me; and when I
each time insisted upon his immediately mending the roof according to contract,
all the answer I could get was, "Ea nanti," (Yes, wait a little.) However, when I
threatened to deduct a quarter guilder from the rent for every day it was not
done, and a guilder extra if any of my things were wetted, he condescended to
work for half an hour, which did all that was absolutely necessary.
On the top of a bank, of about a hundred feet ascent from the water, stands the
very small but substantial fort erected by the Portuguese. Its battlements and
turrets have long since been overthrown by earthquakes, by which its massive
structure has also been rent; but it cannot well be thrown down, being a solid
mass of stonework, forming a platform about ten feet high, and perhaps forty
feet square. It is approached by narrow steps under an archway, and is now
surmounted by a row of thatched hovels, in which live the small garrison,
consisting of, a Dutch corporal and four Javanese soldiers, the sole