days' excursion, which was a very agreeable one, and enabled me to sea a good
deal of the island. I had hired a roomy boat, and brought with me a small table
and my rattan chair. These were great comforts, as, wherever there was a roof, I
could immediately instal myself, and work and eat at ease. When I could not find
accommodation on shore I slept in the boat, which was always drawn up on the
beach if we stayed for a few days at one spot.
On my return to Batchian I packed up my collections, and prepared for my
return to Ternate. When I first came I had sent back my boat by the pilot, with
two or three other men who had been glad of the opportunity. I now took
advantage of a Government boat which had just arrived with rice for the troops,
and obtained permission to return in her, and accordingly started on the 13th of
April, having resided only a week short of six months on the island of Batchian.
The boat was one of the kind called "Kora-kora," quite open, very low, and
about four tons burthen. It had outriggers of bamboo about five feet off each
side, which supported a bamboo platform extending the whole length of the
vessel. On the extreme outside of this sit the twenty rowers, while within was a
convenient passage fore and aft. The middle portion of the boat was covered
with a thatch-house, in which baggage and passengers are stowed; the gunwale
was not more than a foot above water, and from the great top and side weight,
and general clumsiness, these boats are dangerous in heavy weather, and are not
unfrequently lost. A triangle mast and mat sail carried us on when the wind was
favourable,—which (as usual) it never was, although, according to the monsoon,
it ought to have been. Our water, carried in bamboos, would only last two days,
and as the voyage occupied seven, we had to touch at a great many places. The
captain was not very energetic, and the men rowed as little as they pleased, or
we might have reached Ternate in three days, having had fine weather and little
wind all the way.
There were several passengers besides myself: three or four Javanese soldiers,
two convicts whose time had expired (one, curiously enough, being the man who
had stolen my cash-box and keys), the schoolmaster's wife and a servant going
on a visit to Ternate, and a Chinese trader going to buy goods. We had to sleep
all together in the cabin, packed pretty close; but they very civilly allowed me
plenty of room for my mattrass, and we got on very well together. There was a
little cookhouse in the bows, where we could boil our rice and make our coffee,
every one of course bringing his own provisions, and arranging his meal-times
as he found most convenient. The passage would have been agreeable enough
but for the dreadful "tom-toms," or wooden drums, which are beaten incessantly
while the men are rowing. Two men were engaged constantly at them, making a