years, as I found it very convenient to have a place to return to after my voyages
to the various islands of the Moluccas and New Guinea, where I could pack my
collections, recruit my health, and make preparations for future journeys. To
avoid repetitions, I will in this chapter combine what notes I have about Ternate.
A description of my house (the plan of which is here shown) will enable the
reader to understand a very common mode of building in these islands. There is
of course only one floor. The walls are of stone up to three feet high; on this are
strong squared posts supporting the roof, everywhere except in the verandah
filled in with the leaf-stems of the sago-palm, fitted neatly in wooden owing.
The floor is of stucco, and the ceilings are like the walls. The house is forty feet
square, consists of four rooms, a hall, and two verandahs, and is surrounded by a
wilderness of fruit trees. A deep well supplied me with pure cold water, a great
luxury in this climate. Five minutes' walk down the road brought me to the
market and the beach, while in the opposite direction there were no more
European houses between me and the mountain. In this house I spent many
happy days. Returning to it after a three or four months' absence in some
uncivilized region, I enjoyed the unwonted luxuries of milk and fresh bread, and
regular supplies of fish and eggs, meat and vegetables, which were often sorely
needed to restore my health and energy. I had ample space and convenience or
unpacking, sorting, and arranging my treasures, and I had delightful walks in the
suburbs of the town, or up the lower slopes of the mountain, when I desired a
little exercise, or had time for collecting.
The lower part of the mountain, behind the town of Ternate, is almost entirely
covered with a forest of fruit trees, and during the season hundreds of men and
women, boys and girls, go up every day to bring down the ripe fruit. Durians and
Mangoes, two of the very finest tropical fruits, are in greater abundance at
Ternate than I have ever seen them, and some of the latter are of a quality not
inferior to any in the world. Lansats and Mangustans are also abundant, but these
do not ripen till a little later. Above the fruit trees there is a belt of clearings and
cultivated grounds, which creep up the mountain to a height of between two and
three thousand feet, above which is virgin forest, reaching nearly to the summit,
which on the side next the town is covered with a high reedy grass. On the
further side it is more elevated, of a bare and desolate aspect, with a slight
depression marking the position of the crater. From this part descends a black
scoriaceous tract; very rugged, and covered with a scanty vegetation of scattered
bushes as far down as the sea. This is the lava of the great eruption near a
century ago, and is called by the natives "batu-angas"(burnt rock).
Just below my house is the fort, built by the Portuguese, below which is an