langsat among them and the townsfolk would go up to the orchards every day to
gather the fruit which was in season. Here is how Wallace wrote of his residence:
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 ... In this house I spent many
happy days. Returning to it after 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 for 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.View of Mount Kiematabu on the island of Tidore seen from TernateTernate became Wallace’s principle residence and his base for the next three years
while he took collecting trips to adjacent islands such as Gilolo, Bacan, Ceram, and as
far east as Waigeo and Papua. There must have been a social life amongst the Dutch
officials and colonial residents on the island, but Wallace had become used to his own
solitary existence and wrote that when back in Ternate ‘I seldom have a visitor but I
wish him away in an hour, as I find seclusion very favourable to reflection’.
From Ternate Wallace crossed the narrow Patinti Strait to the large island of Gilolo,
or Halmahera as it is now known. Here he rented a hut in the village of Dodinga where
he stayed for over a month and obtained a number of insects which were quite new.
However, and not for the first time, he fell ill with malaria. Confined to his simple hut
he suffered the debilitating cycle of a sudden coldness, followed by shivering, then a
Alfred Russel Wallace – The ‘Letter from Ternate’ 163