The Malay Archipelago
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by Alfred Russell Wallace >> The Malay Archipelago
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On my return from Waigiou in 1860, I stayed some days on the
southern extremity of Gilolo; but, beyond seeing something more
of its structure and general character, obtained very little
additional information. It is only in the northern peninsula that
there are any indígenes, the whole of the rest of the island,
with Batchian and the other islands westward, being exclusively
inhabited by Malay tribes, allied to those of Ternate and Tidore.
This would seem to indicate that the Alfuros were a comparatively
recent immigration, and that they lead come from the north or
east, perhaps from some of the islands of the Pacific. It is
otherwise difficult to understand how so many fertile districts
should possess no true indigenes.
Gilolo, or Halmaheira as it is called by the Malays and Dutch,
seems to have been recently modified by upheaval and subsidence.
In 1673, a mountain is said to stave been upheaved at Gamokonora
on the northern peninsula. All the parts that I have seen have
either been volcanic or coralline, and along the coast there are
fringing coral reefs very dangerous to navigation. At the same
time, the character of its natural history proves it to be a
rather ancient land, since it possesses a number of animals
peculiar to itself or common to the small islands around it, but
almost always distinct from those of New Guinea on the east, of
Ceram on the south, and of Celebes and the Sula islands on the
west.
The island of Morty, close to the north-eastern extremity of
Gilolo, was visited by my assistant Charles Allen, as well as by
Dr. Bernstein; and the collections obtained there present some
curious differences from those of the main island. About fifty-
six species of land-birds are known to inhabit this island, and
of these, a kingfisher (Tanysiptera Boris), a honey-sucker
(Tropidorhynchus fuscicapillus), and a large crow-like starling
(Lycocorax morotensis), are quite distinct from allied species
found in Gilolo. The island is coralline and sandy, and we must
therefore believe it to have been separated from Gilolo at a
somewhat remote epoch; while we learn from its natural history
that an arm of the sea twenty-five miles wide serves to limit the
range even of birds of considerable powers of flight.
CHAPTER XXIII.
TERNATE TO THE KAIOA ISLANDS AND BATCHIAN.
(OCTOBER 1858.)
ON returning to Ternate from Sahoe, I at once began making
preparations for a journey to Batchian, an island which I had
been constantly recommended to visit since I had arrived in this
part of the Moluccas. After all was ready I found that I should
have to hire a boat, as no opportunity of obtaining a passage
presented itself. I accordingly went into the native town, and
could only find two boats for hire, one much larger than I
required, and the other far smaller than I wished. I chose the
smaller one, chiefly because it would not cost me one-third as
much as the larger one, and also because in a coasting voyage a
small vessel can be more easily managed, and more readily got
into a place of safety during violent gales, than a large one. I
took with me my Bornean lad Ali, who was now very useful to me;
Lahagi, a native of Ternate, a very good steady man, and a fair
shooter, who had been with me to New Guinea; Lahi, a native of
Gilolo, who could speak Malay, as woodcutter and general
assistant; and Garo, a boy who was to act as cook. As the boat
was so small that we had hardly room to stow ourselves away when
all my stores were on board, I only took one other man named
Latchi, as pilot. He was a Papuan slave, a tall, strong black
fellow, but very civil and careful. The boat I had hired from a
Chinaman named Lau Keng Tong, for five guilders a month.
We started on the morning of October 9th, but had not got a
hundred yards from land, when a strong head wind sprung up,
against which we could not row, so we crept along shore to below
the town, and waited till the turn of the tide should enable us
to cross over to the coast of Tidore. About three in the
afternoon we got off, and found that our boat sailed well, and
would keep pretty close to the wind. We got on a good way before
the wind fell and we had to take to our oars again. We landed on
a nice sandy beach to cook our suppers, just as the sun set
behind the rugged volcanic hills, to the south of the great cone
of Tidore, and soon after beheld the planet Venus shining in the
twilight with the brilliancy of a new moon, and casting a very
distinct shadow. We left again a little before seven, and as we
got out from the shadow of the mountain I observed a bright light
over one part of the edge, and soon after, what seemed a fire of
remarkable whiteness on the very summit of the hill. I called the
attention of my men to it, and they too thought it merely a fire;
but a few minutes afterwards, as we got farther off shore, the
light rose clear up above the ridge of the hill, and some faint
clouds clearing away from it, discovered the magnificent comet
which was at the same time, astonishing all Europe. The nucleus
presented to the naked eye a distinct disc of brilliant white
light, from which the tail rose at an angle of about 30° or 35°
with the horizon, curving slightly downwards, and terminating in
a broad brush of faint light, the curvature of which diminished
till it was nearly straight at the end. The portion of the tail
next the comet appeared three or four tunes as bright as the most
luminous portion of the milky way, and what struck me as a
singular feature was that its upper margin, from the nucleus to
very near the extremity, was clearly and almost sharply defined,
while the lower side gradually shaded off into obscurity.
Directly it rose above the ridge of the hill, I said to my men,
"See, it's not a fire, it's a bintang ber-ekor" ("tailed-star,"
the Malay idiom for a comet). "So it is," said they; and all
declared that they had often heard tell of such, but had never
seen one till now. I had no telescope with me, nor any instrument
at hand, but I estimated the length of the tail at about 20°, and
the width, towards the extremity, about 4° or 5°.
The whole of the next day we were obliged to stop near the
village of Tidore, owing to a strong wind right in our teeth. The
country was all cultivated, and I in vain searched for any
insects worth capturing. One of my men went out to shoot, but
returned home without a single bird. At sunset, the wind having
dropped, we quitted Tidore, and reached the next island, March,
where we stayed till morning. The comet was again visible, but
not nearly so brilliant, being partly obscured by clouds; and
dimmed by the light of the new moon. We then rowed across to the
island of Motir, which is so surrounded with coral-reefs that it
is dangerous to approach. These are perfectly flat, and are only
covered at high water, ending in craggy vertical walls of coral
in very deep water. When there is a little wind, it is dangerous
to come near these rocks; but luckily it was quite smooth, so we
moored to their edge, while the men crawled over the reef to the
land, to make; a fire and cook our dinner-the boat having no
accommodation for more than heating water for my morning and
evening coffee. We then rowed along the edge of the reef to the
end of the island, and were glad to get a nice westerly breeze,
which carried us over the strait to the island of Makian, where
we arrived about 8 P.M, The sky was quite clear, and though the
moon shone brightly, the comet appeared with quite as much
splendour as when we first saw it.
The coasts of these small islands are very different according to
their geological formation. 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. Finding no good paths I returned, and explored the lower
ground eastward of the village, passing through a long range of
plantain and tobacco grounds, encumbered with felled and burnt
logs, on which I found quantities of beetles of the family
Buprestidae of six different species, one of which was new to me.
I then reached a path in the swampy forest where I hoped to find
some butterflies, but was disappointed. Being now pretty well
exhausted by the intense heat, I thought it wise to return and
reserve further exploration for the next day.
When I sat down in the afternoon to arrange my insects, the louse
was surrounded by men, women, and children, lost in amazement at
my unaccountable proceedings; and when, after pinning out the
specimens, I proceeded to write the name of the place on small
circular tickets, and attach one to each, even the old Kapala,
the Mahometan priest, and some Malay traders could not repress
signs of astonishment. If they had known a little more about the
ways and opinions of white men, they would probably have looked
upon me as a fool or a madman, but in their ignorance they
accepted my operations as worthy of all respect, although utterly
beyond their comprehension.
The next day (October 16th) I went beyond the swamp, and found a
place where a new clearing was being made in the virgin forest.
It was a long and hot walk, and the search among the fallen
trunks and branches was very fatiguing, but I was rewarded by
obtaining about seventy distinct species of beetles, of which at
least a dozen were new to me, and many others rare and
interesting. I have never in my life seen beetles so abundant as
they were on this spot. Some dozen species of good-sized golden
Buprestidae, green rose-chafers (Lomaptera), and long-horned
weevils (Anthribidae), were so abundant that they rose up in
swarms as I walked along, filling the air with a loud buzzing
hum. Along with these, several fine Longicorns were almost
equally common, forming such au assemblage as for once to realize
that idea of tropical luxuriance which one obtains by looking
over the drawers of a well-filled cabinet. On the under sides of
the trunks clung numbers of smaller or more sluggish Longicorns,
while on the branches at the edge of the clearing others could be
detected sitting with outstretched antenna ready to take flight
at the least alarm. It was a glorious spot, and one which will
always live in my memory as exhibiting the insect-life of the
tropics in unexampled luxuriance. For the three following days I
continued to visit this locality, adding each time many new
species to my collection-the following notes of which may be
interesting to entomologists. October l5th, 33 species of
beetles; 16th, 70 species; 17th, 47 species; 18th, 40 species;
19th, 56 species--in all about a hundred species, of which forty
were new to me. There were forty-four species of Longicorns among
them, and on the last day I took twenty-eight species of
Longicorns, of which five were new to me.
My boys were less fortunate in shooting. The only birds at all
common were the great red parrot (Eclectus grandis), found in
most of the Moluccas, a crow, and a Megapodius, or mound-maker. A
few of the pretty racquet-tailed kingfishers were also obtained,
but in very poor plumage. They proved, however, to be of a
different species from those found in the other islands, and come
nearest to the bird originally described by Linnaeus under the
name of Alcedo dea, and which came from Ternate. This would
indicate that the small chain of islands parallel to Gilolo have
a few peculiar species in common, a fact which certainly occurs
in insects.
The people of Kaioa interested me much. They are evidently a
mixed race, having Malay and Papuan affinities, and are allied to
the peoples of Ternate and of Gilolo. They possess a peculiar
language, somewhat resembling those of the surrounding islands,
but quite distinct. They are now Mahometans, and are subject to
Ternate, The only fruits seen here were papaws and pine-apples,
the rocky soil and dry climate being unfavourable. Rice, maize,
and plantains flourish well, except that they suffer from
occasional dry seasons like the present one. There is a little
cotton grown, from which the women weave sarongs (Malay
petticoats). There is only one well of good water on the islands,
situated close to the landing-place, to which all the inhabitants
come for drinking water. The men are good boat-builders, and they
make a regular trade of it and seem to be very well off.
After five days at Kaiķa we continued our journey, and soon got
among the narrow straits and islands which lead down to the town
of Batchian. In the evening we stayed at a settlement of Galela
men. These are natives of a district in the extreme north of
Gilolo, and are great wanderers over this part of the
Archipelago. They build large and roomy praus with outriggers,
and settle on any coast or island they take a fancy for. They
hunt deer and wild pig, drying the meat; they catch turtle and
tripang; they cut down the forest and plant rice or maize, and
are altogether remarkably energetic and industrious. They are
very line people, of light complexion, tall, and with Papuan
features, coming nearer to the drawings and descriptions of the
true Polynesians of Tahiti and Owyhee than any I have seen.
During this voyage I had several times had an opportunity of
seeing my men get fire by friction. A sharp-edged piece of bamboo
is rubbed across the convex surface of another piece, on which a
small notch is first cut. The rubbing is slow at first and
gradually quicker, till it becomes very rapid, and the fine
powder rubbed off ignites and falls through the hole which the
rubbing has cut in the bamboo. This is done with great quickness
and certainty. The Ternate, people use bamboo in another way.
They strike its flinty surface with a bit of broken china, and
produce a spark, which they catch in some kind of tinder.
On the evening of October 21st we reached our destination, having
been twelve days on the voyage. It had been tine weather all the
time, and, although very hot, I had enjoyed myself exceedingly,
and had besides obtained some experience in boat work among
islands and coral reefs, which enabled me afterwards to undertake
much longer voyages of the same kind. The village or town of
Batchian is situated at the head of a wide and deep bay, where a
low isthmus connects the northern and southern mountainous parts
of the island. To the south is a fine. range of mountains, and I
had noticed at several of our landing-places that the geological
formation of the island was very different from those around it.
Whenever rock was visible it was either sandstone in thin layers,
dipping south, or a pebbly conglomerate. Sometimes there was a
little coralline limestone, but no volcanic rocks. The forest had
a dense luxuriance and loftiness seldom found on the dry and
porous lavas and raised coral reefs of Ternate and Gilolo; and
hoping for a corresponding richness in the birds and insects, it
was with much satisfaction and with considerable expectation that
I began my explorations in the hitherto unknown island of
Batchian.
CHAPTER XXIV.
BATCHIAN.
(OCTOBER 1858 To APRIL 1859.)
I LANDED opposite the house kept for the use of the Resident of
Ternate, and was met by a respectable middle-aged Malay, who told
me he was Secretary to the Sultan, and would receive the official
letter with which I had been provided. On giving it him, he at
once informed me I might have the use of the official residence
which was empty. I soon got my things on shore, but on looking
about me found that the house would never do to stay long in.
There was no water except at a considerable distance, and one of
my men would be almost entirely occupied getting water and
firewood, and I should myself have to walk all through the
village every day to the forest, and live almost in public, a
thing I much dislike. The rooms were all boarded, and had
ceilings, which are a great nuisance, as there are no means of
hanging anything up except by driving nails, and not half the
conveniences of a native bamboo and thatch cottage. I accordingly
inquired for a house outside of the village on the road to the
coal mines, and was informed by the Secretary that there was a
small one belonging to the Sultan, and that he would go with me
early next morning to see it.
We had to pass one large river, by a rude but substantial bridge,
and to wade through another fine pebbly stream of clear water,
just beyond which the little but was situated. It was very small,
not raised on posts, but with the earth for a floor, and was
built almost entirely of the leaf-stems of the sago-palm, called
here "gaba-gaba." Across the river behind rose a forest-clad
bank, and a good road close in front of the horse led through
cultivated grounds to the forest about half a mile on, and thence
to the coal mines tour miles further. These advantages at once
decided me, and I told the Secretary I would be very glad to
occupy the house. I therefore sent my two men immediately to buy
"ataps" (palm-leaf thatch) to repair the roof, and the next day,
with the assistance of eight of the Sultan's men, got all my
stores and furniture carried up and pretty comfortably arranged.
A rough bamboo bedstead was soon constructed, and a table made of
boards which I had brought with me, fixed under the window. Two
bamboo chairs, an easy cane chair, and hanging shelves suspended
with insulating oil cups, so as to be safe from ants, completed
my furnishing arrangements.
In the afternoon succeeding my arrival, the Secretary accompanied
me to visit the Sultan. We were kept waiting a few minutes in an
outer gate-house, and then ushered to the door of a rude, half-
fortified whitewashed house. A small table and three chairs were
placed in a large outer corridor, and an old dirty-faced man with
grey hair and a grimy beard, dressed in a speckled blue cotton
jacket and loose red trousers, came forward, shook hands, and
asked me to be coated. After a quarter of an hour's conversation
on my pursuits, in which his Majesty seemed to take great
interest, tea and cakes-of rather better quality than usual on
such occasions-were brought in. I thanked him for the house, and
offered to show him my collections, which he promised to come and
look at. He then asked me to teach him to take views-to make
maps-to get him a small gun from England, and a milch-goat from
Bengal; all of which requests I evaded as skilfully as I was
able, and we parted very good friends. He seemed a sensible old
man, and lamented the small population of the island, which he
assured me was rich in many valuable minerals, including gold;
but there were not people enough to look after them and work
them. I described to him the great rush of population on the
discovery of the Australian gold mines, and the huge nuggets
found there, with which he was much interested, and exclaimed,
"Oh? if we had but people like that, my country would be quite as
rich "
The morning after I had got into my new house, I sent my boys out
to shoot, and went myself to explore the road to the coal mines.
In less than half a mile it entered the virgin forest, at a place
where some magnificent trees formed a kind of natural avenue. The
first part was flat and swampy, but it soon rose a little, and
ran alongside the fine stream which passed behind my house, and
which here rushed and gurgled over a rocky or pebbly bed,
sometimes leaving wide sandbanks on its margins, and at other
places flowing between high banks crowned with a varied and
magnificent forest vegetation. After about two miles, the valley
narrowed, and the road was carried along the steep hill-side
which rose abruptly from the water's edge. In some places the
rock had been cut away, but its surface was already covered with
elegant ferns and creepers. Gigantic tree-ferns were abundant,
and the whole forest had an air of luxuriance and rich variety
which it never attains in the dry volcanic soil to which I had
been lately accustomed. A little further the road passed to the
other side of the valley by a bridge across the stream at a place
where a great mass of rock in the middle offered an excellent
support for it, and two miles more of most picturesque and
interesting road brought me to the mining establishment.
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