Ternate - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

TERNATE 6
TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
not present an impressive sight, since most of them are covered with the sago leaves
commonly used on the islands. This roof covering, however, certainly makes for a much
cooler building than would be possible with roof tiles.
Just adjacent to the residency office is the office of the harbor master, who also has
the position of warehouse manager. Only a narrow gutter separates the harbor master’s
office from the Resident’s house, which is recognizable from a distance by its high flag pole
set amidst thickly planted trees. The outside appearance of this house lacks pomp or
splendor due to its low roof made of katu (palm-leaf thatch). It is, nevertheless, a very
appropriate, spacious, and extremely habitable building with a stunning view of the sea
and a large back garden, altogether containing every convenience of an Indies house. 11 It is
not a very old building, for a stone in the front wall indicates that the cornerstone was laid
on May 30, 1842. Tradition has it that the then-Resident Helbach inaugurated the new
residency on January 23, 1844 with a big pasang-lilin party. 12 The house has, however,
suffered damage from severe earthquakes, especially that of 1855 which ravaged the whole
island. 13 Damage to the building has never resulted in any casualties, however, [p. 9] since
except for the stone foundations it is made completely of wood. There is also a smaller
11 [p. 8, n. 1] Bleeker (1856, I:163) says that the house is not adequate to impress the population
and does not meet the standards appropriate to the representative of our government. This
statement is as empty of meaning as the equally unfavorable opinion of van der Crab in De
Moluksche Eilanden (1862, p. 261).
12 [p. 8, n. 2] The ceremony of inaugurating a new house, involving the lighting of many candles,
is called festa sarah tocah in the Ternatese language.
13 [p. 8, n. 3] To correct what Bleeker (1856, I:164), Bickmore (1873, II:4) and others have
reported about the earthquakes and eruptions on Ternate, one should note that Valentijn (1724)
speaks of eruptions on July 18 and 19, 1608, in 1653, and [note continues, p. 9 infra] in 1687, and of
severe earthquakes in 1673 and 1686. In the 1673 eruption, ash fell as far as Ambon. Bleeker
probably made a mistake and meant the eruption of the mountain of Gamkonora on Halmahera (see
Valentijn, Ib:332). The so-called “Burnt Corner” [Dutch, Verbrande Hoek] or Batu Angus [Malay,
“Burnt Stone”] resulted from a lava stream flowing to the sea in 1737. Others, however, place this
event in 1770 (see below, in the “Short Chronicle,” p. 164, n. 3) [as corrected in Errata —Trans.].
In this century, the most severe earthquakes were recorded in 1835 and 1839 (the latter on
March 25, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon), and especially in 1840. Before the 1840 earthquake, an
eruption occurred on February 2 with earth tremors. During the night between February 13 and 14,
the inhabitants heard a subterranean noise and felt several jolts, the most severe occurring at halfhour
intervals between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. The most severe earthquake occurred on the morning of
the 14th at 10 o’clock, after which not a single stone house on Ternate was fit for habitation. The
damage came to one million guilders. With the government’s permission, a donation list was
circulated through the whole of the Indies (see Jav. Courant of April 1, 1840). Still in shock from the
earthquake, some people wanted to shift the seat of goverment to Halmahera, but this plan was later
abandoned. Temminck (1849, III:143) is not entirely accurate in his description. In 1855, the most
severe jolts occurred on June 14 (when Fort Dodinga on Halmahera collapsed), June 16 and 22, and
July 14. The most recent eruptions, in June 1862 and August 1871 (described by J.E. Teijsmann
[Natuurkundig Tijdschrift, XI:1960], among others) were much less severe. De Hollander’s
statement (1877, II:377, n. 2) that many people perished in the 1686 and 1840 quakes has not been
verified.
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