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TERNATE 155
THE TERNATESE LANGUAGE
the Major and the Imam-Secretary were with the Sultan and, like him, wore plain clothes.
The Sultana also came outside to greet the wife of the Resident. 27 The Sultan went down
with the Major and Imam-Secretary to receive the Resident and his wife and the other
gentlemen at the bottom of the stairs, as is customary. Then they went up, entered the
gallery, and sat down on chairs close to the land side. When they were seated, tea and
cakes were served. They ate and drank until six o’clock, when they begged leave of the
Sultan.
On Friday, the seventeenth day of the moon in the month of Dulhaji, the Sultan
gave f 50 in copper coins as a sedekah to be shared among the lebes of the big mosque and
the langgar at Hiku.
On the same Friday, at seven o’clock, the Resident instructed the Secretary, Mr.
Otto, and the Captain of the civilians, Mr. Duivenbode, to form a deputation and go to the
Sultan. They were to notify him that the Resident and all the Europeans wished to move to
Halmahera. The Resident sent his greetings and respect, and wanted to know what the
Sultan thought of this proposition. The Resident and all the Europeans also requested the
Sultan to allow the warship to remain there 28 and to appoint a committee to look [p. 219]
for a location for a settlement at Dodinga, Sidangoli, or Jailolo.
The Sultan answered those two gentlemen, saying: “Convey my greetings and
respect to our father and inform him that his son, the Sultan, agrees to let the warship
remain and will appoint a committee to look for a place for a settlement, but that he is not
in agreeemnt with the proposition to move the village.”
In the same month of Dulhaji, on the twenty-first night of the moon, a Tuesday, the
Resident, together with the Sultan and the Lieutenant Colonel, appointed a committee of
three officers of the warship, the Captain of the citizens, Mr. Duivenbode, the former doctor,
Mr. Coldenhoff, the Lieutenant of the artillery, Mr. Krause, and Mr. Laurens, with Major
Putra Ahamadi, the Hukum of Soahsio, Bo, and Jurtulis Sadang, to look for a suitable spot
for a village at Dodinga, Sidangoli, or Jailolo. The committee returned after two nights, on
Thursday.
That same month, after six o’clock on Saturday evening, the twenty-sixth night of
the moon, the Resident instructed the customshouse officer Pruis Boekhouwer and the clerk
Soleman to take a letter to the Sultan. This letter from the Resident informed the Sultan,
on behalf of the Government and all the Europeans, that they had asked to move to
Halmahera.
On Monday, the twenty-seventh night of that moon, the Sultan ordered the Imam-
Secretary and Jurtulis Sadang to take a letter to the Resident in which it was stated that
the Sultan and his nobles and officials apologized, but they did not agree with the plan of
27 [p. 218, n. 2] The Sultana never appears during a visit of men.
28 [p. 218, n. 3] The goal was probably to persuade the commander of the warship, through the
request of the Sultan, not to leave too soon. One gets a mistaken impression from what is reported
here.
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