Ternate - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

TERNATE 167
THE TERNATESE LANGUAGE
When everything was properly in order, the Hukum Jadi Abdul Rasid began with a
sembah (respectful bow) and said a prayer in the manner customary for Tidore and
Ternate; the Hukum Sangaji Makdim, the Kimalaha-Marsaole of Tidore, the Kimalaha-
Marsaole of Ternate, the Kimalaha of Tomacalah Todore, the Ngofamanyira of Latah-latah
Bacan, and the Ngofamanyira of Tasumah Todore each made a sembah; then the lebes, the
imams and the Sangaji Bian did the same and prayed. Then the Fiskaal took the arm of
the Sultan and they went outside on the balcony, near the balustrade and facing the sea,
and the Fiskaal read the decree of appointment of the Sultan in Malay, and the Imam-
Secretary Abdul Ajij read it in Ternatese, and it read as follows:
Memorandum of Confirmation
of the Prince Captain-Laut Putra Ayanhar, who, as Sultan of Ternate, will bear the name
and title of
Sultan tajulmahsul banayatullalalihanan sirajulmulka amirudin iskandar
manurusadik wahuwa mina aladalin sah.
The Government of the Dutch Indies has chosen and appointed at Ternate, in the
place of the late Sultan Mohamad Arsad, the Prince Captain-Laut Putra Ayanhar, the
legitimate eldest son of the late Sultan. Therefore, the aforesaid Putra Ayanhar, Captain-
Laut, has today, the twentieth of October in the year 1879, sworn the oath before us, Owen
Maurits de Munnick, Resident of Ternate, and has affixed his seal [p. 240] and signature
and handed over to us a memorandum of allegiance like the one given by the Captain-Laut
Ayanhar, and we have installed him in the high office of Sultan of Ternate, with the name
and title of,
Sultan tajulmahsul banayatullalalihanan sirajulmulka amirudin iskandar
manurusadik wahuwa mina aladalin sah.
After the reading, everyone went inside again and sat down on the chairs. The large
company and the guards marched back and fell in line as before to honor the Fiskaal when
he left. After the company had formed lines, the Major went up and sat down on a chair.
Tea was served, and the Fiskaal and the Sultan drank it, and the servants went back and
gave tea to the secular and religious leaders of Ternate, Tidore, and Bacan, and to the
princes, nobles, and officers. Then the heads of the honor guard from Tidore were called
inside and they also drank tea.
Then the Sangaji of Limatahu, Ahmar, made a sembah, greeted and paid his
respects, and partook of what was offered to him. The Fiskaal asked permission to leave
and the Sultan ordered the Major Abdul Wahab to accompany him downstairs. The large
company and the guards were lined up; the drummers beat the drums; the pipers played;
and the Turkish drum was beaten.
After the Fiskaal had left, the Sultan went into another room to remove the crown
and put on a kerchief with a turned-up corner, and also a Sulanese hat. Once outside, the
nobles and bobatos seated themselves, waiting to be given tea, and the sosebas brought
pinang and sedekahs outside, in the amount of fifty guilders on a silver tray covered with a
white napkin to be given to the delegates from Tidore; and ten guilders on a silver tray
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