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TERNATE 12 TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
meager living from fishing. The population numbers upward of two thousand. This is not
much different from the figure mentioned in earlier reports.
The Makassarese quarter borders on the territory of the Sultan to the north. The
main road runs directly to the Ngarah Lamò or big gate, where the Sultan’s guards stand
watch. The Ngarah Lamò also serves as council chamber and jail.
We shall stay on this side of the boundary, however, and turn westward. Traveling
southward along a few narrow paths, we once again reach the Oranje field. Situated
behind the fort, this field makes an excellent drill ground. The solitary walker, facing south
here, has a beautiful view of the peak of Tidore rising high above the foothills amidst
patches of richly varied green foliage. 25
Two roads run west from the corners of this square, sloping gently. The northern
road leads to the Makassarese graveyard; the southern one leads to the ground used for
target practice by the garrison and the civil army. A side path off this southern road goes
as far as the Chinese and European cemeteries. Along the way it passes a few dilapidated
houses [p. 19] which a few inscribed dates show to be the remains of native habitations
from the last century. These ruins are not indications of decayed greatness, as some people
claim. 26
Following the upper road, which continues as far as Kayumerah, one soon reaches
that part of the city which is inhabited mainly by native Christians, all of whom are
citizens. The native school here is doing extremely well. There are more than one hundred
students in the school, many of them girls, and it has a good reputation. 27 Christian and
Moslem children share desks with Chinese children—an example of religious tolerance
which, as far as I know, has never been disturbed by clumsy meddling from outside.
Most dwellings are made of gaba-gaba (the center rib of the sago palm leaf), 28 with
here and there a stone house; the compounds and fences are well maintained and the whole
area has a friendly look. The aspect becomes less cheerful when we proceed southward due
to the thicker overgrowth of the adjacent gardens and of the old slave graveyard.
25 [p. 18, n. 1] Van Musschenbroek (Tijdschrift der Koninklijk Instituut, 4th series, VII:59, n. 1)
may have had this view in mind when he made the peculiar comparison with a Dutch landscape,
since the groups of trees described by him are found everywhere.
26 [p. 19, n. 1] Wallace (1870-1871, II:8) even refers to “ruins of huge buildings.”
27 [p. 19, n. 2] One can appreciate the children’s progress, without indulging in the sort of silly
praise uttered by van der Crab (1862, p. 264).
28 [p. 19, n. 3] It is well known that the gaba (plural, gaba-gaba; Ternatese, gabah) is the center
rib of the sago palm leaf. Gaba-gaba are extremely strong and are used to construct walls, lofts, and
sometimes also floors; for this reason, houses made of this material are called rumah gaba-gaba.
Katu is the general name for thatch, called atap on Java, which consists of leaves of the same palm
strung together.
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