Ternate - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

TERNATE 16 TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
in the Dutch Indies where land owned by the district or state has been converted into
government property in this manner. If a new contract were to be concluded with a new
Sultan, however, a better arrangement should be worked out.
In addition to a number of fruit trees, kalapa, seho, sago and pisang, maize and a
little paddy are grown here. There are plantations of nutmeg, 1 cocoa, coffee, and vanilla.
Depending on the care taken in upkeep, these crops can yield profits for the owners. The
gardens also provide the opportunity for growing potatoes, vegetables, sugar cane, and a
number of other crops for daily use.
A few of these plantations, such as Tongoli and Wattendorf, extend [p. 24] up the
mountain slope to a height of fifteen hundred feet. The Sultan’s former country residence
at Sonoto was situated at a very picturesque spot, where the cool morning and evening air
have refreshed many invalids.
Because of the proximity of the city and frequent shooting, the area is completely
empty of birds, save for a few green pigeons (ngoömi) which can be seen on the trees during
the day, and the flying foxes at night—a favored target for keen hunters shooting by
moonlight.
A cluster of dwellings identifies several places as kampongs: Kayumerah, 2 Sorofo,
Kalamata, Fitu, Gambesi, Sasa Lamo, Sasa Ici, Jambulan, and Kastela. Not far from the
southern point and close to the beach, still on this road, one comes across a freshwater lake
which many people think is an extinct crater. The lake is known among the Ternatese as
ngadé, also the Malay-speaking population calls it laguna. 3 The Tidorese element, strongly
represented in these kampongs, earn their living by growing vegetables, forging iron, and
catching fish, or they assist the owner of the land in return for living there. Their total
number is well over one thousand souls, but in terms of statute labor they remain liable to
the village where they used to live. 4
Beyond Kayumerah, with its somewhat rugged terrain, and especially after Sasa,
the land becomes more even. The footpath to Kastela runs over flat country. There is a
stony elevation [p. 25] at Kastela, which derives its name from the ruins of the fortress
Gam Lamo, first occupied by the Portuguese and then by the Spanish. The present
inhabitants of this kampong are mostly Makassarese. They live under a partadah or
1 [p. 23, n. 1] The two species of nutmeg grown here are Myristica Fragrans and M. Succedanea.
2 [p. 24, n. 1] At Kayumerah the ruins of a small fortress can be seen. De Hollander (4th edition,
p. 379, n. 1) [sic: 1877 = 3rd revised ed.] calls it the King’s Pier, but this name is not known locally.
He probably means the stone enclosure facing the sea in front of the palace at Ternate.
3 [p. 24, n. 2] So I don’t forget, the word laguna is especially used to refer to the freshwater lakes.
Van der Crab (loc. cit. p. 292) considers this laguna to be a former bay or inlet, which, however,
would not explain its fresh water.
4 [p. 24, n. 3] Recently, a few plantations have started using laborers from Talaud. These
workers are in demand since they do not ask for high wages and are not lazy, but they do not seem to
be willing to commit themselves for longer than two years.
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