Ternate - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

TERNATE 255
APPENDICES
[p. 351]
A. Ternate
Appendix VIII
State Flags of the Sultanates
of Ternate and Tidore
I. Bandera kompani or Bandera batalyon (company flag or battalion flag).
The flag is made of yellow silk, and the cloth is wound around a pole; the pole ends
in an iron point and has a copper knob at the lower end; length=width=1 m., length of the
pole is 2.5 m. In the center, a square of 0.4 m. has been cut which has been filled with a
piece of white silk of the same size, on which is written in purple silk letters:
that is, Al Molok Buldan Tarnate, “The Moluccas, Sultanate of Ternate,” Molok being an
abbreviation of Moluccas.
This flag is only flown on grand ceremonial occasions, such as when the Sultan’s
whole company of soldiers joins the army, or on the proa of the Sultan, at which time one of
the officers acts as standard bearer on top of the tent-like structure.
II. Paji-paji koi ma-rau (flags like pisang leaves).
There are six different kinds, all made of cotton, 2 m. long and 0.5 m. wide; six of
them are placed on the proa of the Sultan to the left and right of the bow and stern, and
four are placed on the proas of the princes. When they are fixed to the bowsprit, they are
called dayalu. [p. 352]
III. a. Paniki; b. Nyoa (pennants like a bat and ray). 1
These are also made of cotton, and on ceremonial occasions they are attached by
threes, with a koi ma-rau, along the outside of the tent on the Sultan’s proa, six sets of
three on the left side and six on the right side.
IV. Amral (big pennant).
1 [352, n. 1] Paniki and nyoa are not Ternatese words. The first means “bat” and comes from
Makassarese or from the Philippines; the second is a kind of fish, called paru-paru in Malay, a kind
of “ray.”
SMITHSONIAN LIBRARIES DIGITAL EDITION