Ternate - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

TERNATE 38 TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
path is stony, the going is hard, especially during the rainy season. In the midst of an
enormous variety of forest trees and creepers, the red flowers of the Pavetta species
(Ternatese, sayah mani) catch the eye, while the silence is disturbed only rarely by the dull
sound of the ground thrush, called tohoko by the natives. One can find several varieties of
this Pitta species in the Moluccan Islands. 11
After one-half hour’s walk—according to Valentijn “it takes the same amount of time
as the smoking of a pipe of tobacco”—looking between the trees one suddenly catches a
glimpse of the sea. In this spot it washes up against the base of a steep slope. The place is
called Bobane or Bobane Lamo since in the whole neighborhood only here, within a small
sandy space, is it possible for proas to be pulled onto the beach. 12 [p. 58]
Several government administrators have occupied themselves with the question of
whether they should recommend the building of a cart track over the Dodinga pass, which
would mean faster and easier transport of travelers and especially of commercial goods. I
believe that at some point the government even granted a certain amount of money, but it
was never used. The unevenness of the terrain would have required a lot of labor to make a
reasonable road. Actually, there is not enough transport to make the project worthwhile.
Should there be a need, the very few people living in this area can always receive help from
outside, and not a single trader at Ternate would ever think of charging for loss of time.
Not far from the landing stage the road branches in two. The more southern of the
two roads leads to Bobane-Igo, where the orang gorap (Gorap people) live in a neat
kampong. These are former slaves from all over the archipelago but mainly from Flores or
Manggarai and Saleiyer, taken away by pirates and later following the same profession
themselves. Here and there they were left behind with the permission of the native chiefs.
Their number is largest at Lolodah, where they are sometimes called orang baharu (the
new people). At Bobane-Igo they are under a hukum and ngofamanyira, both subordinate
to the Kimalaha of Dodinga; they are [p. 59] completely free now and, like the rest of the
population, only carry out statute labor and community service. 13
11 [p. 57, n. 1] Wallace calls it Pitta Gigas and von Rosenberg says it is P. Cyanonota. I doubt
very much if it is found on the island of Ternate, as claimed by von Rosenberg (1875). Veth says that
the real name is P. Maxima (Wallace, 1870-1871, II:20, n. 2).
12 [p. 57, n. 2] The Ternatese word for anchor-ground is toleo; bobane is more a landing place
suited for hauling proas onto the beach, [p. 58] gently sloped and without stones. Teijsman (Reis
naar Halmahera, p. 511) calls bobane a steep slope, but this is not accurate. Von Rosenberg (1875, p.
10) calls this path the boundary between Ternatese and Tidorese territory on North Halmahera (see
above, p. 36, n. 7). The first native he met would have been able to correct him, but he was not in the
habit of finding out details of the areas in which he traveled. Since he only wrote about regions
never before visited he managed to get a certain fame in Europe, but people who know the Indies do
not agree. At any rate, there was a eulogist to sing his praises at his funeral—what more could any
man want? When van der Lith (1875, p. 130) calls Dodinga the most important place on Halmahera,
he exaggerates a bit too much.
13 [p. 59, n. 1] Nobody has been able to explain to me the meaning of the word gorap. According
to Gericke’s dictionary, it should mean a “kind of vessel” on Java, which Veth (Java, II:323, note)
extends to mean “small vessel.” This conflicts with the text, however, in which the crew per gorap is
estimated at more than thirty hands. Perhaps this is the same vessel which here, although not
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES DIGITAL EDITION