Ternate - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

TERNATE 42 TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
is not surprising, since [p. 64] the Sangaji is consulted as the main source of information for
travelers because he speaks fairly good Malay. 23
The house he lives in is built on strong high piles, to protect it from the torrents to
which it is exposed on two sides during the rainy season. These torrents have already
swept away everything else in the neighborhood, so that the house stands above a sandy
stretch, cleaned of driftwood and weeds by the force of the water. At some distance, twenty
or thirty houses are scattered irregularly, most of them built on the level ground backed by
the gentle slope of the uneven terrain. Close by some fruit trees have been planted.
Further down, to the left and right as far as the eye can see, there are only sago trees. They
grow in abundance, though many have already succumbed to the pedah (machete). The
trunks of these dead trees, thrown away as useless, obstruct the passage through the river
or along the footpaths in many places. It is really a native village scene, in which the local
inhabitant can devote himself in uninterrupted quiet to the blissful feeling of doing little
work amidst a rich profusion of all the essentials that he and his family may need.
The afternoon is spent on the trip to nearby Todedol. The Sangaji is asked to make
sure that all the residents are assembled on our arrival. By three o’clock the small proas
are ready to take us there, for especially during this season the river is full of shallows and
sandbanks. Within half an hour we reach the kampong, which is a few feet higher than the
water level. We see nine or ten houses and we sit down in the assembly shed, surrounded
by about fifty squatting Alfurus, while the women peep through the chinks of the houses at
us and the children huddle together in fright in another corner. All wear a [p. 65] loin cloth
made of tree bark, called wisa here, and no other clothes except the tualah or head scarf. A
few hold in their hands a nibur or lance of woka wood with a milled point. 24
The interpreter tells them that I have come to learn whether the whole population
really prefers to pay taxes in produce, as a few of them assured me at Ternate. Initially two
of the elders hold forth, explaining among other things that they prefer to be under the
Sultan rather than under the Company, producing sago and carrying out services for that
ruler and the headman. 25 This point is discussed at length. Others are asked for their
23 [p. 64, n. 1] The author of the Aanteekeningen (p. 226) also went up the river, but no one could
tell me his name or knew anything about an earlier visit by a European. This in spite of the fact
that he made the trip to Sawu on the west coast in four days!
24 [p. 65, n. 1] The Alfuru word for cidaku (a loincloth made of bark) is wisa and at Galela fisa;
the Moluccan-Malay lensa is tualah in Ternatese and Alfuru. Campen has entitled these words with
the first names (TNLb, p. 289) and often forgets to differentiate between Ternatese and Alfuru. This
often leads to confusion. For instance, on page 275 he uses the Ternatese tofkangi for “eight”
without further explanation, but this numeral is tuwangi in the Alfuru of Kau. The tree from which
the bark is taken to make cidaku is called wisa or fisa and seems to be a species of Broussonetia. A
loin cloth with figures drawn on it is called wisa hohoda in the interior.
25 [p. 65, n. 2] Although I do not know how the rumor came to be spread, it is certain that the
population in the districts where the tax is paid in money consider themselves more or less as orang
kompani or government subjects. It is true that the money is forwarded by post-holders serving as
intermediaries, but the headmen who collect the money or lend a helping hand in the collection are
well aware of the fact that it is intended for the Sultans. Indeed, without the efforts of these
government officials nothing would come of the whole taxation process.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES DIGITAL EDITION