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TERNATE 57 TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
days of July 1849. The Resident, Visser, went there himself on the brig De Zwaluw. A few
shots were fired at the high village, killing some of the headmen, and the culprits and the
leader, Prince Siko, were soon captured. The area has remained quiet since then.
The terrain of the island is very uneven and has a steep slope except on the east
side, where the plain of Malo Tangteng is situated. In earlier days there were many
kampongs, but their inhabitants gradually moved to other villages because of the many
rampant diseases here. At present there are a few plantations of maize, grown between
banana trees, but after the eruption the soil became much less fertile because of the stones
which came to be strewn all around.
The main anchoring center is Pawate, which is on the east coast and is one-half
hour’s row south of Ngofakiaha. There are few houses since most inhabitants stay at their
plantations, but native proas are protected against winds, especially during the west
monsoon. Moreover, there are many wells with good drinking water here. 4 Because [p. 86]
there are no rivers and streams on the island, wells have been dug along the beach, their
walls supported by evenly placed stones to prevent the earth crumbling. Great pains have
been taken over some of these wells, and even close to the sea they supply pure sweet
water—rarely is it brackish or muddy.
The kampongs consist, as do the main villages, of a number of houses built almost
on top of each other. The construction is very skillful. The people have also taken
advantage of small even places on the stony slope of the mountain when building these
houses. The floors are often partially supported so that they will be even. Most of the
houses are square with an angular back because of later additions. They are very neatly
finished with strong wooden posts between which the closely linked gabah slats form a
strong wall. The largest number of houses is found at Ngofagita, where there are more
than two hundred in an extremely small space. 5
Ruins of old forts may be found at Ngofakiaha and Tafasolo; the former is still
recognizable but very much overgrown with the roots of banyan trees; of the second one
there is only some brickwork left. 6 Before the earthquake [p. 87] the village of Ngofakiaha
4 [p. 85, n. 2] I do not understand why van Musschenbroek condemns “reaching the harbor of
Pawate” [p. 86] (not Powati) as a too-euphemistic expression of Bernstein (in Bernstein 1883, p. 24,
note). There is no question of “harbor” in the sense attached to it by us and Bernstein would have
done better to call it an anchorage ground. It is certain, however, that he put in at Pawate and not
at Ngofakiaha; during the west monsoon (Bernstein traveled during October) the roadstead of the
latter place is not protected from the northwestern winds. Native proas, the means of conveyance of
Bernstein, always go, as reported above, to Pawate.
5 [p. 86, n. 1] In Bernstein’s account of his travels (1864, p. 81) he calls this village Mofenzita.
This was most probably a clerical error that was not rectified by the editor since he did not know the
correct name.
6 [p. 86, n. 2] Valentijn speaks of a Fort Mauritius at Ngofakiaha and presumes that it was built
by the Spanish or Portuguese (1724, Ib:90). Since he places it about three hundred steps from the
beach, and mentions on page 1 a fortified landing dock near the beach, called Zeeburg, the present
ruin situated near the sea is undoubtedly the latter and wrongly taken for the former, Mauritius, by
van Musschenbroek, [p. 87] (loc. cit., note 13). The beautiful coffee trees observed by van
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