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TERNATE 62 TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
rowers, axes, food, and everything else is charged to the Government, everybody who takes
part gets about 80 cents each out of a total amount of f 300.- to f 400.-. This is true in spite
of the fact that the Government pays the high price of f 35.- per cubic meter. Only the
accompanying headman and the secretary of state receive f 10.- each for the supervision;
the whole remaining amount is received by the persons concerned. Since there are no good
kinds of wood near the beach they have to be brought from far back in the interior. This is
sometimes very difficult because of the lack of waterways for transport.
We take a last look at the mountain before we cross into Kayoa. The top has the
appearance of a truncated cone. It was first split in two during the eruption of 1760, 20 and
again in 1861 when the phenomenon repeated itself and fire and stones were thrown out,
destroying the whole surroundings. The volcano has remained quiet since then and is
overgrown with foliage to the top. [p. 94] The terrible havoc remains only in memory and in
the mark of two deep gullies which run into the sea near the kampongs of Ngofagita on the
north coast and Pawate on the east coast. The inhabitants who fled to the surrounding
islands returned after a few years. They now claim that the crater is dead, although the
only proof for that is that the mountain does not emit smoke. Since that time nobody has
had the courage to descend into the unfathomed crater to see if it is still active. 21
At Tahane we observe the jere (place of sacrifice), sacred to the memory of the Arab
Mohamad Said, who as a leader of auxiliary troops assisted our government in 1877 against
Danu Baba Hasan [as corrected in Errata —Trans.]. He was rewarded for that service with
a silver medal. We then row directly south to Pulu Miskin, an island to the north of
Kayoa. 22 One asks how long it will take to cover this distance and, of course, receives a
vague answer, for a native rarely travels when wind and current are against him. Having
plenty of time and being in no hurry he does not count the hours. It took us six hours to
cross.
Pulu Miskin is oblong in shape and is separated from the island of Kayoa by a
narrow channel. The northwestern point of Kayoa is called Modayama and the
northeastern point is Wol-Oko. This latter point is opposite the rock Jere, a place of
sacrifice for the sailors. The west coast of Pulu Miskin, like the northwest coast of Kayoa,
consists of [p. 95] raised coral rock, densely grown over with numerous Pandanus trees on
the projecting points. The roots of these trees penetrate far into the crevices and cracks;
between the roots many green, white, and grey pigeons may be seen flying about. 23 There is
20 [p. 93, n. 2] See below, “Short Chronicle,” under that date and also under the year 1648.
21 [p. 94, n. 1] The controller, I. Stormer, told me that his aneroid indicated a height of thirty-two
hundred feet at the extreme top. (See also the detailed description of the mining engineer de Groot
in Tijdschrift van het Bataviaasch. Genootschap, V:330, and of Bernstein in TBG, p. 435. They could,
in June, still see the destruction resulting from the latest eruption.)
22 [p. 94, n. 2] Temminck, Haga, and others have a new name for the Kayoa groups: “Riouw”! De
Hollander uses the English spelling “Kiouw.”
In the language of Makian, Kayoa is called “Ngailo.”
23 [p. 95, n. 1] The most frequently occurring Pandanus species in this region are the ones
described by Rumphius as P. Humilis and P. Cariccossus. The first, called bok or boko [as corrected
in Errata —Trans.], has large leaves which, if joined together in wide strips, form the so-called
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