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TERNATE 63 TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
no beach on this side because of the heavy wash of the waves which destroy everything
during the west monsoon. On the much quieter eastern beach the Rhizophores thrive and
help to form new islands. On that side one can find a mysterious cave, known as Liyang
Sangsung after a creeper which winds inward into it. Tradition tells that a few people from
Tahane who came to look for birds’ nests almost lost their lives in the dark passages of this
cave.
There are not many sago trees on Kayoa; there are a few in one place on the west
coast, called Baku-Li because of that peculiarity, but they contain poor quality pith and
only supply leaves for roofing. The island is rich in all kinds of good wood, however, and
iron wood, gofasa, and lolaro wood are plentiful. 24 Although there are wild pigs here, many
people from Makian have plantations because the land is less steep than on their own
mountain. The mountain known as Likil is the highest, standing at a height of one
thousand to twelve hundred feet. It lies approximately in the middle of the island, and is
incorrectly called Sikil on van Musschenbroek’s map.
The only anchoring ground is in the southwest near the sole [p. 96] kampong,
Guruah Ping 25 (guruah means anchoring ground). An extensive reef protects the anchorage
against wind-driven seawater. Sixty or so houses have been built on a rather small stretch
of land—twenty of these have been built by the Bajos on piles over the water. These Bajos
sometimes roam the sea for long periods of time; we have already met them at Sidangoli.
There are about two hundred souls altogether, with a Sangaji as headman, assisted
by a Ternatese Utusan. The population seems to be related to the people on East Makian
since they speak the same language. 26 The kampong looks clean and good use has been
made of the terrain to make a fairly even street; there is a stone mosque on the west end.
During prolonged periods of drought there is a shortage of drinking water; the water drawn
from plank-strutted wells is rather muddy and is only used in the kitchen. The swamp on
the north side of the village is flooded at high tide and at such times there is nothing but
seawater on all sides. Wallace says that there are plenty of tree melons (Carica Papaya) on
kokoya mats after which the tree has sometimes been called; the second one is the buro-buro—the
ordinary sleeping or sitting mats are plaited from its smaller leaves.
24 [p. 95, n. 2] The foreign words used in the text all belong to the language of East Makian.
The gofasa or baso wood can be differentiated into baso kamel and baso lalai. The latter is
especially in demand for making proas and the posts of houses. There are also two kinds of iron
wood, or towa wood: towa kom and towa langi. The first of these has a yellow alburnum.
25 [p. 96, n. 1] Not Gurapingi, as given in van Musschenbroek (loc. cit., p. 25), and certainly not
Goaripino, which van Musschenbroek says he learned locally (?) (TAG, p. 103). He could have
avoided such errors had he asked one of the headmen to write down the name. Wallace (1870-1871,
II:34) calls this the “most important” village: he does not seem to know that there are no other
villages on Kayoa.
26 [p. 96, n. 2] Nowhere is there any mention of a difference between the languages spoken on
Makian, as mentioned by Wallace (1870-1871, II:38); the language is exactly the same everywhere.
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