Ternate - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

TERNATE 64 TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
Guruah Ping 27 ; he is mistaken, however, and really means the Benincasa Cerifera Savi,
which has big fruit resembling melons. These are grown everywhere near the houses.
The statute labor requirement for the population is not too severe: they have to
supply one person to carry out statute labor at Ternate and one kabo to the Utusan. These
two men are replaced every year.
The Kayoa Islands are: Kayoa with Pulu Miskin and Guruah, and Waidoba,
renamed Laluin by van Musschenbroek. [p. 97] This last name actually only refers to a
part of the northeastern coast, however, and is derived from luin, or kora-kora, which
means a place where vessels can be drawn up on dry land. 28 Near Waidoba there is Towada
and a few more small islands; these form one island with Waidoba at low tide. The small
islands are called Werimdi, Lagolian [as corrected in Errata —Trans.], Dobamelum, and
Dok.
Especially on Waidoba there are many paddy fields. They often have a poor yield
because of late planting, and they have rarely been planted on woodland soil because of the
heavy work entailed. The products are mainly bought by Tidorese for an average price of
14 cents per kula of 3 cupa—that is, about 4.- per picul. The farmers store the paddy in
their gardens and supply it once the sale has been agreed upon.
The waterway between Kayoa and Waidoba is not navigable for bigger proas at low
tide because of its many reefs and shallows; ships can anchor more to the east at a depth of
twenty-five fathoms, but the reef around Guruah is too extensive to allow this.
To the west of the Kayoa group lie a few smaller islands, called the Goaricis on the
map. The name is a corruption of Gurah-Ici, which means small garden, the name of the
most insignificant and trivial of all the islands. 29 As a matter of fact, they have no common
name as a group and each one has its own separate name.
These islands are under the Sangaji of Ngofakiaha who is charged in the name of
the Sultan with the supervision of the following islands (those which are only separated at
high tide are mentioned together):
Gunangi and Laigoma; [p. 98]
Siko, Tomako ma-Fatu [as corrected in Errata —Trans.], and Gafi;
Lele, Gurah-Ici, and Kelo;
27 [p. 96, n. 3] See Wallace, 1870-1871, II:38.
28 [p. 97, n. 1] In his often-mentioned note on page 25 (in Bernstein, 1883), van Musschenbroek
claims that laluin is a Casuarina—this is called lelei in Ternatese and Tidorese. He is indeed not
afraid to make small mistakes: at the top of page 85, note 3, and on page 33, he identifies the
description heard by Bernstein on East Halmahera of the lelei, without further ado, as
Leptospermum Amboinense, a tree which according to Miquel’s Flora occurs on Ceram!
29 [p. 97, n. 2] MacLeod even has an incorrect explanation for this incorrect spelling. It appears
that Spanish is involved (Tijdschrift van het Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, V:25).
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