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TERNATE 67 TOPOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL DESCRIPTIONS
Besides getting much labor from the people of Weda, who live everywhere here (a
foot path leads to this village, which is situated on the southern peninsula of Halmahera),
the captain also obtains much service from the inland Alfurus, who are originally from
Tubaru. They settled in these regions some time ago and stay in the interior. The journey
through the forest soon brings us to their kampong, Niweli, six houses inhabited by about
thirty people. The houses are angular or square in shape, with a verandah on all sides and
bamboo seats at the front and back. The cooking place is in the verandah and the
household effects are limited to the barest necessities, but the houses are well-built and are
kept very clean.
They are truly natural people (Dutch, natuurmenschen), the Alfurus! The women
are ugly and thickset; the men are robust and well-built, very hairy, strong, and handsome
even to the eye of a non-Polynesian. They are not shy, but modest and very helpful. 34
Because they are few, and because of their long association with the shore people, they have
[p. 102] lost much of their original appearance; but they have preserved their language, and
their partiality to pork prevents them from embracing Islam. Their diet consists of sago,
abundant here as is the arenga palm. They do not tap the sago palms, but simply cut them
down to obtain the sagwire. They are completely at home in the forest. Neither rain nor
wind keep them from foraging; to them, a thick branch or some leaves scraped together is
better than the softest bed. And yet, wild as they are, when meeting officials they behave
with courtesy. If there is ever a possibility of instilling a higher standard of civilization into
the people of this region, the Alfurus will be the most susceptible to it, and will perhaps be
the starting point. But who will take them out of their forests, so inaccessible to strangers?
The forests are their shelter and home, where they enjoy the greatest freedom and where
they feel happy in complete ignorance of everything that is happening in the world outside.
We start the return journey to Ternate, following the coast as far as the Woda
Islands. There are five of these islands: Woda, Tamen, Joji, Guratu, and Raja. They are all
situated near each other and opposite the kampong of Gita. Woda is the largest—a
hundred Tidorese have settled on its east coast, where they live by fishing and burning salt.
There is of course a jere here too, this time the grave of a well-known person, a former
Sangaji of Makian. During prolonged periods of drought many people come here to
worship. A drought may have severe consequences, for there is no drinking water on any of
these islands—it has to be fetched from the river Ake Lamo, which is rather far away.
This group of islands has nothing special to offer. Only Guratu is notorious for its
thousands of bats, hanging among the branches of the lolaro trees. The trees do not provide
sufficient protection for them to escape their enemies, the woka-woka and guhebah
(osprey). 35 [p. 103]
34 [p. 101, n. 2] Whether the boisterousness of the Alfurus noted by Wallace (1870-1871), who
compared it with the quiet composure of the Malay people, can be considered a characteristic racial
difference remains doubtful. The form of government of the Alfurus naturally does not carry with it
the attitude of subservience to officials which is so often seen on Java, for example. When not in this
type of situation, especially when they are among equals, the Malayan tribesmen are not so quiet
and withdrawn.
35 [p. 102, n. 1] Bats are called mano in Ternatese; lolaro is the Bruguiera Rumphii Bl.; wokawoka
is the Corvus Orru, and guhebah is the Pandion Haliactus.
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