midnight on the Chinese New Year’s festival, at which
time every one stays np nearly all night feasting at the
Chinamen’s houses and seeing the processions. This prevented
any lives being lost, as every one ran out of
doors at the first shock, which was not very severe. The
second, a few minutes afterwards, threw down a great
many houses, and others, which continued all night and
part of the next day, completed the devastation. The line
of disturbance was very narrow, so that the native town a
mile to the east scarcely suffered at all. The wave passed
from north to south, through the islands of Tidore and
Makian, and terminated in Batchian, where it was not felt
till four the following afternoon, thus taking no less than
sixteen hours to travel a hundred miles, or about six miles
an hour. I t is singular that on this occasion there was no
rushing up of the tide, or other commotion of the sea, as is
usually the case during great earthquakes.
The people of Ternate are of three well-marked races:
the Ternate Malays, the Orang Sirani, and the Dutch.
The first are an intrusive Malay race somewhat allied to
the Macassar people, who settled in the country at a very
early epoch, drove out the indigenes, who were no doubt
the same as those of the adjacent mainland of Gilolo, and
established a monarchy. They perhaps obtained many of
their wives from the natives, which will account for the
extraordinary language they speak—in some respects closely
allied to that of the natives of Gilolo, while it contains
much that points to a Malayan origin. To most of these
people the Malay language is quite unintelligible, although
such as are engaged in trade are obliged to acquire it.
“ Orang Sirani,” or Nazarenes, is the name given by the
Malays to the Christian descendants of the Portuguese,
who resemble those of Amboyna, and, like them, speak
only Malay. There are also a number of Chinese merchants,
many of them natives of the place, a few Arabs,
and a number of half-breeds between all these races and
native women. Besides these there are some Papuan
slaves, and a few natives of other islands settled here,
making up a motley and very puzzling population, till
inquiry and observation have shown the distinct origin of
its component parts.
Soon after my first arrival in Ternate I went to the
island of Gilolo, accompanied by two sons of Mr. Duiven-
boden, and by a young Chinaman, a brother of my landlord,
who lent us the boat and crew. "These latter were
all slaves, mostly Papuans, and at starting I saw something
of the relation of master and slave in this part of the
world. The crew had been ordered to be ready at three
in the morning, instead of which none appeared till five,
we having all been kept waiting in the dark and cold
for two hours. When at length they came they were
scolded by their master, but only in a bantering manner,