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We found it, however, by no means easy to get along; for so near to the equator the monsoons entirely fail of their regularity, and after passing the southern point of Gilolo we had calms, light puffs of wind, and contrary currents, which kept us for five days in sight of the same islands between it and Poppa.
The forest had a dense luxuriance and loftiness seldom found on the dry and porous lavas and raised coral reefs of Ternate and Gilolo; and hoping for a corresponding richness in the birds and insects, it was with much satisfaction and with considerable expectation that I began my explorations in the hitherto unknown island of Batchian.
Timor itself consists of ancient stratified rocks, but is said to have one volcano near its centre. Going northward, Amboyna, a part of Bouru, and the west end of Ceram, the north part of Gilolo, and all the small islands around it, the northern extremity of Celebes, and the islands of Sian and Sang-air, are wholly volcanic.
Gilolo, or Halmaheira as it is called by the Malays and Dutch, seems to have been recently modified by upheaval and subsidence. In 1673, a mountain is said to stave been upheaved at Gamokonora on the northern peninsula. All the parts that I have seen have either been volcanic or coralline, and along the coast there are fringing coral reefs very dangerous to navigation.
The next morning, the island of Ternate bore south-south-east, and a little to the northward of it there appears to be a large and safe harbour, on the island of Gilolo, which now bore east by south five or six leagues distant. Ternate rises in a high conical mount; its latitude is 00° 50' north, and the longitude 127° 4' east.
They were ordered to pull for the Gilolo shore, which they did; a rocket fired at them quickening their speed considerably. At 3 P. M. the observations being completed, the astronomical instruments were re-embarked on the barge, and the captain quitted the gig and went into the barge. Both boats were pulled towards the main land.
For though we had little wind to move us, yet these world soon pass away, and leave the water very smooth, and just before we encountered them we met a great swell, but it did not break." Some time afterwards, I learnt that an earthquake had been felt on the coast of Gilolo the very day we had encountered these curious waves.
And then, when he had duly marked the path of the line through Borneo, Celebes, and Gilolo, through the Macassar Strait and the Molucca passage, Mr. Harold Smith rose to a higher flight. "But what," said he, "avails all that God can give to man, unless man will open his hand to receive the gift?
A little before noon we passed, with the assistance of our oars, the Paciencia Straits, the narrowest part of the channel between Batchian and Gilolo. These were well named by the early Portuguese navigators, as the currents are very strong, and there are so many eddies, that even with a fair wind vessels are often quite unable to pass through them.
They have also in this isle a peculiar sort of tree, the bark of which, being steeped in water, may be drawn out in small fibres as fine as silk; of which the women make themselves a sort of aprons, which are their only cloathing. Near Tidore is the large island of Gilolo, which is divided between the Mahometans and idolaters.
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