Eartuquakes, 317 



a term of years by tlie Dutch Government, and which rate is 

 still most honorably paid. 



In walking about the suburbs of Ternate, we find everywhere 



the ruins of massive stone and brick buildings, gateways, and 

 arches, showing at once the superior wealth of the ancient 

 town and the destructive effects of earthquakes. It was dur- 

 ing my second stay in the town, after my return from New 

 Guinea, that I first felt an earthquake. It Avas a very slight 

 one, scarcely more than has been felt in this country, but oc- 

 curring in a place that had been many times destroyed by 

 them, it was rather more exciting. I had just awoke at gun- 

 fire (5 A.M.), when suddenly the thatch began to rustle and 

 shake as if an army of cats were galloping over it, and imme- 

 diately afterward my bed shook too, so that for an instant I 

 imagined myself back in New Guinea, in my fragile house, 

 which shook when an old cock went to roost on the ridge ; 

 but remembering that I was now on a solid earthen floor, I 

 said to myself, " Why it's an earthquake," and lay still in the 

 pleasing expectation of another shock; but none came, and 

 this was the only earthquake I ever felt in Ternate. 



The last great one was in February, 1840, when almost 

 every house in the place was destroyed. It began about mid- 

 night on the Chinese New Year's festival, at which time every 

 one stays up 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 after- 

 ward, 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 aU. 

 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. It is singular that on this occasion there was 

 no rushing uj) 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 



