320 GiLOLO. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



GILOLO. 



MARCH AND SEPTEMBEE, 1858, 



I MADE but few and comparatively short visits to this large 

 and little known island, but obtained a considerable knowledge 

 of its natural history by sending first my boy Ali, and then 

 my assistant, Charles AUen, who staid two or three months 

 each in the northern peninsula, and brought me back large 

 collections of birds and insects. In this chapter I propose to 

 give a sketch of the parts which I myself visited. My first 

 stay was at Dodinga, situated at the head of a deep bay ex- 

 actly opposite Ternate, and a short distance up a little stream 

 which penetrates a few miles inland. The village is a small 

 one, and is completely shut in by low hills. 



As soon as I arrived I applied to the head-man of the vil- 

 lage for a house to live in, but aU were occupied, and there 

 was much difficulty in finding one. In the mean time I un- 

 loaded my baggage on the beach and made some tea, and aft- 

 erward discovered a small hut which the owner was willing to 

 vacate if I would pay him five guilders for a month's rent. 

 As this was something less than the fee-simple value of the 

 dwelling, I agreed to give it him for the privilege of immedi- 

 ate occupation, only stipulating that he was to make the roof 

 water-tight. This he agreed to do, and came every day to talk 

 and look at me ; and when I each time insisted upon his im- 

 mediately mending the roof according to contract, all the an- 

 swer I could get was, "Ea nanti" (Yes, wait a little). How- 

 ever, when I threatened to deduct a quarter-guilder from the 

 rent for every day it was not done, and a guilder extra if any 

 ^f my things were wetted, he condescended to work for half 

 an hour, which did all that was absolutely necessary. 



On the top of a bank, of about a hundred feet ascent from 

 the water, stands the very small but substantial fort erected by 

 the Portuguese. Its battlements and turrets have long since 



