332 Voyage to Batchian, 



ty of seeing my men get fire by friction. A sharp-edged piece 

 of bamboo is rubbed across the convex surface of another 

 piece, on which a small notch is first cut. The rubbing is 

 slow at first, and gradually quicker, till it becomes very rapid, 

 and the fine powder rubbed off ignites and falls through the 

 hole which the rubbing has cut in the bamboo. This is done 

 with great quickness and certainty. The Ternate people use 

 bamboo in another way. They strike its flinty surface with 

 a bit of broken china and produce a spark, which they catch 

 in some kind of tinder. 



On the evening of October 21st we reached our destina- 

 tion, having been twelve days on the voyage. It had been 

 fine weather all the time, and, although very hot, I had en- 

 joyed myself exceedingly, and had besides obtained some ex- 

 perience in boat work among islands and coral reefs, which 

 enabled me afterward to undertake much longer voyages of the 

 same kind. The village or town of Batchian is situated at the 

 head of a wide and deep bay, where a low isthmus connects the 

 northern and southern mountainous parts of the island. To 

 the south is a fine range of mountains, and I had noticed at 

 several of our landing-places that the geological formation of 

 the island was very different from those around it. When- 

 ever rock was visible, it was either sandstone in thin layers, 

 dipping south, or a pebbly conglomerate. Sometimes there 

 was a little coralline limestone, but no volcanic rocks. The 

 fore!^ 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 consider- 

 able expectation that I began my explorations in the hitherto 

 unknown island of Batchian. 



