312 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



Macassar, wlio Lad been taken prisoner near this place. 

 According to his report to tlie government, when he 

 returned, all his crew was seized and eaten one after 

 another, and the only thing that saved him fi'om a 

 like fate was that he read parts of the Koran. 

 This led them to believe him a priest, and finally in- 

 duced them to allow him to depart on the next ves- 

 sel that came to their shores. East of Geelvink Bay 

 two Dutch expeditions have found that the whole 

 population, men, women, and children, always go 

 absolutely naked. 



On oui" right, as we looked toward the east from 

 our lofty position, the steep, conical peak of Tidore 

 was seen rising about six thousand feet above the 

 sea. It is one of the sharpest peaks in all this part 

 of the archipelago. As it has no crater either at 

 the summit or on its sides, there is no vent by 

 which the gases beneath it can find a ready escape. 

 They must therefore remain confined until they 

 have accumulated sufficient power to hurl high 

 into the air the whole mass of ashes, sand, and rock 

 which presses them down. This is exactly what hap- 

 pened at Makian. Professor Reinwardt, who ex- 

 amined this peak in 1821, declared that it would be 

 blown up in twenty years, and, strange to say, it wan 

 nineteen years afterward that the terrific eruption of 

 Makian, already described, occurred. As the islands 

 Ternate, Tidore, Motir, and Makian, are only cones 

 standing on the same great fissure in the earth's 

 crust. Professor Reinwardt's prediction was fulfilled 

 almost to the very letter. 



The village of Tidore is situated on its southern 



