224 



THE MOLUCCAS. 



[chap. 



the fissures iu its walls. The view from it is magnificent. A 

 beach of dark sand and pebbles, lined with picturesque huts half- 

 hidden in masses of banana and fruit-trees, stretches away to the 

 south, and leads the eye up to the rugged hills and great peak of 

 Tidor, which with its sister cone of Ternate dominates the calm 

 blue waters of the harbour. From this point the last of the three 

 forts must be four or five miles distant, situated as it is beyond 



PORTUGUESE FORT AT THE NORTH END OF TERXATE. 



the outskirts of the town on the south side. We came upon it 

 quite unexpectedly during one of our ornithological rambles, for 

 though we had asked our Dutch friends if there were any ruins in 

 the neighbourhood, it had not been thought worthy of mention. 

 Although considerably larger than the northern fort, it is of no 

 great size, but it appears to have been built with gTeat care and 

 skill, to judge from the perfect laying of the heavy masonry of the 

 embrasures, and in those days must have been well-nigh im- 

 pregnable. It is no doubt contemporaneous with the Portuguese 

 occupation; possibly indeed the first fort they built on landing 



