V 



12 TERN ATE. [chap. xxi. 



and laughed and joked with him in reply. Then, just as we 

 were starting, one of the strongest men refused to go at all, 

 and his master had to beg and persuade him to go, and 

 only succeeded by assuring him that I would give him 

 something ; so with this promise, and knowing that there 

 would be plenty to eat and drink and little to do, the black 

 gentleman was induced to favour us with his company and 

 assistance. In three hours' rowing and sailing we reached 

 our destination, Sedingole, where there is a house belong- 

 ing to the Sultan of Tidore, who sometimes goes there 

 hunting. It was a dirty ruinous shed, with no furniture 

 but a few bamboo bedsteads: On taking a walk into the 

 country, I saw at once that it was no place for me. For 

 many miles extends a plain covered with coarse high grass, 

 thickly dotted here and there with trees, the forest country 

 only commencing at the hills a good way in the interior. 

 .Such a place would produce few birds and no insects, and 

 we therefore arranged to stay only two days, and then go 

 on to Dodinga, at the narrow central isthmus of Gilolo, 

 whence my friends would return to Ternate. We amused 

 ourselves shooting parrots, lories, and pigeons, and trying to 

 shoot deer, of which we saw plenty, but could not get one ; 

 and our crew went out fishing with a net, so Ave did not 

 want for provisions. When the time came for us to con- 

 tinue our journey, a fresh difliculty presented itself, for our 

 gentlemen slaves refused in a body to go with us, saying 



