314 6IL0L0, [oHAP. ixn. 



by the Portuguese, Its battlements and turrets have h)ijg 

 since been overthrown by earthquakes, by which its mas- 

 sive stnictui-e lias also been rent; but it cannot well be 

 thrown down, being a solid mass of atone vvoik, forming a 

 platform about ten feet high, and perhaps forty feet squaic. 

 It is approached by narrow steps under an archway, and 

 is now surmounted by a row of tluitched hovels, in whieli 

 live the small garrison, consisting of a JJuteh corporal and 

 four Javanese soldiers, the sole I'epresentatives of tb** 

 Netherlands Government in the island. The village is 

 fjccupicd entirely by Ternate mea The true indigenes tif 

 GUolo^ "Alfuros" as they are here called, live on the 

 eastern coast, or in the interior of the norlbcrn peninsula. 

 The distance across the isthmus at ibis place is ordy two 

 miles, and there is a good path, along which rice and sago 

 are bromgbt from the eastern villages. The whole isthmus 

 is veiy rugged, though not high, being a succession of little 

 abrupt hills and vaUeys, with angular massc^s of limestone 

 rock everywhere luojecting, and often almust blocking up 

 the pathway. Must of it is virgin forest, very luxuriant 

 and picturesque, and at this time having abundance of 

 lai-ge scarlet ixoras in flower, which made it excuptionally 

 piy. 1 got some very nice insects here, though, owing to 

 illness most of the time, my collection was a small one ; 

 and my hoy Ali shot me a pair of one uf the most beautiful 

 birds of the East, I'itta gigas, a large giound-thrush, whose 

 ])luniage of velvety black above is rulieved by a breiist 

 of pure white, sliouMers uf azure blue, and belly of viviil 

 crimson. It has very long and strong legs, and bops alKtul 

 with such activity in the dense tangled forest, bi-L&tling 

 wiih rocks, as to make it very difficult to shoot 



In Septtniber 1858, after my return from New Guinea, 

 I went to stay son^c time at the village of Djilolo, situated 

 in a buy on the northern peninsula. Here 1 obtained a 

 house thrtmgh the kindness of the. Kesideut of Ternate, 

 who sent orders to prepare one for me. The first walk into 

 the nnexidored forests of a new locality is a moment of 

 intense interest to the natumlist, as it is almost sure to 

 furnish him with something curious or hitherto unknown, 

 rhe lii-st thing I saw here was a flock of small parroquets, 

 uf which I shot a pair, and was pleased to find a most 



