596 
THE Y OY AGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
Shortly after this the Portuguese were driven out of Ternate by the Rajah of that 
island, and took up their quarters at Tidore, for when Drake arrived at the Moluccas in 
1579, there were no Portuguese at Ternate ; consequently Drake anchored off that island, 
and traded with the King, carefully avoiding the Portuguese. 
In 1599 the Dutch admiral Van Warwyck established intercourse with, and a factory 
on, Ternate Island ; it was, in fact, in this year that the Dutch first began to trade with 
the Spice Islands, 1 and very soon quarrels arose between them and the Portuguese, so 
that the Dutch resolved if possible to drive the Portuguese from the Moluccas, and reap 
for themselves the benefit of the spice trade, and in the year 1603, twelve ships under the 
command of Stephen Yerbayen left Holland for this purpose. After capturing Amboina 
the fleet divided, five ships being sent to Tidore, and the others to Banda. Arriving at 
Tidore on the 2nd May 1605, the Dutch summoned the Portuguese to yield on the 5th, 
and a spirited contest took place between the ships and the fort ; but the magazine in the 
fort blowing up, and killing sixty or seventy men, the Portuguese surrendered. The 
Dutch were assisted in this action by the Rajah of Ternate. 
The early period of the Dutch history consists of an account of their commercial 
transactions, their wars with the Spaniards, and their aggressions upon the natives. In 
the beginning of 1606, the garrisons at Ternate and Tidore were overpowered by the 
Spaniards under Pedro de Acuna, and it was not until ten years later that the Dutch 
recovered their ascendency in these islands, at which time they had the dexterity to 
inveigle the greater number of the Rajahs into treaties, conferring upon themselves the 
exclusive right of buying cloves. These treaties, imperfectly understood by the Molucca 
Islanders, led to wars which desolated their country, with little interruption, to the year 
1681, when, enfeebled and broken spirited by their ineffectual efforts, they submitted 
to the rule of the Dutch, who have since remained in possession of this fertile group. 
As stated above, the island of Ternate is a volcanic cone, the summit of which rises 
to a height of 5600 feet above the level of the sea. There have been, during the Dutch 
occupation, no fewer than fourteen different important eruptions, beginning with the year 
1608. In the eruption of 1840, the earthquakes lasted from the 2nd to the 15tli February, 
with intervals of a few hours only. The inhabitants fled to the beach, or took to their 
boats. Every stone building in the town was overthrown, and the people were on the 
point of abandoning the island altogether, until ordered to remain by the supreme Govern- 
ment at Batavia. It is singular that no earthquake wave accompanied this earthquake. 
The members of the Expedition were fortunate enough to find in the Resident of 
Ternate the late distinguished naturalist Mr. S. C. J. van Musschenbroek, who rendered 
every assistance in his power, and treated them with the greatest kindness and hospitality, 
even getting up a ball on the shortest notice. The musicians were Malays who were 
indefatigable, but knew only one tune. 
1 Purchas, pp. 709, 710. 
