According to the statements of the officials, many years ago a gentleman had the hardihood to attempt to ascend this mountain alone. As he did not return at the expected time, a party of natives was sent to search for him, and his dead body was found some distance beneath the summit. The rocks to which he had intrusted himself had probably given way, and the only sensation that could have followed was one of falling and a quick succession of stunning blows, and life was gone. Governor Arriens assured me that the band of loose stones was the most dangerous place he had ever crossed, though he had climbed many nearly perpendicular walls, but always where the rocks were fixed and could be relied on for a footing and a hold. If the ascent and descent were not so difficult, sulphur might be gathered in such quantities at the summit crater that it would form an important article of export. The authorities informed me that much was obtained in former times, and that the natives who undertook this perilous climbing were always careful to array themselves in white before setting out, so that if they did lose their lives in the attempt they would be dressed in the robes required by their creed, and at once be taken to Paradise. The first European who reached its summit, so far as I am aware, was Professor Reinwardt, in 1821; the second was Dr. S. Müller, in 1828; and from that time till the 13th of September, 1865, when we ascended it, only one party had attempted this difficult undertaking, and that was from the steamer Ætna, whose name we had found on a large rock in the old crater.
The height of this volcano we found to be only two thousand three hundred and twenty-one English feet. Its spreading base is considerably less than two miles square. In size, therefore, it is insignificant compared to the gigantic mountains on Lombok, Java, and Sumatra; but when we consider the great amount of suffering and the immense destruction of property that has been caused by its repeated eruptions, it becomes one of the most important volcanoes in the archipelago.[37] In 1615 an eruption occurred in March, just as the Governor-General, Gerard Reynst, arrived from Java with a large fleet to complete the war of extermination that the Dutch had been waging with the aborigines for nearly twenty years.
For some time previous to 1820, many people lived on the lower flanks of Gunong Api, and had succeeded in forming large groves of nutmeg-trees. On the 11th of June of that year, just before twelve o’clock, in an instant, without the slightest warning, an eruption began which was so violent that all the people at once fled to the shore and crossed over in boats to Banda Neira. Out of the summit rose perpendicularly great masses of ashes, sand, and stones, heated until they gave out light like living coals. The latter hailed down on every side, and, as the accounts say, “set fire to the woods and soon changed the whole mountain into one immense cone of flame.” This happened, unfortunately, during the western monsoon; and so great a quantity of sand and ashes was brought over to Banda Neira, that the branches of the nutmeg-trees were loaded down until they broke beneath its weight, and all the parks on the island were totally destroyed. Even the water became undrinkable, from the light ashes that filled the air and settled down in every crevice. The eruption continued incessantly for thirteen days, and did not wholly cease at the end of six weeks. During this convulsion the mountain was apparently split through in a north-northwest and south-southeast direction. The large, active crater which we saw beneath us on the northwestern flanks of the mountain, from the spot where we stopped to lunch, was formed at that time, and another was reported higher up between that new crater and the older one on the top of the mountain. A stream of lava poured down the western side into a small bay, and built up a tongue of land one hundred and eighty feet long. The fluid rock heated the sea within a radius of more than half a mile, and nearer the shore eggs were cooked in it. This stream of lava is the more remarkable, because it is a characteristic of the volcanoes throughout the archipelago, that, instead of pouring out molten rock, they only eject hot stones, sand, and ashes, and such materials as are thrown up where the eruptive force has already reached its maximum and is growing weaker and weaker.
On the 22d of April, 1824, while Governor-General Van der Capellen was entering the road, an eruption commenced, just as had happened two hundred and nine years before, on the arrival of Governor-General Reynst. A great quantity of ashes again suddenly rose from its summit, accompanied by clouds of “black smoke,” in which lightnings darted, while a heavy thundering rolled forth that completely drowned the salute from the forts on Neira. This was followed, on the 9th of June, by a second eruption, which was succeeded by a rest of fourteen days, when the volcano again seemed to have regained its strength, and once more ashes and glowing stones were hurled into the air and fell in showers on its sides.
But the people of Banda have suffered quite as much from earthquakes as from eruptions, though the latter are usually attended by slight shocks.[38] Almost the first objects that attract one’s attention on landing at the village are the ruins caused by the last of these destructive phenomena. Many houses were levelled to the ground, but others that were built with special care suffered little injury. Their walls are made of coral rock or bricks. They are two or three feet thick and covered with layers of plaster. At short distances, along their outer side, sloping buttresses are placed against them, so that many of the Banda residences look almost as much like fortifications as dwelling-houses. The first warning any one had of the destruction that was coming was a sudden streaming out of the water from the enclosed bay, until the war-brig Haai, which was lying at anchor in eight or nine fathoms, touched the bottom. Then came in a great wave from the ocean which rose at least to a height of twenty-five or thirty feet over the low, western part of the village, which is only separated from Gunong Api by the narrow Sun Strait. The praus lying near this shore were swept up against Fort Nassau, which was then so completely engulfed, as it was stated to me on the spot, that one of these native boats remained inside the fort when the water had receded to its usual level. The part of the village over which the flood swept contained many small houses, and nearly every one in them was carried away. The rapid outflowing of the water of this enclosed bay (which is really only an old crater) was probably caused either by the elevation of the bottom at that spot, or else by such a sinking of the floor of the sea outside, that the water was drained off into some depression which had suddenly been formed. We have no reason to suppose that there was any great commotion in the open ocean, and certainly there was no high wave or bore, or it would have risen on the shores of the neighboring islands. There are three entrances or straits which lead from the road out to the open sea. Two of these are wide and one is narrow. When the whole top of the old volcano, that is, Banda Neira, Gunong Api, Lontar, and the area they enclose, was raised for a moment, the water steamed out from the crater through these straits, causing only strong currents, but as the land instantly sank to its former level, the water poured in, and the streams of the two wider straits, meeting and uniting, rolled on toward the inner end of the narrow strait. Here they all met, and, piling up, spread out over the adjoining low village, causing a great destruction of life. At the Resident’s house, a few hundred yards east of Fort Nassau, the water only rose some ten or fifteen feet above high-water level, and farther east still less. The cause assigned above, though the principal one, may therefore not have been sufficient in itself to have made the sea rise so high over the southwestern part of Banda Neira and the opposite part of Gunong Api, and I suspect that an additional cause was that the land there sank for a moment below its proper level. Valentyn thus describes another less destructive earthquake wave: “In the year 1629 there was a great earthquake, and half an hour afterward a flood which was very great, and came in calm weather. The sea between Neira and Selam” (on the western part of Lontar) “rose up like a high mountain and struck on the right side of Fort Nassau, where the water rose nine feet higher than in common spring floods. Several houses near the sea were broken into pieces and washed away, and the ship Briel, lying near by, was whirled round three times.”[39]
However, all these events are but as yesterday when we glance over the early history of this ancient volcano; for, if we can judge by analogy, taking as our guide the great crater already referred to as this day existing among the lofty Tenger Mountains on Java, we see in our mind’s eye an immense volcanic mountain before us. From its high crater during the lapse of time pour out successive overflows of lava which has solidified into the trachyte of Lontar. That period is succeeded by one in which ashes, sand, and hot stones are ejected, and which insensibly passes into recent times. During one of these mighty throes the western half of the crater-wall disappeared beneath the sea, if the process of subsidence had gone on so far at that time. Slowly it sinks until it is at least four feet lower than at the present day, for we found on the western end of Lontar a large bank of coral rock at that height. The outer islands are now wholly submerged. This period of subsidence is followed by one of upheaval, but not till the slow-building coral polyps had made great reefs, which have become white, chalky cliffs, and attained their present elevation above the sea. A tropical vegetation by degrees spreads downward, closely pursuing the retreating sea, and the islands become exactly what they are at the present day.
The Banda group form but a point in the wide area of the residency of Banda. All the eastern part of Ceram is included in it, the southwest coast of New Guinea, and the many islands south and southwest to the northern part of Timur. Southeast of Ceram are the Ceram-laut, that is, “Ceram lying to seaward,” or Keffing group, numbering seventeen islands. Their inhabitants are like those I saw on the south coast of Ceram, and do not belong to the Papuan or negro race. They are great traders, and constantly visit the adjoining coast of New Guinea, where they purchase birds of paradise, many luris or parrots of various genera, “crown pigeons,” Megapodiideæ, scented woods, and very considerable quantities of wild nutmegs, which they sell to the Bugis traders, who usually touch here at Banda on their outward and homeward passages. I saw many of the wild nutmegs that had been brought in this way from New Guinea. Instead of being spherical, like those cultivated here at Banda, they are elliptical in outline, frequently an inch or an inch and a quarter long, and about three-fourths of an inch in diameter. They do not, however, have the rich, pungent aroma of the Banda nutmegs, and this, I am assured, is also the case with all wild ones wherever found, and even with those raised on Sumatra and Pinang from seeds and plants originally carried from these islands. Wild nutmegs are also found on Damma southwest of Banda, and on Amboina, Ceram, Buru, Batchian, the Obi Islands, and Gilolo, also on the islands east of the latter, and on the northern coast of the western part of New Guinea. This fruit is widely planted by the “nut-crackers,” two large species of doves, Columba ænea, Tem., and Columba perspicillata, Tem., which swallow the nuts covered with the mace, the only part digested. The kernel enclosed in its hard, polished shell is soon voided, while it yet retains the germinating power, and a young tree springs up far from its parent.
East of this group is that of Goram, composed of three islands, inhabited by natives who are Mohammedans. Southeast of Goram is the Matabella group. Indeed, these groups are so united that they form but one archipelago. The Ceram-laut Islands are low, but those of Goram and Matabella are high. On the island Teor, or Tewer, in the last group, there is a volcano which suffered a great eruption in 1659. Mr. Wallace describes the Matabellas as partly composed of coral reefs raised from three to four hundred feet. Sometimes these people go as far west as Sumbawa and Bali. The “Southeastern Islands” begin on the north with the Ki group, ten in number, south of the former archipelago. Three of the Kis are large islands and two are high, a peak on one being estimated at about three thousand feet. They are so well peopled that they are supposed to contain over twenty thousand souls. The natives are very industrious, and famous as boat-builders. The wood they use comes from their own hill-sides, and they need no iron to complete boats of considerable size, which they sell to the inhabitants of all that part of the archipelago. Farther to the east are the Aru (in Dutch, Aroe) Islands, that is, “the islands of the casuarina-trees.” They number about eighty, and are very low, forming a chain about a hundred miles long and half as broad. When seen on the west they appear as one continuous, low island; but on coming nearer, intricate channels are found winding among them, through which set strong tidal currents. The people are said to closely resemble those of Haruku, Saparua, and Nusalaut. The total population is given at only fourteen thousand. A few are Christians, and two or three native schoolmasters from Amboina are employed there. Papuans are said to live on the most eastern island. Large quantities of tripang are gathered on the shallow coral banks of these low islands, and in the sea the dugong, Halicore dugong, Cuv., is seen. The great bird of paradise, P. apoda, is found here, and also the red bird of paradise, P. regia. The skins of these beautiful birds were probably brought here to Banda and sold to the Chinese traders for many ages, but the first account we have of them is by Pigafetta, who accompanied Magellan’s fleet. He says that the king of Bachian, an island west of the southern end of Gilolo, gave his companions a slave and nearly two hundred pounds of cloves as a present for their Emperor, Charles V., and also “two most beautiful dead birds. These are about the size of a thrush, have small heads, long bills, legs a palm in length and as slender as a writing-quill. In lieu of proper wings, they have long feathers of different colors, like great ornamental plumes. The tail resembles that of a thrush. All the feathers except those of the wings are of a dark color. It never flies except when the wind blows. We were informed these birds came from the terrestrial Paradise, and they called them bolondinata,[40] that is, ‘birds of God.’” This word the Portuguese translated into their language as “ave de paraiso,” and hence our name “birds of paradise,” a name well chosen, for in some species the feathers have all the appearance of the most brilliant jewels. Southwest of the Ki Islands lies Timur-laut, and passing on toward Timur we come to the “Southwestern Islands,” composed of the Baba, Sermatta, Letti, Roma, Wetta, and Lamma groups, which we noticed as we steamed away from Dilli.
Returning northward from Wetta, we come to Gunong Api, an uninhabited volcano, rising between six and seven thousand feet above the sea. It is a well-known landmark for the ships bound to China that have passed up the Ombay Passage, or those coming down the Floris Sea, intending to pass out through that strait into the Indian Ocean. Northeast of Gunong Api are the Lucipara and Turtle (in Dutch Schilpad) Islands, which praus from Amboina frequently visit for tortoise-shell. East of Gunong Api is Nila, an active volcano, about seventeen hundred feet in height, and north of it is Serua, which is merely a volcanic cone rising abruptly from the sea. In 1694 a great eruption took place in this volcano. A part of the crater wall fell in, and the lava overflowed until the whole island is represented as having become one “sea of fire,” and all the inhabitants were obliged to flee to Banda. Again, in September, 1844, after a rest of a hundred and fifty years, another eruption began, which compelled every one to leave its inhospitable shores once more. Since that time it has been settled again, and here in Banda are many of the boats its people bring in the latter part of this month, when continuously for days not a breeze ripples the glassy sea—halcyon days indeed. As the natives have no iron, the whole boat is built of wood. The central part is low, but the bow and stern curve up high, quite different from all I have seen in any other part of the archipelago, and reminding one of the representations usually given of those used in some parts of the South Sea.
While I had been turning my attention to geology, the native who was assisting me to collect shells was searching for a “hunter,” that is, one who can skin birds. He soon had the good fortune to find one, who was also a native of Amboina, for all these natives dislike those of another village, and only associate with them when they can find none of their own people. During the few days we were at the Bandas they collected several species of most beautiful kingfishers; indeed, those who have seen only our sombre-colored specimens can scarcely conceive of the rich plumage these birds assume in the tropical East. They were also so fortunate as to find a few superb specimens of a very rare and valuable bird, with scarcely any tail, and having eight very different colors, the Pitta vigorsi. An allied species is found on the Arru Islands, and another on Buru, a third on Gilolo, and a fourth on Celebes, but none is yet known on the great island of Ceram.