Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/281

Rh blood. Ruined European dwellings, the result of volcanic disturbances, stand amidst native thatched dwellings, palms, and spice groves, and amidst the scented scene wander the careless happy people clothed in many colours. Fruits such as the durian, pene, mangostan, etc., do very well. Above the fruit-groves rises virgin forest. The sultans of Ternate and Tidore were once famous for their magnificence and power, and were much courted by strangers. Though now pensioned they retain full control of their own subjects.

Drake in 1579 describes his visit to the Sultan of Ternate: “The king had a very rich canopy with embossings of gold borne over him, and was guarded with twelve lances. From the waist to the ground was all cloth of gold, and that very rich; in the attire of his head were finely wreathed in diverse rings of plaited gold, of an inch or more in breadth, which made a fair and princely show, somewhat resembling a crown in form; about his neck he had a chain of perfect gold, the links very great and one fold double; on his left hand was a diamond, an emerald, a ruby, and a turky; on his right hand in one ring a big and perfect turky, and in another ring many diamonds of a smaller size.”

[Nowadays the Sultan is poor and shorn of his glory. When he drives out in state it is in an ancient carriage, drawn not by horses but by coolies. His soldiers are attired in uniforms of the time of Napoleon. He dresses in white Euro- pean clothes and wears a white turban. As a background to the Kraton, as his palace is called, rises the volcano Gamalama, which is over 5000 feet high.]

They became wealthy through spice. Ternate is the native home of cloves. In former times 15