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HALMAHERA [" great land "; also Jilol...

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 864 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HALMAHERA [" See also:great See also:land "; also Jilolo or Gilolo] , an See also:island of the Dutch See also:East Indies, belonging to the residency of See also:Ternate, lying under the See also:equator and about 128° E. Its shape is extremely irregular, resembling that of the island of See also:Celebes. It consists of four peninsulas so arranged as to enclose three great bays (Kayu, Bicholi, Weda), all opening towards the east, the See also:northern See also:peninsula being connected with the others by an See also:isthmus only 5 M. wide. On the western See also:side of the isthmus lies another See also:bay, that of Dodinga, in the mouth of which are situated the two islands Ternate and See also:Tidore, whose See also:political importance exceeds that of the larger island (see these articles). Of the four peninsulas of Halmahera the northern and the See also:southern are reckoned to the sultanate of Ternate, the See also:north-eastern and See also:south-eastern to that of Tidore; the former having eleven, the latter three districts. The distance between the extremities of the northern and southern peninsulas, measured along the See also:curve of the See also:west See also:coast, is about 240 m.; and the See also:total See also:area of the island is 6700 sq. m. Knowledge of the island is very incomplete. It appears that the four peninsulas are traversed in the direction of their See also:longitudinal See also:axis by See also:mountain chains 3000 to 4000 ft. high, covered with See also:forest, without a central See also:chain at the See also:nucleus of the island whence the peninsulas diverge. The mountain chains are frequently interrupted by plains, such as those of Weda and Kobi. The northern See also:part of the mountain chain of the northern peninsula is volcanic, its volcanoes continuing the See also:line of those of Makian, Ternate and Tidore. See also:Coral formations on heights in the interior would indicate oscillations of the land in several periods, but a detailed See also:geology of the island is wanting. To the north-east of the northern peninsula is the considerable island of Morotai (635 sq. m.), and to the west of the southern peninsula the more important island of See also:Bachian (q.v.) among others.

Galela is a considerable See also:

settlement, situated on a bay of the same name on the north-east coast, in a well cultivated See also:plain which extends southward and inland. Vegetation is prolific. See also:Rice is grown by the natives, but the See also:sago See also:tree is of far greater importance to them. See also:Dammar and coco-nuts are also grown. The See also:sea yields trepang and See also:pearl shells. A little See also:trade is carried on by the See also:Chinese and Macassars of Ternate, who, See also:crossing the narrow isthmus of Dodinga, enter the bay of Kayu on the east coast. The total See also:population is estimated at 500,000. The inhabitants are mostly of immigrant Malayan stock. In the northern peninsula are found See also:people of Papuan type, probably representing the See also:aborigines, and a tribe around Galela, who are Polynesian in physique, possibly remnants, much mixed by subsequent crossings with the Papuan indigenes, of the Caucasian hordes emigrating in prehistoric times across the Pacific. M. Achille Raffray gives a description of them in Tour du monde (1879) where photographs will be found. " They are as unlike the See also:Malays as we are, excelling them in tallness of stature and elegance of shape, and being perfectly distinguished by their See also:oval See also:face, with a fairly high and open brow, their aquiline See also:nose and their horizontally placed eyes.

Their beards are sometimes thick; their limbs are See also:

muscular; the See also:colour of their skins is See also:cinnamon See also:brown. Spears of See also:iron-See also:wood, abundantly barbed, and small bows and See also:bamboo arrows See also:free from See also:poison are their See also:principal weapons." They are further described as having temples (sabuas) in which they suspend images of serpents and other monsters as well as the trophies procured by See also:war. They believe in a better See also:life hereafter, but have no See also:idea of a See also:hell or a See also:devil, their evil See also:spirits only tormenting them in the See also:present See also:state. The Portuguese and Spaniards were better acquainted with Halmahera than with many other parts of the See also:archipelago; they called it sometimes See also:Batu See also:China and sometimes See also:Moro. It was circumnavigated by one of their vessels in 1525, and the See also:general outline of the coasts is correctly given in their maps at a See also:time when See also:separate portions of Celebes, such as See also:Macassar and Menado, are represented as distinct islands. The name (Jilolo) was really that of a native state, the See also:sultan of which had the See also:chief See also:rank among the princes of the See also:Moluccas before he was supplanted by the sultan of Ternate about 1380. His See also:capital, Jilolo, See also:lay on the west coast on the first bay to the north of that of Dodinga. In 1876 Danu See also:Hassan, a descendant of the sultans of Jilolo, raised an insurrection in the island for the purpose of throwing off the authority of the sultans of Tidore and Ternate; and his efforts would probably have been successful but for the intervention of the Dutch. In 1878 a Dutch expedition was directed against the pirates of Tobalai, and they were virtually extirpated. See also:Slavery remains in the interior. Missionary See also:work, carried on in the northern peninsula of Halmahera since 1866, has been fairly successful among the See also:heathen natives, but less so among the Mahommedans, who have often incited the others against the missionaries and their converts.

End of Article: HALMAHERA [" great land "; also Jilolo or Gilolo]

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