Stories from Deli

Deli Courant 15-08-1885

The peculiar private situations among the Battas, as my first journey has taught me, entirely depend on the relationships of an influential guide for the outcome of a journey in the northern Batta lands. On my first journey, I was accompanied by a very wealthy and prominent Batta, among whom hundreds of Battas worked on plantations in Deli, but despite this, I did not succeed in crossing the borders of his hometown of Tinging and going beyond the four or five neighboring friendly villages. His authority only extended to his village, and he never had the courage to accompany me anywhere else beyond the immediate vicinity of Tinging. Since this time I wanted to travel a larger portion of Lake Toba, my goal was to make a travel contract with one of the foremost Radjas from the vicinity of Lake Toba.

For months, there was no prospect of realizing my intention. Additionally, there was the uprising of the Batta king Sing-Mahauadja, towards whose immediate vicinity I was just about to undertake the journey, an uprising that did not promise favorable prospects for the success of the journey to be undertaken. In November 1883, better news arrived; Sing-Mahauadja had been defeated, his territory, the southern coast of Lake Toba, was in the hands of government troops, and the land was at peace. It was only uncertain where Sing-Mahauadja had fled to; some claimed he had fled eastward to the Orang Timor.

The cause of this astonishing progress was the settlement of about a hundred Timor-Batta families, who, having been involved in a war and deprived of their land by the universally feared Sing-Maharadja a few months earlier, had sought and found protection with the Radja of Maroeboen. Due to lack of space, I decided not to stay overnight in Doerian this time but continued marching to Bintang-Meria. In the ravines behind Doerian, which I had already identified on my first journey as the place where another vegetation begins, I was able to confirm the accuracy of this statement again. Not only did I see a couple of ferns and tree orchids, but I also discovered, besides the previously noticed red balsamine (Impatiens), another beautiful, yellow species, somewhat fuller and juicier than our native Imp. noli me tangere.

Since I wanted to visit the northeastern and southeastern sides of the lake, and an encounter with the fugitive Batta king could have had serious consequences for me, I would have hesitated to proceed with my journey if a particularly favorable opportunity had not presented itself, which I felt I could not let pass.

Several months ago, the younger son of one of the most prominent Tobavos, from the prince (Radja) of Nagasariboe, had come to Deli with the intention of establishing connections with the Malays regarding the salt trade, and I heard that he was now intending to return to Nagasariboe for a short time. He willingly offered to accompany me up and down again. I made a contract with him, in which he undertook to bring me with twelve carriers to the village of Nagasariboe, and if I wished, even to Silahahe and to the volcano Foesoek Boekit on the southeastern side, as well as to Ginallang and Nageri on the eastern side of the lake. I had to keep my intention to penetrate to the missionary establishments on the south side of the lake secret from him because such a monstrous intention in the eyes of the northern Battas would have jeopardized the execution of the contract. I counted on finding a favorable opportunity once I was up at the lake.

He assured me further of the most effective support from his very influential father. The commitment was for a month, including the return journey, during which time he and his carriers had to be at my disposal the whole time. For this, he received the sum of 200 Dollars, half of which he would receive immediately and the other half only after the completed return journey.

Two days before the appointed time of departure, Si-Moang (this is the name of my guide, the young king of Nagasariboe) appeared and informed me that it was impossible for him, aside from his own following, which consisted of seven men, to obtain other Battas as carriers, as all of them were busy with rice planting. I was therefore forced (naturally at Si-Moang’s expense) to hire five more Malays as carriers, so that my entourage consisted of 10 Battas (7 carriers, 2 kings, one of whom was the deposed sub-king of Tiging who had already accompanied me on my first journey, and a Batta boy in my service), five Malays, and two Javanese servants.

On the 3rd of December, we began our journey. My route was exactly the same as two years before, and therefore I can refer briefly to the previous travel report of 1881 along with the map. I had chosen this route again mainly to verify the 1881 maps and to study the changes that may have occurred during the two years. The first major change I noticed was in Patoem-Boekan. The beautiful, large coffee plantations of the Sultan of Serdang, which I had seen before, were almost completely gone due to a sudden and unexpected outbreak of disease, which caused the most beautiful coffee trees to die off in a short time. The pepper gardens were also gone and abandoned or had been replaced by extensive rice and corn plantations.

Overall, abandoned pepper gardens were seen everywhere. On the contrary, large fields planted with rice were seen wherever there was a suitable place for it. The rice had grown tall, some already in bloom or bearing fruit. While in the coastal plains, the rice almost reached our knees in the Ladangs, near Taiuljong-Poerlia and Namoe Toeallang, it was almost waist-high and partially in bloom; near Skalie and further to Bintang Maria, it was already fully ripe, while in the high plain of Hoeta-Waja, it was still sparse and about a span high. The Loesoen area is a blessed and fertile land; the rice grew in such abundance, as I have seldom seen in the coastal plains; likewise, the diazone with which the rice fields are commonly surrounded. Unfortunately, the land is somewhat rugged for tobacco cultivation, and deforestation in this area would have adverse consequences. Coffee beans, and the higher mountain cinchona, would surely thrive excellently. It is no wonder that the Battas descend in great numbers from their poor, rocky highland to this fertile land, which is cultivated by the Malays. Most of the Loesoen inhabitants belong to the Karo Battas tribe, but many Tobali-Bataks have also settled there.

For instance, the king of Skalei is a brother of the king of Ginallang; the king of Bèganding, whose place has grown from a single house to a small fenced village of five houses in the last two years, is a relative of my guide, the king of Nagasariboe; the king of Tenging, who accompanies me, has relations in the nearby area and has himself lived here for many years.

We had to take our night lodgings in Boea-Perak as the Malay coolies were not accustomed to carrying loads on steep paths and were too tired. The village of Boea-Perak, which two years ago was still a village of eight to ten houses with a fence, now consisted only of four open, miserable huts that were too dilapidated to accommodate us; therefore, we camped outside in two open, small huts. Here we obtained chickens (four for one Dollar) and a very good palm wine (Battakse pagot), which tasted delicious. Unfortunately, it was presented by the son of the Pangöeloe (Headman), who, being a complete cretin, as often found in these mountainous regions, almost took away my desire for the delicious drink with his horrifying appearance. In the middle of the night – as a gentle rain fell – I was suddenly awakened by loud shouts and noise. One of the coolies had discovered a large snake by the light of the dying fire, which, wrapped closely around one of the roof beams, was watching the company below with astonishment. One of my Malays quickly captured it with the help of a small rattan loop, which he carefully slipped over its head, and it was immediately placed in a glass jar. It was of a very poisonous species with a large head shaped like a heart and long movable fangs.

During our journey the next day, I had the opportunity to catch a large number of beautiful beetles and butterflies on tree trunks partially stripped of their bark. We crossed the Boaiarivier, which roared powerfully in its porphyry bed, slightly above the former crossing point; a swaying tree trunk, almost twenty feet above the foaming and roaring water surface, served as a bridge. Behind the village of Goelasar, just before descending into the valley of the Boaia, the summit of the volcano Goenoeng Sipaiak became visible for a moment; I measured its blunt top at 258, an important point for correcting my previous maps. From there, the road, slightly deviating from the previous path along the Boaiarivier, led to near Nama Djamboe. Here too, the bank was as far as the eye could see, as at Beganding, formed by towering, sheer porphyry rocks. The current was exceptionally strong, the river foamed between its banks with rushing speed, yet there were sudden transitions where the water was calm and still like a mirror, with a deep, sea-green color. In such places, the bed is hundreds of feet deep, and anything that falls in is irretrievably lost. There is a legend that people who dive there have seen houses at a great depth. (To be continued.)