Stories from Deli

Deli Courant 19-08-1885

I had looked forward with great anticipation to being able to greet my old benefactor and friend, “Sipaiak,” in Karna J Djamboe. Unfortunately, he was no longer among the living. Three months ago, he had suddenly passed away in Baroe Djahai, a Karo Batta village from where he originated, likely poisoned by his old adversary, the Pangoeloe of Baroe Djahai. His son, the current Sipaiak, still vividly remembered my previous presence and sent me rice and a chicken as a guest gift, after having shown me a fairly decent house, built by the old Sipaiak shortly before his death, outside the village as lodging.

In the evening, the young Sipaiak himself came to visit, wearing Chinese trousers and jacket with a European straw hat on his head. He seemed somewhat awkward and was accompanied by some older Radjas and men, including the strong, sharp-looking under-radja, whom I had mentioned in my previous travel report. The Sipaiak apologized and explained that he was still too inexperienced and new in his role; therefore, I should not blame him for any possible misstep.

Overall, everyone in Namoe Djainboe was in a very somber mood due to the sudden death of the old Sipaiak; the large, rich village was entirely devoid of provisions due to the costly, three-month-long funeral ceremonies, making it difficult for me to obtain even a few chickens. Additionally, I learned that the deceased prince had tried to evade the arm of the government by fleeing to the mountains to Baroe Djahai; he had deceitfully lured the head of the neighboring village of Tarëan into an ambush and brutally murdered him. We would have never imagined the old, jovial, friendly Sipaiak capable of such a cowardly assassination if the Battas themselves had not told me.

Upon our arrival, some women were busy weaving and dyeing sarongs; for dyeing, instead of indigo, a local herb called Salami was used, with long finger-like leaves, which I saw planted in abundance throughout the Batta lands. I did not encounter the actual indigo plant anywhere. To use it, the entire plant is cut up and boiled in a large earthen pot with water and ashes for three nights; then the water is drained off, leaving behind an indigo blue dye called Pnvseleban, which is then mixed with water and ash again before use.

I left Nama Djamboe early in the morning and cheerfully led my caravan through the magnificent, dark “Urwald” (primeval forest), which extended almost to the village of Yarëan, then passed the place where the old Sipaiak had ordered the murder of the Pangoeloe of Tarëan. Near the last village, we unexpectedly came across the carcass of a large deer that had been killed by a tiger barely a couple of hours earlier. It was a magnificent, large animal, and its flesh was still warm. The neck had been severely mauled by claws and teeth, with a large, round piece, roughly equivalent to a man’s head, cleanly and sharply gouged out as if cut with a knife; otherwise, the animal was unharmed. I was eager to wait for the night by the carcass, hoping to perhaps get a shot at the tiger, but the Pangoeloe, who had arrived from Tarëan in the meantime, claimed the flesh as his property as the landowner, and in a short time, the very large deer was divided into pieces of flesh and bone and carried away.

The village of Maroeboen had significantly expanded compared to before; several new houses had been erected near the old village, and the extensive “Imlangs” (irrigation canals) adorned the greenery of rice and corn fields, making this area the most populated and best I had seen in the Loesson (lowlands). The cause of this astonishing progress was the settlement of about a hundred Timor-Batta families, who, after being involved in a war and deprived of their land by the feared Sing-Maharadja a few months ago, sought and found protection with the Radja of Maroeboen.

Due to lack of space, I decided not to stay in Doerian overnight but marched on to Bintang-meria. In the ravines behind Doerian, which I had already marked as the place where a different vegetation begins on my first journey, I could once again confirm the accuracy of this statement. Not only did I see a couple of ferns and tree orchids here, but I also discovered, in addition to the previously noticed red balsam (Impatiens), a beautiful yellow species, somewhat fuller and juicier than our native Impatiens noli me tangere.

Moreover, for the first time, I encountered the splendid palm ferns, which grow to twenty to thirty feet high, as well as a palm tree that is exclusively grown in these mountainous regions, used by the Battas for making palm wine and sugar and even preferred over the Arenga saccharifera. It resembles the latter but has a taller and slimmer trunk; the leaves are slightly finer and not as dark green as the common sugar palm. This palm species is found neither in the coastal areas nor on the high plateau. The fauna also presented some new species, including new dragonflies and darters. Thus, I can now conclusively determine the transition vegetation between coast and mountain.

The valley of Goelasar, which we passed through before arriving at Bintang-meria, displayed sandstone cliffs running along its walls up to a minimum height. In Bintang-meria, we were warmly received. The Pangoeloe and his family were ill, and I was able to assist him with medicines, for which he showed great gratitude. He gave me chickens, eggs, coconuts, and bananas, and he also had the guest house prepared for me as overnight accommodation; he himself visited in the evening and spent several hours with my guides and me smoking opium. A young, prominent Batta, dressed in a crimson jacket with a silver-embellished knife at his side, who apparently had never seen a European before, could not take his eyes off my clothes and my skin color, constantly showering me with flattering words and expressions of admiration. He continuously stroked my hand, making constant comparisons between his and my skin. In the valley behind Bintang-meria, I noticed this time very crumbly ice scales on the dipterocarps, yellow-red and swan-colored.

At one spot, I also found a clayey pot earth, similar to the one found at the mountain pass near Hostawaja. I suspect that this one here is leftover from a landslide. While crossing the Soengèi-Boaia just before the village of Goenoeng Sinombak, I caught sight of a large hill consisting of dazzling white quartz sand; one could pick up handfuls of single crystals, mostly the size of a pea.

Behind Goenoeng Sinombak, where the road led upwards over the paddy fields, we passed trachyte stone up to half the height of the mountain, among the rather friable loam, which forms exclusively the back side of the mountain, only here and there replaced by a yellow , oily clay soil, which, according to the Battas, is edible. When I felt incredulous, Radja Tonging demonstrated this to me; he made balls the size of a pea, three of which he swallowed. The effect, he said, was hunger-relieving; passing Battas often used it, but always only in a small amount.

The loamy slate soil piled up on the trachyte, which could only withstand the penetrating force of the water, is certainly the cause of the formation of a pass at this location. Here on this clayey soil on the slope of the highlands, the wealth of vegetation was particularly luxuriant. A multitude of the rarest, perhaps new ferns covered the ground and tree trunks, and beautiful orchids bloomed everywhere.

Unfortunately, I could barely save a third of the fern and orchids for the Herbarium, and even had to leave some plants behind. What a vast field an exclusively botanical expedition would find in these regions. ? There I stood again as before two years on the remarkable Battak plateau and my eyes floated for miles over the fresh green border. Prepared for the peculiar sight, the plateau no longer seemed so barren and deserted to me as it had for the first time. Many crevices and ravines cut through lovely areas, from every opening there emerged thick woods or the crowns of horns, so that the whole great plain seemed to be covered with dark spots. Here and there in the middle was | On the green lawn there was a tall tree, overgrown with beautiful appendages, which fluttered three to four feet high in the wind.

Following the path I had already taken, we continued in the direction of the Holok (mountain) Sing Allang, rising in the distance. Along the way my attention was attracted by a beautiful light-colored violet, very similar to the Kuropec viola canina, but with the scent of the V oderata. The beautiful red blooming heather rose was also everywhere. The season in which I now traveled was determined for the study of the Hora, more favorable than on my first journey. In the vicinity of Sibnriboean a torrential rain overtook us, which forced us to take up our night quarters here. From my guide Si Moang I heard <lat Sibnriboean just c.eu’ Loesson (Colony) is from Nagasanboe.

I found the village completely in the same condition as it had been for two years. The strawberries mentioned in my first travel report were once again blooming in abundance at the kampong fence. The next morning I found a real Illex (holly) behind the village. At the edge of a ravine I discovered a crawling Nepenthes (jug plant) with long water-filled tubes in which dead ants floated around. I have always found one species of ants in the Nepenthes tubes, never a second, much less another insect. In the watery valley of Proeba Toewa I found again all the plants that I saw on my first trip. Marsh and well-scented violets, renuncles, balsams, forget-me-nots, immortelles, also a beautiful jasmine (Lonicera), two orchids, one of which creeping over the entire wall of the valley, as well as the shrub known everywhere in the Indies and often used as a fever remedy, Salagundi, with a very tensive, bitter bind and bark. Close behind the village I passed the water border of the northern plateau, which winds in the form of a low hill from the Boaia Pass (Goenoeng Liang) to the Dolok Singallaug.

To the west of these hills the water flows to the Langkat River, to the east to the Songei Boaia. Lake Toba does not receive any water supply from the plateau on the entire northern and eastern sides, with the exception of the stream near Tiuging.

On the afternoon of the 8th of December we arrived at Nagasariboe. The 3rd kampong is surrounded by a small forest and is sheltered on one side by the Dolok Singaang and on the other side by the Domloennea. The Balé was designated to me as a house, so to speak. the Rajah’s house could not accommodate me and all my members. The twenty to thirty mice, blackened by age, lay seemingly scattered and, with their high roofs covered with ferns and braids, created a gloomy atmosphere, which was further enhanced by the rather narrow belt of forest, which largely covers the gloomy and dark-looking Arenga. echanfera existed around the kampong. However, as the inspection showed, there was no bottom in the Balé, so I first had to beg for planks to provide myself and my people with a living space.