Stories from Deli

Sumatra Courant 25-07-1874

The next morning, we continued our journey to Salah-Boelao, always heading southwest. This part of the road rises at least five hundred feet. We encountered two steep sections that were terrifying and difficult to pass even on horseback. Another path, which the horses were led along, is even less advisable, as it is much longer and so narrow that there is a significant risk of falling into the depths while on horseback.

One of these steep paths is near Lima-Moekoer, and the other near Salah-Boelan. Further along, we crossed the Deli River three times, where it is no longer deep. However, during high water, the journey can only be made partly by small sampan, and not without risk to life, as the river is strewn with large boulders. The Bataks often have to wait two or three days on the shore until the water subsides. We were fortunate that it hadn’t rained heavily in the mountains, so we could cross safely. However, the horses still had a high chance of breaking their legs, and there have been several cases where horses, led by Bataks, were swept away by the current and crushed against the rocks.

We crossed the river near the kampong of Lima-Moekoer, then near Talong-Doerian, and finally near Salah-Boelan, always heading southwest. After passing Lima-Moekoer, we took a short break in a shed where the men, women, and girls from the nearby kampong Soeka-Moelia came to welcome us with gifts of some white chickens, a goat, and eggs. They urged us to stay overnight in the kampong, but since we had plans to continue, we politely declined. I gave the girls some gifts, including coral, rings, combs, mirrors, boxes, needles, and red cotton sashes, which are very popular among the Batak people, and gave the kampong chief a red woolen jacket and a batik headscarf. After this, we continued our journey, and the villagers returned to their kampong, very satisfied.

Near Tankahan, while bathing in the river at midday, we found an enormous boulder in the river, at least three fathoms in diameter and cone-shaped. It seemed to me to be from an ancient time and possibly brought there by an eruption or something similar, as the other stones in the river were much smaller.

Between Soeka-Moelia and Salah-Boelan, I was shown another stone on the riverbank. Tired from walking, I sat on it for a moment. The Malays following me asked if I wasn’t afraid of the devil and warned me that, having sat on that stone, I was sure to suffer misfortune. I examined the stone more closely and noticed that it had a bas-relief that somewhat resembled a person, with an arm missing a hand and two legs up to the knees; even the head and torso, like a human, could be vaguely discerned. There is a superstition that a person once possessed by the devil died at that spot, and their body became attached to the stone, leaving those marks. I believe that this was formed by nature. However, the Bataks consider this stone sacred and continually make offerings to it. If I had known of its sacredness, I naturally would not have sat on it, but the Bataks later told me that I was a person far above them and that the evil spirits would not take my actions amiss.

Just before reaching Salah-Boelan, we had to climb a very difficult steep slope, certainly more than three hundred feet high, where we repeatedly encountered large, porous rocks. The high location of this kampong makes obtaining water difficult. I suspected that the inhabitants rarely bathed, and indeed, they looked quite dirty. Like Tankahan, Salah-Boelan is a small kampong surrounded by a double bamboo fence.

In this kampong, I found a Batak man chained in the same way as the woman in Deli-Toewa, whom I mentioned earlier. I asked him why, and he responded that he had been accused of stealing a headscarf by the kampong chief. The chief, however, told me that this was not true and explained that the Batak man, who belonged to another kampong, had been found by him in his house speaking with his wife. As he had noticed this several times before, uncertain about the relationship between this man and his wife, he decided to punish him in this way.

The man looked like a skeleton and had spent about eighteen months in this condition. We asked the panghoeloe (kampong chief) to have pity on this man and free him. At first, he was reluctant, but after a few minutes of consideration, he agreed to our request, on the condition that the freed man would never again enter the kampong. From there, we continued our journey to Boekoem, always climbing and descending. At some points, wooden pegs were driven into the ground to serve as makeshift ladders because, otherwise, descending would have been impossible due to the slipperiness caused by the constant rains in November.

At a place called Laut-Peysei (which gets its water from the Soengei Petoenbah, above Perjoet), we had to climb a mountain ridge that made us shiver due to its height and steepness. I can assure you that I have never undertaken such a strenuous climb in my life; with life-threatening danger, one must rely on their hands to cling to the dangerously large boulders, which are so slippery that it is nearly impossible. Moreover, the footholds are so far apart that, without long legs, they are difficult to reach. I was often forced to let myself be pulled up by my arms. Initially, not realizing the enormous height, I climbed too vigorously to set an example for my followers. At one point, I couldn’t go any further and hung for about three minutes from a rock. When I looked down for a moment, I was terrified by the abyss gaping beneath me. How I reached the top, I still don’t know, and I advise any traveler to take the other path, not far from here, where my horses were led. It may seem longer, but it is much more preferable due to the greater ease it offers. When we reached the top, we found our horses already waiting.

We then came to a small plateau, and after about fifteen minutes, we reached our destination for the day, after one final descent and climb near the kampong Boekoem. We arrived at 5 o’clock, and after resting for a while in the balei, we began to explore the kampong more closely.

Built on a hill at the foot of which extensive rice fields and ladangs can be seen, it is quite strong against an indigenous enemy. From the balei, one can clearly see the sea. This kampong can rightly be considered a pleasure resort.

The houses are all made of heavy wooden planks, three inches thick, covered with idjoe (thatch), and built on stilts. A piece of wood with steps carved into it serves as a ladder to reach the veranda of the building, which has a front and a back door. Inside, there are open hearths on the left and right, and because there are no windows in these houses, it is perpetually dark. Only the two doors provide a little light. All the houses were rebuilt a few years ago; the kampong had been destroyed by fire. A younger brother of the Si Baja of Boekoem wanted to come to power and had persuaded some of the kampong residents to side with him; this led to a conflict between the two brothers, resulting in the kampong being set on fire.

During the conflict, the Si Baja received a sword wound to the neck from his younger brother, leaving him unconscious and presumed dead. He was carried away, and his younger brother fled. Now, these brothers are reconciled, but the younger one still doesn’t dare to enter the kampong of the Si Baja, fearing treachery in his brother’s persistent requests for him to return. In the middle of the kampong stands a tomb that contains the bones of the Si Baja’s mother. This tomb is built on stilts, three feet above the ground, with a wooden floor; above this, another floor and walls are constructed about four feet higher, with a ladder leading to the area under the roof where the bones are placed in an open box, one and a half feet long and a foot wide. In addition to the bones, the box contains sirih, gambier, and lime for the deceased. The outside of the tomb is painted with all sorts of figures, such as elephants, tigers, snakes, gondolas, carriages, horses, dancers, and musicians.

At the top of the roof, at the front and back, there are two buffalo heads carved from wood and covered with idjoe, just like the roof. Furthermore, in the kampong, there is an open building on stilts, covered with idjoe, containing two long beams, each with twelve holes. This is where the women and young girls gather to pound rice. As we passed this building, they all stopped pounding; an old woman spoke up and asked me to move aside, as she was afraid of dusting me. I replied that she need not worry about that, to which she said she had never seen anyone as fair-skinned as I was and that I must be the son of God; for Sri Malia Radja (the greatest and most feared ruler of Toba) was also fair-skinned, but not as much as I.

When we arrived in Boekoem, the Si Baja was absent. He had not yet returned from his journey to Deli and arrived only the next day. The soekoe chiefs had also not yet arrived, except for Orang Kaja Indra di Radja, who had accompanied me from Kampong Baroe. We stayed to wait for the soekoe chiefs and left Boekoem on the 22nd for Sampotn. At Boekoem, we thought we had already reached the mountains after all our climbing, but we were told that we still had to climb half a day from there to reach the mountains. We departed at 6 o’clock, still marching through dense forest, occasionally crossing small streams that received their water from the mountains, and after climbing and descending several times, we arrived at a place around 10 o’clock where there was a strong smell of sulfur, leading us to believe that there must be a sulfur spring nearby. However, the water from the stream didn’t taste like it, and the Bataks couldn’t identify the source of the smell.

By noon, we finally reached the actual mountains, which present themselves as a plateau. From there, one can gaze in awe at the cone-shaped mountain peaks that surround the area, with Mount Blerang being the most prominent and impressive. Its crater, constantly smoking and emitting sulfur, reflects beautifully in the sun.

Here and there, one sees some trees between which various kampongs are located. These kampongs can only be reached by climbing and descending along a path naturally formed and, in many places, resembling a tunnel. Often, after reaching the foot of a ravine, one has to climb a hundred feet to reach kampongs from where one has a wide view over the plateau, which looks like one large grassy expanse.

After delighting in this magnificent view for a moment, we mounted our horses. The first kampong we reached was Negri-Djawa. On the way there, hundreds of Bataks came to meet us, armed with guns and welcoming us with several shots. Some of the more important men were on horseback and offered Raja Moedin and Orang Kaja Indra di Radja, who had made the journey thus far on foot, horses to continue the journey. After we had moved left and right and the gathered crowd had a good look at us, we could continue our journey, led by a guide on horseback, armed with two lances, one of which he held out in front of him in his right hand and the other on his back in his left hand.

In the kampong, which is situated quite high, mats were spread out for us, and we were offered palm wine. Negri-Djawa is surrounded by a bamboo fence and has a population of three hundred souls with twenty houses. They urged me to stay overnight there, but since our destination was Saropoen, which we hoped to reach that day, we declined the offer and continued to the second kampong, called Oedjoeng-Sampoen. This kampong is slightly smaller than the previous one; we were received just as warmly and were also urged to spend the night there. We declined again for the same reason as at Negri-Djawa and also because we had already sent some of our goods ahead from Boekoem to avoid having to sleep on the planks again, as had already happened to us a few times. Although we were heavily fatigued from the long journey, we continued on to Sampoen, where we set up our lodging in the balei and were soon surrounded by Batak men and women, who eagerly jostled for a place to get a good look at us.

(To be continued.)