Stories from Deli

J. Nienhuijs

Jaba Bode 9 & 11 June 1888

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TOBACCO CULTURE IN DELI.

It goes without saying, begins Mr. Nienhuys, that this cannot be a regular account of what I accomplished in Deli 25 years ago, nor a listing of all the encounters and activities there; no, I write these lines solely with the aim of giving an idea of how my journey to Deli was not the main point of the commemorative day for me, but rather how the system I followed in the cultivation in Deli became the basis for the prosperity that this cultivation has achieved. The following details will, I hope, prove this.

It was at the beginning of 1863, while I was in Java, that I became acquainted with an Arab who, claiming to be related to the Sultan of Deli and fully informed about this region, told me that a significant quantity of tobacco was available for purchase in Deli (in his opinion, over 30,000 piculs), while he assured other firms established in Java that significant trade relations in various products could be established with this kingdom. Not long after, a sailing ship departed for Deli, carrying representatives of two trading houses, with whom I joined. Bitterly misled by the Arab’s exaggerated claims, the ship and its passengers returned to Java a few days after arriving in Deli, leaving me behind, as I had decided to conduct a thorough investigation into the people, climate, and soil before returning. A few household items, sparingly but kindly provided by the captain of our ship, enabled me to set up my bivouac as best as I could in an uninhabited house belonging to the Sultan of Deli, and from that time on, it was my firm intention and sole aim to try to establish tobacco cultivation in Deli. Although I had not overestimated the difficulties that awaited me and trusted in my experience in Java and also in Holland with tobacco cultivation, I can assure you that many anxious hours were lived through before a fixed regulation and form was given to my ideal. Before I proceed to my activities in Deli and especially discuss the method of cultivation, I would like to provide the following information. When I was convinced that the soil and climate in Deli were perfectly suitable for tobacco cultivation, I went to the Resident in Riau, an island near Deli, then a steamboat journey of about two days, and requested his cooperation with the Sultan of Deli to obtain assistance in providing advances on tobacco. Only reluctantly was this cooperation assured to me, despite the article written by that Resident, in which he portrayed Deli as the Eldorado for cultivation, and only after I threatened to leave Sumatra did I succeed in receiving it, and I departed, accompanied by the Assistant Resident Lockert de Bruijn, to Deli and received the promise of support from the Sultan. Among the conditions I included in the contract, one deserves special mention, namely that the export duties to be levied by the Sultan would be equal to those in Java and amount to 50 cents per picul. This stipulation was all the more necessary because it was customary in Deli to levy two dollars per picul for basketed tobacco intended for local consumption. At that time, the total income of the Sultan of Deli was 1000 dollars, which was contributed by the 1200 Malays living there and the Bataks who came to trade in Deli. Furthermore, it should be noted that the Sultan, very favorable to the Dutch government and the Europeans, allowed tobacco to be planted temporarily wherever one wished, and with this agreement and promises, my cultivation in Deli began. For clarification, it should further be noted that the currency in circulation in Deli was the silver dollar, representing about ƒ2.50 Dutch currency, which was simply divided into 1200 parts called duits. I must add that at that time, the desired dollar in Deli was the Spanish pillar dollar, for which one often had to pay a 10% premium in Penang, which often prompted me to prefer to bring linen and opium from Penang, to obtain pillar dollars more cheaply after sale, and also that, when I set foot in Deli in 1863, only one patrol boat, manned by Javanese marines, was present at the landing place for protection. Only in 1864 did a controller come to Deli, who, having no house, temporarily stayed with me. My first work was then, according to the system prevailing in Java, to have tobacco cultivated under advance to the natives and to buy it at a certain time, but I saw, alas, that the result was insignificant, and the population, consisting of Malays and Bataks, lacked all guarantee for a well-organized cultivation due to disorder and laziness; a small amount of harvested, purchased tobacco had to be kept for shipment until the following year due to the small quantity, which was not enough to cure. Seeing the danger that I would get no people, despite the advance given to one of the chiefs in the Batak lands to supply laborers, I decided to undertake the not insignificant dangerous journey there. An unexpected event made me undertake the journey sooner than I had foreseen. Without the permission of the Sultan of Deli to go there and thus without any safe conduct to venture into this unsafe, forested, and mountainous region, presented so many difficulties that, although I found the right path along the narrow footpaths leading to countless villages, my journey would most likely be useless. Much less could I hope for a good outcome of this journey, as various tribes were constantly at war with each other, and although this fighting mainly consisted of stealing cattle or lootable possessions, it could not make things easy for an unknown and solitary traveler; fortunately, an unforeseen event, as mentioned, enabled me to undertake the journey. A Batak wished to sell his horse in Deli but found no buyers except far below the price he had set. He came to me, and I offered him 10 dollars more than the requested sum, on the condition, however, that I would pay him when he had delivered me safely back to Deli after I had completed my journey to the Batak lands. This condition was accepted by him, and we set out on the journey to a region where no European had yet penetrated and where later only a few have gone. In many villages, I was therefore greeted as a wonder man, and many a Batak held out his flat hand to me to predict his future from the lines present in it. The rice that was given to me here and there came in handy, and the chickens offered in various villages were enjoyed with relish, as was the beef, even if it was still attached to the skin, which, fried with the brought butter oil, was a very desirable but not always available dish for me. Enough, I reached my goal after much effort, and the advances given, then an indispensable possession, were returned to me, while I finally returned in good condition to Deli. Now that the Bataks will no longer play a role in my further story, let it be added here that the population of the Batak lands is, in general, a stupid race, and their land, due to its high elevation, is unsuitable for tobacco cultivation. The most profitable trade from Deli to the Batak lands is the salt trade. The Batak, namely, refuses to use white salt and demands it dark or even black in color, reason enough for the Sultan of Deli to mix the salt with earth or mud, which now finds buyers exclusively and with pleasure as pure salt.

At the beginning of 1864, I departed for Penang with the aim of recruiting better labor and thought I could achieve my goal by giving advances to ten Hadjis (Javanese pilgrims to Mecca) present there. This experiment also remained below average from the start and could not ultimately be considered successful. Before arriving in Deli, four of the ten Hadjis had already deserted, and although I was spared financial loss by my agreement that the remaining ones were responsible for the advance, it soon became clear to me that the Hadjis were more devoted to giving religious instruction to the Malays under them than to working for my enterprise, and my interest therefore required taking the first step to stop the hitherto followed system of working for daily wages.

The first contracts were made with my workers, stipulating that they would deliver a certain number of trees to repay their debts incurred from the aforementioned advances. Working in this manner, I succeeded in sending 50 bales to Europe that year, and it was gratifying to hear that this first fruit of my labor was favorably received in the Netherlands. However, my satisfaction was somewhat diminished when the shareholders decided to distribute the tobacco among themselves at a low price, leaving me in the dark about the actual market value of my product. Although I did not learn this, I continued to dedicate my best efforts to refining and improving my product. Dissatisfied with the existing methods and seeing that nothing truly good could be achieved with Hadjis, Malays, or Bataks, I undertook my second trip to Penang to hire Chinese laborers.

These laborers, so-called howkehs (Chinese residing in Penang, distinct from the singkehs who came directly from their homeland), were accustomed to working for daily wages, and so I also returned to the system of daily wages for my cultivation. And now, not least, the difficulties and challenges associated with this method of cultivation began.

If I have already indicated in the foregoing how difficult, if not impossible, it is to obtain a good and sufficient harvest without a willing and suitable workforce, I was now in the difficult position that none of the 120 laborers I had brought from Penang had ever been involved in tobacco cultivation. They had to be instructed from the very beginning on what to do or not to do, and one must be familiar with the character and shortcomings of the Chinese to obtain what one believes one can demand in the interest of one’s enterprise. But there were other challenges to overcome; first, housing had to be built for the laborers, as I considered it too much hospitality to continue living with them longer than necessary. Yet this had to be the case for a considerable time. Fortunately, I did not feel excessive fear at that time, and no incident gave cause for it. I also soon noticed how strong their sense of justice was, and in smaller or larger disputes where I acted as judge, I had the opportunity to observe this clearly on several occasions.

It happened that two of these men had a disagreement and immediately came to me for a ruling, where I always adhered to the rule: “When two quarrel, both are at fault.” I would then point out the guilty party, in my opinion, and the opposing party would gladly administer the punishment, but after the fact, my “but you are also guilty” would meet them, and the roles would reverse. Satisfied that justice had been done, both would then leave the place where they had unceremoniously undergone their punishment, thanking for the merciful judgment.

Later, when a controller was established in Deli, he took over the punishment of criminals and their dispatch to the Sultan of Deli. In the meantime, I always endeavored to lighten their punishment. Thus, many laborers were sentenced for desertion to wear an iron chain with an attached ball, which they had to carry to their work to the mockery of their comrades. At my request, however, such a punishment was shortened as much as possible, and I naturally rose in the esteem of the offender and his fellow workers. I also succeeded in giving them reasons for satisfaction in other ways, particularly in the payment of their wages. Each time, in the beginning, when a bag of money was brought, I would divide its contents into 121 parts in their presence, and I refrained from arousing their envy, especially since I assigned myself only a small portion.

But there was more; as houses were built, a hospital also had to be erected for those who were often afflicted with diseases that were only later recognizable. This building soon led to an alarming increase in the number of illnesses, threatening the most necessary work. A simple diet, consisting of complete abstinence from their favorite foods, allowed many to return to work the next morning, and perhaps this contributed to the result of no deaths during the first year, although no doctor or even medicines were available to me. In this way, I sought to achieve my goal, and no small effort was required to obtain the much-needed discipline and skill among the workforce I now had at my disposal, for one need only consider in a few rough strokes, as we now wish to do, the demands that tobacco cultivation makes to be convinced of this. First, seedbeds were laid out, and as in Java, covered with an atap roof for shade. Here the seeds developed into small plants, which later in the prepared fields would yield the harvest on which the success of the enterprise would depend. These plants were then planted in the prepared fields at a distance of 2 feet by 2 feet, with the first requirement being that the fields were well cultivated. This soil cultivation had to be done with a Tjangkel, the only tool used for plowing, harrowing, and cleaning the fields in Deli, which is best compared to the tool used to cut peat on our heathlands. Once the fields were planted, many tasks required the careful attention of the planter and his subordinates, and precisely the method I introduced in Sumatra, I dare to highlight as the only correct and necessary one. No system is as good as the one where the fields are directly under the management of the planter, where, unlike in Java, the planting of fields and plots far apart makes it perhaps unavoidable that the care must be left to the natives.

Any deviation that could harm the developmental power can be observed and remedied by the trained eye. And now one of the main requirements is to harvest the trees when ripe. If this is done en bloc, as in Java, where the fields and plots belong to different owners, ripe and green are harvested together. Here, on the contrary, I indicated which trees had reached their full maturity, whereupon the harvest began, and with this indication as a basis, it continued. Once the tobacco was off the field, after drying, I faced not the slightest difficulty, but even in this, a system was adopted in which our native tobacco cultivation was taken as a standard. I divided the trees into three, as here, and sorted the leaves into sand-good and best-good; the whole leaves and speckled leaves were set aside, and the bundling of the tobacco began. Naturally, for the sorting and packing of the tobacco, a few Chinese were selected, to whom I attributed the most proficiency and suitability.

Remarkably, in passing, the laborers brought in the harvest with increased enthusiasm, and I had to attribute this to what they saw as a completely new treatment. This bringing in of the harvest was done with so-called Aukrings, a crossbar with both ends attached to two legs, in order to set it up in the field and hang the plants on it. With an eye to the bad roads, which caused the plants to suffer much from contact with the ground, baskets were later used to prevent the leaves from breaking. In the meantime, the sheds were completed by Malays, and the stacking of the tobacco for curing and the associated treatment began. Naturally, this important work had to be demonstrated from beginning to end, for this can only be done exclusively according to instructions. As my experience, I can only add to these reports that the native Sumatra seed possessed the most virtues; the plants from it were fine in stem and ear, glossy in color, and most to the taste. The experiments with foreign seeds were therefore promptly discontinued. Meanwhile, there was still much to consider; first, food was extremely scarce. As is known, the Malays hardly plant any rice, and so I decided, after bringing in the harvest, to plant rice on the cleared tobacco fields. This cultivation was later discontinued because the gathering of rice can be done profitably by women and children, but not by laborers, whose wages, excluding food, etc., amounted to 3½ dollars per month. Women and children were not available. The tobacco, bundled and sorted into length, speckled, and whole leaves, is now laid in stacks of about 13,000 and prepared for curing. In these stacks, thermometers are placed in tubes at various points to judge the degree of heat during curing; when this increases, restacking is necessary, while a decrease in heat is proof to the planter that the tobacco is cured. After sufficient curing, the bundles are sorted, first by length according to a measuring stick, then into fatty, less fatty, dry, and dead tobacco, as the whole leaves were already separated from the rest of the tobacco before curing. Then these sortings are again divided into thick-leaved and thin-leaved, and so with the least possible deviations, prepared for packing and later for shipment; the same is done with the whole leaves. With the larger harvests in later times, the sorting before bundling had to be omitted, so that now, before curing, they are first roughly bundled, and after curing, as finely as possible, which, however, means that whole leaves are more likely to mix with the good tobacco, as they are difficult to detect among the folded leaves. Very often, complaints are made in the trade about small deviations, and it is even advised to prevent them; but when one sees this process, one first learns the difficulties associated with it. Europeans cannot be used for this sorting, for it is not possible for them to sit cross-legged on the ground for hours on end, and the Chinese, who are better suited to this, are so little developed in color distinction that one cannot even explain to them the difference between brown and bright.

The transport, now so completely differently arranged, went then by sampans (boats), in which 20 to 30 bales could be loaded, to be later transferred to a larger ship, so-called fonkang, measuring about 50 tons. When I speak of this shipping opportunity, I want to point out that when I made my aforementioned trips to Penang for the benefit of the workforce, these fonkangs were the only means of transport for passengers. The available space for travelers consisted then of a berth of about a man’s length in circumference, and, though one was forced by the limited space, I need not say how little comfort such a vessel offered, in which one was forced to stay for up to 14 days, often in the less pleasant company of cockroaches and other insects.

This same journey is now made in 20 hours by a regularly running small steamboat.

It once happened to me that I lost my patience and, with my servant, transferred to a rowboat to reach Penang more quickly. He, rowing, and I, bailing water, would certainly never have reached our goal in our small and leaky vessel, had not a klings boat fortunately rescued us from our precarious position. Now travelers between Penang and Deli know no discomforts, and the products are also regularly transported by small steamboats from Belawan to Penang or Singapore. Thus, the result I obtained from the 1865 harvest, consisting of 189 bales, went from Deli to the Netherlands, and I personally attended its auction in Amsterdam. There I had the satisfaction of seeing this harvest paid at an average price of 149 cents. Before my departure from Deli, however, the many difficulties (especially regarding control) had already made themselves felt, and I was already thinking about the establishment of a better system, in which my experience with the Hadjis was of great help to me. Contracts were also made with the laborers, and they were paid a price upon delivery of 1,000 trees; however, this also proved to be fraught with difficulties, if only to prevent the laborers from gambling away the received funds instead of buying food with them.

Drastic measures had to be taken to counter this; soon the more developed workers realized that with more work they also received more advances, and when I offered a premium for the quickest tjaugkeling, they were even seen finishing their tasks as quickly as possible by moonlight as well as by daylight; during my evening rounds, many an extra dollar was awarded to the most diligent. This contract system, still in use, though it has undergone some domestic modifications, has become the powerful factor that ensured the good outcome of my tobacco enterprises; to this method of management Deli owes its prosperity to the highest degree; this regulation is the inner strength that the Sumatra planter can develop for delivering a well-cultivated tobacco harvest in all respects. This contract regulates all labor of workers; the digging of ditches, digging, building sheds, and often even the packing of the tobacco is done by contract, in which the workers fare better than working for daily wages, while, as mentioned above, the treatment of the tobacco from the preparation of the fields to the harvest is contracted per 1,000 trees. The delivered trees are subjected to an inspection and classified. The classification from eight dollars for delivered plants falling under rubric No. 1 to the lowest class, which is paid one dollar, regulates the treatment during the time the crop is in the field, keeping in mind whether the less good yield is or is not due to the workers. The bundling is contracted per 100 bundles, and only the sorting and stacking is paid by daily wages. The money earned by the laborers is then credited and offset with the fortnightly advances received; the fortnightly is thus a half-day of rest, while the generally recognized holidays in Deli are limited to the Chinese New Year. Unfortunately, despite the result obtained with the 1865 harvest, Mr. P. van den Arend c.s., on whose account I had operated this enterprise until then, found no reason to expand the capital on a sound basis, forcing me to break with him and seek better sources to provide my enterprise with the necessary funds. The next planting, taken over by Mr. de Munuik, a newcomer, for Mr. P. v. d. A. c.s., failed completely, the sheds, which had not been sufficiently inspected, were blown down by a storm, and the inexperienced administrator had no power to have them rebuilt quickly. The damage caused by this was not insignificant. Meanwhile, it should also be mentioned that only in 1866 did the Sultan of Deli, at the request of the Europeans settled there, issue a land contract, and this was done in the following manner: Some Germans had recently settled in Deli, who were accustomed to communicate with the resident there in the English language, and although it was well known that the controller, Mr. Catz, Baron de Raedt, was not proficient in that language, he acted as if he fully understood it. Now it happened that the annual visit of the resident provided an opportunity to clearly express our interests. We emphatically declared to him that all troubles and cares would be in vain and lead to nothing if we did not receive fixed ownership of the lands we were to cultivate. We tried to make him understand how necessary it was for us to be landowners, and urged him to support our request with the Sultan of Deli. All this was done in English. After the departure of the resident, however, we informed the controller, who had understood nothing of the conversation, that according to the resident the Sultan could enter into contracts. The refusal or consent to enter into a contract, we claimed, lay with him, and with this claim as a basis, three contracts for a period of 99 years were then concluded with the Sultan of Deli. The condition stipulated therein, of being able to take as much land as one could cultivate in 5 years, I confirmed by taking possession of a large expanse of land, which I planted with banana trees up to a great distance, which, though not visible due to the tall grass, served as sufficient proof that this area was cultivated by me. Although the resident, on his next visit, claimed that this had not been his intention, and that an application had to be made to the government first, we did not give up the passed contracts and maintained our property rights. When I later returned to Deli and the great success of the 1867 harvest caused tobacco experts to seriously turn their attention to Deli, I discussed this cultivation with Mr. G. Clemen and, through his mediation (for we both could not provide sufficient capital), I came into contact with Mr. P. W. Janssen, who, on the proposal of Mr. C., made 30 thousand available for my tobacco planting in Deli. In this way, after mature experience from earlier years, and especially through frugal management, I succeeded in seeing the first harvest crowned with an excellent result. This brought in 67 thousand, while the expenses amounted to only 30 thousand, which was mainly due to the reduction of expenses to a minimum. It still gives me pleasure to be able to state that the house I lived in cost the enterprise only 8 dollars to build. Before my departure due to illness in 1867, I had associated myself with Mr. von Mack for the planting of nutmeg and coconut trees. When, after Mr. Clemen in 1869, took over my concession for the planting of tobacco for the benefit of the Deli Company to be established, these enterprises were also purchased on behalf of that Company, thus laying the first foundation for capital formation for me. If I now look back on the path taken in Deli, then certainly the factors that have contributed to the prosperity of this cultivation are the following: 1. Breaking with the old Javanese system of advances to the natives, and taking the planting under one’s own management with sufficient and skilled supervision, where delivering good quality was considered the main thing, and quantity as secondary. 2. Frugal management in all respects from the beginning of the enterprise. At the founding of the Deli Company in 1869, Mr. G. Clemen was assigned to me as co-administrator, who, however, after a short stay of only a few months, passed away. His replacement, Mr. Straatman, continued to work in the manner I had established and introduced many domestic changes into the system hitherto adhered to. At the end of 1870, Mr. J. T. Cremer arrived, who also acted as chief administrator and contributed not a little to the prosperity of this cultivation. For if I laid the foundation for the establishment, I gladly cede to him a large place where there is talk of the unparalleled way in which this cultivation has managed to rise above all others. Not only did his tactful work in the practical management of the ever-expanding Company work most favorably, but also his writings such as: “The petition of the joint owners and administrators of agricultural enterprises” submitted to His Excellency the Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies (1876). “A word from Deli to the Second Chamber of the States-General” (1876) and “The Future of Deli” (1881) have in many respects given the impetus to good. The establishment of the “Planters Committee,” which, among other things, regulated advances to the laborers, prevented the arbitrary hiring of laborers working for other enterprises, and prevented the theft of dry tobacco, we owe to him. To him we owe the better regulation of the administration of justice, in which planters and laborers saw their rights guaranteed, and not least his policy and insight and his fruitful search for cooperation have made the foundation unshakable for the establishment, on which I, as the realization of my ideal, hope to be able to boast. (G.M.) J. Nienhuys.