The Blang was the great open rice-field of an Atjehnese landschap, on which the padi (rice) was grown as a rain-fed crop. On Java one would call the blang a tegal — that is, a rain-fed rice-field — but in Atjeh the blang is the principal form of rice-cultivation, and the sawah (irrigated rice-field) is the exception. There are blangs of 100 to 200 bouw by estimation; here and there in the blang stands a tree with a heavy crown, as a tall guardian over many fields, and under that tree one brings the cut padi of the day. Sometimes one treads out the grains from the ears beside that tree, and part of the harvest is temporarily stacked there. The blang of an Atjehnese landschap knows many lovely days.
In the highlands of Gajo-land, the word blang is used for every field, in contrast to the lowland where the blang is the great open rice-field. The great grass-plain of Blang Kolaq at Takengon is an example of a highland blang.
See Also
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapters VII, XI, ‘Vriendelijk Idi’ and ‘De Gajo-weg en zijn landschap’, pp. 47, 75.
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923); Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon (1932), where applicable.