The Boer ni Telong — modern Bur ni Telong — is the volcano (numbered 73 in the Bureau’s volcano list) of the central-Atjeh hoogvlakte, standing west of the Laut Tawar lake in the dwarsrij that runs southward from the Geureudong I (71) through the Boer ni Bilaans (72) and the Boer ni Telong (73) to the Geureudong II (74). In the Bureau’s Sumatra survey (1917), the Boer ni Telong is one of the dormant volcanoes of the central-Atjeh hoogvlakte, and the principal volcano of the Tawar basin.
Orography
The Bureau’s Hoofdstuk I describes the Boer ni Telong as part of the dwarsrij that begins at the Geureudong I (71) and runs “in nagenoeg Zuid-Noordelijke richting loopende over den Boer ni Bilaans (72), den Boer ni Telong (73) en den Geureudong II (74), welke laatste drie alle ten Westen van de Laoet Tawar op den rand van dit tweede lengtedal staan.” The Bureau notes that “de toppen van dit gebergte zijn nog door niemand bestegen. Het zijn waarschijnlijk alle gedoofde vulkanen” — that is, the peaks of this dwarsrij had not been climbed by anyone as of 1917, and were presumed to be dormant volcanoes.
Significance
The Boer ni Telong is, in the Bureau’s Sumatra survey, one of the dormant volcanoes of the central-Atjeh hoogvlakte, and the principal volcano of the Tawar basin. The Bureau’s emphasis on the dwarsrij’s unclimbed status — and on its presumed dormant volcanic character — frames the Boer ni Telong as the orographic anchor of the Tawar basin, and as the geographical feature whose slopes define the western edge of the Laut Tawar lake.
The Boer ni Telong’s name — Boer ni = “mountain of” in Gayo — is the Bureau’s principal evidence of the Gayo onomastic tradition of the central-Atjeh hoogvlakte, a tradition that links the Boer ni Telong to the broader Gayo cultural landscape of the Tawar basin.
Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Boer ni Telong — also called simply Telong — is a volcano of the Gajo country rising to 2.600 metres, south of the Gajo-weg between Lamsahan and Takengon. It is, with its greater neighbour Boer ni Geureudong (2.900 metres), one of the two great volcanoes visible from the Gajo-weg in the approach to the highland basin.
See Also
- 1917
- Boer ni Bilaans
- De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 1
- Gajoesche Centraalgebergte
- Geureudong
- Laoet Tawar
- Takengon
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Sources
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 1: Sumatra, Algemeene Hoofdstukken, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), Hoofdstuk I (Oro-hydrographisch), p. 13, and Lijst der Vulkanen.
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim.