The djeungki (Gayo djingki, Alas id.) is the Atjehnese foot-pounder rice mill — a wooden lever-and-mortar device used for the hulling of rice, in which a heavy wooden pestle is attached to one end of a long lever, and the lever is worked by a woman who treads on the other end. The djeungki is the principal Atjehnese rice-hulling device, and is found in most Atjehnese villages, where it is treated as a communal facility available for the use of all. The djeungki is documented by J. Kreemer in his *De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden* (1918).
Construction and Operation
The djeungki consists of a long wooden lever — the wipplank (seesaw plank) — pivoted on a fulcrum, with a heavy wooden pestle (aluë in Acehnese, toetoe in Gayo) attached to one end. The pestle works into a wooden mortar — the peusòng in Acehnese, loesoeng in Gayo and Alas — in which the rice is placed. The operator — always a woman — stands on the other end of the lever, and by her weight drives the pestle into the mortar. The lever is then raised by the elasticity of the wood or by a springing motion of the operator, and the pestle is lifted for the next stroke.
The djeungki is thus a labour-saving device: by the mechanical advantage of the lever, the operator can deliver a heavy pounding stroke with little effort, and the hulling of a large quantity of rice is made possible without the back-breaking labour of the simple hand-pestle.
The Communal Facility
Kreemer notes that “in de meeste dorpen vindt men maar een paar djeungki’s, die echter als tot aller gebruik beschikbaar worden beschouwd” — in most villages only a few djeungki are found, which are however considered available for the use of all. The djeungki is thus a communal facility, owned by an individual householder but available to the village women for the hulling of their rice. This communal use is one of the small but characteristic features of Atjehnese village life, in which the principal agricultural tools are privately owned but communally used.
The Hulling Process
The djeungki is used for the peutèh — the hulling or peeling — of the rice. Kreemer describes the process: “Vóór de padi wordt gestampt wordt ze op een droogmat uitgespreid en zóó in de zon te drogen gelegd. Is ze voldoende droog … dan wordt ze samengeraapt. Men kan nu tot het ontbolsteren of pellen van de rijst overgaan, hetgeen overal door stampen plaats heeft, en uitsluitend vrouwenwerk is.” — Before the padi is pounded, it is spread on a drying mat and so laid in the sun to dry. When it is sufficiently dry, it is gathered up. One can now proceed to the husking or peeling of the rice, which takes place everywhere by pounding, and is exclusively women’s work.
The pounding is typically done twice, sometimes three times, occasionally four times. After the first pounding (seuba or seuneuba in Acehnese, Gayo mëmpor, Alas mpoch skali), in which the greater part of the husk has been removed, the rice is winnowed — tampèë in Acehnese (Gayo měnapi or ngésè, Alas měnapi or měsigi) — in a triangular winnowing fan (djeunòng in Acehnese, Gayo nice, Alas dirèc). After the second pounding (sròh or seuneuròh, Gayo měndjoeh, Alas mpoch dòea kali) and a second winnowing, the rice is sorted into three classes:
- The gabah — the unhusked rice (seungò in Acehnese, Gayo lěmbatah or blatah, Alas bătah) — that has not been hulled by the pounding, and that collects on the broad part of the winnowing fan.
- The husked rice (breueh in Acehnese, Gayo òrěh, Alas bras) — collected in the middle of the winnowing fan, and itself sorted into öram breueh (whole grains) and òedjong seuròh (broken grains).
- The ménir — the finely-broken rice (leungkoët in Acehnese, Gayo kloemit, Alas bëning) — produced by the pounding.
The ménir is not edible; the òedjong seuròh is edible. The bran (lhòë in Acehnese, Gayo lěda or dédan) is used as cattle-feed or as fertiliser on the rice-field or in the gardens. The leungkoët is mostly used as chicken or duck feed.
The Alternative: The Simple Mortar
The djeungki is sometimes replaced by a simple stamping-block — the peusòng in Acehnese (Gayo loesoeng, Alas lisoeng) — in which the pestle is worked by hand. This simple mortar is used when the djeungki is not available, or for small quantities of rice. The djeungki is, however, the standard device for the hulling of larger quantities.
The Absence of Mechanical Rice-Peelers
Kreemer notes that mechanical rice-peeling mills (rijstpelmolens) are unknown in Atjeh. The colonial government had, in 1915, with a view to the sale of rice to the European plantations at Koeala Simpang, begun preparations for the establishment of such mills, but the negotiations with Chinese traders came to nothing. The government had then considered having the peeling done by the landschappen (the self-governing native states) themselves, but this too had come to nothing. Calculations showed that the rice so produced would be at least as expensive as Rangoon rice, and its quality was doubtful. (See Deli Courant, 8 August 1916, No. 177.)
Significance
The djeungki is the principal Atjehnese rice-hulling device, and its communal use is one of the characteristic features of Atjehnese village life. The djeungki preserves the technical lexicon of the Atjehnese rice-hulling process, alongside the Acehnese-Gayo-Alas vocabulary of the pounding, winnowing, and sorting of the rice. The absence of mechanical rice-peeling mills in Atjeh — and the failure of the colonial government’s 1915 attempt to establish such mills at Koeala Simpang — is one of the small but instructive features of the early-twentieth-century Atjeh rice-economy: the colonial state wished to develop an export rice industry, but the technical and economic obstacles proved, at that date, insuperable.
See Also
- Rijstbouw in Atjeh
- Sawah
- Oemòng
- Kreemer’s De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1918)
- J. Kreemer
- Koeala Simpang
- Rangoon
- Deli Courant
- Rijstvraagstuk (1916)
- 1915
- 1916
Source
De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, by J. Kreemer (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1918), pp. 15-16 (the djeungki and the hulling process) and p. 22 (the absence of mechanical rice-peeling mills).