Goentja

Properties2
tagsconcept, agriculture, rice, measurement, achehnese, gayo, alas, dutch, colonial, 20th-century, rijstbouw, vocabulary, metrology
aliasesGoentja, Gantang, Koentjo, Atjeh rice measure, Acehnese volume measure, Rice volume measure in Atjeh, Atjeh rice unit

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The goentja (Gayo koentjo, Alas id.) is the principal large volume measure of the Atjeh rice economy, used for the measurement of the rice harvest. The goentja is, however, a “non-existent” measure in the strict metrological sense: as J. Kreemer notes in his *De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden* (1918), “De opbrengst … wordt gewoonlijk opgegeven in goentja … d.i. een niet bestaande inhoudsmaat” — The yield … is usually given in goentja … that is, a non-existent volume measure.

The Regional Variation

The goentja varies by region:

  • In Atjeh: 1 goentja is reckoned at 10 naléh = 160 arè.
  • In Gayo: koentjo’s of 10, 20 and 30 naléh are distinguished.
  • In the Alasland: 1 koentjo = 4 naléh.

The goentja thus has no fixed value across the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden: it is a conventional unit, varying by region, used for the rough expression of the harvest. The actual measurement is made with smaller, fixed measures — the kating (basket), the tòng (box), or the lèngkar (Alas cylindrical measure) — and the goentja is the conventional unit into which these smaller measurements are converted for accounting purposes.

The Smaller Measures

The smaller volume measures of the Atjeh rice-economy, of which the goentja is the conventional aggregate, are:

  • The kating — a basket of woven rushes, used for measuring the harvest. A kating may contain 20 gantang (= 40 arè) or 10 gantang (= 20 arè).
  • The tòng — a box, typically of 1 naléh (= 8 gantang = 16 arè) or 1½ naléh.
  • The naléh — the standard small measure, of 8 gantang = 16 arè.
  • The gantang — a measure of 2 arè.
  • The arè — the smallest standard measure.
  • The lèngkar — an Alas cylindrical measure of 4 naléh = 44 säloep.
  • The soempit — an Alas woven bag of known capacity.

The Counting Aids

For the counting of the harvest, Kreemer notes, “van allerlei hulpmiddelen gebruik gemaakt” — all sorts of aids are used, “waarbij elke eenheid wordt aangegeven door een steentje of een vruchtpit of een knoop in een touw, of een prik in den bladsteel van den sagopalm enz.” — each unit being indicated by a stone, or a fruit-pip, or a knot in a cord, or a prick in the leaf-stem of the sago-palm, and so on. These units are then later counted. The counting of the harvest is thus a manual operation, performed by the measurer and his assistants, with the aid of whatever counting devices are at hand.

The Yield Ratio

The ratio of the seed-rice sown to the rice harvested is, Kreemer notes, very variously reported:

  • In Groot-Atjeh: a 35- to 45-fold yield.
  • On the Noord- and Oostkust: a 30- to 80-fold yield.
  • In Gajo (Meergebied): a 30-fold yield.

According to the Landbouw-leeraar J. H. Heyl (cited in Deli Courant, 8 August 1916, No. 183), the average yield of the rice-fields in Groot-Atjeh is 8 pikoel of rice per hectare; in the Pidie valley 36 pikoel per hectare; in the adjacent Meureudoe more; in Lho Soekon 24 pikoel per hectare. These figures express the yield in weight rather than in volume, and are the basis of the “Rice Question” calculations of Heyl.

The Pikoel

The pikoel — a Chinese-derived unit of weight, equal to about 61.8 kg — is the standard weight measure in which the rice trade is conducted. The relation between the volume measures (goentja, naléh, etc.) and the weight measure (pikoel) is not fixed, since the weight of a given volume of rice varies with the variety and the moisture content. Kreemer notes, however, that 1 naléh of padi yields approximately 1 blah kajë (= 1/12 of 1 naléh) of seungò (unhusked rice).

Significance

The goentja is the principal conventional volume measure of the Atjeh rice-economy, used for the expression of the rice harvest. The goentja is significant for the encyclopedia of Aceh history as a documented part of the Atjeh rice-economy, recording the Atjehnese metrology of rice measurement — the conventional aggregates, the smaller fixed measures, the counting aids, and the regional variation in the value of the goentja. The goentja also illustrates the practical, unsystematic character of the Atjehnese rice-metrology: the principal large measure is “a non-existent volume measure”, varying by region, used for the rough expression of the harvest, while the actual measurement is made with smaller, fixed measures and converted to goentja for accounting purposes.

See Also

Source

De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, by J. Kreemer (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1918), p. 14 (the goentja, the smaller measures, the counting aids, and the yield ratios).

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