The oorlam was the ration of Schiedam gin issued to soldiers of the Netherlands East Indies Army, described by G. B. Hooijer as one of the chief consolations of life in the outposts of Groot-Atjeh.
At Lam Koenjit
Hooijer recorded that at Lam Koenjit the day began with reveille at half past five and coffee; at ten came soup with rice and sambal (chilli relish); and at half past four in the afternoon the mess-kettles were filled again. Vóór beide maaltijden werd het heerlijke oorlam, dat voor den soldaat zoo geprezen Schiedammer vocht, met één groote teug naar binnen geslokt — before both meals the delicious oorlam, that Schiedam liquid so praised by the soldier, was swallowed in one great gulp.
At Toengkoeb
At Toengkoeb, among the advantages that made many soldiers prefer to stay longer than the prescribed fourteen days of a detacheering, Hooijer named that boven alles, de drie oorlammen daags waren een heerlijk iets — above all, the three oorlams a day were a delightful thing. They roused the men to play and sing when night had fallen, the tin reflectors behind the lanterns lit a small patch of the surroundings, the crickets chirped in the grass, and the unsurpassed calm of the Indies night made them feel as though floating on a ship in the open ocean rather than housed in an advanced temporary post amid a hostile people.
See Also
Source
De verlaten posten in Groot-Atjeh, door G. B. Hooijer, Gep. Luit.-Kolonel O. I. Leger, met 24 platen (Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn; Batavia: G. Kolff & Co., 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Centrale Boekerij, Amsterdam. OCR-filename: 20260719_140140_DLP-134-De_verlaten_posten_in_Groot_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 18, 26.