Atjeh Patchouli-Olie — Atjeh Patchouli-Oil — is Bericht No. 71 of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum of the Kon. Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut, written by Ir. W. Spoon and reprinted from De Indische Mercuur of 20 July 1932. The pamphlet is published in Amsterdam by J. H. de Bussy, with a dedication to the Fonds ten behoeve van Indologische Studiën aan de Rijks Universiteit te Utrecht. It is the second of Spoon’s two Berichten on the patchouli industry of Atjeh: the first, Bericht No. 21 of May 1925, had recorded the earliest attempts at indigenous processing of patchouli leaves into essential oil at Tapa Toean beginning in 1921; the 1932 pamphlet follows up by asking how far those early hopes had been realised in the intervening decade.
Argument
Spoon opens by reminding the reader of the original experiment. Before 1921 the entire patchouli-leaf harvest of Atjeh had been shipped raw to Singapore and Penang for distillation by Chinese-owned stills. The first factory at Tapa Toean on the Westkust, founded in 1921 with government support and the cooperation of the Afdeeling Nijverheid of the Landbouwconsulent at Buitenzorg, had shown that an oil of at least equal quality to the Singapore product could be distilled in Atjeh itself. The 1932 pamphlet surveys the industry’s progress over ten years through export statistics and a programme of laboratory analysis on six sample consignments received by the Handelsmuseum in 1931 and early 1932.
Export Statistics
Spoon presents four tables. Tabel I shows the export of patchouli leaf from Java and Atjeh separately, 1924–1931: the Atjeh figure rises from 1.097 tons in 1924 to a peak of 1.375 tons in 1927 and falls to 638 tons in 1931. Of the 1931 figure, 9 tons went direct to the Netherlands, 12 tons to Germany, 512 tons to Penang and 105 tons to Singapore — showing that the greater part of the leaf harvest was still being shipped out raw. Tabel II shows the turnover of patchouli leaf at Penang and Singapore from 1924 to 1930, making plain that Malaya ran a permanent import surplus of roughly 300 tons per year which was worked up into oil in the Chinese distilleries. Tabel III tracks the export of patchouli oil from Java and Atjeh: Atjeh nilam-oil rose from 50 kg in 1924 to 3.468 kg in 1931, while the Java dilem-oil export in the same year was 1.865 kg. Tabel IV sets out the destination of the 1931 oil exports: 2.465 kg of Atjeh oil went to Singapore, 855 kg to Penang, 360 kg to Japan, 110 kg to the Netherlands, 841 kg to France, 50 kg to Germany and 38 kg to the United States, while the Java dilem-oil went mainly to Japan, the Netherlands, France and Germany.
Laboratory Findings
Spoon’s six sample oils — numbered 1874, 1882, 1958-1, 1958-2, 1986 and 2076 — were analysed for soortelijk gewicht (specific gravity), brekingsindex (refractive index), draaiing (optical rotation in a 100 mm tube), zuurgetal (acid value), estergetal (ester value) and solubility in 90 vol.% alcohol. The first two samples were judged impure — ‘deze olie was dus onzuiver, er had een bijmenging plaats gevonden’ — but the four later samples gave good constants. To test market reception Spoon sent them to perfume manufacturers in the Netherlands, Germany, England and France. The French house replied that the oil ‘correspond aux qualités bonnes normales connues jusqu’à ce jour de provenance de Singapore’; the German house found the constants identical with those of the Singapore distillates but the odour ‘ausdruckslos’; the English house judged the oil ‘definitely much inferior to oil distilled by us from Singapore leaves’, with a camphoraceous and peppery note absent from its own product, and suggested that the difference lay in the age and dryness of the leaves distilled; the Dutch house found the odour ‘niet slecht’ but ‘iets kamferachtigs’. Spoon concludes that ‘Atjeh in de tien jaren die verloopen zijn, na het in gang zetten van de eerste eigen verwerking van nilam-blad, er in geslaagd is een kwaliteit patchouli-olie te leveren, die op de aetherische oliën markt eerder een plaats verdient naast de Singapore olie, dan dat zij daar onder dien naam schuil behoeft te gaan.‘
The Patchouli Plant and Its Names
The plant — Pogostemon Cablin Benth. — is called nilam on Sumatra and dilem on Java. On Sumatra the chief centres of cultivation are on the Westkust at Tjalang, Meulaboh and Tapa Toean, and on the Oostkust at Langsa. Soil and climate in Atjeh appear naturally more favourable to the plant than on Java, where the oil, though of respectable constants, has ‘lang niet zoo intensief’ an odour.
Significance
The pamphlet is the principal printed source for the early history of indigenous patchouli-oil distillation in Atjeh and is the basis of the Koloniaal Instituut’s later promotion of the crop as a volkscultuur. It is also a model specimen of the Institut’s Berichten series, which combined export statistics, chemical constants and a market judgement in a brief, well-printed format suited to practical use by planters and traders.
See Also
- Ir. W. Spoon
- Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut
- Afdeeling Handelsmuseum
- Tapa Toean
- Tjalang
- Meulaboh
- Langsa
- Patchouli-olie industry in Atjeh
- Pogostemon Cablin (patchouli plant)
- Nilam
- Dilem
- 1921
- 1925
- 1931
- 1932
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Source
Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon. Berichten van de Afdeeling Handelsmuseum van de Kon. Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut, No. 71. Overgedrukt uit De Indische Mercuur van 20 July 1932. Amsterdam: Druk J. H. de Bussy. Fonds ten behoeve van Indologische Studiën aan de Rijks Universiteit te Utrecht. OCR-filename: 20260719_030404_DLP-113-Atjeh_patchouli_olie_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.