The guides and interpreters of the Lamtoba column — gidsen en tolken — were the eight Achehnese and native auxiliaries attached to the expedition staff of the Lamtoba column of 1879 for the guidance of the troops through country of which, as W. Cool and G. B. Hooijer record in their Eene schoone bladzijde uit Atjeh’s geschiedenis (1889), practically nothing was known: “Toekoe Ali, Toekoe Mas, Toekoe Ladang Baroe, Si Nja Garu, Oetoes Ja, Mas Saäd, Mas Daud, Nja Assan.”
Composition
| Name | Note |
|---|---|
| Toekoe Ali | guide/interpreter |
| Toekoe Mas | head of the kampong Lampanas; had fixed the landing point with G. B. Hooijer aboard the [[Zeemeeuw (gouvernements-stoomboot) |
| Toekoe Ladang Baroe | guide/interpreter |
| Si Nja Garu | guide/interpreter |
| Oetoes Ja | guide/interpreter |
| Mas Saäd | guide/interpreter |
| Mas Daud | guide/interpreter |
| Nja Assan | guide/interpreter |
Service of the campaign
The guides were sent ashore first, with the earliest light of 27 July 1879, in a separate boat, to reassure the population before the debarkation began. On the march into the valley of Lamtoba the guides were found to be in doubt of the way, and the second embassy of the Imam of Lamtoba had to be detained to point out the best road; on the march to Selimoen the luitenant Popelier remained with the guides at the point of the column throughout. From their information the distance from the Lamtoba valley to Selimoen was reckoned at three day-marches — the datum on which the chief of staff’s famous calculation of the coolie requirement was built — and in the final appraisal of the march of 14 August their estimate placed Selimoen still three hours beyond the kampong of Lam-Lepong. It was one of these guides who, by the account which Panglima Banten later gave in explanation of his flight, was said to have stolen a sum of money from the Rijksbestierder in the bivak at Lamtoba — the incident on which that chief’s dramatic escape and surrender turned.
See Also
Source
Eene schoone bladzijde uit Atjeh’s geschiedenis, door W. Cool en G. B. Hooijer (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1889), pp. 6, 9, 20, 28, 35, 71. OCR-filename: 20260720_115822_DLP-135-Eene_schoone_bladzijde_uit_Atjeh_s_geschiedenis_Nemotron_OCR_v2_OCR.txt.