A port on the West Coast. Sadati dialogue: ‘When you get to Laboh Haji (vulg. Labuan Haji), who is king there? The uleebalang of that place is a woman, she keeps us all in her protection.’ (A woman named Chut Nya’ Patimah was in fact uleebalang of this place for a number of years.)
Account from Over patchouly-olie en patchouly-blad van Atjeh (1925) — patchouli
Labohan-Hadji — modern Labuhan Hajji — was, in the early twentieth century, one of the three principal patchouli (nilam) leaf-producing districts of the Tapa Toean sub-division, alongside Loboang Koang and Bakongan. In Van Vreeswijk’s ranking of the Tapa Toean patchouli districts, given in his letter of 16 August 1924 to the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum and preserved in *Bericht* No. 21 of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum (April 1925), Labohan-Hadji was the least valuable of the three.
Van Vreeswijk’s Verdict
Van Vreeswijk reported that the Labohan-Hadji leaf “komt zeer vuil op de markt” — comes very dirty to market — and was often weighted with sea-water to increase its weight at sale. The market price was only ƒ5 to ƒ6 per pikol, and after cleaning only 50% of the bale remained. The Labohan-Hadji leaf was thus the lowest-quality and lowest-priced of the Tapa Toean patchouli districts — a sharp contrast to the Bakongan leaf, which Van Vreeswijk judged “het neusje van den zalm” (the very best) and which commanded a market price of ƒ14 per pikol.
The Labohan-Hadji case illustrates the importance of the place of origin and of the care taken in cultivation and drying: the same patchouli plant, grown at Labohan-Hadji under the less careful cultivation and drying practices of the Labohan-Hadji planters, produced a leaf of markedly lower quality and lower market price than the same plant grown at Bakongan. The Handelsmuseum’s conclusion, after the Bakongan triumph of the winter of 1924-1925, was that “prima blad, prima olie; op de winning van het goede blad komt het aan!” — prime leaf, prime oil; it is the winning of the good leaf that matters.
See Also
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
Over patchouly-olie en patchouly-blad van Atjeh (Noord-Sumatra). Berichten van de Afdeeling Handelsmuseum van de Kon. Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut, No. 21. Overgedrukt uit De Indische Mercuur van 8 en 15 Mei 1925. Amsterdam: Druk De Bussy. OCR-filename: 20260801_233856_DLP-153-Over_patchouly_olie_en_patchouly_blad_van_Atjeh_Noord_Sumatra_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 17-18.