Lho' Seumawe

An important port and centre on the North Coast. The Mahraja (chief) of Lho’ Seumawe is mentioned: ‘I will not live at Sawang Keupula, for I fear lest the Mahraja (of Lho’ Seumawe) may carry me off.’ (sadati dialogue). Lho’ Seumawe appears in the list of North Coast places referenced in the hikayats and sadati performances.

Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Lho’ Seumawe

Lho’ Seumawe is a place on the north coast of Acheh whose chief bore the title Mahraja or Mbahraja. In The Achehnese it is mentioned in connection with the group of honorific titles — ne’ (“grandfather”), apòë (“elder brother”), Mahraja — by which the relations between the Sultans of Acheh and certain uleebalangs were traditionally expressed.

The Title of Mahraja / Mbahraja

Snouck Hurgronje observes that the Achehnese explained the title of the chief of Lho’ Seumawe, Mahraja or Mbahraja, as expressing a relationship of “father of the king.” The explanation was part of a wider pattern of honorary kinship between the Sultan and his more important territorial chiefs. Just as the powerful chief of the highlands, the Panglima Polem, bore the title apòë (“elder brother”) of the Sultan, so two uleebalangs bore the official title of ne’ (“grandfather”) of the Sultan: namely, the chief of the Mukim Meura’sa (and, in earlier times, of the VI Mukims of the XXV), and the chief of the IX Mukims of the XXV Mukims, known as Teuku Ne’ Raja Muda Seutia and Teuku Ne’ Peureuba Wangsa respectively.

The Problem of the Title

Snouck Hurgronje treats the popular explanation of Mahraja with some scepticism. It would indeed, he remarks, be very strange that a chief should obtain the title of Maharaja — a Sanskritic royal title of the highest rank — while his liege lord was simply called Raja of Acheh. The Achehnese gloss “father of the king” (mbah = grandfather or father; raja = king) appears to be a popular etymology superimposed on a borrowed Indian title whose original meaning had been forgotten. The case is parallel to that of Panglima Polem itself: the tradition which made the first Polem the son of a Sultan, spared in infancy by the highlanders, is dismissed by Snouck Hurgronje as containing “not a single grain of historic truth.” The title, in his view, “probably typified the original relation between the powerful sagi-chief and the Sultan” — that is, an alliance of near-equals rather than a literal kinship.

Historical Significance

Whatever its etymology, the title borne by the chief of Lho’ Seumawe marks the place as one of the chiefdoms whose relations with the Sultanate dated from a remote period, and whose hereditary prestige exceeded that of ordinary uleebalangs. Lho’ Seumawe is also well known from later colonial history as the site of important industrial and military development under the Dutch; but in Snouck Hurgronje’s account its interest lies chiefly in the light its titular nomenclature throws on the political constitution of the older Sultanate.

Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Lho Seumawe

Lho Seumawe is a coastal place in the north-east of Acheh mentioned in The Achehnese Vol. I as the seat of an uleebalangship whose chief bore the title Mahraja (or Mbahraja) — a title popularly explained by the Achehnese as expressing a relationship of fatherhood to the king, and so testifying to the high standing of this chief among the hereditary office-bearers of the sultanate.

The Mahraja of Lho Seumawe

Snouck Hurgronje introduces Lho Seumawe in his discussion of the hereditary uleebalangships whose titles had come down from the early centuries of the sultanate. He explains how the great hereditary chiefs liked to figure as relations of the Sultan — “elder brothers” or “grandfathers” — and goes on: “Just in the same way we find two uleebalangs with the official title of ‘grand-fathers’ (*ne’) of the sultan viz. the chief of the Mukim Meura’sa (and also in earlier times of the VI Mukims) and the chief of the IX Mukims of the XXV, Teuku Ne’ Raja Muda Seutia and Teuku Ne’ Peureuba Wangsa. The title of the chief of Lho’ Seumawe, Mahraja or Mbahraja, is also explained by the Achehnese as expressing such a relationship (‘father of the king’); it would indeed be very strange that such a chief should obtain the title of Maharaja while his liege lord was simply called Raja of Acheh.”

Significance of the Title

Snouck’s point is characteristically sceptical. The Achehnese explanation — that the Mahraja of Lho Seumawe was so called because he was the “father of the king” — he treats as a popular etymology of the kind that the Achehnese loved to invent for the titles of their great hereditary chiefs. The very strangeness of the title (a Maharaja in vassalage to a mere Raja) was itself testimony to the great antiquity of the office, and to its having survived from a time when the relative ranks of the sultan and his outlying vassals had been different.

Significance

Although Lho Seumawe itself is mentioned in Vol. I only in this discussion of titles, its situation on the north-eastern coast made it one of the principal ports of the sultanate. The Mahraja who ruled it was one of the most venerable hereditary chiefs of Acheh, and the survival of his Indianised title at so late a date is itself an important fact in the political anthropology of the sultanate. Vol. II of The Achehnese treats Lho Seumawe and its dependencies in greater detail.

Van Daalen’s governorship and its consequences

During the governorship of Van Daalen (1905–1907), the local civil administrator at Lho’ Seumawé proved totally unsuited to his task. When Van Heutsz visited the district in 1907 as part of the Atjéh-enquête, he was shocked to find that the chiefs openly refused to cooperate, complaining of unjust treatment and loss of income; the interior above Keureu’toë had not seen a military patrol or civil administrator for months; local religious leaders (teungkoe’s) had used the vacuum to turn the population against the Dutch; and the chiefs warned Van Heutsz that “if you go there now, you will get fire everywhere,” whereas under the previous administrator (H. N. A. Swart), they had come without any military escort. Van Heutsz immediately replaced the incompetent official and ordered a restoration of regular patrols and dialogue. After Van Daalen’s removal in 1908, Lho’ Seumawé was gradually brought back under effective control, and the policy of supporting the chiefs was resumed. The district later became a symbol of how poor local leadership could undo the gains of pacification.

Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Lhôseumawè

Lhôseumawè is the harbour town and onderafdeelingshoofdplaats on the boundary between the afdeeling Noordkust and the afdeeling Oostkust of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, whose position at the natural junction of the two coast-cultivation zones made it, in the colonial period, one of the three great trade centres of the Gouvernement alongside Koeta Radja and Langsa. De Buitenbezittingen records that, in the years before the handbook’s compilation, Lhôseumawè had become “het handels-emporium van een groot deel der Noord- en Oostkust” — the trade emporium of a great part of the North and East Coasts — though the rise of Langsa had already begun to draw off some of its trade.

The onderafdeeling

The onderafdeeling Lhôseumawè, like the other onderafdeelingen of the Noordkust, was composed of various landschappen whose internal administration combined the Groot-Atjehsche system with local variations produced by the expansion of pepper cultivation and the rise of oelèëbalang-tjoet-schappen. The town of Lhôseumawè itself was, like Sigli, Bireuën, Langsa, and Koeala Simpang, onttrokken aan de landschapsbesturen — withdrawn from the landschap administrations — and placed under direct Dutch rule as the onderafdeelingshoofdplaats.

Trade and shipping

Lhôseumawè’s emergence as a trade emporium is documented in the harbour statistics of De Buitenbezittingen. In 1913 the harbour recorded 193 steamship arrivals totalling 311,000 cubic metres; in 1914, 179 arrivals totalling 354,000 cubic metres; in 1915, 157 arrivals totalling 379,000 cubic metres. The opbrengst der in- en uitvoerrechten (revenue from import and export duties) rose from f 56,000 (in) and f 17,000 (out) in 1910 to f 90,000 and f 25,000 in 1911, settling at f 87,000–f 90,000 (in) and f 28,000–f 32,000 (out) in the years 1912–1914. The Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij’s Route 1 (Java-Padang-Atjeh, 14-day cycle) and Route 3a (Penang-Atjeh, 9-day cycle) both called at Lhôseumawè.

The Volkscredietwezen

Lhôseumawè was also the seat of the Afdeelingsbank “Lhôseumawè”, one of the three principal Volkscredietwezen institutions of the Gouvernement (alongside the Groot-Atjehsche Afdeelingsbank and the Credietbank “Langsa”). The bank, De Buitenbezittingen records, suffered from the same achterstand — arrears — and kwade practijken — abuses — that afflicted the Groot-Atjehsche bank, though to a less catastrophic degree. Its financial overview, influence, and the causes of its arrears are recorded in the handbook’s chapter on the Volkscredietwezen.

Account from Atjeh by H.C. Zentgraff (1938)

Zentgraff’s Atjeh records three decisive scenes at Lho Seumawé. On 5 October 1903 T. Tjhi Toenong and his followers came in to Lho Seumawé; he was genadig behandeld and permitted to live in Keureutoe. In the days before 5 March 1905 he was permitted to receive his wife Tjoet Meuthia and made her swear to bring up their son in hatred of the kaphé and marry Pang Nanggroë; then s morgens vroeg he walked to the sea-strand where a sectie militairen was drawn up and was executed. His grave, with that of T. di Boeah, lies on the strand; both are photographed in Zentgraff’s book.

In December 1913, the false T. Radja Sabi was brought down from the mountains; the bedoegs were beaten, hundreds gathered in a procession, and governor Swart convened an assembly at Lho Seumawé at which he said: “De jongen is Teukoe Radja Sabi” — and not one of the assembled chiefs protested. On 13 March 1919 the real T. Radja Sabi — after fourteen years in the forests — walked into Lho Seumawé; a former kawan seized his arm: “Nuu is het uit met dat zwerven; nu moet je mèl!” From Lho Seumawé, Swart joog met eene patrouille in den gemeensten marsch naar Meurandeh Paja after news of the massacre of 26 January 1905 arrived: achtti uur achter elkander marcheerend, bijna 80 km per dag.

Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia.

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)

Lho Seumawe — modern Lhokseumawe — is the chief place (hoofdplaats) of the onderafdeeling of the same name in the afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh, and one of the principal harbours of the north-eastern coast of Atjeh. The town lies on an island with lagoons, connected with Sumatra by a bridge of 120 metres. It was formerly the chief harbour on the north-eastern coast, and is still one of the foremost.

The Town and Its Discomforts

Favourably situated on the bay, in which ships can come close to the pier, Lho’ Seumawé was formerly the chief harbour on the north-eastern coast, and is still one of the foremost. The town lies on an island with lagoons, connected with Sumatra by a bridge of 120 metres. The town bears the burdens of its situation on alluvial ground, and when a Dutch settlement had to come, nobody thought of building himself a villa there. The military dwellings arose in the style and colour of necessity, and private offices came beside, before, behind them in hasty wooden erection, and so Lho’ Seumawé became a gloomy dwelling-place without a smile. Langsa with its dull room, Idi with its small quiet, are far preferable to the harbour-town of the ancient kingdom of Samoedra!

But the present government wishes to make a virtue of necessity and asks cooperation for plans for improvement, first of all of health. The lagoon-coast sends flights of mosquitoes into the town evening after evening, and Broersma has seen walls in a large house that were black with mosquitoes in the corners. The drainage of terrain on the island is fortunately not a work that only great entrepreneurs can do or that costs years of labour, so that a better future is in sight. Where the town itself has so little charm, it is the more to be praised that the gemeentefonds is active there in compensating the townsmen, as far as possible, for what they must bear on account of their situation. The fund manages a water-supply from the sand-flat to the town, so that suitable water can be had in the houses. The wells, here and there, yield little and brackish water. The fund also maintains a sea-bath, in which an enclosure removes the danger from animals. The Europeans pay one guilder a month for it; the population also uses it. The fund maintains the market, a slaughterhouse, a cinema with band.

Trade

The trade has in recent years lost some of its importance, wherefore for example the Atjeh-Mij. has reduced its establishment there. Chinese handle the known export-products mostly to Penang and settle them against the import of manufactures, and also against money and bills. They would gladly have credit on the consignment of goods shipped. Lho’ Seumawé handles the import and export for the whole afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh, except however for Samalanga, which uses Sigli for that movement. In that lies an indication that Sigli is on the rising line and Lho’ Seumawé on the falling one. In 1921 120 ships were cleared; in 1922 108, almost all of the Kon. Paketvaart. The export was, in 1918 and 1921: copra 734.120 and 1.425.694 kg; pinang-nut 6.186.492 and 7.088.652 kg; pepper 558.266 and 793.115 kg. The receipts of the toll-office were, in 1920, 1921 and 1922: import-duty f 117.062 / f 164.520 / f 159.338; petroleum-cijns f 3.101 / f 4.807 / f 10.177; match-cijns f 36.931 / f 34.226 / f 4.038; match-cijns f 13.783 / f 12.347 / f 29.165. In comparing these figures one must bear in mind that the import-duties were raised by 100 percent in 1921 and again by 100 percent in 1922. Of increasing import-trade there is therefore no question.

The Maharadja

The onderafdeeling comprises many landschappen, of which one of the small is called Lho’ Seumawé, but the head was of old a respected prince, bearing among other titles that of maharadja, which points to his former standing with the sultan and in the whole of Atjeh. When about fifty years before Broersma’s visit — that is, in the years around 1873 — a representative of the Dutch government wished to meet the maharadja and came ashore from his ship in the bay to do so, the maharadja awaited him, leaning against a tree, trotsch — proud. He and many of the chiefs stood with loaded revolvers in their belts; the signs of submissiveness were far off. A still-living witness, quoted by J. A. Kruyt, described him as ‘een ruw woesteling’ — a rough savage — ‘hij was groot en zwaar, liep met lange loshangende haren en was gekleed in een zwart jasje met gouden sovereigns als knoopen.’ The maharadja of Broersma’s visit was Sri Tengkoe Abdoel Hamid Orangkaja Sri Maharadja Mangkoe Boemi, who signed the Korte Verklaring in 1904.

The Sarikat Islam

In the whole afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh with its three onderafdeelingen — Lho’ Seumawé, Bireuën and Lho Soekon — the Sarikat Islam showed a vigorous life after 1918. Traders, school-teachers — ‘laat ons zeggen de intellectueelen’ — but also several chiefs were members and took part. A chief of Samalanga had joined by way of a move on the political chessboard on which he was playing against the influential Maharadja, who had also become a member of the Sarikat Islam in order to strengthen his chances of retaining a landschap Plimbang. The movement in Lho’ Seumawe took the direction of bringing the distinction between believers and unbelievers to the fore, of undermining the Dutch government, and of working towards a union of oeléebalangs. Three chiefs of Lho’ Seumawe were banished in 1922, an intervention Broersma describes as ‘geen dag te vroeg gekomen’ — not a day too soon.

The HVA at Boeloeh Blang Ara

Not far westward of Lho’ Seumawé one reaches, by a narrow bumpy road, the estate Boeloeh Blang Ara, which the Handelsvereeniging Amsterdam opened in 1920 and gave up as failed in 1922 after spending eight tons of gold on it. The failure of that estate is one of the great disappointments of the post-war planting-period in Atjeh.

Swart’s administration, 1903–1905

On 12 October 1903 Swart was relieved of the government of the sub-division Poelò Raja and charged with the government of the sub-division Lho’ Seumawè in the Afdeeling Onderhoorigheden van Atjeh, the assignment being described as temporary; on 24 October 1903 he was extraordinarily promoted Majoor. He was honourably relieved of the post on 3 April 1905. It was during his period at Lho’ Seumawè that the patrol of sergeant Vollaers was destroyed at Meurandéh Paja on 26 January 1905, leading to the arrest of T. Tjhi’ Toenòng.

The meeting of 1908

In 1908, immediately after assuming the governorship, Swart held a meeting at Lho’ Seumawè with all the oelèëbalangs of the eastern part of the province. Discussing the situation, he pointed out that in various landschappen there were again djahats, whereupon one of the chiefs answered: “not only are there evildoers everywhere, but we ourselves are evildoers too!” There followed the discussion of the disastrous system of fines and the withholding of the chiefs’ incomes, of which Swart promised the immediate return of what had been wrongly withheld. At the same meeting he demanded an end to the attacks on the Atjehtram: “they still knew me there from the time when I was a major at Lho’ Seumawè and so they knew that it would come to blows. Then they said: ‘you can rely on it’. And from that time the tramway line there was never destroyed again.”

In the resistance years

Van Heutsz noted in his letter of July 1908 that in the Lho’ Seumawè country, where Swart had formerly travelled alone even from Lho’ Soekon through Matang Koeli to Paja Bakong, it was now unsafe even with military escort. In the resistance of 1908–1912 Lho’ Seumawè nevertheless remained the most favourable district; the administration there had for a considerable time been in the hands of a controleur, though the garrison of the bivouac Boeloh Blang Ara under Schouten repeatedly had its hands full. By 1910 the Koloniaal Verslag could report that the European administrators could visit a great part of their ressorten without military escort — “in Lho’ Seumawè the whole sub-division.”

It was to Lho’ Seumawè that the woman found wandering near the raided ladangs of Tgk. di Mata Ië in October 1911 was sent for care. On 13 March 1919 T. Radja Sabi was recognised at Lho’ Seumawè by one of his former kawans and brought to his uncle T. Tjhi’ Béntara, ending nine years of wandering.

The letter of 1933

T. Maharadja Mangkoeboemi, zelfbestuurder of the landschap Lho’ Seumawè, was the first signatory and one of the two drafters of the letter of the Acehnese chiefs to Swart on his seventieth birthday.

Sources

“Dispereert Niet: Twintig Eeuwen Historie van de Nederlanden”, Deel XI, by A. Algra and H. Algra (Franeker: T. Wever, 1946), pp. 65-67.

Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 58.

Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)

Lho Seumawè (modern Lhokseumawe) was the deep harbour of the North Coast of Atjeh which in the last years of the old order served as sea-outlet for the smuggled trade of the closed Pidië tract, and which under Dutch rule developed into a garrison and commercial town — giving its name to the petroleum establishments of 1899, to a credit bank of 1913, and to the H.V.A.’s ill-fated estate Boeloe Belang Ara in its neighbourhood.

The open harbour

Under the resolution of 29 May 1883 Lho Seumawè belonged to the few harbours remaining open for import and export; and when the Pidië tract was closed for the coasting trade, the population resorted to clandestine transport over land to Meureudoe and thence by sea to Lho Seumawè, until the licence system of July 1894 at Sigli relieved them. In 1899 the Koninklijke Petroleum Maatschappij founded establishments at Lho Seumawè and Peureula. From 1903 to 1907 the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij kept a temporary agency there (at a level equal to that of Koeta Radja) while the coastal tramway was being built.

The tramway and later development

Funds for the line Sigli–Lho Seumawè were granted in the budget of 1900; construction proceeded from both ends — the middle section in Samalanga being politically inaccessible — and was completed in April 1904 after three iron bridges had been washed away by bandjirs. From Lho Seumawè the route was continued under the budget of 1901 toward Idi, after a proposal for a line from the Aroe-baai to Lho Seumawè had been rejected by the Government. The town received a Hollandsch-Indlandsche school in 1916; in 1913 a credit bank for the North Coast arose there (with that at Langsar for the East Coast), and a government post- and telegraph-office, and agencies of the Atjehsche Handelmaatschappij and of Medan houses. In 1922 N. van Zalinge reported that the shipping-off of pinang-nuts and copra from Lho Seumawè, though it showed no increase over that year, would grow in the future “since ever more coconut- and pinang-trees are planted”, while trade centred ever more on Langsar, the rising estate district in its vicinity.

Account from Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf (1925)

Lho Seumawe, sometimes written Lho’ Seumawé, was afdeelingshoofdplaats on north-east coast of Atjeh, on little island with lagoons connected to Sumatra by bridge 120 meters, former main harbour north-east coast and still one of principal ports.

Old kingdom Samoedra

Crossing Pasé-rivier entering Gendong and Blang Me old landscapes near sea belonging territory now underafdeeling Lho Seumawe but where earlier 6 centuries considerable kingdom Samoedra and adjacent Pasé. Travelers middle ages been there noted. Further 5-6 centuries earlier Chinese travelers afterwards Arabs traders with Islam. Marco Polo spoke of Sama(d)ra i.e., Samoedra said cannibals but also rice arén palm and coconut used. Fei Hsin saw two centuries later pepper grew and people prepared toewak from nipah palm and then annually two harvests obtained from dry fields! Sultans rode high on elephant and went to battle against unbelievers. Now kampong Samoedra no old archive present. Here there graves old sultans princes of which in Blang Me most known. Some praalgraven for which marble used. Marble tombstone standing at head grave bearing mention names facts Arabic inscriptions. Remote in waterland offers royal rest under high trees sacred place pious land.

In 15th and 16th century Samoedra and Pasé under Atjeh, princes subordinate sultan. When Atjeh over time lost power, developed in all regions outside Groot-Atjeh independence princes and heads, process in some landscapes such that too many heads and headlets eager own authority. Settlers pepper planters from elsewhere new oulossens to authority-bearing heads. Fragmentation authority could sometimes ease for Netherlands administration, usually caused trouble delay measures.

Town description

Mountain outcrops push north close to sea along military road and tram now and then short distance continue to hoofdplaats Lho Seumawe, factually on islet with lagoons. Fairly favourably lying at bay where ships can come close steiger, was earlier main harbour north-east coast and nowadays still one of main. Island connected Sumatra by bridge 120 meter.

Town afdeelingshoofdplaats bears burdens location outside on silted terrain and when Netherlands settlement had to come nobody thought build villa. Military dwellings arose style colour emergency and private beside before beside in hasty wooden construction so Lho Seumawe became dark residence without any laugh. What is Langsa with boring space, Idi with small rest far preferable above harbour town old Samoedra! Current administration rightly wishes turn necessity into virtue asks cooperation for improvement plans first health. Lagoon coast sends evening mosquito flights town and author saw large dwelling walls corners black of mosquitoes. Drying terrain on land not work only big entrepreneurs can or years labour so better future in sight.

Administration and gemeentefonds

Gemeentefonds manages water pipeline from sandplate to town so suitable water in houses. Wells here there little salty water. Moreover maintains sea bath where enclosure removes danger animals. Europeans monthly one gulden. Population also uses and regulation whereby white and brown not hinder each other. Fonds maintains pasar, slaughterhouse, cinema with string ensemble. Trade in youngest years lost significance, e.g., … Handel Mij narrowed. Chinese handle usual export products mostly to Penang settle with import manufacturen, plus money drafts would like credit on cognossement of shipped goods.

Lho Seumawe has import-export for whole afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh, except however Samalanga using Sigli. Therein pointer that Sigli rising and Lho Seumawe declining. In 1921 120 ships cleared, 1922 108 almost all Kon. Paketvaart. Export: 1918 734,120 KG vs 1921 1,425,694 KG copra? Actually copra 734k? Table: copra? In text: 1918 734,120 KG 6,186,492 1921 1,425,694 KG copra 7,088,652 pinang 558,266 793,115 pepper. Receipts tol office: 1920 1921 1922 import f 117,062 164,520 159,338 export cijns petroleum 36,931 34,226 etc. Comparison notes duties 1921 increased 100%, 1922 again 100% not increased trade.

Lho Seumawe derives part bustle because in middle Atjeh-tram: travellers Koeta Radja further than Lho Seumawe must overnight and vice versa. Small European hotel and pasanggrahan as happily on many places Atjeh fairly suitable.

Several landscapes underafdeeling one small called Lho Seumawe but head from old prominent prince bearing title mbaharadja indicating former prestige at sultan whole Atjeh. See Teungkoe Abdoel Hamid Orangkaja Sri Maharadja Mangkoe Boemi.

Schools and population

Afdeeling counts 58 volksscholen few for girls pupils 3409 boys 918 girls. At Lho Seumawe course to train volksonderwijzers yearly 12. Salary teachers 20-40 gulden head school 5 more. Moreover 6 gouvernements inland schools and in afdeeling one Hollandsch-inlandsche school. Soul count whole afdeeling ~170k about 2300 Chinese whereof in underafdeeling alone 1100; 182 Europeans per Broersma.

Other landscapes and estate Boeloeh Blang Ara

Underafdeeling water enough but irrigation work could larger plans money not. Irrigation necessary because rivers no middle course. They come from mountains burden narrow plain with bandjirs, circumstance complicates works regulating watercourse. Only here there sawahs mostly tegalfields called sawah. Pepper gardens in hill pinang klappers grow everywhere. Cattle e.g., nice landscape Tjoenda sold Medan.

Landscapes Tjoenda and Nisam water from Kroeëng Boeloh where 12 km westwards Lho Seumawe stone dam sometimes endangered bandjirs. Population lukewarm such works does little nothing.

End westwards narrow bumpy road enterprise Boeloeh Blang Ara which Handelsvereeniging Amsterdam opened 1920 and gave up 1922 as failed after spending 8 tons gold. Must have seen abandoned enterprise to know sad impression. However closing would have escaped general attention if not reports about reasons HVA would have withdrawn fearing restriction penal sanctions labour contract. Though could feel not true reason statement found belief. Otherwise reasons given HVA to bestuur Atjeh: disappointment soil climate unfavorable health condition little cooperation bestuur. Added second plan upcoming assistentenregeling threatening shrinkage penale sanctie. Bestuur not lay down with one reason little cooperation bestuur HVA withdrew accusation claimed disappointments soil climate after 2 years overcome but before second spending equally big amount chose retreat Then through its reports about return made itself more or less disgraceful. Fact coffee terrains Boeloeh Blang Ara full big stones rainfall below 2000 mm yearly. Coffee gardens looked few months ago still favorable because soil loose clean lamtoro as intercrop same high as coffee. Rubber gardens less favorable. Other terrains concession HVA tried oilpalm tea. Not imagination needed see HVA thought big plans to realize. And when started coffee rubber at height 150-200m appeared soil obstacles presence many stones low rainfall. Faced choice progress with two enterprises large expansion or stopping all activities loss 8 ton. Latter chosen. But if fault big in game then found nobody else than HVA itself. Ground with all buildings end 1922 returned to land. Other bidders came look attracted presence gardens buildings per info concession already reissued.

See Also

• 1873
• 1904
• 1910
• 1911
• 1912
• 1913
• 1914
• 1915
• 1918
• 1920
• 1921
• 1922
• Acheh
• Atjeh-tram
• Atjéh-enquête
• Boeloeh Blang Ara
• Gemeentefonds in Atjeh
• G. C. E. van Daalen
• Groot-Atjehsche Afdeelingsbank
• H. N. A. Swart
• Handelsvereeniging Amsterdam
• J. A. Kruyt
• Koeala Simpang
• Koeta Radja
• Kon. Paketvaart
• Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij
• Langsa
• Mahraja of Lho’ Seumawe
• Meura’sa
• Noordkust van Atjeh
• Oostkust van Atjeh
• Panglima Polem
• Pasé
• Samoedra
• Sarikat Islam in Atjeh
• Sigli
• Sri Tengkoe Abdoel Hamid Orangkaja Sri Maharadja Mangkoe Boemi
• Teuku Ne’ Peureuba Wangsa
• Teuku Ne’ Raja Muda Seutia
• Verbanning van drie hoofden uit Lho Seumawe (1922)
• Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
• XXV Mukims
• T. Tjhi’ Toenòng
• T. Radja Sabi
• T. Maharadja Mangkoeboemi
• Letter of the Acehnese Chiefs to General Swart (26 September 1933)
• Lho’ Soekon
• Atjehtram
• Aceh War
• H. Colijn
• Batêê Iliê
• Samalanga
• Langsar
• Atjeh Tram
• Petroleum industry in Atjeh
• Boeloe Belang Ara
• Peureula
• Blang Me
• Teungkoe Abdoel Hamid Orangkaja Sri Maharadja Mangkoe Boemi

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

Town on Noordkust that with Sigli shares the doubtful honour of being ‘the eel of Atjeh’.

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 58.

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. De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 28–30, 70–72, 126, 213–217, 227–229. J. B. van Heutsz als Gouverneur Generaal 1904-1909, by J. C. Lamster (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon N.V., 1938), pp. 198–199. Rijksarchief, Den Haag. Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter IX, ‘In het oude rijk Samoedra’, pp. 59–65. Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter IV, p. 22; Chapter IX, pp. 90–92; Chapter X, p. 102; Chapter XI, pp. 105, 109; Extract from the service record, p. 172. Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 53, 71, 110, 124, 127, 136–137, 157, 178–179, 183, 185. Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma, Gebrs. Cohen, Utrecht, 1925, pp. 52-60.