Paja Djorok — also Paja Jorok — is one of the two Semnenboschcomplexen (Sumatran-pine forest complexes) — together with Blangtekoer — in which the trial exploitation of Pinus Merkusii turpentine began on 14 September 1924 under the Besluit of 27 June 1924. The forest complex is named in the Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet of 1930 as one of the two sites of the early trial exploitation, and as the eastern of the two complexes separated by the river Baleq — from which the Baleq enterprise took its name.
The forest complex
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that Paja Djorok and Blangtekoer were betrekkelijk dicht gelegen bij den grooten weg van Takengon naar Bireuen (Atjeh) — located relatively close to the main road from Takengon to Bireuen (Atjeh). The location of the two forest complexes near the Takengon-Bireuen road was the principal logistical advantage of the site, since it allowed the transport of the balsam — the raw resinous exudate of the tapped pines — from the forest to the processing factory. The two complexes were van elkaar gescheiden door een rivier, de Baleq — separated from each other by a river, the Baleq — and it was from this river that the trial enterprise took its name.
The trial of 14 September 1924
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the trial exploitation of Pinus Merkusii turpentine began on 14 September 1924 — Op 14 September d.o.v. werd die proef ingezet in de Semnenboschcomplexen Paja Djorok en Blangtekoer — On 14 September of that year the trial was begun in the Sumatran-pine forest complexes Paja Djorok and Blangtekoer. The trial was undertaken by ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf on behalf of the Dienst van het Boschwezen, and it was funded by the Regeering under the Besluit of 27 June 1924. The results of the trial were sufficient that, in 1926, the Regeering resolved to convert the trial into a definitive exploitation as a separate division of ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf with effect from 1 January 1927.
Significance
Paja Djorok’s significance in the historiography of colonial Aceh is as one of the two original sites of the trial exploitation of Pinus Merkusii turpentine in the Netherlands Indies — the forest complex where the early trial samples of Atjeh-turpentine were first produced, and where the quarre tapping method was first applied in Atjehnese conditions. The forest complex’s location near the Takengon-Bireuen road was the principal logistical advantage that made the trial possible, and its separation from Blangtekoer by the river Baleq gave the enterprise its name.
See Also
- Blangtekoer
- Baleq
- Pinus Merkusii
- Quarre
- Takengon
- Bireuen
- Gajo-landen
- ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf
- Dienst van het Boschwezen
- Besluit van 27 June 1924 on Atjeh-turpentine exploitation
- Atjeh-terpentijn (Spoor, 1930)
- 1924
Source
Atjeh-terpentijn: tegenwoordige kwaliteit en nieuwe beoordeelingen, by Ir. W. Spoon, Berichten van de Afdeeling Handelsmuseum van de Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut No. 57, Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1930, p. 5 (Winning van de terpentijn).