Peusangan

An area on the North Coast. The sadati dialogue: ‘If that please thee not, little brother, let us go to the country of Peusangan in Glumpang Dua. In the country of Peusangan there are also strange doings; Teuku Ben (= Bentara) is dead, and no successor has yet been appointed.‘

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)

Peusangan — pronounced Pesangan — is a great landschap of more than thirty-two thousand souls in the onderafdeeling Bireuen of the afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh, and the name of the river that comes out of the Laut Tawar lake in Gajo-land and carries great water-wealth to the coast. In the landschap lies the chief place of the onderafdeeling, the like-named Bireuen.

The Oeléebalang and His Brothers

The oeléebalang of Peusangan is Mohamad Djohan Alamsjah, teukoe tjhi Peusangan, ‘een hoofd met veel gezag en een goed inzicht in de belangen van zijn land, waarvoor hij al zijn ijver geeft’ — a chief of great authority and good insight into the interests of his country, for which he gives all his zeal. Living at Matang Gloempang Doea in an attractive but un-Atjehnese house amid a well-planted garden on the road and the tram, he finds support in his brothers, who like him received a good education and all speak Dutch. One of them, Teukoe Boestaman, was trained at the cultuurschool at Soekaboemi and now holds the office of landbouwkundige; another, Mohamad Ali Alamsjah, is oeléebalang tjoet of Djeumpa. There is in the population of Peusangan, one might say, somewhat more agricultural feeling than in that of most other landschappen.

Irrigation and the Panté Lhong Failure

About a third of the soil is irrigable — that is, from the swamp — and for that there are a few wadoeks. A trial has been made of irrigation from the Peusangan, which at Panté Lhong flows to the sea in two arms. There one arm was dammed by the B.O.W. After the damming and dyking, however, no water came into the main conduit, and one sees at this starting-point of irrigation all the water running through the other arm. The work cost three tons and is fruitless. If one wishes to have irrigation here after all, work will have to begin again, perhaps with a dam across the whole width of the river and not only in that one arm. But it will be questionable whether such a work can survive a bandjir. It would certainly be expensive, even if it were only for the high day-wage of 60 cents, against which stands the fact that the Atjehnese commutes his heerendienst for only three guilders in a whole year. The Dutch government cuts, with such works in the eyes of the Atjehnese, especially of the developed one, a foolish figure; he finds his own simple irrigation-work, his locèng, by which water does come, better.

Agriculture

The landschap has its true sawahs of its own making, its tegal-fields, and on the higher ground its ladangs. In Peusangan pepper and pinang-nuts take a less prominent place in the income of the people than elsewhere; here besides padi one also grows djagong (maize), oebi (yam), katjang tanah (ground-nut), a little sugar-cane and tobacco. The Inlandse agriculture here resembles, more than elsewhere in Atjeh, that of Java. ‘Van meer dan gelijken kan men niet spreken’ — Of more than resemblance one cannot speak. Remarkable is that here between the rows of padi one immediately plants djagong. After the padi-harvest, first cucumbers, katjang and on the higher grounds onions are grown.

Credit

The greatest part of the capital of the Volkscredietbank at Lho’ Seumawé finds its placement in the onderafdeeling Bireuen; the amount has sometimes reached three tons. Peusangan has about ten gampong-banks with capitals of f 300 to f 600 and reserves of f 100 to f 300, and the management is properly watched. Perhaps connected with the good working of credit is the circumstance that in Peusangan one sees grobaks (carts) in use, whereas elsewhere in Atjeh they are almost entirely absent.

Salt-Making

The salt-making of the Peusangan coast is also of some importance. The salt-makers loosen the ground on an open terrain near the flood-forest; the seawater comes in at flood and is thrown into a pit of 3 d.M. depth. Seawater is then brought over it again, filters through, and is collected in a basin of about 80 c.M. The water is taken to the nearby houses, put into a large basin, and boiled in pots until the salt remains. The boiling lasts 10 to 12 hours and requires a great deal of firewood. The interval between raking the ground and obtaining a picol of fairly white salt is three days. The picol is sold in Peusangan for f 3.30; the firewood for that quantity of salt costs about f 1.25; so for three days’ work about two guilders remain, a normal day’s wage.

Significance

Peusangan is the type-landschap of the well-governed eastern coast: a Dutch-speaking oeléebalang, a landbouwkundige in the household, gampong-banks, grobaks on the roads, a flourishing tegal-agriculture, and a flourishing salt-making on the coast. It is also the landschap of the great irrigation-failure at Panté Lhong, which Broersma takes as the type-case of the costly and useless public-works of the early civilian period.

Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)

In 1909 H. N. A. Swart was authorised to pay 10,000 guilders in compensation to T. Maharadja Djeumpa, acting oelèëbalang of Peusangan, for the loss of his possessions through the doings of ill-disposed persons. Du Croo cited “T. Tjhi’ Peusangan” as the example of the chiefs with whom “was het uiteindelijk mogelijk een begin-vorm van zelfbestuur te bereiken”. A photograph shows Swart and his wife visiting the landschapshoofd of Peusangan during their journey through the Indies in 1928.

Sources

De Rijkdom van Atjeh, uitgegeven door het Atjeh-Instituut, Amsterdam, 1923. OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-110-De_rijkdom_van_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, p. 22. Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), chapter Jagerslatijn.

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. 68, 70, 295, 357, 402.

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

Peusangan was river rising from lake Laut Tawar in Gajo-land carrying large water wealth to coast, and large landscape >32,000 souls in underafdeeling Bireuen with hoofdplaats Bireuen.

Landscape description

Large landscape per Broersma oeléëbalang Mohamed Djohan Alamsjah etc. About third ground irrigable i.e., from swamp some wadoeks. Attempted irrigation from Peusangan at Panté Lhong splits two arms sea damming one arm by B.O.W. after damming no water main line all water other arm cost 3 tons fruitless if want irrigation need new work maybe dam whole width expensive due daily wage 60 cent vs Atjeher redeeming heerendienst only 3 gulden whole year.

Landscape real sawahs own construction tegal fields higher terrains also ladangs. Pepper pinang less important than elsewhere here besides padi also djagong oebi katjang tanah little sugarcane tobacco indigenous agriculture resembles Java more.

Busy agriculture seen use credit biggest part capital Volkscredietbank Lho Seumawe in Bireuen sometimes 3 ton. In Peusangan about 10 gampongbankjes capitals 300-600 reserves 100-300.

See also salt winning, elephants hunting, weaving.

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

Important landschap ruled by zelfbestuurder Teukoe Hadji Tjhi’ Mohamad Djohan Alamsjah. Fertile soil, almost a model-landschap. River (Peusangan-rivier) crossed by Gajoweg at Blang Mané.Landschap in Groot-Atjeh region; salt-coconut copra coöperation between zoutzieders and klappertuinbezitters; salt production bestpractice method.Landschap whose bevolking built the Bireuën landing field in heerendienstDistrict through whichPanglima Polém was pushed by successive expeditions.

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 68, 70, 295, 357, 402.

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. Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter X, ‘In het land van Peusangan’, pp. 66–70. 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, XIII, XVII. Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma, Gebrs. Cohen, Utrecht, 1925, pp. 59-64.

tags	place, north-east-coast, landschap, river, achehnese, bireuen, noordkust-van-atjeh, colonial, oeléebalang, padiveld, irrigation, salt-making, aceh, noordkust, zelfbestuur, north-coast, aceh-war, 19th-century, 20th-century, bandjir, irrigatie, peusangan, gajoweg, landscape, rice, atjeh
aliases	Glumpang Dua, Pesangan, Peusangan landschap, Peusangan river, Kroeeng Peusangan, Pasangan, Peusangan-rivier, Peusangan rivier, Kroeëng Peusangan, Sungai Peusangan, Peusanganrivier (Peusangan River), Peusanganrivier, Krueng Peusangan, Peusangan valley

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