WAR COMES TO SUMATRA

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4533, 6 February 1942, Page 7

WAR COMES TO SUMATRA

RICHEST RUBBER LANDS LAKES OF LEGEND (By H.W.L.S.) Japan is now attempting to establish her forces in bases in Sumatra from which to attack Singapore. The mountainous backbone of the island of Sumatra, known as Bukit Barison, is 1100 miles long: Covered by virgin forests and jungle, it descends abruptly to the coast on its northern flank, and gradually to the plains of the east coast. From the northern tip of the island down through Java, Bali, and the Lesser Sundas, this backbone continues, and throughout its length sixty active volcanoes dominate the sky-line. These peaks, besides lending a peculiar charm to the landscape, have built up an incomparably fertile alluvial soil in the plains at their feet, while the high ranges serve as catchments supplying the water for well-devised irrigation systems. The air-line from Java to Medan, capital and major airport, skirts the ridge. It is on the plains, notably in the Deli district on the north-east coast and on the Padang plains on the south-west, that the world-renowned Sumatra wrapper-leaf tobacco is grown, and the American-owned rubber plantations of Hevea Brasiliensis are now in full production. Belawan Deli, port for the capital, Medan, is now one of the chief ports of the rubber industry in the East—indeed, in the world —and a large harbour has been made by dredging a 40-feet-deep channel through a seven-miles sandbank, which was formerly exposed at low tides. Now the largest Eastern liners load full cargoes of rubber and tobacco at Belawan, the produce of the enormously rich and productive hinterland of what was a few years ago a small coastal port. HUB OF RUBBER TRADE This is the hub of the .rubber trade. Singapore has been called the Liverpool of the East, as the world’s rubber market is controlled from the island city, fed by the produce of Sumatra and Malaya. There is rich romance in the growth of the market for this invaluable product, as its presence in the East represents one of history’s colossal crop migrations —from the head waters of the broad Amazon to the Malay peninsula and the teeming Indies. Now 97 per cent of all rubber comes from the Middle East, and more than half the world’s total is grown in Sumatra and Malaya. Virgin forests of giant camphor trees and groves of Tchimara, the Sumatran casuarinia, surround the American plantations, which are of the purest pedigree trees averaging 150 to the acre. On the 40,000-acre Wingfoot plantation live 6000 workers, mostly Javanese, with a proportion of the Sumatran native Batak. The “ coolie ■” lines of workers consist out from the “ lines ” to the trees, by the company. Tapping is, of course, the occupation of the native workers, and each day is much like the next. THE TAPPER’S TASK After their early breakfast of rice, dried fish, and tea, the tapper’s swarm out from the “ lines ” to the trees many still wearing rainbow sarongs and singlets—striped cotton shirts—while others have adopted prosaic overalls or shorts. Afoot or awheel, each tapper- balances on one shoulder a bamboo stick, with a rattan basket swinging at one end and a “ milk can,” usually an old kerosene container, at the other. When he reaches his trees he first pulls off the strips of rubber coagulated there from the previous tappings. (Usually tapping is done every other day.) He puts this “ tree scrap ” in one compartment of his basket to be used for “ off grade ” rubber. Next he shaves off a sliver of bark—taking care not to wound the wood—and puts a cup in place beneath a spout stuck into the bark at the lower end of the diagonal cut. The peel-off he throws into the other half of the bucket, for “ bark scrap ” also makes low-grade rubber. In making the cut the tapper pulls his oddly-shaped knife towards him, about half way around the tree trunk. He leaves his collecting can at- the first tree, and taps from 350 to 400 trees before the hollow-log gong sounds for work to cease. THE CRATER LAKES At Prapat, in the Batak country of West Sumatra, are the famous crater lakes of Toba, in which is the jewel isle of Samosir. Arriving at nightfall at the small plateau surrounding the oval crater lake one finds the usual comfortable rest-house of Passangrahan, which invariably is discovered at points off the beaten track wherever a major attraction is to be found throughout the archipelago. The small number of travellers as yet in these lesser isles of the Indies makes private hotel enterprise of doubtful financial success, so that the Government provides these small accommodation houses, quite comfortable and at reasonable rates, the larger guest houses, or bar-

ugas, being provided for the official guests of the Dutch Government and other privileged visitors. The crater lakes are three in number, one of the deep red or cardinal tint of rich velvet, the others of changing shades varying from jadegreen to opalescent and turquoise blue. The latter reminds one strongly of the Blue Lake at Mount Gambier, and, curiously enough, bne learns that its level is slowly falling, like that of the South Australian one. At Mount Gambier the drop has been calculated at a foot a year, and the Gelimotoe Lake seems to be at about the same rate. The surface of all three lakes is at about the 6000-feet level, and from the lip of the crater a magnificent panorama of the islands of the Flores and Banda Seas to the north and east unfolds. The evening of our visit was very calm and serene, and so smooth were the waters of the sea and the crater lakes themselves that the whole landscape had the appearance of a mirage the lakes seeming to be suspended in air. It is no more than 25 years ago since these wonderful mountain jewels were first seen by a white man. They had long been an object of superstitious awe to the natives, and for some time, though their fame had been whispered abroad by the people of the hinterland, none of the Dutch explorers were able to find a guide willing to conduct them to the spot. Now that air communication has been established along the Sulnda chain these natural phenomena will undoubtedly become a great attraction to tourists who prefer to leave the beaten track for the byways of travel.

The road to the lakes is reached from Medan by a motor drive of 40 miles. One leaves in the early morning, following a swift river in the bed of a magnificent gorge with towering cliffs on each side and lofty, almost impenetrable forests, largely of teak, soaring upward to culminate in the high saddle which crowns the centre of the island.

The road crosses many bridges cleverly built of strong timbers. They have thatched roofs, and are floored with loose wooden slats, which made a loud clatter beneath the wheels of our car. The last part of the road is only a grass track, but, though we had frequently to stop to remove gravel and boulders brought down by landslides and floods, we were amply rewarded by the panorama of mountains and distant seas and by.. the luxuriant vegetation through which we were climbing.