Enterprise

After his work in Tjinjiroean, Pierre developed Pasir Junghun and Koleberes and then spent another year overseeing Tjikentreng, all in West Java.

Below you can find an overview of the enterprises. He made this for his grandson Maurits. You can see the enterprises in West Java. Grandpa Pierre has added where we lived. The enterprises are Tjitalahab and Tjiemas.

I still remember the tea factory in Bodjong Genteng. I have the clearest memories of the latter. My father managed the enterprises. They were coffee, tea, and/or rubber enterprises.

On Sunday, August 26, 1884 at 12 o'clock, increasingly strong earthquakes were felt in Batavia. The volcano on the island of Krakatau had erupted, causing a terrible disaster over a wide area.

Not only due to a rain of stones and ash (until 5 o'clock the next day it was dark), but especially due to an immense tidal wave on the coasts of Java and Sumatra and towards the east.

The Sunda Strait, with a height of 12 to 27 meters, saw the water rise 5 meters in Batavia. The phenomenon was visible from the coasts of Africa and America. The southern slope of the island Krakatau had completely disappeared and there were two new islands. At Telak Betang in the Lampong district, a government steamer was stranded 5 km inland. Along the coast, villages were destroyed and the population largely perished. In the Bantam district alone, more than 20,000 people were killed or missing.

Here is a layout of our house on the plantation. It was situated on a hill.

The kampong was therefore lower than our house. On the left are the last steps of the stairs that led from our house to the kampong. From these stairs, I took some pieces with Jacques on my later trip, starting from the top step, which was already dilapidated. I marked them with: "Bodjong Genteng stairs". On the left, you can see the remains of the tea factory that my father managed in that kampong, as we found it in 1992.