Travelogue

Note from a daughter

My father Pierre Schrijnen worked at the Government Quinine plantation Tjinjiroean in the quinine industry. Later, he started his own coffee, tea, and rubber plantations. He had a great love for the Dutch East Indies and its beautiful nature, for which he felt a strong sense of responsibility.

Here is an account of one of his journeys.

Travel report

During that time, my father traveled extensively through Priangan and visited the quinine plantations located there to conduct garden experiments for the quinine culture. He was also responsible for the meteorological observations that had to be carried out at Tji-Njiroean. Many trips to the various rain gauges set up there were necessary.

The top of the Malabar rose 800 meters above the Pengalengan plateau. From this peak, there was a magnificent view across the entire width of the island of Java, allowing one to overlook both the North coast and the South coast. The trips to the various plantations, as well as the monthly recurring trip to the Malabar, all journeys through the virgin forest, increased my father's love for the wild nature of Java. This naturally led him to be suitable for selecting a new area for a tea section that would be linked to the G.K.O. Consequently, he successively visited the Goenoeng Tiloe, the Papandajan, and the extensive forests of the Goenoeng Kendeng to the South of the Pengalengan plateau.

The Goenoeng Tiloe is named after the Sundanese numeral "tiloe," which means three. When looking south from Bandoeng, you can see a series of mountains, including the Goenoeng Tiloe, which descends in three terraces to the level of the Pengalengan plateau, forming the boundary of the Bandoeng plateau.

Very beautiful terrains were discovered on the slopes of G. Tiloe, which would have been extremely suitable for tea cultivation if they did not drain into the rivers, providing the rice fields around Bandoeng. After spending about 14 days there, my father went to Papandajan, the mountain that closes off the Pengalengan plateau in the southeast.

A road runs along the western flank of this mountain, connecting the furthest division of the Sedip enterprise, called Tji-Leuleuj, with the Ardjoena enterprise. This road is about 10 km long and is completely isolated in the forest. About 5 km from the last gardens of Tji-leuleuj, my father found a sort of indentation in the road's embankment, where the research group set up a temporary camp by stretching sails. A simple folding drawing table, a field bed, and a stool, along with the surveying equipment, were the entire equipment. About 20 km from the inlet, a group of twenty laborers was sought from the villages south of the Ardjoena enterprise.

These laborers, under my father's guidance, dug a trench in the virgin forest. They cleared the underbrush to make it possible to work with the surveying instruments and to make a map of the selected terrains, ensuring that no inferior pieces were measured.

Measuring an area of about 800 hectares took three weeks. Unfortunately, upon returning to the enterprise, it was learned that these terrains had to remain reserved for the enterprises located to the north and south of them.

The third attempt on the North side of Mount Kendeng was more successful. Approximately 20 km from Mount Kendeng, there was a crate factory called Kiara Roa (meaning many Kiara's or sacred banyan trees, which grew in the forest behind the factory). This crate factory had a small forest concession which had been cleared for the production of crates. This concession would be taken over by Mount Kendeng Organization (G.K.O.), and suitable areas needed to be found to complete the 800 hectares.

My father spent the first night on the bank of a small river about an hour's walk behind the crate factory. The next day, the investigation began. After approximately 14 days, it was reported to the G.K.O. management that they had succeeded in finding suitable areas.

Pierre had to wait for three more days because the director himself wanted to come and inspect the areas. He used these days to take a trip through the primeval forest to the south. There was a jungle of about 100 hectares, with only a few small paths winding through it.

The trip went over Sodang-Abig, a mountain peak 1900 meters high. Just below this peak, a very steep road began, descending 400 meters to a level of 1500 meters where a completely hidden mountain lake called Litoew Tjirompang was located. The type of paths my father followed were used by the locals from the South to transport forest products, especially rattan and sugar, known as "Goela" in Sundanese. That's why these small forest paths were called "Djalang Goela." The return journey from the lake to the campsite took about 3 hours longer than the outward journey, as the steep "descent" now had to be climbed back up.....