After Dinner And Coffee, The Controlleur Went On To Tondano, And
I Strolled About The Village Waiting For My Baggage,
Which was
coming in a bullock-cart, and did not arrive until after midnight.
Supper was very similar to dinner,
And on retiring I found an
elegant little room with a comfortable bed, gauze curtains with
blue and red hangings, and every convenience. Next morning at
sunrise the thermometer in the verandah stood at 69°, which I was
told is about the usual lowest temperature at this place, 2,500
feet above the sea. I had a good breakfast of coffee, eggs, and
fresh bread and butter, which I took in the spacious verandah
amid the odour of roses, jessamine, and other sweet-scented
flowers, which filled the garden in front; and about eight
o'clock left Tomohón with a dozen men carrying my baggage.
Our road lay over a mountain ridge about 4,000 feet above the
sea, and then descended about 500 feet to the little village of
Rurúkan, the highest in the district of Minahasa, and probably in
all Celebes. Here I had determined to stay for some time to see
whether this elevation would produce any change in the zoology.
The village had only been formed about ten years, and was quite
as neat as those I had passed through, and much more picturesque.
It is placed on a small level spot, from which there is an abrupt
wooded descent down to the beautiful lake of Tondano, with
volcanic mountains beyond. On one side is a ravine, and beyond it
a fine mountainous and wooded country.
Near the village are the coffee plantations. The trees are
planted in rows, and are kept topped to about seven feet high.
This causes the lateral branches to grow very strong, so that
some of the trees become perfect hemispheres, loaded with fruit
from top to bottom, and producing from ten to twenty pounds each
of cleaned coffee annually. These plantations were all formed by
the Government, and are cultivated by the villagers under the
direction of their chief. Certain days are appointed for weeding
or gathering, and the whole working population are summoned by the
sound of a gong. An account is kept of the number of hours' work
done by each family, and at the year's end, the produce of the
sale is divided among them proportionately. The coffee is taken
to Government stores established at central places over the whole
country, and is paid for at a low fixed price. Out of this a
certain percentage goes to the chiefs and majors, and the
remainder is divided among the inhabitants. This system works
very well, and I believe is at present far better for the people
than free-trade would be. There are also large rice-fields, and
in this little village of seventy houses, I was informed that a
hundred pounds' worth of rice was sold annually.
I had a small house at the very end of the village, almost
hanging over the precipitous slope down to the stream, and with a
splendid view from the verandah.
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