Minangkabau Genealogy
Minangkabau Governance (example from Mukomuko)
Source book = Malayan Miscellanies
MALAYAN MISCELLANIES was printed and published at Sumatran Mission Press, Bencoolen and available as Vol. I (1820) and Vol. II (1822).
Copies of Malayan Miscellanies are hard to find, even on the internet. Some of the published articles do not specify an author. A large portion of the volumes is allocated to botanical plants and was written by William Jack.
William Jack was a medical doctor, surgeon, botanist and linguist who accompanied Sir Stamford Raffles to document the flora of South-East Asia. He died in Bencoolen, Sumatra on 15 September 1822. In the "Memoirs of the late Mr William Jack", he is credited as the author of most of the articles in Malayan Miscellanies.
From Memoirs of the late William Jack by Nathiel Wallich
-:: The published writings of Mr. Jack, as far as have come to my knowledge, are, "Descriptions of Malayan Plants," given in the first and succeeding volumes of the Malayan Miscellanies, and here re-published. Also in the same work, "Memorandum of a Journey to the summit of Gunong Benko, or the Sugar-loaf Mountain, in the interior of Bencoolen" — "Short Notice concerning the Island of Pulo Mas,with comparative Vocabularies in the Languages of Nias, Batta, Bima, and Lampung, and in three dialects of the Dayaks in Borneo ;" and "Translation of the Undang-Undang of Moco-Moco." In the fourteenth volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, are a Paper “on the Malayan Species of Melastoma ;” “ on Cyrtandracee, a new Natural Order of Plants ;” and lastly “ An Account of the Lansium and some other Genera of Malayan Plants.”::-
Minangkabau Genealogy
Chapter No. XII - MALAYAN MISCELLANIES, vol II 1822
My Notes on Places:
Monjuta - [1] (from) Indrapura... 2½ degrees further up, about 20 miles to the north of Selebar, there is a place called Menjuta located on the sea side where the river of Indrapura runs into the sea. And Indrapura lies about 18 miles landwards from Menjuta. [2] From the ruins of Indrapura has sprung the kingdom of Anak-sungei, extending, along the sea-coast, from Menjuta river to that of Urei. Its chief bears the title of sultan, and his capital, if such places deserve the appellation, is Moco-moco.
Map- Minangkabau Journey
Map : David Rumsey - 1842 GA Tindal - #5 Ugemeene Kaart van Nederlandsch Oostindie
Minangkabau Governance : example from Mukomuko
Chapter No. XIII MALAYAN MISCELLANIES, vol.II 1822
Map : David Rumsey - 1842 GA Tindal - #5 Ugemeene Kaart van Nederlandsch Oostindie
Further Notes
Proattin
History of Sumatra - William Marsden - ed.3 1811
p.210 Their Government [chap.11] -:: The inhabitants live in villages, called dusun, each under the government of a headman or magistrate, styled dupati, whose dependants are termed his ana-buah, and in number seldom exceed one hundred. The dupatis belonging to each river (for here, the villages being almost always situated by the waterside, the names we are used to apply to countries or districts are properly those of the rivers) meet in a judicial capacity at the kwalo, where the European factory is established, and are then distinguished by the name of proattin.::-
p.213 Succession of Dupatis [chap.11] -:: On every river there is at least one superior proattin, termed a pambarab, who is chosen by the rest and has the right or duty of presiding at those suits and festivals in which two or more villages are concerned, with a larger allotment of the fines, and (like Homer's distinguished heroes) of the provisions also. If more tribes than one are settled on the same river each has usually its pambarab. Not only the rivers or districts but indeed each dusun is independent of, though not unconnected with, its neighbours, acting in concert with them by specific consent.::-
p.354 Kingdom of Anak Sungai [chap. 19] -:: From the ruins of Indrapura has sprung the kingdom of Anak-sungei, extending along the sea-coast from Manjuta River to that of Urei. Its chief bears the title of sultan, and his capital, if such places deserve the appellation, is Moco-moco. A description of it will be found above. Although the government is Malayan, and the ministers of the sultan are termed mantri (a title borrowed from the Hindus) the greatest part of the country dependent on it is inhabited by the original dusun people, and accordingly their proper chiefs are styled proattin, who are obliged to attend their prince at stated periods, and to carry to him their contribution or tax. His power over them however is very limited.::-
Investigator, Volumes 5-6 - T & G Underwood, 1822
p.285 -:: The people are dispersed through the country in small dusuns, or villages, consisting of from 10 to 40 families. In each village of any size is a Proattin, a Pamangkoo or deputy, and the Orang Tuah, or Elders. The Proattin is elected by the inhabitants of the village, but his authority is very trifling. He receives no contributions or payments from the people, and the sole advantage he derives from his office is a share of the fines which may happen to be imposed, and of the duties on pepper during the time of the Company's monopoly. There is no community of agricultural labour in the village, nor are any trades separately exercised. Every man, from the Proattin to the lowest individual, raises his own rice by his own labour and that of his family.::-
History of the Indian Archipelago - John Crawfurd, 1820 - Vol 3
p.112 -:: One of the most remarkable and instructive characteristics in the laws of the islanders, is the allotment of punishment according to the rank of the offender. The three great classes of society which may be said generally to exist throughout the Indian islands, in a legal point of view, are the nobles, freemen, (Mardika,) and slaves, (Hamba.) In their laws the rights of these classes are constantly referred to. The authority of rank, it need hardly be insisted, is constantly dwelt upon, and its immunity from the severities of the law impudently proclaimed. "The Bangun, or compensation for the murder of a Pambarab" (superior chief,) say the laws of the Rejangs, " is five hundred dollars; for that of a Proattin, (inferior chief,) two hundred and fifty dollars; for that of a common person, man or boy, eighty dollars; for that of a common person, woman or girl, one hundred and fifty dollars; for the legitimate child or wife of a Pambarab, two hundred and fifty dollars."::-