The Political System of the Atoni of Timor Verhandelingen Van Ret Koninklijk Instituut Voor Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde
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THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI OF TIMOR VERHANDELINGEN VAN RET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE 60 THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI OF TIMOR R. G. SCHULTE NORDHOLT Springer-Science+Business Media, B.Y. An earlier version of this book has been published in Dutch as a doctoral thesis submitted to the Free University, Amsterdam. The original title was: HET POLITIEKE SYSTEEM VAN DE ATONI VAN TIMOR (Offsetdruk Van Manen & Co - Driebergen. 1966) The English translation was made possible by a grant from Z.W.O. (Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research), and was prepared by Miss M. J. L. van Yperen. ISBN 978-94-015-0404-1 ISBN 978-94-015-1013-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-1013-4 Sotlcover reprint of the hardcover I 5t edition 1981 MISERE DE L'HOMAfE 1. Grave of a Sonba'i near Kupang in 1821; from: Reinwardt, 1858, p. 342. Tmttes ces miseres-la meme pr01/Vent sa gmndeur. Ce sont miseres de gmnd seigneur. Pascal, Pensees. 2. A mea in full array for a headhunting raid. GRANDEUR DE L'HOMME 3. Father and daughter. GRANDEUR DE L'HOMME 4. Mother and child. PREFACE lowe the present book to the encouragement and guidance of my friends, for which I am moSll: indebted to them. This applies in the first place to Dr. P. Middelkoop, who worked in Timor for more than thirty years as a missionary and bible translator. My gratitude for all the help he has given can hardly be expressed in words, and I can do no more than simply say that this book is to a large extent also his book - the writing of it could not have been accomplished without his valued assistance. He has given up many an evening to the an swering of my countless questions with his inexhaustible knowledge of the language and culture of the Atoni. I am also deeply grateful to Professor L. Onvlee, who acted as my supervisor during the preparation of the D1.lII:ch version of this book for submission as a doctoral thesis (H et Politieke Systeem van de A toni van Timor, Driebergen, 1966, 278 pp.). But for the many stimulating conversations I was able to enjoy with him I would never have acquired the approach to our subject which lies at the basis of this book, namely that the essential point is the study of man in his culture, and that even in the analysis of one particular aspect of a cul.ture we are dealing with the culture as a whole and with man as the bearer of that cuLture. His critical appraisal of virtually every sentence of the finished manu script of my thesis constituted a positive contribution to the shaping of my ideas. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to my colleague Prof. G. W. Locher for his Socratic guidance. This book owes much of its present form to his maieutike techne. His research in Timor in 1941 to me was a lesson in the critical collection of data, and it was he who enjoined me in 1%4 to work out my own material, which also served as basis for the first part of Cunningham's dissertation. He kindly undertook to read the manuscript of the book, and the nine hour's uninterrupted conversation I enjoyed with him subsequently will remain engraved on my memory forever. VI THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI My sincere thanks are also due to my colleagues, Professors J. W. Schoorl and P. E. de Josselin de Jong, the former for reading the manuscript and the latter for perusing the finished dissertation. I am further indebted to Drs. P. L. Geschiere for helping me with the analysis of the literature, Miss C. H. Meijers for correcting the printing proofs, and Miss M. J. L. van Yperen for taking the responsibility for the English translation. I would express my thanks to the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (Z.W.O.) for granting a subsidy enabling an English translation to be made, and to the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology for accepting it for publication. Many thanks are also due to Mr. E. Wieland and Mr. J. Verhaar for drawing the maps, and the Archivio Fotografico of the Societas Verbi Divini in Rome for its permission to incorporate the splendid photographs taken by its missionaries in Timor in this publication. In spite of all the help I have received from so many people I cannot help agreeing with the statement made to Codrington by a missionary in the Fiji Islands, namely that when a European has been living among a foreign people for two or three years "he is sure to be fully convinced that he knows all about them; when he has been ten years or so amongst them, if he be an observant man, he finds that he knows very Httle about them, and so begins to learn. My own time of learning has been all too short" (R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians, Oxford 1891, Preface VI, VII). The missionary in question had been living in Fiji for twenty-four years, from 1863 to 1887; I myself, though I have spent more than three years among the Atoni, cannot claim to have spent even as many as ten there. But the fact that I have even so attempted to give an analysis of the political system of the Atoni of Timor is due largely to the confidence inspired by my Timorese friends and informants, including the Roman Catholic missionaries. NOTE ON TIMORESE SPELLING In accordance with the general practice I have called the language of the Atoni 'Timorese'. This is not strictly speaking correct, as there are many languages spoken in Timor. I have adopted Middelkoop's system of spelling and also the practice of omitting accents which he has followed for the past few years; this is based on the following rules of pronunciation: a. All stems in Timorese consist of two syllables with the stress falling on the first syllable. If the second syllable ends in a or e, the e of the first syllable is always short (open), and consequently this does not need to be indicated by a grave accent; so it suffices to write: pena, meto. The reverse also holds true, e.g. ane, ote. b. On the other hand, if the second syllable ends in i or u, then the e of the first syllable is always long (closed), and does not need to be indicated by an acute accent, e.g. peni, menu. The oe in Timorese is a diphthong. (Middelkoop, 1963, 53). It should be pronounced as English oi. A further pecUliarity of Timorese is the frequent occurrence of metatheses, e.g. usif (= lord), becomes uis, as in Uis Neno (= the Lord of Heaven). The f occurs at the end of some nouns only where these are indicative of a certain class. CONTENTS /lage INTRODUCTION 1. The area of research. 1 2. The circumstances prompting the research. 1 3. Methods of research. 5 4. Definition of some of the concepts used 9 PART ONE. THE ATONI AND HIS WORLD . 19 CHAPTER I. THE PEOPLE AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT 19 1. The Atoni 19 2. Geographical position . 19 3. The people 21 4. The language . 25 5. The physical environment 27 a. The soil . 27 b. Qimate 29 c. Flora and fauna 33 CHAPTER II. THE ECONOMIC LIFE. 40 1. Crafts and techniques 40 2. Animal husbandry . 46 3. Trade 50 4. Useful trees . 51 5. Agriculture and its related ritual . 52 a. Choosing a plot 53 b. Requesting permission . 55 c. Sharpening the matchet . 57 d. Felling the trees 58 e. Burning off . 62 f. Sifo napa - "extinguishing the bamboo" . 63 g. Eka hoe - "filling in the ditch" 69 h. Drought and failure of the crop . 70 1. Paying the tobe 76 J. Guarding the young plants. 78 k. The first corn . 80 x THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ATONI page 1. The rice harvest (honu ane); ripping off the rice. 83 m. The corn harvest - seke pena . 86 n. Returning to the village 88 Conclusion . 89 CHAPTER III. THE KINSHIP SYSTEM • • 92 1. Relationship within the kanaf . 93 a. Residential pattern 93 b. Blood-relations. 99 2. Affines . 105 CHAPTER IV. THE RELIGION. • 141 1. God and man . 142 a. The hidden world 142 b. The spirits. 146 c. The le'u concept . 147 2. Man . 147 3. Man's relationship to the hidden world 151 PART TWO. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM. 157 INTRODUCTION • • . • . 157 CHAPTER V. THE POLITICAL COMMUNITIES OF TIMOR IN THE PRE COLONIAL PERIOD. • . • • • 159 CHAPTER VI. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF INSANA • 186 1. The village 186 2. The harvest gifts . 190 3. The death of the prince. 195 4. The structure of the princedom 200 a. The centre 200 b. The periphery of the centre 207 c. The guardians of the realm 209 d. The four usif 212 e. The great fathers. 220 CHAPTER VII. BELU, BEBOKI AND FIALARAN • 232 1. South Belu 232 2. Beboki. 239 3. Fialaran 255 CONTENTS XI page CHAPTER VIII. THE IMMEDIATE SPHERE OF INFLUENCE OF SONBA'I 262 1. Sonba'i 262 2. Molo . 274 3. Fatule'u 277 4. Miomafo 279 a. The nucleus 279 b. The areas annexed to Miomafo . 287 Tunbaba . 287 Noimuti . 290 Manamas. 291 Bikomi 291 CHAPTER IX. THE PRINCEDOMS BEYOND THE IMMEDIATE SPHERE OF INFLUENCE OF SONBA'I . 307 1. Amanuban 307 2. Amanatun 310 3. Amfoan 314 4. Ambenu 316 5.