As well as providing land for swidden fields, the jungle provided other forms of sustenance which supplemented rice production. Apart from edible plants (the most important being the sago palm), it also provided the principle source of meat - deer hunted by the men, using dogs to track them down, and iron spears to kill them. About one third of the men I surveyed said t h a t formerly they regularly hunted deer.
Fish was a more significant source of protein. The lake contained a number of varieties of fish and shell fish, many of them unique (Abendanon 1915- 18, pp.1336-45). Women and children fished with hand lines from canoes, and Grubauer reported men fishing with spears (1913, p.82). The fish were obtained mainly for personal consumption, though some were bartered in the village economy. Some people mentioned bartering venison and fish in return for rice, a way in which people with inadequate land holdings (or insufficient male labour, for example) could sustain themselves.
Until the turn of the century, production within the Soroakan economy was for use. All goods needed in daily life were locally manufactured. Women fashioned mats and containers from wild grasses and made decorated pots from locally obtained clay. Smithing was men's work; the metal they smelted, and the weapons and tools they fashioned were also traded in the region. Grubauer commented on the wide variety of beautifully fashioned and decorated domestic implements found in Soroako, though he commented that the production of bark cloth (fuja) had declined, as had smithing (1913, p.48). Within the village economy, these goods were not commodities; they were bartered, rather than exchanged as commodities to realise a profit. Trade in commodities began to replace barter, with significant consequences for the social system, with the incorporation into mercantile trading networks in the last decades of the nineteenth century.
Trade
In Soroako, the initial penetration of capital was not by force, but rather through the peaceful exchange of commodities, as the markets of m e r c a n t i l e capitalism extended into the centre of Sulawesi (see Bradby 1975, pp.138-9 for general discussion of this process).
The link was effected through the activities of Bugis and Chinese traders, their own activities being stimulated by the increased Dutch trade in the archipelago. In the area around the lakes Matano and Towuti, they sought dammar resin and rattan.
R a t t a n vines grew wild in the jungle. Village men would collect the vines in slack agricultural seasons. Over half of households surveyed said a member had formerly collected rattan. They would spend long periods away on the task. The products were exchanged with traders for goods originally outside the village, including salt, cloth and cooking pots.
We never saw money then. We would get goods from the traders and my brother would bring rattan to them. Everything was just noted in their books.
D a m m a r trees also grew wild. They were tapped every few months, and the resin obtained exchanged with traders. The traders' control of the account books served as a way of appropriating surplus labour in the profit which tliey realised in the re-sale of the goods in Malili.
I do not know if d a m m a r trees were regarded as owned by individuals when the colonial government formalised property relations in the dammar business, presumably in order to collect taxes on the produce. Trees had to be marked and registered with the colonial government. Regulations controlled the manner of their exploitation as well as the amount of tax on the product.
With respect to d a m m a r production, the enforcement of a notion of private property went hand in hand with the development of a new kind of production relation. Two thirds of the households surveyed said that a
h o u s e h o l d m e m b e r h a d f o r m e r l y c o l l e c t e d d a m m a r . A s w i t h p a d d y f i e l d s , t h e y e x p l o i t e d t r e e s w h i c h b e l o n g e d t o p a r e n t s (and p a r e n t s - i n - l a w ) o r t h a t t h e y h a d i n h e r i t e d . A n i m p o r t a n t d i f f e r e n c e f r o m p a d d y f i e l d s o r b u f f a l o w a s t h a t o n l y m a l e s w e r e n a m e d as d a m m a r o w n e r s . P e r h a p s t h i s is r e l a t e d t o t h e f a c t t h a t t h e i r e x p l o i t a t i o n , w h i c h i n v o l v e d e x p e d i t i o n s t o t h e j u n g l e , w a s c a r r i e d o u t o n l y by m a l e s . A s w i t h a g r i c u l t u r a l p r o d u c t i o n , i t w a s c o m m o n f o r m e n t o e x p l o i t r e s o u r c e s b e l o n g i n g t o t h e i r f a t h e r s - i n - l a w . H o w e v e r , t h e r e was an i m p o r t a n t n e w e l e m e n t t o t h e r e l a t i o n . M y f a t h e r - i n - l a w o w n e d s o m e t r e e s . I'd t a p t h e m and w e ' d d i v i d e t h e y i e l d . M y f a t h e r - i n - l a w h a d a l o t o f t r e e s a n d I'd o f t e n go w i t h h i m t o t a p t h e m . O f t e n t h e o l d m a n w o u l d o r d e r X a n d Y ( n a m i n g a n o t h e r s o n - i n - l a w and a r e l a t i v e l i v i n g in t h e o l d m a n ' s house) t o t a p t h e m , and t h e n he w o u l d t a k e h a l f t h e y i e l d . M a n y p e o p l e m e n t i o n e d t h i s p r a c t i c e o f t a p p i n g s o m e o n e else's t r e e , and d i v i d i n g t h e y i e l d in h a l f . T h i s was a n e w k i n d o f e c o n o m i c r e l a t i o n in S o r o a k o , one w h i c h c l e a r l y a l l o w e d t h e e x p l o i t a t i o n o f t h e s u r p l u s l a b o u r o f o t h e r s , by m e a n s o f p r i v a t e o w n e r s h i p o f r e s o u r c e s . T h e n e w f o r m o f r e l a t i o n r e w o r k e d c u s t o m a r y r e l a t i o n s , f o r e x a m p l e t h e b r i d e s e r v i c e o f u x o r i l o c a l l y d w e l l i n g s o n s - i n - l a w . T h e c o l l e c t i o n o f j u n g l e p r o d u c e i n c r e a s e d w i t h t h e p o l i t i c a l a n n e x a t i o n o f t h e r e g i o n by D u t c h a u t h o r i t y in 1917 as i t was t h e o n l y m e a n s o f o b t a i n i n g c a s h t o pay t a x e s (see C h a p t e r 3). D e p e n d e n c e on t r a d e goods o b t a i n e d in e x c h a n g e f o r j u n g l e c o m m o d i t i e s i n c r e a s e d as t i m e w e n t on. E a r l y v i s i t o r s c o m m e n t on t h e d e c l i n e o f n a t i v e f o r m s o f p r o d u c t i o n , o f b a r k c l o t h , i r o n and i r o n t o o l s a n d so f o r t h . L o c a l p r o d u c t i o n , b a s e d on a l o w l e v e l o f d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e p r o d u c t i v e f o r c e s , was l o s i n g o u t t o t h e s u p e r i o r p r o d u c t s w h i c h t h e t r a d e r s b r o u g h t , s u c h as c l o t h a n d E u r o p e a n s c r a p i r o n . T h e s e c o m m o d i t i e s c o m p e t e d on t h e e x i s t i n g i n t e r n a l m a r k e t s , and t h e l o c a l s m i t h s soon s t o p p e d p r o d u c i n g (see B r a d b y 1975, p . 1 5 3 ) . G r u b a u e r m e n t i o n e d t h a t in 1906, t h e v i l l a g e r s w e r e p r o d u c i n g t o b a c c o and s u g a r c a n e (1913, p . 7 7 ) . P e r h a p s t h e s e c r o p s also l o s t o u t t o c o m p e t i t i o n f r o m o u t s i d e , w i t h v i l l a g e r s c h o o s i n g t o s p e n d t i m e c o l l e c t i n g j u n g l e p r o d u c e , t h u s g a i n i n g a c c e s s t o i m p o r t e d c o m m o d i t i e s .
T r a d e and s o c i a l i n e q u a l i t y
T h e e x p a n d e d t r a d e t o e x t e r n a l m a r k e t s was i m p o r t a n t i n c o n s o l i d a t i n g t h e p o s i t i o n o f an e m e r g e n t v i l l a g e e l i t e . I h a v e a l r e a d y m e n t i o n e d t h e p r e s e n c e o f a g r o u p o f l a r g e l a n d o w n e r s . A m o n g t h e s e w e r e t h r e e f a m i l i e s w h o w e r e t h e w e a l t h y t r a d e r s in t h e v i l l a g e . P r o f i t s f r o m t r a d i n g c o u l d be used t o b u y m o r e l a n d , o r t o buy b u f f a l o used i n t h e c u l t i v a t i o n o f m o r e e x t e n s i v e f i e l d s . W e a l t h also c o n f e r r e d an a d v a n t a g e i n t h e c o n t r o l of l a b o u r . T h e w e a l t h y c o u l d t a k e i n o r p h a n s o r c h i l d r e n o f p o o r e r r e l a t i v e s , a n d c a r e f o r t h e m in r e t u r n f o r t h e i r s e r v i c e . T h i s g a v e an a d v a n t a g e i n a l l a r e a s o f p r o d u c t i o n . O n e w o m a n p r o v i d e d m e w i t h a t h e o r y o f t h e basis o f w e a l t h in t h e p r e - c o m p a n y e c o n o m y .
T h e w e a l t h y ones w e r e t h e ones w i t h l o t s o f d a m m a r , t h e ones w h o w e r e e n e r g e t i c e n o u g h t o go o u t i n t o t h e j u n g l e and f i n d l o t s o f t r e e s .