Moses van Macassar, SV/PROG

FFYP - On 17 October 1700 Nederduitsche Gereformeerde Kerk, (Cape Town), Moses van Macassar and his daughter, Rebecca, were baptised.

MOSES VAN MACASSER and SARA VAN MACASSER

Both Moses and Sara must have received these biblical names from their European masters. Moses was also know as Moses Aron/ Moses Arensz van Macassar. I suspect that that even though Aron can be derived from the biblical Aaron, that it is indicating the name of his father which must have been Aron or Aren. Moses-Aaron and Rebbecca was baptised at Cape Town on 17 October 1700. Sara died c 1709/1710. This daughter of Moses and Sara, Rebecca died 23 Jun 1766 and got married 31 Aug 1704 Otto Ernst van Graan *1651, died 1763.

On 6 May 1708 a slave child Dirkje of Theunis Dirksz Schalkwijk was baptised and the witnesses were Moses Aarons and Sara van Macassar. On 10 March 1709 Moses van Macasser and Sara van Macaser were the witnesses to the baptism of two slave children: Sara and Pieter both owned by Harmen Buys (He was the father and the mother was the slave Diana van Krankebaar).

On 2 October 1707 Moses van Macasser and Johanna van de Caap were the witnesses of the baptism of the slave child Antonij, who was owned by Willem van Damme.

Moses subsequently got married on 2 Nov 1710 to Jacomijntje van Madagascar. They made a will CJ 2651 no 12 on 1721, May 21, in which we have the cross mark of Moses.

The local name for Macassar was Oedjong Pandang, the Dutch referred to it at first as Uithoek and then build a castle which they named Rotterdam. Batavia issued in 1665 a prohibition on the purchase of slaves from Celebes (Sulawesi). Since they were stolen people refer to H Sutherland, p 266, 268 'Slavery and the Slave Trade in South Sulawesi' in ed A Reid, Slavery and Bondage and Dependence in Southeast Asia.

Between 1666 and 1669 a war was fought between the tribes of Goa under command of Sultan Husanuddin and, Bugis tribe from Bone and Soppang under command of Arung Plakka. During this war they caught 195 Macassar women and children and sent 50 to Batiavia and the rest to the Molluccas to be sold as slaves, with the profit to be shared amongst the Dutch officers. The Dutch used the Bugis to suppress the Goa kingdom. Part of the final peace treaty with Goa in 1667 was the demand of supplying 1,000 slaves or in kind to the Dutch.

The term slavery encompasses a broad spectrum: real slaves, prisoners, debt bondsmen, free followers.

The slaves from Macassar, southern part of the Indonesian Island of Celebes (Sulawesi), were known to be dangerous and truculent. They were considered a stubborn nation and people were cautious in case they gave trouble. The Malay slaves tended to run amok. Without reason they would run down the streets with a knife crying "Amok! amok!" slashing and stabbing anything until they were overpowered or killed, this was an honourable way of committing suicide (Victor de Kock p195). Valentijn in Bescrijvingen Vol III, no 2, p136 refer to the Macassar's "men vind in't Oosten, geen trotzer, vernuftiger, oorlogskundiger, nog dapperder volkeren, als de Macassaaren". He also speaks of the women p137 "De vrouwen zyn door de bank veel schooner, netter besneden van wezen, en veel blanker, dan alle andere Indiaanze vrouwen ... waarom zy by die meeste Hollanders voor alle andere slavinnen gezogt worden, te meer dewyl zy seer fraai van oogen, mooi, dog wat plat van weezen, zeer vriendelijk, lieftallig, n doorgans zeer beleeft en wel opgevoed zyn. ... Deze vrouwen zyn in haar ijgenland ook zeer moedig, en trots, en weten haar fatsoen zoo wel, als de beste Hollandze juffrouw, te houden".

Translatiin:

"In the East one will not find more proud, more ingenious, more war-savvy, even braver peoples than the Macassars." He also speaks of the women p137 "The women are much more beautiful, better circumcised, and much fairer than all the other Indian women ... why they are looked after by most Dutchmen before all other slaves, especially since they are very beautiful of eyes, beautiful, but somewhat flat of character, very friendly, lovely, generally very polite and well educated . ... These women are also very courageous and proud in their home country, and know how to keep their decency as well as the best Dutch lady."

One can hardly find more positive superlatives to describe them. Their culture included them filing their teeth and covering it with gold.

SOURCES:

J.A. Heese & R.T.J. Lombard, Suid-Afrikaanse Geslagregister Vol II

Victor de Kock, Those in Bondage

Francois Valentijn, Bescrijvingen Vol III

Personal information from Mansell Upham

Thanks to researcher:

A.M. Van Rensburg andre@rensburg.com

Questions added by M.L.Limbert: Who were their owners? What is the translation of the Dutch passages quoted above?