Notes on the southern voyages and settlements of the Sama-Bajau

Abstract

Small settlements of a fishing people known as Bajau Laut are to be found scattered throughout the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Timur. Such settlements are presently reported at Labuan-Bajo at the western end of Flores (Gordon 1975:41), at Balaurin, Kalikur and Wairiang on Lembata (Barnes 1974: 19), at Sulamu on Timor's Bay of Kupang, at Oe Nggae on the northeast coast of Roti, and on the tiny island of Ndao off the western tip of Roti. Linguistic and cultural evidence suggest a close relationship between these populations and other Samalan-speaking groups elsewhere in eastern Indonesia as well as in the southern Philippines and in eastern Malaysia (Molony and Noorduyn 1977). If, as this evidence indicates, the Bajau have only settled in Nusa Tenggara Timur in the recent past, it is of some importance for comparative studies to consider the historical information on Bajau Laut voyages to this area. An assessment of this information provides a rough idea of the period of actual settlement. In the course of research 1 on the records (Overgekomen Brie en en Papieren) of the Dutch East India Company for the Timor area, I have encountered early references to Bajau Laut dating from the years 1725 and 1728. The first notes the presence of Bajau on the island of Alor; the second on the island of Roti and in the Bay of Kupang on Timor.

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