When one first encounters pinisi, the magnificent wooden schooners of the Muslim Bugis people of Sulawesi, Indonesia, one senses that an intriguing past must be part of those people's heritage. How colorful that past was becomes readily apparent when one also learns that the word "bogey" was derived from the name Bugis sometime in the 19th century (Thackeray was one of the earliest users of the term). "You'd better be good, or the bogeyman will get you", is still a frequent admonition from American and European parents to their misbehaving offspring. Until 200 or so years ago, and throughout the Spice Islands, that invective might have been true as the Bugis were then the most feared pirates of the region.

Marauders no longer, the 3.5 million Bugis, along with the 1.5 million closely culturally related Makassarese people, form the largest ethnic groupings on Sulawesi. The history of the these peoples is complex, involving various petty states that were alternatively fighting, or in league with, each other or the Dutch colonialists. Preeminent among the principalities was the kingdom of Gowa, whose prosperity depended on the transshipment of spices. In 1669, the Dutch, allied with the Bugis kingdom of Bone, captured and destroyed the Gowa capital of Makassar (now Ujung Pandang). Dutch authority did not extend over the whole island until late in the colonial period, though, and such Bugis states as Bone and Luwu maintained at least a nominal independence until 1906, when a more forceful Dutch policy led to their subjugation, after bitter fighting.

The Bugis and Makassarese have mutually unintelligible languages, but both live in a society that possesses a defined hierarchical structure, quite rigid at the top, and is dominated by nuances of social rank. Speech patterns, fashion, and who one is seen with are all indicative of social status. Within the family, the position of sons is complex. A son is subservient to his father, whom he addresses formally. If there is more than one son, the sons have equal status with each other, a situation very conducive at times to heated rivalry. Brothers are expected as act as guardians of their sisters, especially as the latter represent the family's honor.

Both ethnic groups subject their young girls to clitoridectomies. This usually occurs between the ages of three and seven. Boys undergo circumcision sometime between their tenth and fifteenth birthdays, with the operation being followed by an elaborate status-confirming feast. Marriages are often arranged (though elopement does occur), with relatives such as second or third cousins the preferred partners. After marriage, a couple will reside in its own house.

Both groups now consider a position in Sulawesi's local government to be the choice status position but trade, fishing, and rice farming are also followed. As this is the norm with many of Indonesia's ethnic groups, what sets these two apart is that they have managed to maintain their reputation as the best boat builders and sailors in Indonesia.

In most parts of the world sail has long given way to steam and then to diesel, while wood has been replaced by metal and fiberglass. Change has come to the Indonesian Archipelago as well, but not only are wooden boats being maintained but also more are being constructed every year. The types of vessels vary in size and shape, but are collectively known as prahu. They range from the lepa lepa, small, single- or double-outrigger boats often used for racing to the twenty-meter plus, seven-sailed, cargo-carrying pinisi schooner. Most commonly seen are the aforementioned pinisi (ranging from 50-200 tons and pictured on Indonesia's 100 rupiah note) and the lambo, single masted, rounded in the stern, and ranging from 25 to 50 tons.

The boatbuilding industry of Sulawesi is scattered along the southern and western coasts of the island's Selantan province. Whole communities depend on it for their livelihood, and none more so than Tana Beru, considered the heart and soul of the industry. Some 170 km southeast from the bustle of Ujung Pandang, the largest city in eastern Indonesia, Tana Beru gives a first impression as a hot, somnolent, and relatively uninteresting small coastal town. Appearances deceive as a short walk from the main road to the beach demonstrates why. Over 50 wooden prahu, including many of the pinisi design are being constructed at any given time.

There is no one company or conglomerate, but a number of smaller operations with ties among masters, foremen, laborers, and apprentices that stretch back for generations. Work can begin at a very young age. According to master builder Ahmad Nur of Tana Beru, "My son started when he was 12, at first only making holes, but learning to do other bits and pieces through the years." There are no written plans in the understood sense of a detailed draftsman's outline. Builders use a combination of knowledge built up through experience, a gradual experimentation with new designs (Pinisi resemble 19th century European schooners; another type of vessel, the now uncommon palari, is reflective of 16th century Portuguese galleons), perhaps some arcane calculations based on pre-Islamic family ritual, and a few more modern ones, taking into consideration the timber supply and a future owner's ability to pay.

The type of timber used is critical despite the advances that have been made in waterproofing such vessels. Ironwood, which is also resistant to wood borers, is considered the prime material for construction, especially below the waterline. It is, unfortunately, all but nonexistent in Sulawesi now. Logs are sometimes brought in from Kalimantan and further afield, but the added expense has meant that less expensive, as well as less effective timber, such as maranti wood, is coming to dominate the industry. As a result, the average lifespan of a pinisi or lambo has been cut from as many as forty years to as little as ten. Additionally, many of the boats must be dry-docked on a beach for scraping and conditioning, as many as three or four times a year.

The time it takes to build any prahu is dependent on a number of factors: the availability of materials, the weather, the client's bargaining ability (with respect to time as well as money), the number of workers, and importantly, the mood of the workers. While normally industrious, they are not averse to time off, a propensity first recorded by one client, G. E. P. Collins in Makassar Sailing (1937) in describing his work crew's less than enthusiastic habits, "To describe all the tricks that Unruk and Basso and their gang of rascals tried would fill half this book...'Forgive us, Tuan [Collins]. We made a mistake. We'll go back to Ara [10 km away] to get more wood; but it will take time, perhaps two or three weeks.' " Even today, Mr. Nur reports, "They are usually very good but sometimes they wander off. If they're gone for more than two days, I go and find them."

Work usually proceeds from 7 A.M. to 6 A.M. on the sandy, palm-tree fronted beach, most days of the week. A ten-man team (there are no female shipbuilders) can construct a 20-meter pinisi in about a year. A mixture of traditional tools (wooden mallets, iron scrapers, etc.) and methods (such as using the heat from small fires to bend sections of wooden planks) is still used, but the pressures of the modern world are intruding. "Before we only used traditional building methods, but now we are pushed to go faster and build more boats, so we are using electricity," says a builder. Glues and resins are also superseding tree bark as a caulking substance, but the biggest change has been in motorization which has naturally added to costs, as well as to construction difficulties (weaknesses caused by engine vibration have to be accounted for). That last large pinisi that was powered by sails alone sank ten years ago off Java.

The fact that many of the vessels are purchased by outsiders (Pinisi are particularly popular with Europeans, and costs can start at $70,000, if one can bargain well) has led also to a marked decline in the ritual activity associated with boatbuilding. In their original form, hundreds of years before, some of the festivities could be quite brutal. For instance, a highlight of the "boat launching" ceremony involved dragging the vessel to the sea over the bodies of seven women undergoing their first pregnancy, a technique thought to guarantee a vessel's long life and future success. Later refinements and alterations eliminated the loss of life but still maintained many highly animistic overtones. One example is the "keel laying" ceremony, which still occurs. The joints which bring the keel together are given names which refer to male and female reproductive anatomy. The keel is considered to have been "married" and a special wedding cake of rice, coconut and sugar is made. Afterwards the keel pieces are left alone to "spend their first night together."

One other ritual deserves mention, though it is now rare, and that is the "caulking" ceremony. Original tree bark was combined with a substance, known as baruk, for this purpose. A special baruk was used in the caulking ceremony and used to contain, as Collins tells us, such interesting substances as mother's milk. He also recounted the presumed necessity of including spider's webs, as a "sailor who rests in the shadow of the boat is snared by them and wants to sail in her," and even mixtures more alarming. "There are human bones too, in my baruk, 'he told me', ground to a powder. Not new ones, Tuan, but old ones from the caves-skulls and thigh bones."

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