Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/112

 any rate, and such of the citizens as may be regarded as brothers of the two parents, have a voice in every discussion.

In the orations which the Achehnese addresses either directly or by proxy to the authorities of his gampōng, the prelude always runs thus "Now, oh Teuku Keuchiʾ, Teungku and ye who are elders of this gampōng". To these are also addressed the notices employed on some few occasions to announce certain events (such as a divorce for instance) to the whole gampōng. These three components of the governing body of the gampōng are deputed to make proposals of marriage, it is they that receive the bridegroom in the name of the gampōng and help to decide questions as to the bringing up of orphans, and in their presence all important bargains are concluded.

Among them also are to be found the speech-makers of the gampōng. We shall meet later on some specimens of Achehnese speeches for particular occasions, which though tedious are sometimes not ungraceful, and are very full of interest from an ethnological point of view as a storehouse of old formulas.

They are almost invariable in form although there is no lack of local differences and individual embellishments. The keuchiʾ or whoever may be acting as president of the assembly does not always know these long formal orations by heart, and it is thought quite the correct thing for a chief to transfer the task of speech-making to another by a nod. In such cases the speaker is usually one of the ureuëng tuha.

We have seen that the keuchiʾ and his colleagues take the position of arbitrators in the widest sense of the word, but possess no judicial authority properly so called. There are, however, individual cases which are controlled by an adat of native growth, which has clearly lost much of its original severity, called the adat meulangga. In these cases the keuchiʾs appear in form as the representatives of the two parties, but as a matter of fact as settlers of the dispute.

Occasion for the application of the adat meulangga is generally given by an actual injury or slight. For example, someone in gampōng A has without just cause maltreated or injured a child or relative of someone in gampōng B, or has laid hands on something belonging to the latter in a manner clearly indicative of contempt for the owner. Independently of all rights of blood-vengeance or blood-money (which according to hukōm and adat are the natural consequences of the deed, and are entirely unaffected by the adat meulangga) something must at