Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/115

 and demands of him that the house of his guilty dependant be burned down. A small hut brought thither for the purpose is generally burnt to satisfy the claim, and thus honour is appeased; for the rest the case is dealt with in the ordinary manner, the blood-debt being made good in accordance with the adat.

Between the gampōng-authorities and the ulèëbalang or territorial ruler stand the imeums, the chiefs of the mukims. We have already concluded in regard to a certain portion of the political structure of Acheh, that it owes its origin to the centralizing activity of one or more port-kings. The same analogy holds good beyond question as regards the distribution of the territory of an ulèëbalang into the districts known as mukims and the office of imeum or district chief. We might even go further and assert that this institution has sprung from the influence of the ulamas and other representatives of religion at which we have already hinted (see p. 7 above). In this way alone can we explain the fact that a political distribution not Achehnese in origin has established itself in a fairly uniform manner both in the three sagis or main divisions of the kingdom and in its subordinate parts as well.

It is difficult to determine to what particular prince we should ascribe the subdivision into mukims. Whoever he was, he did not in all probability invent it of himself; something of the kind originated of its own accord in those parts of the country most subject to the influence of religion, and was later extended over the whole territory by the activity of the ulamas. It is certain, however, that the real intention of this political innovation failed in the long run.

The nature of this intention may at once be seen from the names. Mukim is an Arabic word, the proper meaning of which is the inhabitant of a place. The Mohammedan law, as interpreted by the Shafiite school which is dominant in Acheh, teaches that in order to form a quorum for a Friday service the presence of at least forty free male mukims of full age is required. If the number falls short of forty,