Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/135

 Panglima Meuseugit Raya (the head of the 24 or more gampōngs on either side of the Acheh river, in the neighbourhood of the court and principal mosque) succeeded in gaining control over half the latter's jurisdiction. Since then we find the Teuku Kali at the acme of the wishes of an Achehnese official, chief of a small but important territory, and at the same time, in his capacity as a court dignitary, not without influence in the choice of a successor to the throne. We thus see that Mr. Der Kinderen quite missed the mark in finding anything extraordinary in the fact that the "hereditary supreme judge" of the kingdom could neither read nor write. Teuku Kali was ulèëbalang of 12 gampōngs, and shared this ignorance with many of his equals in rank, while those who are charged with administering justice according to religious law can all read and write and have most of them carried their learning much further than these rudiments.

The rule that the chief kalis of the three sagis should be appointed by the sultan speedily became a dead letter, and the practical results of the aims at centralization founded on this rule proved very trifling.

The office of kali rabōn jalé also, in complete opposition to its character and object, became in the end hereditary; nay more, during the latter part of the century, the son, brother or nephew of a deceased title-bearer has succeeded the latter without even having to demand a sealed deed of appointment from the sultan. Such being the case, we may be surprised to find that this kali-ship did not deteriorate so much as that of Mr. Der Kinderen's "supreme judge".

The kal rabōn jalé of the XXII Mukims, though according to custom he acquires his office by inheritance, is as a matter of fact a man of learning. According to Achehnese custom the late kali, like his forefathers before him, was called after the gampōng he lived in, Teungku Tanòh Abèë. By reason of his learning this chief esteemed himself too highly to act as a sort of acolyte of the Panglima of his sagi, and refused to appear at the call of the Panglima Pòlém. This powerful ulèëbalang was thus constrained when need arose to seek the help of teungkus of inferior qualifications, while his hereditary kali devoted his time to study and the instruction of his disciples.