Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/154

 are for our Lord God"; or where the reverence consists only in an obeisance made at his feet or knees, by receiving this as it were with his hands (sambōt). Many however take no notice at all of the seumbah of their dependants.

The Achehnese are, comparatively speaking, among the least well-mannered of the inhabitants of the Archipelago, yet in their behaviour towards their chiefs they pay regard to sundry formalities. If a man be sitting on the roadside as the ulèëbalang and his retinue pass by and omits to ask meuʾah or forgiveness for his presence, he may feel sure at the least of a beating from the rakans by way of correction. Both the chiefs and all the members of their retinue are as a rule very free with such sharp admonitions towards persons of low degree. The ordinary Achehnese, who is prone at the smallest insult to draw his reunchōng or sikin on his equals, shows no rancour against ill-treatment on the part of the ulèëbalang and his folk or even the imeum. He fears them, and it is his natural impulse to bow to superior power alone, but to this he submits unconditionally.

Impossible as it is for the ulèëbalangs to exercise despotic power, they loom before the individual as irresistible forces, even though he has the support of his kawōm to rely upon. The ulèëbalang has a powerful and numerous kawōm united to him through interest and otherwise; he has also his various rakans, who, though taken as a whole they would not be likely to make an imposing impression on a European, constitute a formidable force in the eyes of each kawōm and gampōng.

Every real or supposed shortcoming on the part of their subjects is heavily punished by these chiefs; but who can help the former to obtain justice against an ulèëbalang? They have only to hope for his mercy, and as a rule he inspires mistrust rather than hope. It is only when he can shelter himself among the ranks of some rival leader that the Achehnese will put himself in opposition to a chief.