Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/187

 won upon the field of battle, and who are thus able to gain adherents in various ulèëbalangships.

To ensure success they chiefly require such tact as will unite men to their cause; they must possess the gift of command, but at the same time reward their followers handsomely and treat them in such a way that they will prefer them to the ulèëbalangs, who are as a rule of a niggardly disposition.

Inaction is for them the prelude to a fall. Nothing but a constant succession of fresh enterprises can enable them to augment their influence and keep their rakans supplied with the necessary emoluments. War is thus for them a condition of existence; until they have attained their highest aim, they are the enemies of order and repose. Not until they have actually become ulèëbalangs do they remit their labours and content themselves with mere ordinary plunder. After they have advanced to a certain degree of distinction they do not disdain political marriage alliances, where such are likely to give them a firmer footing in some important district.

All these and similar methods have been successfully employed by Teuku Uma in the course of the past few years. Beloved by his followers for his generous and kindly demeanour, he worked himself up from a mere panglima in the war against the Dutch to be the dreaded lord of almost the whole West Coast. Throughout the whole of the sphere of his influence, his appearance is the signal for the heriditary chief to retire into the background, well knowing that if he failed to do so it would soon be all over with him. To crown all he induced the sultan for a handsome consideration to impress his nine-fold seal upon his power by means of a deed appointing him "Sea-guardian of the West Coast."

Teuku Uma's success proves indeed how dangerous such rivalries may be for the hereditary chiefs, weakened as they generally are through their passion for spoil and money, their narrowness of mind and want of energy. Much however depends on the personal character of these chiefs. They have equal opportunities for winning the affections of their rakans and more means at their disposal for increasing their influence than an ambitious leader of troops. Against an energetic chief such as the imeum of Teunòm even Teuku Uma could make but little head. [An account of the subsequent adventures of Teuku Uma, since 1892, will be found in the Preface.]