Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/331

 wars may delay for years the "home-coming" of the husband. These, however, are manifestly exceptional cases.

The Achehnese declare that these early marriages are conducive to the preservation of feminine strength and beauty, though observation would lead us to form a contrary opinion.

When a girl reaches what the Achehnese regard as the marriageable age without having yet had a single suitor for her hand, it is believed that there must be some supernatural agency at work. It is looked upon as certain that she must have in some part of her body something malang or unpropitious, which stands in the way of her success.

The numerical value of the initial letter of her name is assumed as the basis of a calculation for indicating the part of her body which is to blame. When this has been ascertained, the girl is placed on a heap of husked rice (breuëh) and the spot indicated is slightly pricked with a golden needle, so as to draw a little blood. This blood is gathered up by means of a wad of tree-cotton (gapeuëh) which is then placed in an egg, part of the contents of which have been removed to make room for it. A little of the girl's hair and some parings of her nails are enclosed in a young cocoanut leaf, and finally all these things are thrown into the running water of the nearest river or stream.

This is one of the most usual methods of doing away with the malang (bòïh malang). There are also other ways, such as for example the throwing away of an old garment of the unlucky one into a river or at a place where three or four ways meet (simpang). The old women are the most trusted advisers in such cases.

The Achehese adat is in entire agreement with the rule of Mohammedan law that a woman must not marry a man of social position inferior to her own.

The pride of the Achehnese also withholds them from marrying their daughters to foreigners, unless they are of Arab blood, or have been long settled in the country and have attained some position. To other strangers they only give women who have some slave blood in their veins.

An exception to this rule is made in favour of devout hajis from