Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/335

 On the other hand it often happens that a keuchiʾ opposes the marriage schemes of a young man, especially when the object of his affections resides in another gampōng.

The authority of the keuchiʾ in such matters is considerable, as he is practically regarded as being, in a general sense, the representative of the interests of the gampōng. No one disputes his fiat when he, as headman of a sparsely populated gampōng, forbids a youth to seek his spouse outside its limits, since the children of the marriage would thus be lost to his own gampōng. Here we see a further instance in which the keuchiʾ, in conformity with the popular saying, is actually the "father" of the gampōng, and keeps his "children" in the right path.

The best day for the mè tanda kòng narit is in its turn carefully ascertained by computation. The favourite day for this ceremony is that of the full moon, the 14$th$ of the month.

To what an extent marriage is an affair of the gampōng may further be gathered from the fact that it is not a relative of the would-be bridegroom, but the keuchiʾ, the teungku, certain elders and the go-between who undertake the presentation of the gift of betrothal. The latter is, indeed, received in the house of the bride and in her name, but those who actually receive it are the authorities of her gampōng.

Besides the betrothal-gift they bring what is called the ranub dòng or "standing sirih". This consist of a dalōng or large round food-tray with a detachable wooden upright standing in its midst. Round the latter are placed long rows of sirih-leaves tastefully arranged in the hollow base. The rows are piled up all round from the lowest layer upwards, and on the top are laid betelnuts, and boiled eggs gaily coloured.

As soon as the suitor's envoys have entered the house where the girl lives, there ensues one of those stereotyped discussions, as prolix as they are droll, which always accompany important domestic occurrences in the domestic life of the Achehnese.