Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/394

 in the best possible style (peujamèë) with the traditional idangs.

Let us here interpolate one word as to the practical significance in the social life of Acheh of the polygamy which is permitted by the creed of Islam.

As might be supposed, those who make most use of the custom of plurality of wives are to be found among the scions of royal blood (tuankus), the ulèëbalangs and other lesser chiefs who rank next in dignity to these, and the religious teachers or others who stand in the odour of sanctity or learning, and to whom many are willing to unite their daughters, were it only as their second, third or fourth wives.

This is all the more true of the principal chiefs, since the distinguished marriage alliances they seek are as a rule only to be found at a great distance from their own homes or territory. Hence as the wife does not follow the husband and the latter may not absent himself too long from the sphere of his authority, the married life of such couples consists of short scenes with long intervals. Many of these chiefs, it is true, console themselves for their constant loneliness by illegitimate intrigues, but many others attain their purpose by contracting one or more marriages of inclination over and above their mariages de raison. When their choice falls on women of the lowest class, such marriages are frequently dissolved later on by divorce on the ground of satiety, though as we shall see, separations of this sort are otherwise less common in Acheh than in many other countries of the Malayan Archipelago.

The great and wealthy, it is true, had till a short time ago, and indeed still have to a considerable extent the opportunity of sexual intercourse with female slaves, especially those of Nias, who are remarkable for their beauty and are not too expensive. These were and are so used, but comparatively speaking, to a very moderate extent.

The Mohammedan law places the children begotten by a free man of a slave on a full equality with those born of his free wives. In order however to see this theory actually adopted in practice, we must seek a centre of Mohammedan civilization such as Cairo, or towns with a very mixed population such as Mecca or Medina. In Acheh (as also in the inland parts of Arabia), this custom is only partially observed. The legal privileges are the same, but the social position is different, and it is never forgotten that a man has slave blood in his veins.