Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/59

 What has been said suffices to indicate the races which have in historic times contributed to ennoble or degrade the people of Acheh. Apart from this we must accept that people as an established unity, and conjectures regarding its remoter origin would at this point be premature.

The people of the various divisions of Great Acheh differ from one another, as may well be imagined, in numerous local peculiarities of language, manners, superstition, dress etc. Most of these local distinctions, when compared with the agreement in essential features are too insignificant to be noticed here. We should however note the differences between the highlanders (ureuëng tunòng), by which must be especially understood the people of the Sagi of the XXII Mukims, and the lowlanders (ureuéng barōh) who inhabit the greater part of the two remaining sagis, including the capital.

Some portions of these last two sagis have almost the same language and customs as the ureuëng tunòng, as for instance the ureuëng Buëng inhabiting the VII Mukims Buëng in the Sagi of the XXVI Mukims.

As regards language and manners the lowlanders have followed the people of the capital. The Dalam or residence of the Sultan, which we incorrectly term Kraton, and which is also known as Kuta Raja or "the king's fort" (a name which we improperly apply to the whole capital) formed before our war with Acheh the nucleus of a number of fine and prosperous gampōngs. The centre of these with its mosque and market-place was called Banda Acheh i. e. the capital or trading mart of Acheh, and gave the tone to the whole country in matters of custom, dress etc. The most important of these gampōngs were Gampōng Jawa, Pandé, Peunayōng, Lam Bhuʾ, Luëng Bata, Lam Seupeuëng, Ateuëng, Batòh and Meuraʾsa. The inhabitants of these and the neighbouring villages together with their language and customs were distinguished by the epithet banda, that is, town-bred or civilized, and the people of other districts who conformed as much as possible to the tone of the capital enjoyed the same title. In contrast with these, all others who spoke in their own local dialects and were unacquainted with the manners of the town, were called dusōn (like dusun in Sundanese) i. e. countrified, uncivilized. From their position the