Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese Vol II. - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/76



We have omitted "Art" from the title of this chapter, as it appears, so far as we are at present aware, never to have been cultivated to any great extent in Acheh.

In the lowland districts, and especially in Meuraʾsa, there were formerly stone-cutters of repute, whose chief work was the ornamentation of tombstones (nisam, batèë jeurat), in which they displayed considerable skill. We have already explained the nature of this decorative work; and the difference between the nisams of men and women.

This art is now practically defunct. Certain handsome stone monuments



of royal personages are to be found in or near the chief town, but it is doubtful whether these are of native Achehnese workmanship.

This doubt is still more justifiable in regard to a quite unique specimen of architecture, viz. the little building called the Gunòngan which