65
keuchiʾ eumbah, teungku ma="the keuchiʾ is (our) father and the teungku (our) mother".
All peace-loving inhabitants of a gampōng are convinced of the necessity for having one person to speak or negotiate in the name of all; the more so because as we shall presently see, sundry family matters such as marriage, divorce, the bringing up of orphans or changes of residence are treated in Acheh as matters affecting the whole gampōng. Equally convinced are all, that this representative of their common interest should be someone who finds favour in the eyes of the ulèëbalang. At the same time he is not likely to become too willing a tool in the latter's hands, for he too is an inhabitant of the gampōng. His office is essentially an honorary one. It is no doubt much sought after, but is only desirable when the holder can hit it off well with his own people.
The devolution from father to son is also regarded as natural and right, not only because other dignities are hereditary, but also because there is in the nature of things stored up in an ancient family of keuchiʾs a collection of traditional knowledge with regard to the laws and usages of the country that might in vain be sought for among others.
The best of keuchiʾs would fail to compel his people to obey unreasonable commands. Vain would be his interference with all trifling matters not classified in accordance with the adat as "interest of the gampōng". This he knows too well to run the risk of burning his fingers. But when the keuchiʾ emphatically lays down that one of his fellow-villagers shall not sell his rice-field to A or marry his daughter to B, or himself not wed in gampōng X, or must yield to his neighbour in some disputed right, so little suspicion is entertained of the purity of his intentions, that disobedience to his word is rendered practically impossible by the agreement of the majority.
Acheh is certainly to an exceptional degree a land of polyarchy and misrule; in vain do we seek for discipline, whilst we meet with a quarrelsome and capricious spirit at every step. Taking this into account, and disregarding those few individuals of unusual strength of will and capacity to lead whom one meets with as exceptions in every rank, we can safely assert that the authority of the keuchiʾ rests on a firmer basis than that of any other chief.
Most keuchiʾs exercise control over a single gampōng only; there
