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Gōmpeuni after this fight were compelled to desist from such enterprises. In the above engagement the followers of Maʾ Amin and of Habib Samalanga found themselves fighting shoulder to shoulder with those of Teungku Kuta Karang.
The policy of Teungku Kuta Karang, the poet tells us, differed from that of the other ulamas in this respect, that he permitted his people to have intercourse with those within the "linie" or pale. His object in this was to increase the sabil-contributions, to obtain news of the Gōmpeuni's movements and to give courageous warriors an opportunity of ambuscading the Dutch troops. The Habib of Samalanga punished all who had gone within the "linie" with seven days penitential seclusion (kaluët, from the Arab. chalwat). It is said that the bodies of any that had the temerity to disregard the Habibs commands became swollen with disease.
After Teungku Tirò's death Habib Samalanga obtained from the Sultan a letter with the royal seal[1]. He made this authorization known to all the ulèëbalangs, and sought to rouse them to action. They pretended to adhere to his cause, but in reality thought of nothing but their own wordly interests.
At the close of the poem (1891) the Gōmpeuni is busy in stopping all imports, to the great discomfort of the people within the "linie". To make this system of exclusion effective they constitute a new corps of soldiery, the masusé[2]. These guardians of the frontier are very arrogant and self-important. They show much courage when they meet a few stray Gampōng folk; these they arrest with much unnecessary commotion and hustle over the boundary with kicks and blows. But when they see a band of fighting men they slink away.
As the Dutch are now (1891) going to work, says the poet, they will never be masters of Acheh. The one-eyed General was right!
The above brief abstract should suffice to show the spirit of the poet, that is to say the spirit of his public. Although his work in addition to its being incomplete is far inferior in point of artistic merit to the epic of Teungku Lam Rukam[3], and also to that of the anonymous
- ↑ Vol. I, p. 182.
- ↑ Maréchaussée. It is also sometimes called badusi or majusi. This last word is well known to all Mohammedans; it occurs in the kitabs and indicates a class of unbelievers standing next to the Christians (Naçrāni) and the Jews (Yahudi) but worse than either in their infidelity. The word really signifies the Magi or Persian fire-worshippers.
- ↑ See p. 88 above.
