CHAPTER I.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE PEOPLE, FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
§ 1. Introduction.
Boundaries of Great-Acheh.The limits of the kingdom of Acheh[1] in Sumatra are placed by the Achehnese themselves at Teumiëng (Tamiang) on the East Coast, but far more to the South on the Western Coast, viz. at Baros or whatever other point they regard as marking the boundary between the territory of the princes of Menangkabau and that of the Sultans of Acheh. Far more restricted, however, is the territory they describe as "Acheh" proper, or as we are wont to term it, "Great Acheh".
This kernel of the kingdom, which has supplied the outlying districts with a considerable portion of their inhabitants, and has constantly striven to exercise more or less dominion over them, is according to the Achehnese idea bounded by a line extending from Kluang on the West, to Kruëng Raya on the North Coast, and passing through Reuëngreuëng, Pancha and Janthòë[2].
- ↑ Some examples of the etymological lore of the Achehnese in respect to the name of their own country may be found in Van Langen's De Inrichting van het Atjehsche Staatsbestuur onder het Sultanaat in the Bijdragen van het Kon. Inst. voor de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië for the year 1888, p. 386. There are various other explanations of the name in vogue, but not a single one is reliable. We find in Acheh but one more repetition of the phenomenon, that the names of countries, races and peoples present insoluble riddles to the etymologist, while those of villages and hamlets are as a rule fairly easy of analysis. We must thus rest content with knowing that the word Acheh, which is of unknown origin, is applied as the designation both of the whole country and of its chief town, and also of the entire population.
- ↑ These three places lie on the footpaths uniting Acheh with the territory of Pidië (vulg. Pedir). We find the boundaries somewhat differently marked in the ordinary maps and in the above quoted brochure of Van Langen p. 382.
