48 



ACHEH. 



rites, called sedalis, boys from eight to twelve years old, as among the 

 Bomans, are trained as Bayaderes, and as they reach manhood re- 

 main attached to the court or household of their owner, being in 

 their turn the teachers of the new favourites, their substitutes. 



The people are much given to kidnapping and cattle-lifting, 

 being great adepts at the latter art. One can thus imagine the 

 endless internal wars these propensities were likely to lead them 

 into. 



Labour is but unevenly divided between the men and women, the 

 Jatter having more than their share. The men content themselves 

 with ploughing, fishing and gathering the nipah branches destined 

 for atap roofing, while the women have to plant, and gather the padi 

 crop, to stamp it into rice, and to carry the produce to market. You 

 therefore see numbers of women along the road carrying heavy 

 loads on their heads, with which they walk as erect as pillars, in 

 single file, accompanied by boys and girls, who share this labour 

 according to their age and strength, while the men are often found 

 lolling at home. The further you go inland and away from civi- 

 lisation, the more you see this, but the better class of orang Acheh 

 only allow the women to do the domestic work, such as tem- 

 hohing padi, and weaving sarongs. 



In agriculture the country is not very advanced. Pepper is 

 the chief article cultivated along the East and West Coasts, 

 while betel and a little tobacco form the staple product of the 

 North-East Coast. Acheh Besar produces little or nothing for 

 export, its people being more commercial, or being satisfied with 

 cultivating their sawali. Very few States producing pepper grow 

 sufficient padi for their own consumption, and, with the exception 

 of Passangan, and one or two others, none have ever exported rice. 

 Besides these articles, a small quantity of coffee is produced in 

 Acheh Besar, and, to a limited extent, culture of silk is carried on 

 here, a wild mulberry being indigenous. The silk, however, is of 

 coarse texture. Mat-making has developed into an art, with these 

 people. 



