68 
A C H 
The Achenefe are expert and bold navigators, and em¬ 
ploy a variety of velTels, according to the voyages they 
undertake, and the purpofes for which they defign them. 
The river is covered with a multitude of tiihing fampans 
■or canoes, which go to fea with the morning breeze, and 
return in the afternoon, with the lea-wind, full laden.— 
Having no convenient coins, though moil fpecies of mo¬ 
ney will be taken there at a valuation, they commonly 
make their payments in gold-dull, and for that purpofe 
are all provided with fcales or (mall fteelyards. They 
carry their gold about them, wrapped up in pieces of 
bladder, and often purchafe to fo (mail an amount as to 
make ufe of'grain or feeds for weights.—The monarchy 
is hereditary; and the king ufually maintains a guard of 
joo fepoys about his palace. 
According to Mr. Marfden, “ the grand council of the 
nation confills of the king or fultan, four oolooballangs, and 
eight of a lower degree, who fit on his right hand, and 
fixteen enjoorangs, who fit on his left. At the king’s feet 
tits a woman, to whom he makes known his pleafure ; by 
her it is communicated to an eunuch, who fits next to her, 
and by him to an officer named Cajoorang Gondovg, who 
■then proclaims it aloud to the aflfembly. There are alfo 
prefent two other officers, one of whom has the govern¬ 
ment of the bazar or market, and the other the fuperin- 
tending and carrying into execution the punifhment of cri¬ 
minals. All matters relative to commerce and the euf- 
toms of the port come under the jurifdidtion of the S/ia- 
bandar, who performs the ceremony of giving the chap or 
licence for trade; which is done by lilting a golden-hafted 
creefe over the head of the merchant who arrives, and 
without which he dares not to land his goods. Prefents, 
the value of which are become pretty regularly afeertain- 
■ed, are then fent to the king and his officers. If the 
Ilranger be in the (lyle of an ambaflador, the royal ele¬ 
phants are fent down to carry him and his letters to the 
monarch’s prefence ; thefe being firft delivered into tire 
hands of an eunuch, who places them in a filver diffi, co¬ 
vered with rich lilk, on the back of the largeft elephant, 
which is provided with a machine (bonder) for that pur¬ 
pofe. Within about an hundred yards of an open hall 
where the king fits, the cavalcade Hops, and the ambafla¬ 
dor difmounts, making his obeifance by bending his body, 
and lifting his joined hands to his'liead. When he enters 
the palace, if an European, he is obliged to take off his 
fhoes; and, having made his fecond obeifance, is feated 
upon a carpet on the floor, where betel is brought to him. 
The throne was fome years ago of ivory and tortoifelhell; 
and, when the place was governed by queens, a curtain of 
gauze was hung before it, which did not obftruft the au¬ 
dience, but prevented any perfect view. The Ilranger, 
after fome general difeourfe, is then conduced to a fepa- 
rate building, where he is entertained with the delicacies 
of the country, by the officers of (late, and in the even¬ 
ing returns in the manner he came, furrounded by a pro¬ 
digious number of lights. On high days (aree ryah) the 
king goes in great Hate mounted on an elephant richly ca- 
parifoned, to the great mofque, preceded by his ooloobal- 
langs ; who are armed nearly in the European manner.” 
The country under the immediate jurifdidlion of Acheen 
is divided into three dillrifts, named Duo pooloo duo, Duo 
pooloo leemo, and Duo pooloo anam. Each diftricl is govern¬ 
ed by a pangleemo, and under him an imaum and fourpan- 
geeches to each mofque. 
“ Acheen has ever been remarkable for the feverity with 
which crimes are punilhed by their laws; the fame rigour 
ltill fubfills, and there is no commutation admitted, as is 
regularly ellablifhed in the fouthern countries. There is 
great reafon, however, to conclude, that the poor alone 
experience the rod of jultice; the nobles being fecure 
from retribution in the number of their dependants. Pet¬ 
ty theft is punilhed by ful'pending the criminal from a 
tree, with a gun or heavy weight tied to his feet; or by 
cutting off a finger, a hand, or leg, according to the nature 
of the theft. Many of thefe mutilated and wretched ob- 
A C H 
jadVs are daily to be feen in the ftreets. Robbery on the 
highway and houfe-breaking are punilhed by drowning, 
and afterwards expofing the body on a Hake for a few 
days. If the robbery is committed on an imaum or prieff, 
the facrilege is expiated by burning the criminal alive. A 
man who is convidted of adultery is feldom attempted to 
be fereenedby his friends, but is delivered up to the friends 
and relations of the injured hulband. Thefe take him to 
fome large plain, and, forming themfelves in a circle, place 
him in the middle. A large weapon, called a gadoobong, 
is then delivered to him by one of his family; and if he 
can force his way through thofe who furround him, and 
make his efcape, he is not liable to further profecution: 
but it commonly happens that he is inlfantly cut to pieces*. 
In this cafe his relations bury him as they would a dead buf¬ 
falo, refilling to admit the corpfe into their houfe, or to 
perform any funeral rites.” Thefe difeouragements to 
vice might feern to befpeak a moral and virtuous people; 
yet all travellers agree in reprefenting the Achenefe as one 
of the molt dilhonelt and flagitious nations of the ealt. 
Acheen was vilited by the Portuguefc in 1509, only 
twelve years after they had difcovered the pafiage to the 
Ealt Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. They made 
various attempts to eltablilii themfelves in the country, 
but were expelled with difgrace. See Sumatra. 
ACHELOUS, in fabulous hiltory, wreftled with Her¬ 
cules, for no lefs a prize than Deianira, daughter to king 
Oenus: but, as Achelous had the power of affuming all 
fiiapes, the conteli was long dubious: at laft, as lie took 
that of a bull, Hercules tore off' one of his horns; fo that 
he was forced to fubmit, and to redeem it by giving the- 
conqueror the horn of Amalthea, the fame, with the cor¬ 
nucopia, or horn of plenty ; which Hercules, having filled 
with a variety of fruits, confeerated to Jupiter. Some 
explain this fable, by faying, That Achelous is a winding 
river of Greece, whofe If ream was fo rapid, that it roar¬ 
ed like a bull, and overflowed its banks; but Hercules, 
by bringing it into two channels, broke oft' one of the- 
horns, arid fio reltored plenty to the country. See the 
next article. 
Achelous-, a river of Acarnania; which rifes in mount 
Pindus, and, dividing FEtolia from Acarnania, falls from 
north to fouth into the Sinus Corinthiacus. It was for¬ 
merly called T/was, from its impetuofity, and King of Riv¬ 
ers, (Homer.) The epithet Ache/oius is ufed for Aqueus,. 
(Virgil;) the ancients calling all water Achelous, efpecially 
in oaths, vows, and facrifices, according to Ephorus: now 
called Afpro Potamo. Rivers are by the ancient poets-, 
called Tauriformes, either from the bellowing of their wa-. 
ters, or from their ploughing the earth in their courfe : 
Hercules, reltraining by dykes and mounds the inunda¬ 
tions of the Achelous, is faid to have broken off one of his 
horns, and to have brought back plenty to the country. 
See the preceding article. 
ACHERI (LukeD’), a learned Benedidline of the con¬ 
gregation of St. Maur, was born at St. Quintin, in Picar¬ 
dy, in 1609 ; and made himfelf famous by printing feve- 
ral works, which till then were only in manufeript: par¬ 
ticularly, The Epiftle attributed to St. Barnabas; the 
Works of Lanfrank, archbilhop of Canterbury; a collec¬ 
tion of fcarce and curious pieces, under the title of Spi- 
cilegium, i. e. Gleanings,, in thirteen volumes quarto. The 
prefaces and notes, which he annexed to many of thefe 
pieces, Ihow him to have been a man of genius and abili¬ 
ties. He had alfo fome ffiare in the pieces inferted in tire 
firt! volumes of the Aids of the Saints of the Order of St. 
Bennet; the title whereof acquaints us. that they were 
colledled and publillied by him and father Mubillon. Af¬ 
ter a very retired life, till the age of 73, he died at Paris 
the 29th of April, 1683, in the abbey of St. Germain in the 
Fields, where he had been librarian. 
ACHERNER, or Acharner, f. a liar of the firft 
magnitude in the fouthern extremity of the conftellation 
Eridanus, but invilible in our latitude. 
ACHERON, a river of Epirus. The poets feigned it 
to. 
