But some time afterwards he sent one of his followers
to the house, who beckoned the girl to the door, and
then saying, “ The Rajah sends you this,” stabbed her to
the heart. More serious infidelity is punished still more
cruelly, the woman and her paramour being tied back
to back and thrown into the sea, where some large crocodiles
are always on the watch to devour the bodies. One
such execution took place while I was at Ampanam, but I
took a long walk into the country to be out of the way till
it was all over, thus missing the opportunity of having a
horrible narrative to enliven my somewhat tedious story.
One morning, as we were sitting at breakfast, Mr.
Carter’s servant informed us that there was an “ Amok”
in the village—in other words, that a man was “ running a
muck.” Orders were immediately given to shut and fasten
the gates of our enclosure; but hearing nothing for some
time, we went out, and found there had been a false alarm,
owing to a slave having run away, declaring he would
“ amok,” because his master wanted to sell him. A short
time before, a man had been killed at a gaming-table
because, having lost half-a-dollar more than he possessed,
he was going to “ amok.” Another had killed or wounded
seventeen people before he could be destroyed. In their wars
a whole regiment of these people will sometimes agree to
“ amok,” and then rush on with such energetic desperation
as to be very formidable to men not so excited as themselves.
Among the ancients these would have been looked
upon as heroes or demigods who sacrificed themselves for
their country. Here it is simply said,—they made “ amok.”
Mactissar is the most celebrated place in the East for
“ running a muck.” There are said to be one or two a
month on the average, and five, ten, or twenty persons are
sometimes killed or wounded at one of them.' It is the
national and therefore the honourable mode of committing
suicide among the natives of Celebes, and is the fashionable
way of escaping from their difficulties. A Roman
fell upon his sword, a Japanese rips up his stomach, and'
an Englishman blows out his brains with a pistol. The
Bugis mode has many advantages to one suicidically
inclined. A man thinks himself wronged by society—he
is in debt and cannot pay—he is taken for a slave or has
gambled away his wife or ehild into slavery—he sees no
way of recovering what be has -lost,-and becomes desperate.
He will not put up with such cruel wrongs, but will be
revenged on mankind and die like a hero. He grasps his
kris-handle, and the next moment draws out the weapon
and stabs a man to the heart. He runs on, with bloody
kris in his hand, stabbing at every one he meets. “Amok !
Amok! ” then resounds through the streets. Spears,
krisses, knives and guns are brought out against him. He
rushes madly forward, kills all he can—men, women, and
children—and dies overwhelmed by numbers amid all the *
VOL. r. t