Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
pose, and finally refused to give her up unless he was forced to do so. This the Rajah did not
wish to resort to, as he no doubt thought he was acting as much for the Englishman's honour
as for his own; so he appeared to let the matter drop. 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 be-
fore 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.'
Macassar 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 commit-
ting 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 English-
man blows out his brains with a pistol. The Bugis mode has many advantages to one sui-
cidically 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 child into slavery—he sees no
way of recovering what he 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
