ws his
kreese, and attacks not only those who have offended him, but
unoffending bystanders, and often the persons he best loves. It is a
temporary insanity, which usually lasts till he sinks from exhaustion,
or is himself struck down. The paroxysm over, remorse assails him, and
he bewails the sad results of his _matta glab_ or blinded eye, by which
term the Javans frequently designate the _amok_. Apprehension of danger
often brings on this species of delirium. "Two Javans," says Dr.
Selberg, "married men, and intimate friends, went one day to Tjandjur,
to sell bamboo baskets. One got rid of all his stock, went to a Chinese
shop, bought a handkerchief and umbrella for his wife, and set out on
his return home with his companion, who had been unfortunate, and had
sold nothing. The lucky seller was in high spirits, childishly delighted
at his success, and with the presents he took to his wife; his friend
walked by his side, grave and silent. Suddenly the former also became
mute; he fancied his comrade envied and intended to stab him. Drawing
his kreese, he fell upon the unoffending man, and laid him dead upon the
ground. Sudden repentance succeeded the groundless suspicion and cruel
deed, and some Javans, who soon afterwards came up, found him raving
over the body of his friend, and imploring to be delivered to justice."
Seldom, however, does an _amok_ make only one victim. The Javan women
are not subject to these fury-fits, but are not on that account the less
dangerous. Of an extremely jealous disposition, they have quiet and
subtle means of revenging themselves upon their rivals. They are skilled
in the preparation of poisons--of one especially, which kills slowly,
occasioning symptoms similar to those of consumption. When a Javan
perceives these, she resigns herself to her fate, knowing well what is
the matter with her, and rejecting antidotes as useless. And European
physicians have as yet done little against the effects of this poison,
whose ingredients they cannot discover with sufficient accuracy to
counteract them. A medical man told Dr. Selberg that copper dust and
human hair were amongst them, combined with other substances entirely
unknown to him. The dose is usually administered in rice, the chief food
of the Javans. Arsenic, another poison in common use, is sold in all the
bazaars. This poisoning practice is not unusual amongst Liplap women
married to Europeans, and who, although nominally Christians, possess,