At Kilongo, a Houbé village of average importance numbering about 
200 souls, we found the inhabitants prey toa great agitation. Armed 
men were posted at every fork and crossroad leading into the village, 
and they were on watch over the environs. Not a woman, not a child, 
was in the fields, although it was the best moment for planting taro. 
And yet this village was known among the Houbé for their diligence 
and progressive spirit. Indeed had they not for a long time realized 
the absurdity of wars and renounced the pastime of fighting with 
their neighbors? 
“Master, there is a madman in the vicinity. He runs stark naked. 
He is not one of us. He is a member of the river tribe of Sang. If 
we let him act freely, he would kill all our men, women, and child- 
ren, for he is mad and has completely lost his reason.’ 
That was the explanation supplied to me by the inhabitants to ex- 
plain their curious behavior, when I expressed my amazement that 
they had not come to meet me, as it was their custom to do. 
Madness is a frequent phenomenon among the Melanesians and Pa- 
pous of the Pacific regions. A fine lad, until now calm and inoffensive, 
is suddenly seized with madness, most often from an abuse of betel, 
and becomes a menace to everyone. Armed with an axe or other 
dangerous tool, he flees his home, reaches first the nearest forest, 
then takes to running across the fields and through villages, and this 
he does for days on end, seized with veritable fury, attacking and 
killing every human being he meets. Persuaded that the poor fellow 
is possessed and urged on by the spirit of a dead relative, the super- 
stitious natives do not dare to disarm him. Although the sentiment 
of pity is unknown to them, they do no more than prevent the incur- 
sion of the madman into their village. They do not try to overpower 
him. The access of madness does not last long. At the end of a cer- 
tain time the madman becomes calm again, returns home, and resumes 
peacefully his work and habitual chores. 
Wishing to preventa tragedy, I ordered the victim to be seized and 
bound, and to be brought before me. But my orders could not be 
executed, for he disappeared from the neighborhood of Kilongko as 
quickly as he had appeared. Other neighboring villages saw him run 
through the fields, possessed by a veritable fury, still others reported 
rumors of him, but he himself was nowhere to be found. 
[ 36 | 
