Tkegeak. — 0)1 a Phase of Hypnotism. 87 



exquisite in colour and beauty that it transported theui with 

 delight. As to the negative end, they reluctantly explained, 

 in hesitating words and with every appearance of dread, that 

 there was also a flame, but a red one of fearful and sinistsr 

 import. 



"I was deeply interested in these 'manifestations,' both 

 for their own strangeness and because I had in the Malay 

 Peninsula seen equally extraordinary proceedings of a some- 

 what similar kind. 



" Amongst Malays there is a well-known disease (I- use 

 the word for want of a better) called Icitah ; it is far more 

 common at certain places than others, and among certain 

 divisions of the great Malay family. Thus, while there is 

 generally one or more oramj Idtali to be found in every 

 kampong in Krian, where the Malays are mostly from Kedah, 

 in other parts of Perak it is rare to ever meet a Idtah person. 

 x\gain, speaking generally, the disease seems to be more 

 common amongst the people of Amboina, in Netherlands 

 India, than those of Java, Sumatra, or the Malay Peninsula. 

 In both cases heredity is probably accountable for the result, 

 whatever may have been the original cause to produce the 

 affliction in certain places more than others. I can only 

 speak of my own experience, and what I have personally seen, 

 for no English authority appears to have studied the matter 

 or attempted to either observe Idtah people, diagnose the 

 disease (if it is one), search for its cause, or attempt to cure 

 it. I can vouch for facts, but nothing more. 



"In 1874 I was sent in H.M.S. 'Hart' to reside with 

 the Sultan of Selangor. Though His Highness s personal 

 record was one of which he might be proud, for he was said 

 to have killed ninety-nine men isa' rdtus Mrang sdtu) with his 

 own hand, his State was not altogether a happy one, for it 

 had been the fighting-ground of several ambitious young Rajas 

 for some years. An unusually hideous piracy, personally 

 conducted by one of the Sultan's own sons, and committed on 

 a Malacca training-vessel, had necessitated a visit from the 

 China fleet, and when the perpetrators, or those who after 

 due inquiry appeared to be the perpetrators, had been executed 

 (the Sultan lending his own kris for the ceremony), I was sent 

 to see that these ' boyish amusements,' as His Highness called 

 them, were not repeated. The place where the Sultan then 

 lived was hardly a desirable residence, even from a Malay 

 point of view, and it has for years now been almost deserted. 

 ' Bandar Termasa,' as it was grandiloquently styled, was a 

 collection of huts on a mud-flat enclosed between the Langat 

 and Jugra Rivers. It was only seven miles from the sea, and 

 at high tide most of the place was under water. 



" With me there went twenty-five Malay police from Ma- 



