Tkegear. — On a Phase of Hypnotism. 89 



inspector, and he and I were the only white men in the 

 country. 



" Amongst the twenty-five poHce were two men of the 

 name of Kasim ; tliey were both natives of Amboiua, but very 

 different in disposition, and they were known among their 

 comrades as Kasim hesar and Kasim kecliii — that is, Kasim 

 major and Kasim minor. Kasim major was a quiet, reserved, 

 silent man of about twenty-five, and I afterwards realised that 

 he had a somewhat violent temper when roused. Kasim 

 minor, on the contrary, was a smiling, talkative, happy, and 

 pleasant-looking young fellow of about twenty. They were 

 not related to each other in any way. 



"I used often to be away on the coast and up river, and 

 on my return from one of these expeditions I noticed the men 

 teasing Kasim minor, and saw at once that he was Icitah. I 

 questioned the inspector, and he told me that during my 

 absence he had one day been away on duty for some hours, 

 and when he returned, about 4 p.m., he saw Kasim minor up a 

 coco-nut tree just outside the stockade. On asking him what 

 he was doing there, he replied that he could not come down 

 because there was a snake at the bottom of the tree. In 

 reality there was a bit of rattan tied round the tree, and, this 

 being removed, Kasim came down. 



" Now, it is no easy matter to climb a coco-nut tree ; it 

 requires a special training to do it at all, and Kasim did not 

 possess it. But the inspector ascertained that the other police 

 had found out by accident that their comrade was Idtah, that 

 they had ordered him to climb the tree, which he had at once 

 done, and that then, out of sheer devilry, some one had taken 

 a bit of rattan, said, 'Do you see this snake? I will tie it 

 round the tree, and then you can't come down ' ; and so left 

 him from 10 a.m. till the afternoon, when the inspector re- 

 turned and released him. The time of Kasim's penance was 

 probably greatly exaggerated, but that is how the story was 

 told to me, and of all that follows I was an eye-witness. I 

 made Kasim minor my orderly, and, as he was constantly with 

 me, I had better opportunities of studying his peculiarities. 

 About this time also I learnt that Kasim major was also Idtah. 



" Speaking generally, it was only necessary for any one to 

 attract the attention of either of these men by the simplest 

 means — holding up a finger, calling them by name in a rather 

 pointed way, touching them, or even, when close by, to look 

 them hard in the face — and instantly they appeared to lose all 

 control of themselves, and would do not only what they were 

 told to do, but whatever was suggested by a sign. 



" I have seen many Idtali people, male and female, but 

 never any quite like these two — none so susceptible to outside 

 influence, so ready to blindly obey a word or sign. The kmdly 



