6 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. i 



titled ' Lente's eerstelingen ' and ' Eens gekocht blijft 

 gekoeht.' When the curtain fell on the last of these the 

 chairs were cleared away and the company began to dance. 

 ' Na afloop bal,' as the programme curtly put it. These 

 entertainments in Dutch East India usually go on until the 

 early hours of the morning ; but, as I was a perfect stranger 

 in a crowd of people who were very well acquainted with 

 one another, I soon grew tired of the gay and festive throng 

 and left a little after midnight. I was accompanied by a 

 young officer of artillery, a fellow-passenger of the ' Generaal 

 Pell,' who soon afterwards, I was told, fell a victim to the 

 fever in Amboyna. As we made our way through the quiet 

 and deserted thoroughfares towards the pier, we were 

 challenged at intervals by the villainous looking ' djagas ' 

 or night watchmen, who, armed with long forked ' thief- 

 catcher ' spears, dodged in and out like bogeys from pitch- 

 dark corners and recesses. I must confess that at the 

 time I experienced a creepy feeling of insecurity in those 

 lonely streets, brought on perhaps by exaggerated or un- 

 truthful rumours of the dangers of Makassar streets at 

 night. 



Makassar has an unenviable reputation for that strange 

 form of religious frenzy known as ' running amuck.' I 

 dare say this reputation is undeserved, and there are no 

 more ' Amooks ' in Makassar than in other large Eastern 

 towns with a Mohammedan population ; but, nevertheless, 

 the possibility of the thing occurring is apt to come forcibly 

 before one on a dark moonless night, and remind one of the 

 insecurity of human life even when accompanied, as I was, 

 by a military officer with a glittering sword. 



Although this form of religious fanaticism, which leads 

 the fanatic to murder indiscriminately every one he comes 

 across until he himself is captured or shot down, is un- 

 doubtedly of the greatest possible interest to the anthro- 



