IN JAVA. 69 



absolutely free from the tropical pest of ants. Perfectly con- 

 structed and furnished for a tropical climate, and provided 

 with a large and valuable library, it was admirably situated 

 for a botanical station — the hills rising round it to three 

 thousand feet, — whose advantages the want of the necessary 

 instruments alone prevented me from fully utilising. In no 

 part of the world can the climate reach greater perfection, 

 I think, than in the mountain regions of these islands, among 

 which I first felt the real charm of the life I had espoused. 



The first thing of interest to attract me, within a few hours 

 of my arrival at Kosala, was a case in one of the servants of the 

 house of that curious cerebral affection called by the natives 

 lata. It is of a hysterical nature, and- is confined chiefly to 

 women, although I have also seen a man affected by it. On 

 being startled or excited suddenly, the person becomes lata, 

 losing the control of her will, and cannot refrain from imitating 

 whatever she may hear or see done, and will keep calling out as 

 long as the fit lasts the name — and generally that word alone — of 

 whatever has flashed through her mind as the cause of it : " He- 

 ih-heh, matjan ! " (tiger) ; " He-ih-heh, boorung besar! " (a great 

 bird). Her purpose will be arrested, as, if walking, she will 

 stop short, and on going on again will often follow some other 

 course. The prefatory exclamation is an invariable symptom, 

 seemingly caused by involuntary hysterical inspirations. 

 According to the degree of alarm the symptoms may remain 

 only a few moments or last for the greater part of a day, 

 especially if the patient be prevented from calming down. 

 The afflicted, if not very seriously affected, are not altogether 

 incapacitated from performing the duties to which they are 

 accustomed. The most curious characteristic of the disease is 

 their imitation of every action they see. On one occasion, 

 while eating a banana, I suddenly met this servant with a 

 piece of soap in her hand : and, perceiving she was slightly 

 lata, but without appearing to take a,ny notice of her, I made 

 a vigorous bite at the fruit in passing her, an action she 

 instantly repeated on the piece of soap. On another occasion, 

 while she was looking on as I placed some plants in drjing 

 paper, not knowing that caterpillars were objects of supreme 

 abhorrence to the natives, I flicked off in a humorous way 

 on to her dress one that happened to be on a leaf ; she was 



