LATAH. 147 



I have more than once met with river boatmen, who, when the 

 word buaya ( alligator ) was mentioned, even in the course of 

 casual conversation after camping for the night, would drop what- 

 ever they might have in their hands and retire cowering to the cover 

 of the nearest kajang. 



I have enquired into every case of this description which came 

 under my notice, and in no case could I learn that the man bad 

 any special reason for his terror in the way of a personal expe- 

 rience. His friends explained that he was latah, and that to them 

 explained everything. 



On one occasion, after a curious exhibition of this description, 

 I shot an alligator on the bank next morning. The lataJi was, to 

 my surprise, the first to approach the saurian. Against my earnest 

 entreaties, he proceeded to pull the creature about, and finally 

 forced its mouth open with a piece of firewood. 



His persecutors, his fellow-boatmen, stood at a respectful distance. 



An hour afterwards, as he was poling up the river, one of the 

 crew called out to this man buaya ! He at once dropped his 

 pole, gave vent to a most disgusting exclamation, and jumped into 

 the river — an act which shewed that his morbid terror was quite 

 unconnected with what might be supposed to be its exciting cause. 



More than one man have implored me not to mention the word 

 harimau (tiger), and more than one have gone nearly insane 

 with terror when the word ular ( snake ) was spoken " at " 

 him. 



In each case of this description, my Malay companions solved my 

 perplexity, at times very great, by saying " dia latah, tuan. " 



Similar cases must be familiar to many who read this Journal, but 

 the instance I have quoted of the man who became limp and nerve- 

 less from terror at the mention of the word buaya and who 

 afterwards was the first to handle a buaya, of whose death no 

 one was assured, presents a curious mental contradiction, of which 

 I await the explanation. 



I may add that a paivanq (medicine-man) who exhibited extreme 

 distress at my mention of the word " tiger," was one of the few 



