LATAH. 149 



satisfy those kindly moralists who contend that all men are, to 

 some degree, insane. But I am dealing with a Malay subject as 

 treated by Malays, and therefore draw attention to the fact that 

 nothing can be more distinctly defined than their several attitudes 

 towards an orang gila and an orang latah. 



A strong case of this division of latah, which has come under my 

 notice, was as Kuala Jumpol, when I was crossing the Malay 

 Peninsula in 1875. 



I there met a young Malay who was of material assistance to onr 

 party in pulling our boat across a narrow watershed into the Thi 

 Sureting. His comrades told me the man was lata h, but I could 

 see nothing in his conduct or conversation which was not perfectly 

 rational. 



Some twenty-four hours after making his acquaintance, one 

 night we let off a signalling rocket for t he amusement of those 

 who had given us assistance (none of those present had ever seen 

 a rocket before). I was preparing to fire a second rocket myself, 

 when the latah pushed me violently aside, snatched the torch from 

 my hand, fired the rocket, and fell down on his face making an 

 unintelligible noise, to all appearance the expression of fear. 



I was somewhat startled, such rudeness and violence being quite 

 foreign to the Malay character. When I sought an explanation 

 from the by-standers, I was informed laconically " latah, tuan." 



Next morning when I met this man, I found him perfectly 

 rational and perfectly respectful. 



I saw him standing alone on the bank as we put off down-stream, 

 and I waved my hand to him. To my surprise he began waving 

 his hand frantically in return, and continued to do so till I lost 

 him at the first bend of the stream. I had began to whistle an air. 

 He also began whistling. His imitative faculty did not quite lead 

 him to a reproduction of the tune, but the fact of an up-country 

 Malay's whistling at all is sufficiently remarkable. As I rounded 

 the bend, I saw him still waving and heard him still whistling. 

 The steersman to whom I turned came out with the stereotyped 

 formula '* Dia hcmiah latah, tuan." I hope my poor friend's exer- 

 tions ceased when their exciting cause passed out of sight. 



