closures known as
_kampongs_, in flimsy houses built of bamboo and thatched with grass or
leaves. But as diagonal struts are not used the walls soon lean over
from the force of the wind, giving to the villages a curiously
inebriated appearance. In several of the eight petty states which
comprise the confederation of Boni the ruler is not infrequently a
woman, the female line having precedence over the male line in
succession to the throne. The women rulers of the Bugis have invariably
shown themselves as astute, capable and warlike as the men, the
princess who ruled in Boni during the middle of the last century having
defeated three powerful military expeditions which the Dutch sent
against her. Everything considered, the Bugis are perhaps the most
interesting race in the entire archipelago.

The Bugis are said to be more predisposed toward "running amok" than
any other Malayan people. Having been warned of this unpleasant
idiosyncrasy, I took the precaution, when among them, of carrying in
the right-hand pocket of my jacket a service automatic, loaded and
ready for instant action. For when a Bugi runs amok he will almost
certainly get you unless you get him first. Running amok, I should
explain, is the native term for the homicidal mania which attacks
Malays. Without the slightest warning, and apparently without reason, a
Malay, armed with a kris or other weapon, will rush into the street and
slash at everybody, friends and strangers alike, until he is killed.
These frenzies were formerly regarded as due to sudden insanity, but it
is now believed that the typical _amok_ is the result of excitement due
to circumstances, such as domestic jealousy or gambling losses, which
render the man desperate and weary of life. It is, in fact, the Malay
equivalent of suicide. Though so intimately associated with the Malay,
there are good grounds for believing the word to have an Indian origin.
Certainly the act is far from unknown in Indian history. In Malabar,
for example, it was long the custom for the zamorin or king of Calicut
to cut his throat in public after he had reigned twelve years. But in
the seventeenth century there was inaugurated a variation in this
custom. After a great feast lasting for nearly a fortnight the ruler,
surrounded by his bodyguard, had to take his seat at a national
assembly, on which occasion it was lawful for anyone to attack him,
and, if he succeeded in killing him the murderer himself assumed the
cr