As these men were fit for anything--from pitch-and-toss to murder--and soon outnumbered the colonists, the place was kept in constant alarm and watchfulness.

For, as I dare say you know, the Malays are sometimes liable to have the spirit of _amok_ on them, which leads them to care for and fear nothin', and to go in for a fight-to-death, from which we get our sayin'-- _run amuck_.

An' when a strong fellow is goin' about loose in this state o' mind, it's about as bad as havin' a tiger prowlin' in one's garden." "Well, sometimes two or three o' these coolies would mutiny and hide in the woods o' one o' the smaller uninhabited islands.

An' the colonists would have no rest till they hunted them down.

So, to keep matters right, they had to be uncommon strict.