Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.347

c10.347

"Captain Shaw mentioned . . . that he had known as many as 40 people being injured by a single 'amok' runner. When the cry 'amok! amok!' is raised, people fly to the right and left for shelter, for after the blinded madman's kris has once 'drunk blood,' its fury becomes ungovernable, his sole desire is to kill; he strikes here and there; he stabs fugitives in the back, his *kris* drips blood, he rushes on yet more wildly, blood and murder in his course; there are shrieks and groans, his bloodshot eyes start from their sockets, his frenzy gives him unnatural strength; then all of a sudden he drops, shot through the heart, or from sudden exhaustion, clutching his bloody *kris*.”—Miss Bird, *Golden Chersonese*, 356.