192 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



offer no explanation of these " feats of magic." First, you 

 will observe that the arrangement for the heating of the stones 

 is peculiar. They are piled up on top of a heap of wood, and 

 in this position subjected to an enormous heat poured into 

 them from below and all around. If what is required be 

 merely a surface of red-hot stones for walking upon, a much 

 easier method would be to lay flat stones on the floor of the 

 pit and then to light and maintain a huge fire on the top of 

 them. That this is not what is wanted is most significant, 

 and will be better understood later on. That the stones are 

 still piled high on the burning logs and only " an occasional 

 stone drops through " after forty-eight hours' burning, points 

 to a possibility of some of the lower logs being absolutely 

 green, otherwise it is hard to understand why the said logs 

 have not been burnt up and the heap of stones collapsed long 

 before forty-eight hours have passed. 



As to the period of time occupied by the " ivalk," a great 

 many observers — nearly sixty out of our two hundred spec- 

 tators — had cameras, kinematographs, or kodaks, &c, and 

 these people are quite accustomed to minute measurements of 

 time, such as seconds and fractions of seconds. From several 

 of the most expert of these I received the assurance that the 

 time occupied by the "walk" was from fourteen to sixteen 

 seconds, some said even less. In that space of time the per- 

 formers took from twenty-five to thirty steps, consequently 

 the sole of the foot was at no time in contact with hot stone 

 for more than half a second. 



The idea that the " walk " is made possible from long- 

 continued use of the bare native foot to ground contact may be 

 put on one side, as it was reported by Colonel Gudgeon that 

 he on his own " bare and sensitive feet " walked over the hot 

 stones and felt no burning, but only a sort of electric prick- 

 ing^). To this may be added the observations of Dr. Smith, 

 Dr. Hocken, and myself, that the feet were soft and pliable, 

 and not at all leathery or horny, though very possibly less 

 sensitive than those of Europeans. That it is in the stones 

 that we should look for an explanation is suggested by the 

 fact that my boots were not browned by contact with them, 

 although I stood on several for above a second each. 



Another point not previously observed was the coolness of 

 the sole of the foot. This was very well marked both before 

 and after the "walk," and may have been due to the placing 

 of the feet in cold water for a short time before the perform- 

 ance. It is possible that in the interior of the island very 

 cold water may be obtainable. The islands all through the 

 group are known to contain large caves, some of them with 

 water at a comparatively low temperature (e). I mention this 

 as it is difficult to account for the temperature of the feet, 





