198 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



have brought out the points I emphasized, and of which 

 I required scientific proof. It is another instance of the ad- 

 vantage of having in our midst an institution such as the 

 Otago School of Mines, where one can have scientific investi- 

 gations accurately carried out at a few hours' notice. 



Since writing the above I have read an article in Nature 

 on the Tahiti "Fire-walk," by Professor S. P. Langley, of 

 the Smithsoniau Institution, Washington. In his account 

 the shape of the lovo is more oblong than circular, and 

 makes it possible for a straight march from the one end 

 to the other and back again. Professor Langley states that 

 before the ceremony he had been told that he could, with- 

 out fear of burning, "walk" in leather boots or shoes, and 

 he was a witness of this performance, one of his companions 

 walking, and even standing still, on the hot stones for eight 

 or ten seconds " before he felt the heat through his thin 

 shoes." Many others also walked over the stones in their 

 boots without any sign of scorching(/). 



In the Tahitian account the fire only took four hours to 

 prepare, whereas we were assured that it always takes two 

 days in Fiji. There was in our case none of the flame darting 

 up during the " walking," as described by Professor Langley, 

 and there was practically no smoke. The flames and white- 

 hot stones, the burning poles, the yelling and shouting while 

 the stones were being levelled, were all part of the "staging 

 of the piece," and were strung out to draw away the atten- 

 tion from the fact that time was passing and the stones 

 slowly cooling. 



Professor Langley went to great pains to form a scientific 

 estimate of the actual heat of the stone, and, though he had 

 many difficulties in the way, made it clear that the mean 

 heat of a large piece which he had seen walked upon, and 

 which he had himself cooled, was at the " time of removal 

 from the fire about 1,200° F., but that the walked - upon 

 surface was almost certainly indefinitely lower." 



In Professor Park's letter to me enclosing the report he 

 says. "The radiation tests show that marble parts with its 

 heat more rapidly than either andesite or basalt, hence would 

 burn when andesite would not." This is very interesting, as 

 Professor Langley reported that the head performer who took 

 part on that occasion had failed when he tried on a neigh- 

 bouring island with " stones of a marble-like quality." He 

 was also asked to put his foot between the hot stones into the 

 flames below, or on to the lower red-hot stones, but he very 

 cleverly declined in a most dignified manner with the words, 

 " My fathers did not tell me to do it that way." He also 

 promised to hold a piece of the hot stone iu his hand, but, as 

 Professor Langley says, " he did not do so." 



