668 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



It was necessary to give the natives three days in which to 

 make their preparations— constructing the oven and paving it 

 with stones, which then required heating for thirty-six or 

 forty-eight hours at least with fierce fires fed with logs 

 and branches. They had also to gather their stores of food 

 to form the foundation of the huge feast whose prepara- 

 ration was to succeed the mystic ceremony. During these 

 three days we lost no opportunity of collecting from former 

 witnesses of the ceremony whatever information or explana- 

 tion they could afford, but with no very satisfactory result : 

 the facts were undisputed, but the explanations quite in- 

 sufficient. Some thought that the chief actors rubbed their 

 bodies with a secret preparation which rendered them fire- 

 proof ; others that life-long friction on the hard hot rocks 

 coral-reefs, and sands had so thickened and indurated the 

 foot-sole that it could defy fire ; but all agreed as to the 

 hona fides of the exhibition. The incident recounted in the 

 "Polynesian Journal" was also confirmed — where Lady 

 Thurston threw her handkerchief upon the shoulder of one 

 of the actors, and, though it remained there but a few seconds 

 before being picked ofi' by means of a long stick, it was greatly 

 scorched. 



The storv or legend attached to this weird gift of fire- 

 walking was told us, with some variation, by two or three 

 different people, and it is mainly as follows : A far distant an- 

 cestor of the present inheritors of this power was walking one 

 day when he espied an eel, which he caught, and was about 

 to kill. The eel squeaked out, and said, " Oh ! Tui Na Galita 

 (=Eng-Galita), do not kill me ; spare me. I am a god, and I 

 will make you so strong in war that none shall withstand 

 you." " Oh, but," replied Na Galita, " I am already stronger 

 in war than any one else, and I fear no one." " Well, then," 

 said the eel, " I will make your canoe the fastest to sail on 

 these seas, and none shall come up with it." " But," replied 

 Na Galita, "as it is none can pass my caiioe." " Well, then," 

 rejoined the eel, "I will make you a great favourite among 

 women, so that all will fall in love with you." " Not so," 

 said Na Galita, " I have one wife, of whom I am very fond, 

 and I desire no other." The poor eel then made other offers, 

 which were also rejected, and his chances of life were fading 

 fast when he made a final efi"ort. " Oh, Na Galita, if you 

 will spare me I will so cause it that you and your de- 

 scendants shall henceforth walk through the masaxoe oven 

 unharmed." "Good," said Na Galita, " now I will let you 

 go." This story varies somewhat from that told in the 

 " Polvnesian Journal." 



The eventful morning was blazingly hot and brilliant, and 

 the vivid-blue sky was without a cloud as we steamed down 



