542 THE FIRE WALK CEREMONY IN TAHITI. 



Now the most impressive part of the ceremoii}- began. Papa-Ita, 

 tall, dignified, flower-crowned, and dressed with garlands of flowers, 

 appeared with naked feet and with a large bush of "ti" leaves in his 

 hands, and after going partly around the fire each way, uttering what 

 seemed to l)e commands to it, went back, and, beating the stones nearest 

 him three times with the ti leaves, advanced steadih^ but with 

 obviously hurried step, directl}^ over the central ridge of the pile. 

 Two discipless similarly dressed, followed him, but they had not the 

 courage to do so directly along the heated center. They followed 

 about halfway between the center and the edge, where the stones 

 were nianifesth" cooler, since I had satisfied myself that they could be 

 touched lightly with the hand. Papa-lta then turned and led the way 

 back, this time with deliberate confidence, followed on his return by 

 several new disciples, most of them not keeping exactly in the steps 

 of the leader, but obviousl}^ seeking cooler places. A third and 

 fourth time Papa-Ita crossed with a larger following, after which 

 many Europeans present walked over the stones without reference to 

 the, priest's instritctions. The natives were mostly in their bare feet. 

 One wore stockings. No European attempted to walk in bare feet, 

 except in one case — that of a boy, who, I was told, found the stones 

 too hot and immediatel}' stepped back. 



The mise en scene was certainly noteworth5^ The site near the 

 great ocean breaking on the barrier reefs, the excited crowd talking 

 about the "red-hot" stones, the actual sight of the hierophant and 

 his acol3''tes making the passage along the ridge where the occasional 

 tongues of flame were seen at the center, with all the attendant cir- 

 cumstances, made up a scene in no way lacking in interest. Still, the 

 essential question as to the actual heat of these stones had not yet been 

 answered, and after the fourth passage 1 secured Papa-Ita's permission 

 to remove from the middle of the pile one stone, which, from its size 

 and position, ever}^ foot had rested upon in crossing and which was 

 undoubtedly at least as hot as any one of those trodden on. It was 

 pulled out by my assistants with difiiculty, as it proved to be larger 

 than I had expected, it being of ovoid shape, with the lower end in the 

 hottest part of the fire. I had brought over the largest wooden 

 bucket which the ship had and which was half filled with water, expect- 

 ing that this would cover the stone, but it proved to be hardly enough. 

 The stone caused the water to rise nearly to the top of the bucket, and 

 it was thrown into such violent ebullition that a great deal of it boiled 

 over and escaped Aveighing. The stone was an exceedingly bad con- 

 ductor of heat, foi" it continued to boil the water for about twelve 

 minutes, when, the ebullition being nearly over, it was removed to the 

 ship and the amount of evaporated water measured. 



Meanwhile others, as I have said, began to walk over the stones 

 without any reference to the ceremonj^ prescribed by Papa-Ita, and 



