508 MYSTIC ISLES 



Mother of the ninth footstep ! 

 Mother of the tenth footstep ! 



O Great Woman, who puts the fire in the heavens, all 

 is hidden! 



Then, his body erect, his eyes toward the stars, 

 augustly, and without hesitation or choice of footprints, 

 the tahu walked upon the umu. His body was naked 

 except for the tapa, which extended from his shoulders 

 to his knees. The heat radiated from the stones, and 

 sitting on the ground I saw the quivering of the beams 

 just above the oven. 



Tufetufetu traversed the entire length of the umu 

 with no single flinching of his muscles or flutter of his 

 eyelids to betray pain or fear. He raised his wand when 

 he reached the end, and, turning slowly, retraced his 

 steps. 



The spectators, who had held their breaths, heaved 

 deep sighs, but no word was spoken as the tahua signed 

 all to follow him in another journey over the white-hot 

 rocks. All but a few, their number obscured in the 

 darkness, ranged themselves in a line behind him, and 

 with masses of /^-leaves in their hands, and some with 

 girdles hastily made, barefooted they marched over the 

 path he took again. When the cortege had passed once, 

 the priest said, ''Fariu! Return!" and, their eyes fixed 

 on vacancy, six times the throng were led by him for- 

 ward and back over the umu. A woman who looked 

 down and stumbled, left the ranks, and cried out that 

 her leg was burned. She had an injury that was weeks 

 in curing. 



At a sign from Tufetufetu, the people left the prox- 

 imity of the pit, and while he retired to his hut, several 



