510 MYSTIC ISLES 



His umu was in the devastated area of Chinatown, a 

 district of Honolulu destroyed by a conflagration pur- 

 posely begun to erase two blocks of houses in which bu- 

 bonic plague recurred, and which, unchecked, caused a 

 loss of millions of dollars. 



The pit was elliptical, nine feet deep, and about 

 twenty-four feet long. Wood was piled in it, and 

 rocks from the dismantled Kaumakapili church. The 

 fire burned until the stones became red and then white, 

 and they, too, were turned with long poles to make the 

 heat even. I inspected the heating process several 

 times. At the hour advertised in the American and na- 

 tive papers, in an enclosure built for the occasion, with 

 seats about the pit, the mystery was enacted. The set- 

 ting was superb, the flaming furnace of heathenism in 

 the shadow of the lonely ruin of the Christian edifice. 

 Papa Ita appeared garbed in white tapa, with a wonder- 

 ful head-dress of the sacred /i-leaves and a belt of the 

 same. The spectators were of all nations, including 

 many Hawaiians. The deposed queen, Liliuokalani, 

 was a most interested witness. 



Papa Ita looked neither to the right nor left, but 

 striking the ground thrice with a wand of ti, he raised 

 his voice in invocation and walked upon the stones. He 

 reached the other end, paused and returned. Several 

 times he did this and when photographers rushed to 

 make a picture, he posed calmly in the center of the pit, 

 and then, with all the air of a priest who has celebrated 

 a rite of approved merit, he retired with dignity. As he 

 departed from the inclosure, the natives crowded about 

 him, fearfully, as viewed the Israelites the safety of 

 Daniel emerging from the lions' den. Did I not see 



