130 



NA TURE 



[December i i, 1902 



FIRE-WALKING IN FIJI. 1 

 T N connection with the Coronation festivities at Suva, 

 ■*■ there was to have been a fire-walking ceremony, 

 but, owing to the illness of the King, the Government of 



(From the Auckland Weekly Ne; 



saplings about 20 feet in length, armfuls of green 

 branches, and masses of green vines of great length and 

 considerable thickness. The following is from Mr. 

 Burke's account : — 



"The fire is now sinking, and occa- 

 sionally a large stone drops through. 

 There is little smoke and the stones 

 fairly glow. Now the workers close 

 in. The smaller vines are fastened in 

 loops at the ends of the long saplings. 

 A loop is dropped over the end of a 

 log not yet burnt out, and with loud 

 chants the log is drawn out. This is 

 repeated till no logs are left. The 

 ends of the saplings continually burst 

 into flames as they touch the stones. 

 At last there seems to be nothing left 

 in the pit but stones, some of which 

 are shivered to pieces by the great 

 heat. The large hawser-like vine now 

 comes into use. This is thrown across 

 the pit to one side, and with the sap- 

 lings the men force it down into the 

 glowing stones. Now dozens of willing 

 hands pull at the ends, and the stones 

 are turned over and over and flattened 

 out. Many stones that were at the 

 bottom are now on top, and vice versa. 

 This is done until the stones present a 

 fairly even surface, but critical men, 

 Fiji decided that nothing could take place ; however, a I still unsatisfied, probe amongst the stones with the sap- 

 large party of excursionists from New Zealand managed lings and turn the smoothed side uppermost. While they 

 unofficially to obtain an exhibition of the fire-walking. are doing this, the green saplings blaze vigorously. 

 The following notes have been 

 abstracted mainly from an account by 

 Mr. Walter Burke, in the Christchurch 

 Weekly Press (July 16, 1902) and from 

 a condensed report in the Evening Star 

 of a paper read before the Otago Insti- 

 tute by Dr. Robert Fulton, which some 

 time next year will be published in the 

 Transactions. 



The ceremony was performed on the 

 island of M'Benga, near Suva, by mem- 

 bers of the Nga Ngalita tribe, all of 

 whom are credited with being specially 

 gifted in the way of heat-resistance. 

 In the centre of a space cleared in a 

 coconut grove was a circular pit, about 

 20 feet in diameter and 2 feet in depth, 

 the earth from the centre being piled 

 round the periphery. Poles were placed 

 radiating from the centre, dry palm 

 fronds were placed on these and fire- 

 wood stacked above. Finally, large 

 stones were heaped on the top until the 

 whole pile was several feet in height. 

 The fire was lit about forty-eight hours 

 before the ceremony took place, and it 

 was kept fed with fresh supplies of 

 wood. Eventually the whole mass 

 glowed with a white heat ; it was 

 not comfortable to stand within a few 

 feet of it, and also it was dangerous, 

 as large splinters of stone flew far and 

 wide. 



As the hour for the exhibition ap- 

 proached, the natives brought green 



1 The interesting illustrations which accompany 

 this article have been reproduced from the Auckland 

 Weekly News and the Christchurch Weekly Press, 

 in which several other pictures of a similar remark- 

 able character are given. As several months would 



elapse before permission to use these illustrations could be obtained from 

 New Zealand, we have taken the liberty to reproduce two from the 

 periodicals mentioned. It would be a pity to delay bringing pictures of 

 such scientific interest before readers of Nature. — [Ed.] 



NO. 1728, VOL. 67] 



Fig. z. — On the burning leaves. Immediately after the fire-walking, green leaves were thrown or* 

 the hot stones. The fire-walkers then leaped back on to the leaves, which burned and gave off 

 great masses of smoke. In this illustration, the men can be seen dimly through the smoke. 

 (From the Christchurch Weekly Press.) 



"Now all is ready for the grand finale. The workers 

 step back. One of the men who is to walk comes out 

 for the examination by Drs. Smith and Fulton, of 



