4-2 8 The National Geographic Magazine 



perial gallons of fresh water at a tem- 

 perature of 20 Reamur (77° F.) was 

 provided, together with iron rakes from 

 the engineer's room. The firewood was 

 scarcely sufficient for a good heating; 

 the stones in the center and beneath 

 were, however, undoubtedly "red-hot." 

 The outer enclosure, surrounded by can- 

 vas walls, was about 120 feet by 60 feet. 



Mr. Ducarron, the U. S. Deputy Con- 

 sul, says that Papa-Ita tried to carr^^ on 

 his exhibition in another island at the 

 base of a hill composed of hard lime- 

 stones, from which he exclusively used 

 stone. (This was in Raiatea). 



The fire there, I am told, invariably 

 burned for 4 or 5 days before, and the 

 stones became coated with lime. I learn 

 that on one occasion, the French author- 

 ities having forbidden him to perform 

 in his usual place, he made the ' ' oven ' ' 

 of other stones, heating them for 36 

 hours. On attemping to cross, he walked 

 only part of the way and ran the rest. 

 His two disciples and a woman also ran 

 across, and the woman's feet were so 

 badly burned that she was laid up for a 

 week. The prophet and his disciples 

 declined to have their feet examined, 

 and cleared out of sight. For corrobo- 

 ration, Mr. Ducarron says I may refer 

 to M. Rousselot (address, Ministere des 

 Colonies, Paris). 



NOTES TAKEN ON THE SPOT WHILE 

 THE PERFORMANCE WENT ON 



At 4.40, when the priest came in, the 

 stones on the side of the pile would bear 

 to be touched by the hand. 



The aids began to turn the stones 

 over with long green poles which burned 

 at the ends. The upper stones were 

 none of them red-hot on top; the lower 

 ones, two layers deep, however, could 

 be seen to glow between the others, but 

 they, were only near red-hot in the 

 center. 



The old priest, Papa-Ita, beat the 

 near stones with a large bunch of Ti 



leaves three times, and then began to 

 walk through the middle rather hur- 

 riedly, followed by two acolytes, who 

 appeared to shun the hot central ridge, 

 and walked along the sides. Then he 

 walked back, followed by several; then 

 back once more with an increasing 

 crowd, most of whom avoided the center. 

 The horny-footed natives did the best. 

 One white boy took off his shoes, but 

 could not stand the heat upon his bare 

 feet, and stopped. At this point (z. e. , 

 after the second passage forward and 

 back), I had the hottest stone of the pile 

 in the center, on which the feet had cer- 

 tainly rested several times, hauled out 

 and placed in the water bucket. The- 

 stone was much larger than I had reck- 

 oned or wished. A trifle of the water 

 was spilled by the plunge, and the rest 

 boiled hard and continued to do so for 

 about 12 minutes. At the end of that 

 time the stone was still too hot to han- 

 dle, and I sent to the ship for a sack to 

 hold it, directing the remaining water to 

 be measured. It was a long stone ; the 

 lower part had been immersed in the 

 central fire, and it was certainly much 

 hotter than the average center stones. 

 During this time other persons walked 

 over the stones without special prepa- 

 ration, the disciples still dodging the 

 hot central line and following near the 

 cooler part. I asked Papa-Ita if he 

 could take upon his hand a small hot 

 stone near the center. He said he 

 would, but he did not. Next many 

 white persons walked over, stopping 

 long enough to lean over and lightly 

 and quickly touch the hottest stones 

 with their hands. Mr. Ducarron walked 

 to the center and stood there shifting 

 his feet (he had on thin shoes) from 

 stone to stone for about 10 seconds be- 

 fore finding it too hot to stay. 



After this the outer crowd was al- 

 lowed to come inside the barrier. It was 

 a capital exhibition of savage magic and 

 well worth seeing, but no miracle ! *" 

 *See Nature, August 22, 190 1. 



