The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-28
SCIENCE AND FIREWALKING
PROF. LANGLEY DECIDES THAT
 THERE IS NO MIRACLE IN 1T.
Ills Account of the Performance ms Inc Saw it i'm Tahiti in 1s97-A Peculiar tty of the nRed-H Hoto Stones That Were Walked on Barefoot,

saw lL HI IenlII III loJt-h FocuiAuE
 tty of the nRed-Hot" stones Tha
 Were Walked on Barefoot.
 had heard that 1t was performed ir
 Tahiti in 1897, and several persons there
 assured me of their having seen it. ane
 one of them of his having walked
 through the fire himself under the guid
 ance of the priest, Papa-Ita, who is
 said to be one of the last remnants o1
 a certain order of the priesthood o1
 Ralatea, and who had also performed
 the rite at the island of Hawaii some
 time in the present year. A pit was
 dug in which large stones were heated
 red hot by fire which had been
 burning many hours. The upper. stones
 were pushed away just(before the cere-
 mony, so as to leave the lower stones
 to tread upon, and over these, glowing
 red hot (according to the newspaper
 accounts), Papa-Ita had walked with
 naked feet, exciting such enthusiasm
 that he was treated with great consid-
 eration by the whites, and by the na-
 tives as god.
 l found it commonly believed in Ta-
 hiti that any one who chose to walk af-
 ter him, European or native, could do
 So in safety, secure in the magic which
 he exercises, if his instructions were
 exactly followed. Here in Tahiti,
 where he had walked" four years be-
 fore, it was generally believed among
 the natives, and even among the Eu- ropeans present who had seen the cer- emony that if any one turned around to look back he immediately was burned, and I was told that all those who followed him through the fire were expected not to turn until they reached the other side in safety, when he again entered the fire and led them back by the path by which he had come I was further told by several who had tried it that the heat was not felt upon the feet, and that when shoes were worn the soles were not burned (for those who followed the priests di- rectins) but it was added by all that much heat was felt about the head
 Such absolutely extraordinary ac- counts of the performance had been given to me that I could not doubt that if all these were verified by my own ob- servation, it would mean nothing less to me than departure from the custo- mary order of nature, and something very we'll worth the seeing, indeed.
 Papa-Ita Is the flnest-lool1ing native that have seen; tall, dignified in bear ing, with unusually intelligent features. I learned from him that he would per form the ceremony on Wednesday, June 1T, the day before the sailing of our ship. Papa-Ita himself spoke no English, and I converted with him briefly through an interpreter. He said that he walked over the hot stones, without danger by virtue of spells which he was able to utter. and by the aid of goddess Cor devil as my had it) who was formerly a native of the islands. The spells, he said, were something which he could | teach another. I was told by others that there was a still older priest in the | island of Ralatea, whose disciple he was, although he had pupils of his own, and that he could send his spirit" to Ralatea to secure the permission of his senior priest if necessary. In an swer to my inquiry as to what prepa ration he was going to make for the | rite in the two or three days before it, he said he was going to pass them in prayer.
 The place selected for the ceremony | fortunately was not far from the ship. [ went there at noon and found that a large shallow pit or trench had been dug, about nine feet deep. Lying near l by was a pile containing some cords of rough wood, and pile of rounded wa ter worn stones, weighing, l should think, from forty to eighty-four pounds apiece They were, perhaps, two hum fred in number, and all of porous ba- salt, feature the importance of which will be seen later. The wood was placed in the trench, the fire was ighted and the stones heaped on it, as
 was told, directly after I left, or at lbout twelve o'clock. (At four o'clock Professor Langley went over again and ound the preparations very nearly 
 Native feet are not like European mes, and MT. Richardson, the chief en- ,ineer of the ship, mentioned that he lad himself seen elsewhere natives landing, unconcerned, with naked feet | n the cover of pipes conveying steam t about three hundred degrees Fah- enheit, where no European foot could ven lightly rest for minute. The tonee, then, were hot The crucial uestion was, how hot was the upper ! art of this layer on which the feet ,ere to rest an instant in passing? I ould think of no ready thermometric 1ethod that could give an absolutely answer but I could possi- ly determine on the spot the tehrmal | quivalent of one of the hottest stones i ,odden on. It was subsequently, S hown that the stone might be much $ ooler at one part than another.) Most bviously, even this was not an easy ling to do in the circumstances, but decided to try to get at least trust [ orthy approximation. By the aid of hief Engineer Richardson, who at nded with a stoker and one Of the ' kindly detailed by the ' lips master, Captain Lawless, I pre- c ared for the rough but conclusive ex- sriment presently described. It was now nearly 4:40 o'clock, when ' x acolytes (natives) wearing crowns
 flowers, wreathed with garlands and V caring poles nearly fifteen feet long, Il tensibly to be used as levers in top ing over the upper stones, appeared. hey were supposed to need such long lies because of the distance at which " ev ml1St stand on acpOunt 0f the heat | II