The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-14
EYRE WALKING" IN TAHITI
PROFESSOR LANGLEY OF THE
 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE
Says the Ceremony is Not Mirncu-
 lous.

lous
 Professor S. P. Langley of the Smith
 sonian Institute at Washington, senu
 to Mature" an exceedingly interesting
 lette- on the subject of the cernony Q.
 the Fire Walk" in Tahiti. He says
 the very remarkable descriptions If the
 Fire Walk" collected by Andrew Lang
 and others had aroused curiosity 1T
 him to witness the original ceremony
 and this he was lately able to gratify
 In "a visit to Tahiti.
 Among these notable accounts re-
 ferred to by Professor Langley is one
 by Colonel Gudgeon, British resident al
 Raratonga, describing the experiment.
 by man from Raiatea, and also like
 account of the Fiji fire ceremony from
 Dr. T. M Hocken, whose article IS
 also quoted in MT. Lang's paper on the
 Fire Walk,' in the Proceedings ot
 the Society for Psychical Research
 February, 1900. This extraordinary rite
 is also described by MT. Fraser in "The
 Golden Bough," and by others.
 Professor Langley says:
 had heard that it was performed in Tahiti in 1s97 and several persons there assured me of their having seen it, and one of them of his having walk
 ed through the fire himself under the guidance of the priest Papa-Ita, who is said to be one of the last remnants of a certain order of the priesthood Of Raiatea, and who had also performed the rite at the island of Hawaii some time in the present year, of which cir cumstantial newspaper accounts were given, agreeing in all essential particu- lars with those in the accounts already city. According to these, ap it was dug in which large stones were heated red hot by a fire which had been burning many hours. The upper stones were pushed away just before the ceremony, 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 consideration by the whites, and by then atives as god found 1t commonly believed in Tahiti that any one who chose to walk after him, European or native, could do so in safety, secure in the magic which he exercises, if his instructions were ex- actly followed. Here in Tahiti, where he had walked" four years before, it was genrally believed among the na- lives, and even among the Europeans present who had seen the ceremony, that if any one turned around to look back he immediately was burned, and 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 1t that the heat was not felt upon the feet, and that when shoes were worn the soles were not burned (for those who follow ed the priests directions), 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 by respectable eye witness es and sharers in the trial confirming those given in Hawaii. and, in the main, the cases cited by MT. Lang, that ] I could not doubt that if all these were verified by my own observation, it ! would mean nothing less to me than a departure from the customary order of Nature, and something very we'll worth 1 the seeing, indeed.
 I was glad, therefore, to meet person. , ally the priest, Papa-Iita. He is the { finest looking native that I have seen; tall, dignif1ed in bearing, with unusual y intelligent features. I learned from Jim that he would perform the cere- nony on Wednesday, July 1T, the day before the sailing of our ship I was 'eady to provide the cost of the fire, if 1e could not obtain it otherwise, but his proved to be unnecessary.
 Papa-Ita himself spoke no English, ind I conversed with him briefly through an interpreter. He said that le walked over the hot stones without Ianger by virtue of spells which he was ble to utter and by the aid of a god- less tor devil, as my interpreter had D, who was formerly native of the stands. The spells, he said, were some hing which he could teach another vas told by others that there was till older priest in the Island of saiatea, whose disciple he was, al- hough he had pupils of his own, and hat he could "send his spirit to saiatea to secure the permission of his enior priest if necessary. In answer to my inquiry as to what , separations he was going to make for f he rite in the two or three days before Z :, he said he was going to pass them l prayer f The place selected for the ceremony f was not far from the ship. r went there at noon and found that a Y lrge shallow pit or trench had been q ug, about nine feet by twenty one feet e nd about two feet deep. Lying near f y was a. pile containing some cords of r ,ugh wood, and a pile of rounded wa l. IT, worn. stones, weighing, I should I link, from forty to eighty pounds h piece They were, perhaps, two bun V red in number, and all of porous t asalt, a feature the importance of D hich will be seen later The wood was e aeed in the trench, the fire was light t. and the stones heaped on it, as I il as told, directly after I left, or at q bout 12 o'clock. W At 4 o'clock Professor Langley went i, Ter again aund found the preparations ti ,ry nearly complete. The fire had t 'enb urning for nearly four hours. b he outer stones touched the ground u fly at the edges of the pile, where they W