The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-28
a part of the ingenious staging" of the whole Spactaclnl

whole spectacle.
 Now the most impressive part of the
 ceremony began. Papa-Ita, tall, dig
 nified, fiower-crowned and dressed witt
 garlands of flowers, appeared with na-
 ked feet and with a large bush of TIT
 leaves in his hands, and, after going
 partly around the fire each way, utter
 Ing what seemed to be commands to 1t
 went back and, beating the stones
 nearest him three times with the "Ti'
 leaves, advanced steadily, but with ob-
 viously hurried step directly over the
 central ridge of the pile. Two disci-
 pies, similarly dressed. followed him.
 but they had not the courage to do SC
 directly along the heated center. They
 followed about halfway between the
 center and the edge. where the stones
 were manifestly cooler, since I had sat
 isfed myself that they could be touched
 slightly with the hand. Papa-Ita then
 turned and led the way back, this time
 with deliberate confidence, followed on
 his return by several new disciples,
 most Of them not keeping exactly in
 the steps of the leader, but obviously
 seeking cooler places. A third and
 fourth time PaDa-Ita crossed with a
 larger following, after which many Eu-
 ropeans present walked over the stones
 without reference to the priests in-
 structions The natives were mostly in their bare feet. One wore stockings. No European attempted to walk in
 bare feet except in one case, that of boy, who, I was told, found the stones too hot and immediately stepped back
 The mise in scene was certainly note
 worthy. The site near the great ocean
 breaking on the barrier reefs, the exci-
 ted crowd. talking about the fred hot"
 stones, the actual sight Of the hiero-
 Dhant and his acolytes making the passage along the ridge where the oc- casional tongues of flame were seen at the center, with all the attendant cir cumstances, made up scene in no way lacking in interest. Still, the essential question as to the actual heat Of these stones had not yet been answered, and after the fourth passage I secured Papa-Ita's permission to remove. from the middle Of the pile, one stone which from it's size and position every foot had rested upon in crossing, and which was undoubtedly at least as hot as any one of those trodden on. It was pulled out by my assistants with difficulty, as it proved to be larger than I had ex- pected, 1t being of ovid shape with the lower end in the hottest part of the fire. I had brought over the largest part nf the fire. I had brought over the largest wooden bucket which the ship had, which was hals filled with water. ex- pecting that this would cover the stone but it proved to be hardly enough. The stone caused the water to rise nearly to the top of the bucket, and it was great deal of it boiled over and es- caped weighing. The stone was an ex- ceedingly bad conductor of heat, for it continued to boil the water for about twelve minutes. the ebulition beipg nearly over, it was removed to the ship and the amount of evaporated water 
 Meanwhile others as have said, be- | gan to walk over the stones without 1 any reference to the ceremony pre- 1 scribed by Papa-Tta,, and three or four | persons, whom I personally knew on 1 board the ship, did so in shoes, the soles
 
 of the gentlemen, however who crossed | over With unburned shoes showed me that the ends of his trousers had been turned by the flames which leaped up between the stones, and at all times added so much to the impressiveness If the spectacle, and there was no 1 loubt that any one who stumbled or got foot caught between the hot ,tones might have been badly burned. United States Deputy Consul Ducorran, who was present, remarked to me that ne knew that Papa-Ita had failed on a ,eighboring island, with stones of a quality. and he offered to est the heat of these basaltic ones by ,eeing how long he could remain on the hottest part of the pile, and he stood nere in my sight from eight to ten sec ,nds before he felt the heat through the hin soes of his shoes beginning to be warm.
 A man present asked Papa-Ita why le did not give an exhibit that would ,e convincing by placing his foot even or few seconds, between two of the ed lot stones which could be seen . lowing at the bottom Of the pile. to i which Papa-Ita replied with dignity. , My fathers did not tell me to do it that , ray." I asked him if he would hold ne of the smaller upper hotstones in . is hand. He promised to do so. but z id not. z The outer barriers were now removed nd crowd of natives pressed in. I, ' 'ho was taking these notes on the spot, t ,ft, after assuring myself that the r tones around the edge of the pit wer, ] cold, although the center ' 'as no doubt very hot and those below r ei hot. The real question is, I repeat, r low hot were those trodden on? and f ne answer to this I was to try to oh- \ lin after measuring the water boiled \ way. a On returning to the ship this was es- | mated from the water which was left k
 the bucket (after allowing for that k billed over) at about ten pounds. The o one, which. it will be remembered, a as one of the hottest, if not the hot. N st. in the pile, was found to weigl. xty-five pounds and to have evapora e d this quantity Of water. It was aa IT lave said. volcanic stone. and on II inuter examination proved to be a e ,sicular basalt, the most distinctive s1 oture Of which was it's porosity and u le- -conductiblity, for it was subse- IT lently found that 1t could have been d