The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-10-22


third the length. with some irsoomfort.
but with absolute safety. Some % the
uppcrmort stones only were turned. icav-
Ing superior layer. the long poles bc-
Ing nccdiessly thrust down between the
stones TO the bottom, where two % them
Caught 1rc at their .xtramitics. adding
Very much 60 the impression that the
exposed layer OF stone was red hot.
when In fact they were not. at least 90
the eye. These long poles and the way
they were handled, were. then. part
OF the ingenious Staging of the waolo
spectacle.
Now the most impressive part OF the
ceremony began. Papa-Ita. tall. dlgnia-
ed fowor-crowned and dressed with gar
lands Of flowers, appeared with naked
feet and with large bush OF "'rr' leaves
In his hands. and. after going partly
around the fire each way. uttering what
seemed TO be commands TO 1t, went back
and. beating the stones nearest him
three times with the "Ti' leaves. I'D
vanced steadily, but with obviously hur-
ried step. directly over the central ridge
of the pile. Two disciples. similarly
dressed. followed him, but they had not
the courage to 20 so directly along the
heated center. They followed ABOUT half
way between the center and the ridge,
where the stones were manifesty cooler.
since | had satisfied myself that they
could he touched slightly with she hand.
Papa-Ita then turned and led the way
back this time with deliberate conf
dence, 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 Papa-1ta crossed with a
larger following. after which many Euro
peans present walked over the stones
without reference to the priests instru'-
tons. The natives were mostly in their
bare feet. One wore stockings. No Euro
pean attempted to walk in bare feet ox-
cept In one case. that of boy. who. 1
was told, found the stones too lot and
Immediately stepped back.
The mise en- scene was certainly note
worthy. The site near the great ocean
breaking on the barrier reefs, the cxcit-
ed crowd talking about red hot stones.
| the actual sight of the hieropnant and
| his acolytes making the passage along
the ridge where the occasional tongues
Of flame were seen at the center, with all
the attendant circumstances, made up a
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
| l secured Papa-Itas permission to re-
move from the middle of the pile, nae
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. 1t
was pulled out by my assistants with diff
ficulty as 1t proved to be larger than I
had expected, 1t being of ovoid shape
with the lower end in the hottest part oil
the fire. had brought over the largest
wooden bucket which the ship hal.
which was half filled with water, expect
ing that this would cover the stone, but
1t proved to be hardly enough. The
stone caused the water to rise nearly to
the top of the bucket, and 1t was thrown
into such violent ebullition that a great
deal of it boiled over and escaped weigh
| ing, The stone was an exceedingly bad
| conductor OF heat, for II continued TO
| boil the water for about twelve minutes,
when. the ebulition being nearly over,
1t was removed to the ship and the
amount of evaporated water measured.
Meanwhile Others as have said, hs-
gan to walk over the stones without any
reference to the ceremony prescribed BY
| Papa-Ita and three. or four persons,
whom ! personally knew on board the
ship, did so in shoes, the soles of which
were not burned at all. One of the gen.
| tlemen, however, who crossed over with
unburned shoes, showed me that the ends
of his trousers had been burned by iIe
| llllltS WnlCn lebptu up between tle
stones, and at all times added so much
to the impressiveness of the spectacle,
and there was no doubt that any one
who stumbled or got a foot caught be-
| tween the hot stones might have been
badly burned. United States Deputy
Consul Ducorran, who was present. re-
marked to me that he knew that Papa
tia had failed on a neiGnborlng islar,d,
with stones of a marble-lke quality, apn
No. gtT,, 10, s.,pt tia hAn - hoe No
saltic ones by seeing how long he could
remain on the hottest part of the Pile,
and he stood there in my sight from
eight to ten seconds before lie ie!t the
| heat through the In soles of his
shoes beginning to be unpleasantly
warm. ,f
a man present asked Papa-Ita why he
did not give an exhibit that would be
convincing by placing his foot even for
n few seconds, between two of the red
hot stones which could be seen glowing
at the bottom of the pile. to which Para
lta replied with dignity. "My fathers
did not tell him to do 1t that way" j
asked him If he would hold one of tile
smaller upper hot stones in his hand. lie
promised to do SO, but did not.
The outer barriers We're now removed
and crowd Of natives rasHd in. /,
who was taking these notes on the spot,
|
| stones around the edge of the pit We're
comparatively cold, although the center
was no doubt very hot. and those below
red hot. The real question is, l repeat.
| How hot We're those troddcn on? aud the
answer to this l was to try 10 obtain
after measuring the water boiled away.
On returning to the ship this was es,i.
| mated from the water which was left In
the bucket after allowing Tor that split
ed over at about ten pounds. Tha stone,
which, II will be remembered. was one
Of tie hottest in the pile was found 10
weigh sixty-iive pounds. and To have
evaporated this quantity of water. 1t
was, as have said. a volcan? stone,
and on minuter examination proved I
be vascular basalt. the most d.stinc-
tive feature of which Wa is porosity,
and non-conductibility, for il was subse-
quently found that II could have been
heated red hot at one end while remain
ing comparatively cool al the top.