The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-14

l
 heaped up into a mound three or fou
 layers deep, at which point the loves 1 layers seen between the upper one
 were visibly red hot. That these lat
 ter were nevertheless sending out con | siderable heat there could be no ques | tion, though the topmost stones wer' certainly not red hot, while those a l the bottom were visibly so and were | occasionally splitting with loud reports l while the flames from the burned woot
 near the center of the pile passed up ir
 visible lambent tongues, both circum
 stances contributing to the effect upor
 the excited by-standers. He continues
 The upper stones, I repeat, even where
 the topmost were presently removed
 did not show any glow to the eye, but | were unquestionably very hot, and cer- | tainly looked unsafe for naked feet Native feet, however, are not like Eu- | ropean ones and MT. Richardson, the chief engineer of the ship, mentioned | that he had himself seen elsewhere na- tives standing unconcerned with naked feet on the cover of piper conveying steam at about 300 degrees Fahrenheit where no European foot could even lightly rest for a minute. The stones then were hot. The crucial question was now how was the upper part of this layer on which the feet were to
 rest an instant in passing? I could
 think of ready thermometric method
 that could give an absolutely trustwor-
 thy answer, but I could possibly deter
 mine on the spot the thermal equiva-
 lent of one of the hotteststones trod-
 den on. It was subsequently, shown
 that the stone might be much cooler
 at one part than another.) Most ob-
 viously, evxen this was not an easy
 thing to do in the circumstances, but
 I decided to try to get at least trust
 worthy approximation. By the aid of
 Chief Engineer Richardson, who at
 tended with stoker and one of the
 quartermasters, kindly detailed at my
 request by the ships master, Captain
 Lawless, I prepared for the rough but
 conclusive experiment presently de-
 scribed.
 It was now nearly 4:40 o'clock, when
 six acolytes (natives), wearing crowns of flowers, wreathe dwith garlands and
 bearing poles nearly fifteen feet long,
 ostensibly to be used as levers in top
 bling over the upper stones, appeared. There were supposed to need such long poles because of the distance at which they must stand. on account of the heat radiated from the pile, but I had walked close beside it a moment before and satisfied myself that I could have manipulated the stones with a lever of one-third the length, with some dis comfort, but with entire safety. Some of the uppermost stones only were turn ed over, leaving a superior layer the long poles being needlessly thrust down between the stones to the bottom, where two of them caughtfire at their extremities, adding very much to the impression that the exposed layer of stones was red hot when in fact they were not, at least to the eye These long poles and the way they were han dled were, then, a part of the ingenious staging of the whole spectacle.
 Now the most impressive part of the ceremony began. Papa-Ita, tall, digni- fled, fiower-crowned and dressed with garlands of flowers, appeared with naked feet and with a large bush of 'Ti'' leaves in his hands, and, after go- ng partly around the fire each way, ut- | ,ering what seemed to be commands to | t. went back and, beating the stones l nearest him three timeswith the "Ti' l caves, advanced steadily, but with ob- yiously hurried step, directlyov CT the i central ridge of the pile. Two disciples, | dressed, followed him, but | hey had not the courage to do so di- 1 al t1,a hro toE tnp followed about halfway between the | 'enter and the edge, where the stones 1 were manifestly cooler, since I had sat | sfied myself that they could be touch d lightly with the hand. Papa-Ita hen turned and led the way back, this ime with deliberate confidence, follow d on his return by several new disci- ,les, most of them not keepin 2 exactly n the steps of the leader, but obvious y seeking cooler places. A third and ourth time Papa-Ita crossed with a arger following, after which many Flu opeans present walked over the stones without reference to the priests in tructions. The natives were mostly in heir bare feet. One wore stockings. yo European attempted to walk in bare eet except in one case, that of a boy, yho, I was told found the stones too ot and immediately stepped back
 The mise en scene was certainly note- ,orthy. The site, near the great ocean reaking on the barrier reefs, the ex- ited crowd talking about the Fred ot" stones, the actual sight of the ierophant and his acolytes making the assage along the ridge where the oc- asional tongues of flame were seen at ne center, with all the attendant cir made up a scene in no | -ay lackingin interest. Still, the essen- al question as to the actual heat of lese stones had not yet been answered. , nd after the fourth passage I secured | . apa -Ita's permission to remove, from l le middle of the pile one stone which | om it's size and position every foot ad rested upon in crossing, and which z as undoubtedly at least as hot as any 1e of those trodden on. It was pulled , 1t by my assistants with difficulty, as {
 proved to be larger than I had ex- | ,cted, it being of ovoid shape with the z wer end in the hottest part of the fire. : had brought over the largest wooden | < lcket which the ship had, and W tich l : as half filled with water, expecting at this would cover the stone, but it :, owed to be hardly enough The stone used the water to rise nearly to the ! D of the bucket, and 1t was thrown l .