The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-02-01
PAPA TIA THE FIRE WALKER.

The Smithsonian Institution has latel!
issued pamphlet on the Fire Walk Ger
emory in Tahiti, of which Papa tia
who is we'll known in Honolulu, is the
hierophant. References are made in the
| the article, which follows, to the fire
walking experiment here. The author
of the brochure is S. P. Langley:
The very remarkable description of the
fire walk collected by Mr.. Andrew Lang
and others had aroused a curiosity in
me to witness the original ceremony
which have lately been able to crafty
] in visit to Tahiti
| Among these notable accounts is one
| by Colonel Gudgeon, British resident al
| Raratonga, describing the experiment
| by a man from Raiatea, and also a like
account of the Fiji fire ceremony from
DR.. T. NJ. Hocken, whose article is also
quoted in Mr.. Lang's paper on the Fire
Walk in the Proceedings of the Soci-
ETY. for Psychical Research, February,
1900. This extraordinary rite is also de-
scribed by Mr.. Fraser in the Golden
BOugh, and by others.
1 had heard that it was performed in
Tahiti in 1897, and several persons there
assured me of their having seen. it, and
one of them of his having walked
through the fire himself under the guild
ance of the priest, Papa-Ita, who is
said to be one of the last remnants or
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 partlc
ulars with those in the accounts al
ready cited. According to these, pit
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 cere-
mony, so as to leave the lower stones
to tread upon, and over these, glowing
red-hot" according to the newspaper
aecounts). Papa-Ita had walked with
naked feet. exciting such enthusiasm
that he was treated with great consid-
Grafton by the whites, and by the ma
tiyes as a god. 1 found it 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 in
structions were exactly followed. Here
IN Tahiti, where he had walked four
years before, it was generally believed
among the natives, and even among
The Europeans present who had seen
the ceremony, that if anyone turn
I'd to look back he Immediately was
burned, and 1 was told that all those
who followed him through the fire
we're expected not to turn until they
1ad reached the other side III safety,
when he again entered the fire and led
hem back by the path by which they
lad come. I was further told by sew
raj who had tried it that the heat was
lot felt upon the feet, and that when
hoes were worn the soles We're not
,urned (for those who followed the
priests directions). but it was added
w all that much heat was felt about
he head.
Such absolutely extraordinary ac-
cunts Of the performance had been
,iven to me by respectable eyewit'
esses and sharers in the trial, confirm
no those given in Hawaii, and, in the
oain. the cases cited by Mr.. Lang, that
could not doubt that if all these were
erified by my own observation, 1t
rouId mean nothing less to me than
departure from the customary order
f nature and something very well
yorth seeing indeed.
7 was glad, therefore, to meet per-
onally the priest, Papa-Ita. He is the
nest looking native that I have seen; t
all dignified in bearing, with unusu- Z
lly Intelligent features. 1 learned from