New Britain herald., 1919-09-24
WHEN THE BOYS FROM TAHAT7
 RECEIVED THEIR WELCOME HOME

drums. A lookout man sweeps the horizon till he sees a big fish, and .the canoe rows for him. One of the
 steerers sharpens harpoon and
 passes it forward, and the fish Ca man
 dressed in red) is harpooned. There
 is tremendous time in pulling him
 in; he runs around and entangles the line among the bystanders and fin ally he gets a second harpoon in him, is hauled on board, and Gin panto-
 minc) cut up with an ax, dismem- bered, and eaten by the crew. Every body is in motion. but it is rather
 a pantomine than a dance.
 Tn the afternoon l went over to see preparations for the fire-walking. l Within a hundred yards of the ship a shallow pit is dug about 9 feet by 20 feet by 8 inches deep. This is to be filled with tireWoOd, and the stones heaped on the wood. These are smooth, Water-worn, volcanic stones of varying size, but all rather large and weighing, at q guess, from 15 to 50 pounds. The number of stones was about 200, and their aver age length about 15 inches. 'In preparation for the fire cere- mony, I took a tin ships measure full of fresh water This is to be used
 
 measures, a large wooden bucket or tub with fresh water, into which one of the smaller hot stones from the center of the fire is 70 be put after the ceremony.
 "The wooden bucket was provided, together with iron rakes from the engineers room. The firewood was scarcely sufficient for a good heating; the stones in the center and beneath were, however. undoubtedly 'red-hot.' The outer enclosure, surrounded by canvas walls, was about 120 feet by 60 feet
 The fire there, I am told, invaria- ply burned for or days before, and the stones became coated with lime. I learn that on one occasion, the French auth critics having forbid den the priest to perform in his usual place, he made the oven of other stones, heating them for 36 hours. On attempting to cross, he walked only part of the way and ran the
 rest His two disciples and a woman also ran across, and the womans
 feet were so badly burned that she was laid up for a week. The prophet and his disciples declined to have their feet examined, and cleared out of sight.
 "At 4:40, when the priest came in, the stones on the side of the pile would bear to be touched by the hand.
 "The aids began to turn the stones
 over with long green poles which burned at the ends. The upper stones were none of them red-hot on top; the lower ones, two layers deep, could be seen to glow between the others, but they were only near red-hot in l the center.
 'The old priest, Papa-Ita, beat the 1 near stones with a large bunch of
 ri leaves three times. and then be- | gan to walk through the middle
 rather hurriedly, followed by two acolytes, who appeared to shun the ] hot central ridge, and walked along l the sides. Then he walked back, i followed by several; then back once more with an increasing crowd, most of whom avoided the center. The horny-footed natives did the rest One white boy took off his shoes, but could not stand the heat upon his bare feet, and stopped.
 "At this point (i. e., after the sec ond passage forward and back), I l had the hottest stone Of the pile in | the center on which the feet had 1 certainly rested several times, hauled ! out and placed in the water bucket. 1 The stone was much larger than I l had reckoned or wished. A trif1e of
 the water was spilled hy the plunge,
 and the rest boiled hard and con- l tinued to do so for about 12 minutes 1 At the end of that time the stone was still too hot to handle, and I 1 sent to the ship for a sack to hold it,