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Show FIRE-WALKERS IN TAHiTI Performance Hard to Explain, But of Its Genuineness There Can Sa Little Doubt. An interesting feature of the celebration cele-bration of the French national holiday holi-day in Tahiti was a fire-walkirjg performance, per-formance, given by several of the natives na-tives of Eaiatea, an island a hundred and forty miles away. These people were darker than the olive-hued Ta-hitians, Ta-hitians, and their general appearance appear-ance suggested that they were not of pure Polynesian blood. A square pit, sixteen by twelve feet, had previously been dug, and for two days a fire had been burning burn-ing in it. The bottom of the pit was covered vrith logs, and stones were piled over these.,, more fuel was added, and the whole lighted! The first fire-walker carried in his hand what looked like a wand of green. Approaching the pit he began muttering mut-tering a prayer, or incantation ; then, unwinding from about the wand a withe, it fell apart as a bunch of ti, or dracaena leaves. With these he struck the edge of the pit, walked barefooted slowly across the stones, holding the ti branch upright up-right before him. After repeating the muttering and tho blow with the leaves each time, be walked back and forth a number of times. He was later joined .by another man, and thon by a woman, who went through the same performance. Some of the skeptical young Americans sprang into the pit, but they had to confess that the stones felt very hot through the soles of their shoes ; and leaves later thrown in, took fire. From Sophia Bledsoe Bled-soe Horrick's "A Summer Festival in Tahiti," in Century. |