[In this Journal, vol. ii p. 105, Miss Teuira Henry
describes this ceremony as practised in Raiatea, of the
Society group. We have lately received from Colonel
Gudgeon the following account of his experiences in
walking barefooted across the glowing hot stones of a
native oven, made in Rarotonga by a man from Raiatea.
Since the date of the paper quoted, it has come to
light that the Maoris of New Zealand were equally
acquainted with this ceremony, which was performed by
their ancestors. On reading Colonel Gudgeon's account
to some old chiefs of the Urewera tribe, they expressed
no surprise, and said that their ancestors could also
perform the ceremony, though it has long gone out of
practice.--EDITORS.]
I must tell you that I have seen and gone through the fire
ceremony of the _Umu-ti_.
The oven was lit at about dawn on the 20th of January,
and I noticed that the stones were very large, as also
were the logs that had been used in the oven for heating
purposes.
About 2 P.M. we went to the oven and there found the
_tohunga_ (a Raiatea man) getting matters ready, and I
told him that, as my feet were naturally tender, the
stones should be levelled down a bit. He assented to this,
and evidently he had intended to do so, for shortly after,
the men with very long poles, that had hooks, began to
level the stones flat in the oven, which was some 12 ft.
in diameter. He then went with his disciple and pointed
to two stones that were not hot, and instructed him the
reason was that they had been taken from a _marae_, or
sacred place.
He then unwound two bundles, which proved to be branches
of a large-leaved _Ti_ (or _Dracæna_) plucked, it is said,
from two of these trees standing close together, and it
is said that the initiated can on such occasions see the
shadow of a woman with long hair, called _te varua kino_
(evil spirit), standing between the trees. The right-hand
branch is the first plucked, and it is said that the
branches bend down to be plucked.
So much for the Shamanism, and now for the facts.
The _tohunga_ (priest) and his _tauira_ (pupil) walked
each to the oven, and then halting, the prophet spoke a
few words, and then each struck the edge of the oven with
the _ti_ branches. This was three times repeated, and then
they walked slowly and deliberately over the two fathoms
of hot stones. When this was done, the _tohunga_ came
to us, and his disciple handed his _ti_ branch to Mr.
Goodwin, at whose place the ceremony came off, and they
went through the ceremony. Then the _tohunga_ said to Mr.
Goodwin, 'I hand my _mana_ (power) over to you; lead your
friends across.' Now, there were four Europeans--Dr. W.
Craig, Dr. George Craig, Mr. Goodwin, and myself--and I
can only say that we stepped out boldly. I got across
unscathed, and only one of the party was badly burned;
and he, it is said, was spoken to, but, like Lot's wife,
looked behind him--a thing against all rules.
I can hardly give you my sensations, but I can say this:
that I knew quite well I was walking on red-hot stones
and could feel the heat, yet I was not burned. I felt
something resembling slight electric shocks, both at the
time and afterwards, but that is all. I do not know that
I should recommend every one to try it. A man must have
_mana_ to do it; if he has not, it will be too late when
he is on the hot stone of Tama-ahi-roa.
I cannot say that I should have performed this wizard
trick had I not been one of the fathers of the Polynesian
Society, and bound to support the superiority of the New
Zealander all over Polynesia--indeed all over the world. I
would not have missed the performance for anything.
To show you the heat of the stones, quite half an hour
afterwards some one remarked to the priest that the stones
would not be hot enough to cook the _ti_. His only answer
was to throw his green branch on the oven, and in a
quarter of a minute it was blazing. As I have eaten a fair
share of the _ti_ cooked in the oven, I am in a position
to say that it was hot enough to cook it well.
I walked with bare feet, and after we had done so, about
200 Maoris followed. No one, so far as I saw, went through
with boots on. I did not walk quickly across the oven,
but with deliberation, because I feared that I should
tread on a sharp point of the stones and fall. My feet
also were very tender. I did not mention the fact, but
my impression as I crossed the oven was that the skin
would all peel off my feet. Yet all I really felt when
the task was accomplished was a tingling sensation not
unlike slight electric shocks on the soles of my feet, and
this continued for seven hours or more. The really funny
thing is that, though the stones were hot enough an hour
afterwards to burn up green branches of the _ti_, the very
tender skin of my feet was not even hardened by the fire.
Many of the Maoris thought they were burned, but they were
not--at any rate not severely.
Do not suppose that the man who directed this business was
an old _tohunga_. He is a young man, but of the Raiatea
family, who are hereditary fire-walkers.
I can only tell you it is _mana--mana tangata_ and _mana
atua_.
On this report a few remarks may be offered. (1) No preparation of
any chemical, herbal, or other sort was applied to the Europeans, at
least. (2) 'The handing over the _mana_' (or power) was practised
by Home, sometimes successfully (it is alleged), as when Mr. S.
C. Hall's scalp and white locks were unharmed by a red-hot coal;
sometimes unsuccessfully. A clergyman of my acquaintance still bears
the blister caused when he accepted a red-hot coal from the hand of
Home, as he informs--me by letter. (3) The 'walk' was shorter than
seems common: only 12 ft. (4 paces). (4) A friend of Colonel Gudgeon's
was badly burned, and the reason assigned was a good folklore reason,
since the days of Lot's wife, of Theocritus, and of Virgil: he looked
behind. (5) The feeling as if of 'slight electric shocks' is worthy
of notice. (6) Colonel Gudgeon clearly believes that a man without
_mana_ had better not try, and by _mana_, here, he probably means
'nerve.' As we can hardly suppose, in spite of Home, that _mana_,
in a supernormal sense, can be 'handed over' by one man to another,
Colonel Gudgeon's experience seems equally to baffle every theory of
'how it is done.' Perhaps we can all do it. People may make their own
experiments. Perhaps Colonel Gudgeon faced fire in a manner so unusual
as a result of Dr. Hocken's description of the Fijian rite at Mbenga,
an isle twenty miles south of Suva. This account was published in the
'Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxxi. 1898, having
been read before the Otago Institute on May 10, 1898, and is here
reprinted in full as follows:--