likeness by transmission, were the ceremony not almost as like the rite of the Hirpi.  For the Tongan fire-ritual, the source is The Polynesian Society’s Journal, vol. ii.  No. 2. pp. 105-108.  My attention was drawn to this by Mr. Laing, writing from New Zealand.  The article is by Miss Tenira Henry, of Honolulu, a young lady of the island.  The Council of the Society, not having seen the rite, ’do not guarantee the truth of the story, but willingly publish it for the sake of the incantation.’  Miss Henry begins with a description of the ti-plant (Dracaena terminalis), which ‘requires to be well baked before being eaten.’  She proceeds thus: 

’The ti-ovens are frequently thirty feet in diameter, and the large stones, heaped upon small logs of wood, take about twenty-four hours to get properly heated.  Then they are flattened down, by means of long green poles, and the trunks of a few banana-trees are stripped up and strewn over them to cause steam.  The ti-roots are then thrown in whole, accompanied by short pieces of ape-root (Arum costatum), that are not quite so thick as the ti, but grow to the length of six feet and more.  The oven is then covered over with large leaves and soil, and left so for about three days, when the ti and the ape are taken out well cooked, and of a rich, light-brown colour.  The ape prevents the ti from getting too dry in the oven.

’There is a strange ceremony connected with the Uum Ti (or ti-oven), that used to be practised by the heathen priests at Raiatea, but can now be performed by only two individuals (Tupua and Taero), both descendants of priests.  This ceremony consisted in causing people to walk in procession through the hot oven when flattened down, before anything had been placed in it, and without any preparation whatever, bare-footed or shod, and on their emergence not even smelling of fire.  The manner of doing this was told by Tupua, who heads the procession in the picture, to Monsieur Morne, Lieutenant de Vaisseau, who also took the photograph {163} of it, about two years ago, at Uturoa, Raiatea, which, being on bad paper, was copied off by Mr. Barnfield, of Honolulu.  All the white residents of the place, as well as the French officers, were present to see the ceremony, which is rarely performed nowadays.

’No one has yet been able to solve the mystery of this surprising feat, but it is to be hoped that scientists will endeavour to do so while those men who practise it still live.

Tupua’s Incantation used in Walking Over the Uum-Ti.—­Translation

’Hold the leaves of the ti-plant before picking them, and say:  “O hosts of gods! awake, arise!  You and I are going to the ti-oven to-morrow.”

’If they float in the air, they are gods, but if their feet touch the ground they are human beings.  Then break the ti-leaves off and look towards the direction of the oven, and say:  “O hosts of gods! go to-night, and to-morrow you and I shall go.”  Then wrap the ti-leaves up in han (Hibiscus) leaves, and put them to sleep in the marae, where they must remain until morning, and say in leaving: