’"Arise! awake!  O hosts of gods!  Let your feet take you to the ti-oven; fresh water and salt water come also.  Let the dark earth-worm and the light earth-worm go to the oven.  Let the redness and the shades of fire all go.  You will go; you will go to-night, and to-morrow it will be you and I; we shall go to the Uum-Ti.” (This is for the night.)

’When the ti-leaves are brought away, they must be tied up in a wand and carried straight to the oven, and opened when all are ready to pass through; then hold the wand forward and say: 

’"O men (spirits) who heated the oven! let it die out!  O dark earth-worms!  O light earthworms! fresh water and salt water, heat of the oven and redness of the oven, hold up the footsteps of the walkers, and fan the heat of the bed.  O cold beings, let us lie in the midst of the oven!  O Great-Woman-who-set-fire-to-the-skies! hold the fan, and let us go into the oven for a little while!” Then, when all are ready to walk in, we say: 

   “Holder of the first footstep! 
   Holder of the second footstep! 
   Holder of the third footstep! 
   Holder of the fourth footstep! 
   Holder of the fifth footstep! 
   Holder of the sixth footstep! 
   Holder of the seventh footstep! 
   Holder of the eighth footstep! 
   Holder of the ninth footstep! 
   Holder of the tenth footstep! 
   “O Great-Woman-who-set-fire-to-the-skies! all is covered!”

’Then everybody walks through without hurt, into the middle and around the oven, following the leader, with the wand beating from side to side.

’The Great-Woman-who-set-fire-to-the-skies was a high-born woman in olden times, who made herself respected by the oppressive men when they placed women under so many restrictions.  She is said to have had the lightning at her command, and struck men with it when they encroached on her rights.

’All the above is expressed in old Tahitian, and when quickly spoken is not easily understood by the modern listener.  Many of the words, though found in the dictionary, are now obsolete, and the arrangement of others is changed.  Oe and tana are never used now in place of the plural outou and tatou; but in old folk-lore it is the classical style of addressing the gods in the collective sense.  Tahutahu means sorcery, and also to kindle a fire.’

* * * * *

So far Miss Henry, on this occasion, and the archaic nature of the hymn, with the reference to a mythical leader of the revolt of women, deserves the attention of anthropologists, apart from the singular character of the rite described.  In the third number of the Journal (vol. ii.) the following editorial note is published: 

’Miss Tenira Henry authorises us to say that her sister and her sister’s little child were some of those who joined in the Uum-Ti ceremony referred to in vol. ii. p. 108, and in the preceding note, and actually walked over the red-hot stones.  The illustration of the performance given in the last number of the Journal, it appears, is actually from a photograph taken by Lieutenant Morne, the original of which Miss Henry has sent us for inspection.—­EDITOR.’

Corroborative Evidence