Evening Star Newspaper, December 7, 1930, Page 95

i BAFFLING MYSTERY OF THE FI % Arthur Pillsbury, naturalist and sgientist. BY JOHN PRESTON. CIENCE has failed in an effort to solve the mystery of a savage pageant of the South Seas kmown as the Fire Dance. Just why a certain tribe of Fijians are able to walk barefoot, without discomfort, on rocks s0 hot as to scorch the fingers of a eurious and perhaps doubtful white man is a question that defied a carefully prepared in- guiry. " It was Arthur C. Pillsbury of Berkeley, Calif., noted naturalist and creator of the X-ray mo- tion picture in medical research, who conducted the expedition to the tiny island of Mbengha the Fiji group, near Suva. Pillsbury had fragmentary tales of the strange Fire Dance, but he longed to view it and to test E . He not only watched forms of the savage dancers, but he photographed the Fire Dance. across the scorching hot rocks. ‘The photographs bore out his own findings: The feet of the dancers were not even seared! 5 ; ; i : in one’s ability to tread on rocks blistering hot without harm or even discomfort. Without faith, it could not be done. The dancer would Pilisbury went into an exhaustive research of religious investigator might watch and test and question %0 his heari's content. Which was exactly what did. Pilisbury ¢ Always the results were the same—a blank ‘wall! g Ill other countries where fire walking is prac- ticed today, the origin and meaning of the custom has been lost in antiquity. It is said $o survive, to some extent, in India, Straits Settlements, Trinidad and Tahiti. While the ' ritual varies in different lands, it is essentially the same. Priests, fakirs, devotees walk bare- foot over hot stones or ashes. It was preity well established that fire walk- ing as practiced in Tahiti was little mare than fication or enjoyment of tourists. Contrast this performance with that of the dark-skin- ded PFijians, where no fakery ever has been detected Said the Hindu Code of Manu: *“He whom the flame does not burn is to be Saken as truthful in his oath.” has faith shall not be harmed by the God of Fire.” Indeod, the fire dance is a danpe of faith a4 d AR S THE. SUNDAY (RN Walking Barefooi - Over Hot Rocks, Without Burning orByli;tering the Feet, StillIs the Greatest I'aith Test for Fiji Islanders. Nor ¥an the oldest tribesman tell of a cer- tainty just what the great favor was, although he will spin & yarn if a yarn is desired. ‘The fact remains, however, that ‘the legend has per- sisted up-through the ages. Whether it is a remnant of some ancient Hindu law, or whether the ancient Hindu law is an outgrowth of a still more ancient custom of the South Sea savages, is a problem for anthropologists to puzzle over. The legend is that the god, desiring to repay the chief’s favor, said: - “From now on until the end of all things, you shall be free from the pains of fire, and your children’s children shall also Be free, if they walk the fire with faith.” So the god showed the chief just how to prove faith by the ordeal of the hot rocks, which in after years developed inte the pic- turesque fire dance, “ A PIT perhaps 17 feet wide is dug in the © 7 earth,” related Pillsbury. “This hollow is filled with wood and a fire started. The fire is permitted to burn until the pit becomes a blazing inferno. “As the flames mount upward tribesmen toss rocks into the pit, a few at a time so as not to disturb the fire. The rocks gradually become glowing hot. “When the heat of the rocks reaches the de- sired point and the dance is about to begia, the savages reach into the pit with long pliable roots and looped like hairpins and jerk out all loose limbs. These would impede the progress of the dancers. “Now the pit presents a glowing surface of hot rocks, not unlike a gigantic charcoal brazier. Below the rocks the fire still burns, and the smoke creeps upward betweea thera. The rocks are terrifically hot. * «Mr effort to pick up one of them half an hour after the dance resulted in scorched fingers. “I tossed bits of wood onto the rocks and watched them reduced to ashes within a few minutes. d “The rhythmic beat of tom-toms marks the beginning of the dance. It is the barbaric or- chestral prelude to this strange rite. “Next the dancers come bursting from a nearby wood. They are garbed in gorgeous tribal costumes, fashioned from thin strips of some sort of bark and colored. Their bodies swaying in harmony with the mative drums, they advance to the edge of ‘the smoking pit. “If the white man will take my . the will be able to walk the rocks. withous injury phatically declined. o STAR, WASHINGTON, ' D. said ' . ) Vil L TR S BT S MY § 3 1 C. DECEMBER 7, 1930, 1 (0} (o ¢ Charred limbs whick might trip the dancers are cleared from the smoldering furnace under the direction of the chief, who may be seen in the background of this picture. “Here the chief bids the dancers halt. He tact with the rocks. I savages.. ¥t has always been dong; it is done today. - - “One of the dancers caught my attention through an exceptional grace of movement. Through my interpreter I pointed this dancer out to the chief, and was amazed to learn that I had been watching “She came off with flying colors, too, fust as did the men.” 1f this was a surprise to Pilisbury he was due for a greater one. RBefore the twigs were cast upom the hot rocks the chief offered to lead him across that blistering surface. “If' the white man will take my hand,” said the chief through the interpreter, “and have great faith, he will b> able to walk the rocks without injury. He would be the first white man to accomplish this feat.” P!LISBU‘RY politely but emphatically de- : clined. In the beginning his trained mind had suspected trickery, and he had invesii- gated the rocks very carefully. They were hotter than the surface of a kitchen range at dinner time. His faith, therefore, was not equal to the test. Sorrowfully, but very prompt- ly, he declined the honor. Now that the dance was ended, Pillsbury went about the business of examining the soles of the dancers’ feet. Permission to do this was readily granted by the chief. In fact, ne ob- stacles were placed in the way of Pilisbury's investigation. He was welcome to make any test his mind might devise. His examination told him nothing. He knew that even tough skin will scorch, as will leather or green hide. But there was not the slightest mark on any one of those dark-skinned feet to .indicate that they had, but a moment be- fore, walked on rocks hot enough to burn a : S NOWING my story would _some quarters with an uplifting brows, I photographed the ' Walking through fire is a very ancient ordeal, and many variations of the practice have beem known. None of the recorded incidents, how ever, served to throw any light on the Mbengha incidents pbserved by Pillsbury. " of them are legendary, and no actual data can ¥ had. But in many cases a fake appears likely, , Bulgaria fire walkers called Nistarines stilt i g