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.