Port of Spain, Trinidad, B.W.I., June 8, 1897. You referred some time ago to the fire-walkers. I have seen some of these gents performing quite recently, and got an explanation from a coolie customer of ours who watched the business with me. It seems they rub themselves with an oil, made from the root of the tabicutch (don't know the Latin name), which has the property of producing profuse sweat, and the two combine, causing an oily covering which warms very slowly and is difficult to dry up by heat. But even then it is essential that the men be good Stoics. I give the explanation for what it is worth, but saw the preparation myself, and had some of the stuff scraped off a man, who was ready for the rite, put it on a piece of tin and held it in the fire, and it certainly neither dried up nor got hot in a hurry. It is clear that this explanation does not explain several of the cases wherein no anointing is used. We can only agree with Dr. Hocken that the performances deserve the study of physiologists and physicians. The explanation of Iamblichus, 'they walk on fire unharmed,' is that 'the god within them does not let fire harm them.' This implies that an exalted psychical condition of the performers secures their immunity. But in the cases where Europeans bore a part, and even in Dr. Hocken's examination of the natives, there was no sign of other than the normal mental condition. As fresh evidence comes in, it is perhaps not impossible that science will interest herself in the problem. [1] _G. B_. iii. 307, 308, citing _Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie_ (1896), pp. 193-195. [2] _G. B_. iii. 311, 312; Strabo, xii. 2-7, for Castabala in Cappadocia; Virgil, _Æn_. xi. 784; and Servius's Commentary. [3] _Primitive Culture_, ii. p. 281. [4] _Ibid._ ii. p. 429. [5] _Ibid._ i. p. 85. [6] See note at end of chapter. [7] _Studies in Psychical Research_, pp. 58-59. [8] Dr. Dozous timed the 'miracle.' Boissarie, _Lourdes_, p. 49. [9] I have not seen this account. [10] See also Mr. Thomson's _South Sea Yarns._ [11] I would now withdraw the suggestion in the light of recent evidence. [12] _The Field_, May 20, 1899, p. 724. [13] _Polynesian Journal_, vol. ii. No. 2, pp. 105-108. [14] Serv. _Æneid_, vii. 800. [15] _Annales des Sciences Psychiques_, July-August, 1899. [16] In the _Wide World Magazine_ (December 1899), a Japanese lady describes the performance witnessed by Colonel Haggard, already cited. APPENDIX A MR. TYLOR'S THEORY OF BORROWING