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National Geographic : 1950 Jul
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The National Geographic Magazine London News Agency Photos, Ltd. Fiji Fire Walkers Are Set To Baffle Onlookers with a Ceremonial "Hotfoot" With long poles the Mbengga tribesmen turn and stir white-hot rocks before filing across them barefoot. Ashes and charcoal are raked off the stones after burning about ten hours (page 127). To convince skeptics, a handkerchief is dropped into the pit, and instantly consumed, just before the performance begins. offered to Britain, and this time was accepted. The Deed of Cession was signed near Levuka in 1874.* Today the seat of the Government is at Suva, with a governor as head of the adminis tration. He is advised by an executive council, and there is also a legislative council of 32 members, including Europeans, Fijians, and Indians. As a full moon rose like a great yellow cheese above the lip of Levuka harbor, I thought of the old-time pirates who had un furled their sails here. I could almost fancy I saw the daring, handsome Bully Hayes, most spectacular of all Pacific pirates, step ashore, immaculate in white suit, girded with a scarlet silk sash, his long yellow locks hiding the stump of the ear which had been cut off when he was caught cheating at cards in the Cali fornia gold fields. Palolo Worms Arrive on Schedule An elderly scientist at Levuka gave me my first factual information about the mysterious sea worm, palolo, which rises from the sea twice yearly in certain localities. The scientific term for this tropical organism * See "British Commonwealth of Nations: 'Organ ized Freedom' Around the World," by Eric Under wood, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, April, 1943. 128
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