t any preparation whatever
on their feet, and without injury or discomfort from the heated stones.
There was not even the smell of fire on their garments.'

* * * * *

Mr. N. J. Tone, in the same periodical (ii. 3,193), says that he arrived
just too late to see the same rite at Bukit Mestajam, in Province
Wellesley, Straits Settlements; he did see the pit and the fire, and
examined the naked feet, quite uninjured, of the performers. He
publishes an extract to this effect from his diary. The performers, I
believe, were Klings. Nothing is said to indicate any condition of
trance, or other abnormal state, in the fire-walkers.

The Fire-walk in Trinidad.

Mr. Henry E. St. Clair, writing on September 14. 1896, says: 'In
Trinidad, British West Indies, the rite is performed annually about this
time of the year among the Indian coolie immigrants resident in the small
village of Peru, a mile or so from Port of Spain. I have personally
witnessed the passing, and the description given by Mr. Ponder tallies
with what I saw, except that, so far as I can remember, the number of
those who took part in the rite was greater than six. In addition, there
is this circumstance, which was not mentioned by that gentleman: each of
the "passers" carried one or two lemons, which they dropped into the fire
as they went along. These lemons were afterwards eagerly scrambled for
by the bystanders, who, so far as I can recollect, attributed a healing
influence to them.'

Bulgarian Fire-walk

As to the Bulgarian rite, Dr. Schischmanof writes to me:

'I am sure the observance will surprise you; I am even afraid that you
will think it rather fantastic, but you may rely on my information.
The danse de feu was described long ago in a Bulgarian periodical by
one of our best known writers. What you are about to read only
confirms his account. What I send you is from the Recueil de Folk
Lore, de Litterature et de Science (vol. vi. p. 224), edited, with my
aid and that of my colleague, Mastov, by the Minister of Public
Instruction. How will you explain these hauts faits de l'extase
religieuse? I cannot imagine! For my part, I think of the
self-mutilations and tortures of Dervishes and Fakirs, and wonder if
we have not here something analogous.'

The article in the Bulgarian serial is called 'The Nistinares.' The word
is not Bulgarian; possibly it is Romaic.

The scene is in certain villages i