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ellis : hawaii
journal,
1825
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Also see:
1830
Rev.William
Ellis : Surf-riding
in
the Society and Sandwich Islands.
Extracts from Polynesian
Researches
Fisher, Son and
Jackson, London, 1831. Volume IV Pages 368 to 372.
Before we left Karuaokalani, the inhabitants pointed out to us a spot called Maukareoreo, the place of a celebrated giant of that name, who was one of the attendants of Umi, king of Hawaii, about twelve generations back; and who, they told us, was so tall, that he could pluck the cocoa nuts from the trees as he walked along; and when the king was playing in the surf, where it was five or six fathoms deep, would walk out to him without being wet above his loins; and when he was in a canoe, if he saw any fish lying among the coral at the same depth, would just put his hand down and take them. They also told us he was a great warrior, and that to his prowess, principally, Umi was indebted for many of his victories. The Hawaiians are fond of the marvellous, as well as many people, who are better informed; and probably this passion, together with the distance of time since Maukareoreo existed, has led them to magnify one of Umi's followers, of perhaps a little larger stature than his fellows, into a giant sixty feet high.
Page 93
For about a
mile
along the coast, they found it impossible to travel without
making a considerable
circuit inland.
They
therefore
procured a canoe, and passed along the part of the coast,
where the sea
rolled up against the naked rocks, and about 1 P. M. they
landed in a very
high surf.
To a
spectator
on the shore, their small canoe would have seemed every
moment ready to
be buried in the waves; yet, by the dexterity of the
natives, they were
safely ...
Page 94
... landed, with no other inconvenience, than a little wetting from the spray of the surf.
Page 137 (RESPECTING THE VOLCANO.)
The
natives, who
probably viewed the scene with thoughts and feelings
somewhat different
from ours, seemed, however, equally interested.
They sat
most
of the night talking of the achievements of Pele, and
regarding with a
superstitious fear, at which we were not surprised, the
brilliant exhibition.
They
considered
it the primeval abode of their volcanic deities.
The conical
craters,
they said, were their houses, where they frequently amused
themselves by
playing at konane; the roaring of the furnaces, and
the crackling
of the flames, were the Jeani of their hura, (music
of their dance;)
and the red flaming surge was the surf wherein they played,
sportively
swimming on the rolling wave.*
...
Footnote
* Swimming
on
the sea, when there is a high surf, is a favourite amusement
throughout
the Sandwich, and other islands in the Pacific.
Page 161
The
head-man brought
some ripe plantains, of which we ale a few, and then
proceeded on our way,
leaving them very busy in conversation about the news they
had heard.
After
travelling
a mile and a half along the shore, we came to Kehena.
The village
was
populous, and the people seemed, from the number of their
canoes, nets,
&c. to be much engaged in fishing. Their contrivance for
...
Page 162 (MANNER OF LANDING CANOES AT KEHENA.)
... launching and landing their canoes, was curious and singular.
The bold
coast
is formed of perpendicular, or over-hanging rocks, from 40
to 60 feet high,
against which, this being the windward part of the island,
the swell beats
violently.
In one
place,
where there were a few low rocks about 30 feet from the
shore, they had
erected a kind of ladder.
Two long
poles,
one tied to the end of the other, reached from these rocks
to the top of
the cliffs.
Two other
poles,
tied together in the same manner, were fixed parallel to the
first two,
and about four or five feet distant from them.
Strong
sticks,
eight or ten feet long, were laid across these at right
angles, and about
two or three inches apart, which were fastened to the long
poles by the
tough fibrous roots of a climbing sort of plant, found in
the woods, and
thus formed the steps of this ingenious and useful ladder.
The canoes
of
the place were small and light, seldom carrying more than
one man in each.
A number
were
just landing, as we arrived at the place.
Two men went
down and stood close to the water's edge, on the leeward or
southern side
of the rock.
The canoes
were
paddled up one at a time.
The person
in
each then watching a convenient opportunity, rowed swiftly
to shore, when
the rolling billow carried the canoe upon a rock, and it was
seized by
two men, who stood ready to receive it.
At the same
instant
that it was grasped on each side by the men on the rock, the
one in the
canoe, who steered it, jumped into the sea, swam to the
shore, and helped
them carry it up the ladder to the top of the cliff, where
they placed
it upon some curiously carved stools, and returned to the
rocks to bring
up another in the same manner.
In this way
five
or six were brought up while we were looking at them.
Mr. Ellis
took
a sketch of their useful contrivance.
Page 189
Soon after
6 A.
M. we embarked on board our canoe, and passed over the reef
to the deep
water on the western side of the bay.
The weather
was
calm, and the men laboured with the paddle till about S (?),
when
the marania (east wind,) sprang up, and wafted us pleasantly
along the
shore.
We found
our double
canoe very convenient, for it had a pora, or stage, raised
in the middle,
which provided a comfortable seat, and also kept our things
above the spray
of the sea.
The pora is
formed
by tying slight poles to the iako, or cross pieces, that
connect the two
canoes together, from the foremost iako to the one nearest
the stern.
These
crosspieces
are not straight, but bent like a bow, and ...
Page 190 (DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIVE CANOES.)
... form an arch between the two canoes, which raises the pora, or stage, at least two feet higher than the sides of the canoe.
When the
breeze
sprang up, four of the men laid down their paddles, and
attended to the
sail, while one man sat in the stern of each canoe with a
large paddle
to steer.
Our canoe,
though
made of heavy wood, was very thin, and therefore light, and,
as the wind
increased, seemed at a rapid rate to skim along the tops of
the waves.
The canoes
of
the Sandwich Islands appear eminently calculated for
swiftness, being long,
narrow, generally light, and drawing but little water.
A canoe is
always
made out of a single tree.
Some of them
are 70 or 80 feet long, one or two feet wide, and upwards of
three feet
deep; though their length is seldom more than 50 feet.
The body of
the
canoe is generally covered with a black paint, made by the
natives, of
various earthy and vegetable substances.
On the upper
edge of the canoe is sewed, in a remarkably neat manner, a
small strip
of hard white wood, from six to eight inches in width,
according to the
size and length of the canoe.
These strips
meet and close over the top at both stem and stern, and
shoot off much
water, that would otherwise enter the canoe.
All the
canoes
of these islands are remarkably strong and neatly made, and
though not
so large as those of New Zealand, the Society Islands, or
some of the other
islands to the southward, are certainly better made, and
would probably
paddle or sail faster than either of them.
One man will
sometimes paddle a single canoe faster than a good boat's
crew could row
a whale-boat.
Their
tackling
is simple and convenient.
The mast
generally
has a notch cut at the lower end, and is placed on one of
the cross-pieces
to which it is tied.
The sails
they
now use are made of mats, and cut in imitation of the
sprit-sails of foreign
boats, which they say they find much better, than the kind
of sail they
had when first visited by
Page 191 (VOYAGE ALONG THE COAST.)
...
foreigners.
When sailing
with a fresh breeze, the ropes from the lower corner of the
sail are always
loosened, and held in the hands of persons, whose only
business it is to
keep them properly trimmed.
Their
paddles,
which are large and strong, are generally four or five feet
long, have
an oval-shaped blade and round handle, and are made of the
same hard and
heavy wood employed in building their canoes.
They are
never
carved, do not appear handsome, and their weight must make
the paddling
very laborious.
The face of
the
country by which we sailed, was fertile and beautiful, and
the population
throughout considerable.
The numerous
plantations on the tops or sides of the deep ravines, or
vallies, by which
they were frequently interspersed, with the meandering
streams running
down them into the sea, presented altogether a most
agreeable prospect.
The coast
was
bold, and the rocks evidently volcanic.
We
frequently
saw the water gushing out of the hollows in the face of the
rocks, or running
in various cascades from the top to the bottom.
After
sailing
very pleasantly for several hours, we approached
Laupahoehoe.
Although we
had
come upwards of twenty miles, and had passed not less than
fifty ravines,
or vallies, we had not seen a spot where we thought it would
be possible
to land, without being swamped; and although we knew we had
arrived at
the end of our voyage, we could discover no place, by which
it seemed possible
to approach the shore, as the surf was beating violently,
and the wind
blowing directly towards the land.
However,
when
we got within a few yards of the surf, we perceived an
opening in the rocks,
just wide enough to admit our canoe.
Into this our pilots steered with uncommon address and precision, and before we could look round, we found our canoe on a small beach, a few yards long, entirely defended by the rocks of lava, from the rolling surf on the outside.
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