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Page 322
The islanders
have many athletic games and exercises, to which they are much devoted,
and which they pursue with an avidity sharpened by their love of gambling.
Their favourite amusement, however, is to ride the heavy surf, which continually beats upon the shore.
"For this amusement,
a plank of light wood, eight or ten feet long, two feet broad, and three
or four inches thick in the middle, decreasing to a sharp edge at the sides,
and ends - which are rounded - and having the whole surface finely polished,
is necessary; and forms an article of personal property, among all the
chiefs, male and female, and among many of the common people.
With this under
their arm, they leave the shore, and wade or swim into the surf.
On meeting a
roller, they dive under it with their board, to prevent being carried back
by its power; and, thus make their wa\ beyond the reef, to the smooth surface
of the sea - at Lahaina - a quarter of a mile from the beach.
They then wait
the approach of a heavy wave, place themselves at full length, flat upon
the board, with the face downward, and the head and chest elevated above
the forward end, headed for the shore.
In this attitude
they take the breaker, mount upon its crest as it towers above the reef,
and with the arms and feet skilfully keep their poise in the swell, so
as not to be sufficiently forward to be overwhelmed by its coming, nor
so far behind as to lose its impetus; and are thus hurried, with the velocity
of a racer, on the rolling summit - their erect heads only appearing above
the foam - till they are cast on the beach, or slip from the board, in
time to escape striking upon the sand.
"They then make
their way out again, and return in the same manner.
Hundreds, at
a time, have been occupied in this way for hours together; while the waves
are breaking upon the reef, apparently twenty and thirty feet high.
Riding upon the
surf, in a canoe, in a similar manner, is also a common and favourite amusement."
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The Friend Volume 1 Number 4 by Robert Smith A Religious and Literary Journal. Published Weekly by John Richardson Corner of Carpenter and Seventh Street, Philadelphia, 26 July 1828. |
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