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On page 340 he records
the swimming skills of an Hawaiian woman (Kaiha) "who, being
wrecked at sea, swam twenty miles to the shore", an account also reported
in
1845 Charles
Wilkes : Narrative of the U.S. Expedition,
pages 45 and 46.
The surfriding report
(pages 352 to 353) includes the unsuccessful attempt of a fellow American
sailor to replicate their skill.
It is followed by
one of Coulton's many examples of his poetry dispersed thoughout the book.
While enjoying the luxury of sea-bathing at Sachem's Head, I received an order to report for duty on board the U. S. Frigate Congress, fitting for sea at Norfolk.
Departed Saturday; Oct. 25, 1845.
Chapter XI.
Sketches of Honolulu.
Page 328
(Arrival in Honolulu)
Wednesday, June
10.
The bay of Honolulu
is only a bend in the shore.
About a mile
from the strand, a coral reef emerges, over which the rollers pour their
perpetual surge.
Through this
reef, nature has left a narrow passage, which admits smaller vessels, but
a ship of our depth is obliged to anchor outside, and nearly two miles
distant from the shore.
The right extremity
of the bay, as you enter it, is guarded by the steep cone of an exhausted
volcano, which has taken the less terrific name of Diamond Hill.
The left is defended
by a bold bluff, which shoulders its way, with savage ferocity, into the
roaring sea.
The town of Honolulu
stretches along the interval, while close in the background soars the wild
crater of another extinguished volcano, under the bewildering name of the
Punch-Bowl.
The steeps beyond
are broken into deep ravines, which wind off in rich verdure into the heart
of the island
Page 339
We passed near
the shore a large number of canoes, in which the natives were engaged in
fishing.
They keep them
pointed towards the sea, and one person vigorously at work with the paddles,
so that the rollers, which set in here with great force, may ...
Page 340
... not heave
them high and dry on the beach.
They show great
skill in the management of these treacherous canoes.
A novice would
upset one before he was well in.
They are often
themselves capsized, but it costs them only a ducking; the canoe is instantly
righted, and they are back again in its hollow.
As for the water,
it is almost as much their element as that of the fish for which they angle.
They can dive
from ten to fifteen fathoms, and bring up shells; or swim many miles without
apparent fatigue. There is a native woman, now living in Honolulu, who,
being wrecked at sea, swam twenty miles to the shore of a neighboring island.
Her husband,
of feebler constitution, gave out; she buoyed him up, swimming with him
till they had come in sight of the shore, when he sank overpowered.
Still she clung
to him, and brought the lifeless form to the beach.
Give me a kanacka
wife in a gale.
Page 348
Chapter XII.
Sketches of Honolulu.
Surf Sport of
the Natives.
Thursday, June
18 (1846)
...
Page 352
Nothing here has
amused me more than the surfsports of the young chiefs.
Each takes a
smooth board, of some eight feet in length, leads it over the coral shallows
far out into the sea, and when a tremendous roller is coming in, jumps
upon it, and the roller carries him upon its combing top, with the speed
of an arrow, to the shore.
A young American,
who was among them, not liking to be outdone in a sport which seemed so
simple, thought he would ...
Page 353
... try the board
and billow.
He ventured out
a short distance, watched his opportunity, and, as the roller came, jumped
upon his plank, was capsized, and hove, half strangled, on the beach.
"There, breathless,
- with his digging nails he clung
Fast to the sand,
lest the returning wave,
From whose reluctant
roar his life he wrung,
Should suck him
back to her insatiate grave."
The young females
are as fond of the water as the men.
We passed in
a boat yesterday a group of them sitting on the coral reef a mile out at
sea.
They were enjoying
the surf, which broke over them with each successive billow.
Now and then
a stronger, wave would sweep some of them from their perch, and bear them
to a great distance in its whirling foam.
But they would
soon swim back again amidst the laughter of their companions.
They were without
covering, and plunged under the water till our boat had got past, and then
recovered their posi tion on the reef; and there they sat like mermaids,
Serene amid the
breakers' roar,
Their dark locks
floating on the surge,
Attuning shells,
through which they po"ur
The solemn ocean's
mimic dirge.
Departed Honolulu Tuesday, June 23.
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