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harte : hawaii, 1870 |
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(AMONG THE ISLANDS.)
In a trice it
is all changed.
We have rounded
a rocky headland, and before us lies a sea of silver, with gauzy shreds
of white cloud flying over the dark-blue sky, while the greenest of hills
smile to us from the land; smooth beaches fringe the shore; tawny sands
spread under a golden sun, and upon them the long "combers" sweep up in
flakes of foam.
Here a strange
spectacle awaits you: groups of women and girls, armed with surf-boards
about two feet in length, run out on the point of rocks until they are
in a good position for the coming breakers; then, waiting for a large wave,
just as it topples over they plunge into its seething bosom, and, balancing
themselves on their tiny planks, with peals of merry laughter, or shouts
of savage joy, they ride safely on the billowy crest far up on the beach.
This feat they
repeat, overand over again, amusing themselves, at times, by striking out
seaward; looking, with their long, black hair streaming behind, their flashing
eyes, and white teeth, as if they were of the race of mermaids that haunted
the mariners of old.
Nothing can surpass
the supple dexterity of these women.
They know nothing
of the cramped conventionalism of their White sisters.
They wear broad
stripes of scarlet, or yellow, or blue cotton, which they pass round the
body, and divide so as to enroll each limb, leaving two ends to fly in
gay streamers behind.
Then, springing
on their horses, they sit upright in their saddles, and dart off with the
fearless grace of Amazons. Horses are as plentiful as dogs, and that is
saying a good deal.
You can buy a
...
Page 218
... steed- such
as he is- at any price, from twenty-five cents to twenty dollars; and,
in all cases, the saddle is of far more value than the animal.
Hawaiian women
are thus accustomed, from earliest childhood, to riding; their infant limbs
are set astride as soon as they leave the maternal arms.
This exercise
is varied by constant surf-swimming; and so they grow up amphibious creatures
- wild, daring, vigorous- incapable of enduring the confinement of high
civilization, and totally deficient, as a class, in most of our requirements.
The most prejudiced
of travelers, however, will admit their quick kindliness, their prompt
attention, their ever-ready disposition to assist a stranger.
|
Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine Volume 4, Number 3, March 1870... |
| home | catalogue | history | references | appendix |