Introduction
Louise Coffin Jones visited the Hilo on the large island of Hawaii in early 1874, staying with an elderly Rev. Coan, one of the early missionaries to Polynesia.
At Hilo, she observed that occasionally one can see a man or boy "riding the sea-horse" (surfoard-riding), whereas thirty years before Coan recalled, in 1878, that whole villages sometime spend an entire afternoon in the daring pastime of surf-playing.
She subsequently toured the islands with the newly elected king.

Wikipedia: Kalākaua
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalakaua
From March to May 1874, he toured the main Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Maui, Hawaii Island, Molokai and Oahu and visited the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement.

Also see:
1845 Dr. T. M. Coan : Surfing at Hilo.

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Page 361

I had spent a month on the island of Hawaii, and was waiting at Hilo for the little steamer which would take me back to Honolulu. It had rained nearly every day of my stay, but that had not defeated the object of my visit.
I had been to the great active volcano on the flank of Mauna Loa, thirty miles in the interior, and had spent two memorable days and a never-to-be-forgotten night on the brink of its terrific splendor.
I had made short excursions to other points of interest in the vicinity of Hilo, and was looking forward regretfully to leaving Hawaii without seeing any more of its interesting life and natural wonders.
Little did I know that a rare opportunity was in store for me, - that I should make a complete tour of the island with the best of advantages for seeing people and places.

Page 362

Vivid pictures of Hilo pass before me as I write, - the little town embowered in strange tropical foliage of pride-of-India, mango, bamboo, and palm-trees, with a wealth of shrubbery and flowers; the frowning rain-clouds; the rare glimpses of sunshine and blue sky; the gleam of the untrodden snow on distant Mauna Kea when the clouds lifted from the horizon; the reflected glow of
Mauna Loa's fires at night; crescent-shaped Hilo Bay, with its pale-green water meeting the indigo-blue of the ocean; the masts of a whaler and of a lumber-ship at anchor, seen above the houses along the wharf; Cocoanut Island, out in the bay, and the tall cocoanut-trees which grew along the beach.
I see again the wide, comfortable mansions of the foreigners - the missionaries, the planters, the government officials - and of the upper class of natives; the home of good old Father Coan, known and loved in many lands, under whose hospitable roof I rested. Its white walls and green shutters reminded one of New England, but its wide double verandas suggested the tropics
And good old Father Coan himself I see as plainly as if he had given me his parting blessing but yesterday, - his snow-white hair, his beaming smile, his expression of perfect peace, his air of fatherly kindness.
...

Another resident missionary, Father Lyman, had charge of a boys' seminary just back of Hilo, and at his invitation I visited the school one day.

Page 362

But to return to the out-door life of Hilo.
After a storm, the great rollers came into the sheltered bay from the swelling sea and broke upon the beach of black volcanic sand.
The old custom of riding the surf-board has been to a great extent abandoned by the Hawaiians, - one can hardly tell why, it was such an exciting and exhilarating sport; perhaps because the people are sadder and wiser than formerly, and less given to play;
perhaps because the missionaries discouraged this athletic sport as savoring of heathenesse, - but occasionally one can
see a man or boy " riding the sea-horse," as it is called.
In olden times women and girls also rode the surf-board; but their sport in the water is now confined to swimming, fishing, and diving.
These children of the sun lived near to Nature's heart; they profited by every opportunity of enjoyment, physical and aesthetic,
which she afforded, and knew little of that weariness of life which is supposed to be the result of high culture and civilization, and which has been voiced by Matthew Arnold in his poem beginning,-

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Lippincott's Monthly Magazine      : J.B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia . Old Series Volume 28 - New Series Volume 2 October 1881. Hathi Trust https://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101073757971

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