The
Youth's Companion : Surf Riding in Samoa, 1900.
[The Youth's
Companion]:
Mid-ocean
America, Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Selections from The
Youth's Companion.
Perry Mason Co., Boston, 1900.
Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/midoceanamericai00bost
Introduction
This eclectic collection of articles contains a very brief
reference to juvenile surfboard riding in Samoa:
"Little boys will swim about
in the boiling surf, and even for amusement allow themselves to be carried on the
waves right over the reefs, with nothing but a small piece of
wood to hold on to."
Page 28
The Samoan
Islands.
Tutuila, the latest
acquisition of the United States, is one of the three most
important of the Samoan Islands, which number nine, besides
several uninhabitable rocky islets.
These islands were
little known until 1830, when native teachers from the
Society Islands first landed.
On account of the numerous canoes which were seen, and the
great dexterity of the natives in paddling them through the
surf, the islands were called the Navigators Islands, but
Samoa is the native name for the group.
Page 29
In addition to these features, picture to yourself villages
situated at the foot of the hills near the shore, and canoes
full of natives navigating these waters, or steering
skilfully through the surf, and you will have a pretty good
general idea of the islands as seen by the first visitors in
the days of heathen Samoa.
Page 30
The Samoans were always very
cleanly of person, bathing very frequently.
Mothers would take their infant children into the water on
their backs, and little mites of three or four years of age
would paddle about in the water without the slightest fear.
The result has been that, to this day, the natives, both men
and
Page 31
women, are very expert in the water, and can swim and dive
like fishes.
Little boys will swim about in the boiling surf, and even
for amusement allow
[Illustration]
PRETTY AND
GRACEFUL.
themselves to be carried on the waves right over the reefs,
with nothing but a small piece of wood to hold on to.
An instance
Page 32
occurred in my father's time of a woman swimming eighteen
miles.
