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osity of the surf is increased to its utmost, the men and women choose that time for this amusement, which is performed in an
interesting manner.”
Twenty or thirty of the natives, taking each a narrow board rounded at the ends, would start out together from the shore, and upon meeting the first wave would plunge under it, allowing it to roll over them until they could rise again and make headway by swimming out into the sea.
The second line of breakers would be encountered in the same manner, the great difﬁculty lying in seizing upon the proper moment for diving under it.
If this moment were missed the swimmer would be caught by the surf and ﬂung violently back toward the shore, all his dexterity
being then required to prevent himself being dashed against the rocks and battered into a shapeless mass.
But, the second difﬁculty safely over-come, the smooth water beyond the surf would be gained in safety, and then the swimmers would lay themselves full length on their boards and prepare for their swift return to shore.
As the surf consists of a number of waves of which the third is invariably the largest and breaks higher on the beach, the rest breaking in the intermediate space, the ﬁrst object was to throw themselves on the crest of this largest surge, by which they would be driven with amazing rapidity towards the land.

If by mistake they happened to choose one of the smaller waves and failed to keep their plank in the proper position on the top of the swell, they would be exposed to all the fury of the large wave following, and in order to avoid it would be compelled to dive and regain the starting point.
Those who succeeded in their object, however, would have a still greater danger to encounter, for the coast being guarded with a chain of bristling, jagged rocks with only a very small opening here and there, they would be obliged to steer their board through one of these, or, in case of failure, to dive before they reached the rocks, and, plunging under the wave, to make the best of their way back again.

In the olden days this was considered a great disgrace, and was also attended by the loss of the board, which was often dashed to pieces at the very moment the rider quitted it.
The swimmers used often to pass nearly a mile seaward in order to enjoy the rapid motion of their return as long as possible. Both sexes and all ranks united in it, and as I have already said, even the chiefs and princes of highest rank were wont to mix with their humblest subjects in the life-giving sport.

As corpulency was a thing greatly admired by the chiefs, and as they took great pains to attain it, the humble subjects must occasionally have been treated to the edifying spectacle of a greatly rotund over-lord suddenly awakening to the fact that he was headed on his surf-board direct for a jagged rock and immediately seeking refuge with a resounding splash and huge displacement of the water.
One may well imagine the shout of laughter which must have greeted his ears as he made the dive and the innocent, serious faces and the silence with which his uprising would be met, for it was a serious matter in those days to incur the displeasure of a chief.
The surf-boards used were of varying sizes, according to the age and stature of the owner, and no better idea could be gained of the great physical development attained by the Hawaiians of old than by an inspection of some of the great surf-boards formerly belonging to famous chiefs, and which may now be seen in the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.
The boards were slightly convex on both sides and were kept very smooth, their owners taking great pride in keeping them well
polished and continually rubbed with coconut oil.
Such wonderful mastery of the waves could only be obtained by familiarity with the waters from earliest childhood.
A glance at some of the older woodcuts de-

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picting the sport will show that the type of surf prevailing in Kealakekua Bay was very different from the gentle swell familiar to visitors to the famous beach of Waikiki near Honolulu.
The Kona surf was indeed a thing requiring immense skill to negotiate in safety, and it is small wonder that the historian of Captain Cook’s expedition should have gazed upon the exhibition of surf-riding with much awe and genuine admiration.

The island children were able to swim almost as soon as they could walk, and sometimes even sooner, their mothers taking them from the breast and laying them on the surface of the water, encouraging them to kick about as if lying on their mats ashore. There is a most amusing account by an early writer of a terrific meeting with an object which he took to be a truly gigantic frog, but which eventually turned out to be a very small baby lying on its back in the water and bravely disporting itself in a thoroughly contented manner.

Visitors to Kealakekua Bay and to the monument erected to the memory of Captain Cook may perhaps be lucky enough to witness surf-riding under the ancient conditions, but the average sojourner in these delectable islands as a general rule is satisfied with the less exciting performance to be seen daily on the Honolulu beaches.
That very considerable skill and much practice are necessary for the control of even a modern surf-board will be clearly demonstrated by the plucky though somewhat amusing efforts of beginners.
Cleanly, healthy, muscle and eye-developing, surf-riding is a sport to appeal strongly to the tired business man in search of novelty and invigoration.

There are few more charming spectacles even in this land of beauty than the daily troop of surf-riders ﬂashing shoreward on the
crest of the long rollers.
Sunshine, laughter, the beautiful surroundings of sea, mountain, and palm-fringed shores combine in no small measure with the sport itself to give health, strength, and la joir de vivre to all who participate in the ancient pastime of the Hawaiian people.