THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 145 



make ufe of black and white pebbles, which they move from '779- 



* * March. 



fquare to fquare. v — ^-*^> 



There is another game, which confifts in hiding a ftone 

 under a piece of cloth, which one of the parties fpreads our, 

 and rumples in fuch a manner, that the place where the 

 ftone lies is difficult to be diftinguifhed. The antagonift, 

 with a ftick, then ftrikes the part of the cloth where he ima- 

 gines the ftone to be ; and as the chances are, upon the 

 whole, confiderably againft his hitting it, odds, of all de- 

 grees, varying with the opinion of the fkill of the parties 

 are laid on the fide of him who hides. 



Befides thefe games, they frequently amufe themfelves 

 with racing-matches between the boys and girls ; and here 

 again they wager with great fpirit. I faw a man in a mod 

 violent rage, tearing his hair, and beating his breaft, after 

 lofing three hatchets at one of thefe races, which he had 

 juft before purchafed from us, with half his fubflance. 



Swimming is not only a necefTary art, in which both 

 their men and women are more expert than any people we 

 had hitherto feen, but a favourite diverfion amongft them. 

 One particular mode, in which they fometimes amufed 

 themfelves with this exercife, in Karakakooa Bay, appeared 

 to us mod perilous and extraordinary, and well deferving a 

 diftinct relation. 



The furf, which breaks on the coafl round the bay, ex- 

 tends to the diftance of about one hundred and fifty yards 

 from the more, within which fpace, the furges of the fea, 

 accumulating from the fhallownefs of the water, are dafhed 

 againft the beach with prodigious violence. Whenever, 

 from ftormy weather, or any extraordinary fwell at fea, the 

 impetuofity of the furf is increafed to its utmoft height, they 



Vol. III. U choofe 



