HOLIDAYS IN HAWAII 



of rising up like a wall or a mountain-range ; the 

 blue, facile water cheats the eye. 



One of the novel pleasures in which most travelers 

 indulge while in Honolulu is surf-riding at Waikiki, 

 near Diamond Head. The sea, with a floor of lava 

 and coral, is here shallow for a long distance out, 

 and the surf comes in at intervals like a line of 

 steeds cantering over a plain. We went out in our 

 bathing-suits in a long, heavy dugout, with a lusty 

 native oarsman in each end. When several hundred 

 yards from shore, we saw, on looking seaward, the 

 long, shining billows coming, whereupon our oars- 

 men headed the canoe toward shore, and plied their 

 paddles with utmost vigor, uttering simultaneously 

 a curious, excited cry. In a moment the breaker 

 caught us and, in some way holding us on its crest, 

 shot us toward the shore like an arrow. The sensa- 

 tion is novel and thrilling. The foam flies; the 

 waters leap about you. You are coasting on the sea, 

 and you shout with delight and pray for the sensation 

 to continue. But it is quickly over. The hurrying 

 breaker slips from under you, and leaves you in the 

 trough, while it goes foaming on the shore. Then 

 you turn about and row out from the shore again, 

 and wait for another chance to be shot toward the 

 land on the foaming crest of a great Pacific wave. 



I suppose the trick is in the skill of the oarsmen 

 in holding the boat on the pitch of the billow so 

 that in its rush it takes you with it. The native 



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