12 
NATURE 
[Vov. 3, 1870 

account of the scarcely more civilised natives of New 
Guinea, with their tufted hair, active climbing habits, 
and curious weapons. . Then follows a description of the 
natives of the Polynesian Islands, the Fiji with their 
wonderful coiffures, their ingenious manufacture of veils, 
fans, baskets, and canoes, their warfare and cannibalism ; 
the Solomon Islanders and natives of New Hebrides ; 
and after these the natives of Borneo and Sumatra, and 
the various Amer'can tribes, 
We append an account of the surf-swimming of the 
Sandwich Islanders, with an illustration, as copied by 
Mr. Wood from the now, we fear, seldom-read ‘ Cap- 
tain Cook’s Voyages,” who gives the following spirited 
account, which will not improbably be new to many 
of our younger readers :—“ The surf, which breaks on 
the coast round the bay, extends to the distance of 
about 150 yards from the shore, within which space the 
surges of the sea, accumulating from the shallowness of the 
water, are dashed against the leach with prodigious vio- 
lence. Whenever, from stormy weather, or any extraor 
dinary swell at sea, the impetuosity of the surf is increased 
to its utmost height, they choose that time for this amuse- 
ment, which is performed in the followinz manner. 
Twenty or thirty of the natives, taking eacha long, narrow 
board rounded at the ends, set out together from the 
shore. The first wave they meet they plunge under, 
and suffering it to roll over them rise again beyond it, 
and make the best of their way by swimming out in'o 
the sea. The second wave is encountered in the same 
manner as the first, the great difficulty consisting in 
seizing the proper moment of diving under it, which, if 
missed, the person is caught by the surf, and driven 
back again with great violence, and all his dexterity is 
then required to prevent himself from being dashed 
against the rocks, As soon as they have gained by their 
repeated efforts the smooth water beyond the surf, they 
lay themselves at length on their board, and prepare for 
return. As the surf consists of a number of waves of 
which every third is remarked to be always much larger 
than the others, and to flow higher on the shore, the rest 
breaking in the intermediate space. their first obj ct is 
to place themselves on the summit of the largest surge, 
by which they are driven along with amazing rapidity 
towards the shore. If by mistake they should place 
themselves on one of the smaller waves which break 
up b.fore they reach the land, or should not be able 
to keep their plink in a proper direction on the top 
of the svell, they are left exposed to the fury of the 
next, and to avoid it are obliged again to dive and 
regain the place from which they set out. Those 
who succeed in their object of reaching the shore 
have still the greatest danger to encounter. The coast 
being guarded bya chain of rocks, with here and there a 
small opening between them, they are obliged to steer 
ther board through one of these, or in case of failure to 
quit it b. fore they reach the rocks, and. plunging under 
the wave, make the best of their way back again. This is 
reckoned very disgraceful, and is also attended with the 
loss of the board, which | have often seen with great terror 
dashed to picses at the very moment the islander quitted 
it, The bo dness and address with which we saw them 
perform their difficult and dangerous manceuvres was 
altogether astonishing, and is scarcely to be credited.” 
These swimmers used o'ten to piss nearly a mile sea- 
ward in order to enjoy the rapid motion of their return as 
long 4s possible. Both sexes and all ranks unite in it, 
and even th very chiefs thems: lves, who have attained to 
the corpulency which they so much admne, join in the 
game of su:ifswimming with the meanest of their sub- 
jects. Some of the performers acquire a wonderful 
amoint of shill, and, not con ent with lying on the board, 
sit, kneel, and even stand upon it as they are hurled 
shorewards by the giant waves. The boards are of vari us 
sizes, accordiug to the age and station of the owner. For 


adults they are about six feet in length. They are slightly 
convex on both sides and are kept very smooth, all surf- 
swimmers cherishing a pride in the condition of their 
boards, and taking care to keep them well polished and 
continually rubbed with cocoa-nut oil. 
As an example ot the wonderful strength exhibited by 
savages, the case of the Dyaks of Borneo may be cited, one 
of whom, while on the march with some English soldiers, 
exhibited it ina very unexpected manner. “ The path was 
a terrible one, up and down steep and slippery hills, so 
that the Chinese coolies, who accompanied the party, first 
threw away their rice, and lastly sat down and wept like 
children. ‘The English sergeant, a veteran accustomed to 
hard marching boch in China and India, broke down at 
the first hill, and declared his inability to move another 
step under the load which he carried. Mr. Brooke, who 
was in command of the party, asked one of the Dyaks to 
carry the sergeani’s burden, and promised him an addi- 
tional piece of tobacco. The man was delighted with the 
proposal, and accepted it. He was already carrying food 
for three weeks, his whole stare of clothes, one twelve- 
pound shot, two twelve-pound cartridges, a double barrelled 
gun, a hundred rounds of ball cartridge, and his own heavy 
sword and spear, So little, however, was he incommoded 
with this, that he stuffed the whule of the sergeant’s kit 
on his back, and walked off as easily as if the whole load 
were but a feather weight.” 
The drawing on page 11 shows the lake dwellings of 
the tribes inhabiting the Delta of the Orinoco, as described 
by Humboldt in his “ Personal Narrative.” “Thelarge tract 
ot land that forms the Delia of the Orinoco (we quote from 
Mr, Wood) possesses some very remarkable character- 
istics. It is always wet, but du:ing several months in the 
year it is completely inundated, the river rising to an asto- 
nishing height, and covering with water a tract nearly half 
as large as England. This seems to be as unpropitious a 
spot as could be adopted for human habitation, and yet 
the Waraus (or Guaranos, as Humboldt spells the word) 
have established themselves there, and prefer it to any 
other locility, probably because their strange mode of life 
enables them to pass an existence of freedom. Varying 
much in the height to which it rises, in some places ex- 
ceeding fifty feet, the Orinoco has the qualiy of rising 
year atcr year to the same height in the same place, so 
that when a mark is made to designate the height to 
which the water rose in one year, the same mark will 
answer year after year with scarcely the slightest devia- 
tion” Here the Ité palm thrives, which supplies to the 
Warau food, drink, clothing, and residence; fur, select- 
ing four that grow near each other in the form of a 
square, and cutting away any intervening trees, he 
mikes deep notches in the trunks some three feet above 
high-water mark. In these notches are laid beams that 
are tightly lashed in their places by ropes made of ld 
fibres, On these leaves are laid a number of cross pieces, 
usually composed of the gigantic stems of the leaves, then 
a Jayer of the beains themselves, and finally a smooth 
coating of mud, which soon dries under the tropical sun, 
forming a smooth, hard, and firm flooring, that will bear 
a fire without risk of damage to the wooden structure 
below. Ten or twelve feet above the floor the Warau 
constructs a roof of palm-leaves, the corne:s of which are 
supported by the same trees which uphold the house. 
the extreme mechinical ingenuity of some uncivilised 
tribes, wo king with very imperfect implements, is perhaps 
nowhere betier shown than in the drawing on the opposite 
page of an adze made by the inhabitants ot Hervey Islands, 
and which also gives a very good idea of the excellence of 
the illustrations in Mr, Wood’s work, and ot which the 
following description is given :— 
“The lower part of the handle is completely hollow, 
the native manufactmrer having contrived to cut away the 
wood through the intervals of the upright pillurs. As 
these intervals are not quite the third of an inch in width — 

