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 forthesensation 
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 withit. The native 
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