70 



HA WAIL 



[letter VII. 



The great art seems to be to mount the roller precisely at 

 the right time, and to keep exactly on its curl just before it 

 breaks. Two or three athletes, who stood erect on their boards 

 as they swept exultingly shorewards, were received with ringing 

 cheers by the crowd. Many of the less expert failed to throw 

 themselves on the crest, and slid back into smooth water, or 

 were caught in the combers, which were fully ten feet high, and 

 after being rolled over and over, ignominiously disappeared 

 amidst roars of laughter, and shouts from the shore. At first 

 I held my breath in terror, thinking the creatures were smothered 

 or dashed to pieces, and then in a few seconds I saw the dark 

 heads of the objects of my anxiety bobbing about behind the 

 rollers waiting for another chance. The shore was thronged 

 with spectators, and the presence of the elite of Hilo stimulated 

 the swimmers to wonderful exploits. 



These people are truly amphibious. Both sexes seem to 

 swim by nature, and the children riot in the waves from their 

 infancy. They dive apparently by a mere effort of the will. 

 In the deep basin of the Wailuku River, a little below the 

 Falls, the maidens swim, float, and dive with garlands of flowers 

 round their heads and throats. The more furious and agitated 

 the water is, the greater the excitement, and the love of these 

 watery exploits is not confined to the young. I saw great fat 

 men with their hair streaked with grey, balancing themselves 

 on their narrow surf-boards, and riding the surges shorewards 

 with as much enjoyment as if they were in their first youth. I 

 enjoyed the afternoon thoroughly. 



Is it "always afternoon" here, I wonder? The sea was so 

 blue, the sunlight so soft, the air so sweet. There was no toil, 

 clang, or hurry. People were all holiday-making (if that can 

 be where there is no work), and enjoying themselves, the surf- 

 bathers in the sea, and hundreds of gaily-dressed men and 

 women galloping on the beach. It was serene and tropical. 

 I sympathize with those who eat the lotus, and remain for ever 

 on such enchanted shores. 



I am gaining health daily, and almost live in the open air. 

 I have hired the native policeman's horse and saddle, and with 

 a Macgregor flannel riding costume, which my kind friends 

 have made for me, and a pair of jingling Mexican spurs, am 

 quite Hawaiianised. I ride alone once or twice a day ex- 

 ploring the neighbourhood, finding some new fern or flower 

 daily, and abandon myself wholly to the fascination of this new 

 existence. 



I. L. B. 



