370 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
more than a foot wide, sometimes flat, but more 
frequently slightly convex on both sides. It is 
usually made of the wood of the erythrina , stained 
quite black, and preserved with great care. After 
using, it is placed in the sun till perfectly dry, 
when it is rubbed over with cocoa-nut oil, fre¬ 
quently wrapped in cloth, and suspended in some 
part of their dwelling-house. Sometimes they 
choose a place where the deep water reaches to 
the beach, but generally prefer a part where the 
rocks are ten or twenty feet under water, and 
extend to a distance from the shore, as the surf 
breaks more violently over these. When playing 
in these places, each individual takes his board, 
and, pushing it before him, swims perhaps a quar¬ 
ter of a mile or more out to sea. They do not 
attempt to go over the billows which roll towards 
the shore, but watch their approach, and dive 
under water, allowing the billow to pass over their 
heads. When they reach the outside of the rocks, 
where the waves first break, they adjust themselves 
on one end of the board, lying flat on their faces, 
and watch the approach of the largest billow; they 
then poise themselves on its highest edge, and, 
paddling as it were with their hands and feet, ride 
on the crest of the wave, in the midst of the spray 
and foam, till within a yard or two of the rocks or 
the shore ; and when the observers would expect 
to see them dashed to pieces, they steer with great 
address between the rocks, or slide off their board 
in a moment, grasp it by the middle, and dive 
under water, while the wave rolls on, and breaks 
among the rocks with a roaring noise, the effect of 
which is greatly heightened by the shouts and 
aughter of the natives in the water. Those who 
are expert frequently change their position on the 
