SWIMMING IN THE SURF. 
371 
board, sometimes sitting and sometimes standing 
erect in the midst of the foam. The greatest ad¬ 
dress is necessary in order to keep on the edge of 
the wave : for if they get too forward, they are sure 
to be overturned; and if they fall back, they are 
buried beneath the succeeding billow. 
Occasionally they take a very light canoe; but 
this, though directed in the same manner as the 
board, is much more difficult to manage. Some¬ 
times the greater part of the inhabitants of a village 
go out to this sport, when the wind blows fresh 
towards the shore, and spend the greater part of 
the day in the water. All ranks and ages appear 
equally fond of it. We have seen Karaimoku and 
Kakioeva, some of the highest chiefs in the island, 
both between fifty and sixty years of age, and large 
corpulent men, balancing themselves on their nar¬ 
row board, or splashing about in the foam, with as 
much satisfaction as youths of sixteen. They fre¬ 
quently play at the mouth of a large river, where 
the strong current running into the sea, and the 
rolling of the waves towards the shore, produce a 
degree of agitation between the water of the river 
and the sea, that would be fatal to an European, 
however expert he might be; yet in this they de¬ 
light : and when the king or queen, or any high 
chiefs, are playing, none of the common people 
are allowed to approach these places, lest they 
should spoil their sport. The chiefs pride them¬ 
selves much on excelling in some of the games of 
their country; hence Taumuarii, the late king of 
Tauai, was celebrated as the most expert swimmer 
in the surf, known in the islands. The only cir¬ 
cumstance that ever mars their pleasure in this 
diversion is the approach of a shark. When this 
happens, though they sometimes flv in eyery direc- 
& ^ 2 b 2 
