. Hawaii and its people; the land of rainbow and palm. devoured the souls ofcoward§*^ To offset these terrors for the dead and the living,there were, of course, some better things in life. Therewere games, especially when a temple was dedicated ora victory gained. The men had wrestling matches andcontests with spears or with rude sleds, on which theyslid down the steep hills. Men and women contendedin surf riding, either in canoes or on surf boards. Thiswas a pastime in which the Hawaiians excelled. The swimmers took a board of light wood, abouteight feet long and eighteen inches wide, stained
. Hawaii and its people; the land of rainbow and palm. devoured the souls ofcoward§*^ To offset these terrors for the dead and the living,there were, of course, some better things in life. Therewere games, especially when a temple was dedicated ora victory gained. The men had wrestling matches andcontests with spears or with rude sleds, on which theyslid down the steep hills. Men and women contendedin surf riding, either in canoes or on surf boards. Thiswas a pastime in which the Hawaiians excelled. The swimmers took a board of light wood, abouteight feet long and eighteen inches wide, stained blackand highly polished. With this, they swam out to sea,diving under the rollers until they reached the outer PECULIARITIES OF ANCIENT HAWAII. 35 line of breakers. Then, lying flat on the board, theybalanced themselves upon the forward slope of thehighest breaker and rode with the speed of a race horseto the shore. Sometimes they stood up on the boardand balanced themselves with great skill, using apaddle or a pole. The women, even some from the. SURF BOARD RIDER. chiefs families, were often as expert in this sport as the men. One practice, which has survived to this day, calledlomi-lomu is a luxurious one. It is a process in whichskillful natives knead the body with their hands, andmanipulate the joints, after which a delightful andrefreshing languor steals over the whole body. The Hawaiians always loved music, or what they 36 HAWAII AND ITS PEOPLE. thought was musical, but which we should call morenoisy than melodious. Their instruments were verysimple; a piece of bamboo, with two or three stringsacross it, served for a guitar. A hollow piece of wood,with three holes, one for the nose to blow through andthe other two holes for the fingers, was a nose flute. They had drums of various sorts: a section of ahollow trunk of the cocoanut tree, one end coveredwith shark skin on which they pounded; and smallerdrums, made by stretching dried skins over parts ofcocoanut shells or g
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidhawaiiitspeoplel00twom
