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chapter 37 “Some Hawaiian Pastimes” (1891) Henry Carrington Bolton 1843–1903 Henry Carrington Bolton, a noted chemist and bibliographer, traveled to the Hawaiian island of Ni‘ihau in 1890 to conduct research on the “musical sand” of Kaluakahua. Along the way he managed to fit in a surf session. Ni‘ihau offers a unique case study for surfriding. The Sinclairs , a family of New Zealand ranchers, purchased the island in 1864 and quickly took up surfriding. The Sinclairs and their descendants undoubtedly stand as the earliest non-natives to practice surfriding on a regular basis.30 Although Ellis’s influence is readily apparent in the second paragraph, Bolton essentially approached surfriding with a scientific turn of mind. He commented on the inaccuracies of past descriptions of the sport and, through photographs of natives and his own experience,31 tried to demonstrate the mechanics of riding waves. Placing surfriding within a scientific framework was part of the steady Westernization of the sport that eventually led, in writers like Jack London, to an important shift in surfriding’s image from an activity practiced by a community to one where the individual dominated and mastered nature. Ni‘ihau 1890 Here I witnessed, by the courtesy of Mr. Gay, the sport of surf-riding, once so universally popular, and now but little seen. Six stalwart men, by previous appointment, assembled on the beach of a small cove, bearing with them their precious surf-boards, and accompanied by many women and a few children, all eager to see the strangers, and mildly interested in the sport. After standing for their photograph, the men removed all their garments, retaining only the malo, or loin-cloth, and walked into the sea, dragging, or pushing their surf-boards as they reached the deeper water. These surf-boards, in Hawaiian “wave-sliding-boards” (Papa-henalu ), are made from the wood of the viri-viri (Erythrina corallodendrum), 123 or bread-fruit tree; they are eight or nine feet long, fifteen to twenty inches wide, rather thin, rounded at each end, and carefully smoothed. The boards are sometimes stained black, are frequently rubbed with cocoanut oil and are preserved with great solicitude, sometimes wrapped in cloths. Children use smaller boards. Plunging through the nearer surf, the natives reached the outer line of breakers, and watching their opportunity they lay flat upon the board (the more expert kneeled), and, just as a high billow was about to brake over them, pushed landward in front of the combers. The waves rushing in were apparently always on the point of submerging the rider; but, unless some mishap occurred, they drove him forward with rapidity on to the beach, or into shallow water. At the time of the exhibition, the surf was very moderate, and the natives soon tired of the dull sport; but in a high surf it is, of course, exciting, and demands much skill born of experience. As commonly described in the writings of travellers, an erroneous impression is conveyed, at least to my mind, as to the position which the rider occupies with respect to the combing wave. Some pictures, too, represent the surf-riders on the seaward slope of the wave, in positions which are incompatible with the results. I photographed the men of Niihau before they entered the water, while surf-riding, and after they came out. The second view shows plainly the position taken, although the figures are distant and consequently small. A few days later, on another beach, I was initiated in the mysteries of surf-riding by my host, who is himself quite expert; and while I cannot boast of much success, I at least learned the principle, and believe that practice is only needed to gain a measure of skill. For persons accustomed to bathing in the surf, the process is far less difficult than usually represented. 124 | henry carrington bolton ...

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