File:The boy travellers in Australasia - adventures of two youths in a journey to the Sandwich, Marquesas, Society, Samoan and Feejee islands, and through the colonies of New Zealand, New South Wales, (14784508522).jpg

Identifier: boytravellersina00knox (find matches)
Title: The boy travellers in Australasia : adventures of two youths in a journey to the Sandwich, Marquesas, Society, Samoan and Feejee islands, and through the colonies of New Zealand, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: Knox, Thomas Wallace, 1835-1896 Harper & Brothers. pbl
Subjects: Voyages and travels Adventure and adventurers Tutors and tutoring Friendship Sailing Sailors Animals Natural history
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Contributing Library: School of Theology, Boston University
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston University

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ready for the mid-day meal. Doctor Bronson insisted that the horsesshould all be freshly shod before starting, and an extra supply of shoesand nails carried along. The road goes over the lava-beds for nearlythe whole distance, and if a horse loses a shoe he will go lame in a veryfew minutes, so rough and cutting is the lava. Fortunately the morning was fine, and the bay of Hilo presented apretty appearance. Groves of palm and other tropical trees lined theshore, the surf broke in regular pulsations upon the curving stretch ofbeach, and was made animate by dozens of men and boj^s at play in thewaves. For the first time our friends saw some of the sport in the 32 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN AUSTRALASIA. water for which the islanders are famous, though less so at present thanin the days that are gone. Fred thus described it: Each man had a surf-board, which was a thick plank twelve or fif-teen feet long and perhaps thirty inches wide, and said to be made
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SURF-BATHING AT HILO. from the trunk of a bread-fruit tree. There were five or six of thenatives to w^hom we had promised half a dollar each for the perform-ance. They pushed out with their planks to the first line of breakersand managed to dip under it and swim along by the help of the under-tow. They passed the second line in the same way, and finall)^ gotbeyond the entire stretch of surf into comparatively smooth water. Then they tossed up and down for a while, waiting for theirchance. What they wanted was an unusually high swell, and theytried to find a place in front of it so that it Avould sweep them towardsthe shore just where it broke into a comber. They tried several timesbut failed, and we began to get out of patience. At last they got what they had waited for, while some were kneel-ing on their planks and others lying extended with their faces down: ON THE WAY TO THE VOLCANO. 33 ward, and just ahead of the great comber tliey swept on at a speed oflittle, if any, less than f

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