FEARLESS SWIMMERS.

Northland Age, Volume 3, Issue 39, 14 May 1907, Page 6

FEARLESS SWIMMERS.

In the water the Hawaiians are solutely fearless. As soon as they can walk, little babies are taken to bathe in the sea, and in a very short time they are able to swim like porpoises. The “Hawaiian Yesterdays” gives a reminiscence of the courage of the natives :

“Our party had arrived in Hilo Bay, and we were all seated upon the platform of a big double canoe, paddling ashore from the schooner, which lay out in the harbour. A throng of natives lined the beach, waiting to welcome their returning teachers.

“Just as we were entering the surf that rolled upon the sandy shore, i through some accident th© canoes I suddenly filled and sank, leaving us all sitting half-submerged in the shallow water. With a loud roar of ‘Auwe !' (‘Oh’ and Alas’) the assembled crowd rushed as one man into the waves and bore us safely to land.

“On one occasion, about the same date, a coasting vessel was upset in a violent squall between the islands of Hawaii and Maui. Although the nearest land was 20 miles distant, the native crew and passengers boldly struck out to swim ashore, and several of them did come safe to land, after a night and day in the deep. “Among the survivors of the wreck was a poor woman who for several hours swam with her husband upon her back. But the poor man died of cold and fatigue, and had to be abandoned at last before the coast waa reached.’’