surfresearch.com.au  george turner  : surf riding in somoa, 1861

They have sundry other amusements.
Swimming in the surf on a board, and steering little canoes while borne along on the crest of a wave towards the shore, are favourite juvenile sports.
Canoe-racing, races with one party in a canoe and another along the beach, races with both parties on land, climbing cocoa-nut trees to see who can go up quickest, reviews and sham-fighting, cock-fighting, tossing up oranges and keeping three, four, or more of them on the move : these and many other things were of old, and are still, numbered among Samoan sports.

Turner, George: Nineteen years in Polynesia:  missionary life, travels, and researches in the islands of the Pacific  J. Snow, London,1861. Internet Archive http://archive.org/details/nineteenyearsin00unkngoog

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