surfresearch.com.au  newspapers : 1893

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Newspapers : 1893.

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Chronicling America
The Hawaiian gazette. (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, January 17, 1893, Image 9
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025121/1893-01-17/ed-1/seq-9/

Perhaps the most ordinary danger of the sea shore - if danger can be called ordinary - is what are known as the three waves.
The breakers, as a rule, come in a series of three.
Sometimes the three are small, and sometimes are very heavy, but, as a rule, the sequences run about the same size.
Imagine a bather inside the surf line, with the surf breaking over a bar about fifty or one hundred feet from shore. Those big green waves that rise higher and higher as they come toward him do not seem very formidable.
The first one rears its head before it reaches him with an angry swish ; a curl of foam, like a feather edge, crops out along the top, and fills the air with spray.
Then the wave takes a more decided shoreward curl, the line of foam becomes deeper, there is a crash as it drops to the level, and the bather finds himself thrown down in a caldron of seething surf.
Say he is in three feet of water on the level.
After the wave has passed he struggles to his feet choking, gasping and half blind with the salt water.
He doesn't really know what has happened, but he has a dim idea that something has hit him.
Before he has time to collect his senses the second of the series is upon him, and he.goes down again.
He is dazed and confused, and he flounders around hopelessly.
The third wave is always the finishing stroke, and gives the life-saver, if there is one, a chance to do some work. Guided by an outstretched arm flung above the water involuntarily, or by a bobbing head with which the surf is playing football, he drags the unsophisticated one out on the sand.
That is the most common danger of the surf.

...
Hilo is oneof the very few places these islands where you can see a truly royal sport, the surf-board.
It requires a rough day and a heavy surf, but with good day, it is one of tbe finest sights in the world.

Chronicling America
Hopkinsville Kentuckian. (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, February 17, 1893, Image 4
Image and text provided by University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86069395/1893-02-17/ed-1/seq-4/

KAUAIANA.
Fvm and Frolic on tho Garden Isle

FriBky Mon and Fair Women
Enjoy Fine Weather.

The Daily bulletin. (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, April 03, 1893, Image 4
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016412/1893-04-03/ed-1/seq-4/

The ladies of the Hawaiian Women's Patriotic League at Hilo, last Monday, at 11 a. m., awaited upon Mrs. James H. Blount.
...
A double canoe, decorated with evergreens, with five seats for the guests, and propelled by stalwart rowers, was placed at the disposal of Mrs. Blount, upon which she and her friends wore taken to see the sports gotten up for the occasion at Piikea.
From the high bluffs of Piikea, Keaweamahi, decorated with evergreens, twice performed the difficult and daring feat of jumping off the bluffs into the ocean, at a great height, doing the act so gracefully that it elicited applause from the guests and spectators.
Shooting the falls or rapids and riding on the surf closed the aquatic sports.
The surf riding, both with the surf board and with the canoe, though dangerous to novices and only capable of being performed safely by experts, was a fitting close to some of our old Hawaiian sports, which are rarely seen now-a-days and only given for the benefit of distinguished persons.
On taking her departure from Hilo Mrs. Blount was taken in the double canoe and landed on board the steamer, amid cheers and the sincere alohas of the poor confiding Hawaiians.

Chronicling America
The Daily bulletin. (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, May 17, 1893, Image 2
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016412/1893-05-17/ed-1/seq-2/

The modern young woman is as proud of her athletic tastes and accomplishments as her grandmother used to be of her extreme delicacy and weakness.
The modern young woman does not faint easily, she can row a boat up stream, wield a tennis racket with sustained grace for hours, climb mountains, catch the breakers or swim in the surf, ride a bicycle, perhaps, and in the privacy of the women's class in the gymnasium, she can run, leap, fenceand perform numerous feat in her pretty and comfortable gymnastic-suit, which an outsider, seeing her in a snug tailor-made dress or flowing evening draperies, would not suppose could be among the possibilities.
And with this addition of muscular force she has gained intellectually and does not shrink from the same college curriculum which her brother attacks.
The girl of the closing years of the 19th Century, who has been able to avail herself of the privileges open to her, is a thoroughly well equipped

The management of the La Jolla Park hotel have secured the services of the Native Hawaiian Surf Riders to give daily exhibitions for the season.
No one should fail to see these wonderful performances.
The hotel will also make special rates for board during the months of August and September.

One of the most venturesome sports practised by any people is the surf board swimming of the Sandwich Islands. Nearly everyone has experienced the delights of surf bathing, with its exhilarating rush and battle with the tonic waves; this pleasure is is keenly enjoyed by the Hawaiians who pursue it with singular abandon. The surf board is a plank of light wool twelve to fourteen feet long, with one end rounded ; the edges are also rounded, but the other end of the board is left square. A piece of cloth is usually bound around this end perhaps for the support of the foot while swimming or rather being projected like a cannon ball by the wave. A crowd of natives will swim out towing their boards diving under and dodging the heavy rollers coming in until they are quite a distance from land. Every third wave is larger than the others and on the broad back of this huge breaker the natives ride in like the wind. Sometimes they stand erect on the boards but they usually crouch or lie down and keep balance with dextrous stroke of the foot or hand or by swaying the body. This sport is not without mishap but the natives are such water dogs that the accidents rarely terminate fatally. Captain Cook says that he saw with horror one of these surfboards dashed into pieces but an instant after a man had quitted it. To be compelled to leave the board and dive back under the wave is considered very disgraceful and besides the oiled, polished and highly valued board which has required a whole tree trunk for its manufacture is lost.

I doubt however if any modern Leander of the sporting world would care to undertake a twelve mile swim as did an Eskimo I call to mind who leaped from a ship wild with desire to return to his native paradise of desolation. The best way to learn to swim is to practice floating first, keeping the lungs inflated holding the head back allowing the water to fill the ears and then striking the open palms against the water and experimenting on the push it gives. After a little while one gains confidence from the floating of the body and can strike out. I found it much easier to learn to swim by using short clawing strokes which help flotation and progress at the same time. This was called swimming dog fashion After this dog paddle stroke is learned it is easy to make the full arm strokes by bringing the hands together with the arms straight forward then separating the hands rapidly curving the hands under and bringing them to the first position with the least resistance possible. At the same time the feet are brought up and back delivering the blow backward and downward with the instep and toes; this assists both flotation and progress. Fancy strokes such as overhand and side and side come later. It is necessary to caution young swimmers not to bathe at nightfall when the air begins to be chilly or when the air is markedly cooler than the water or when overheated and lastly not to stay in too long. These rules do not apply to those summer resort bathers who deck themselves in gorgeous bathing suits and then don't go into the water at all.

The following letter was received by the Oceanic's mail from Hawaiian Consul James W. Girvin at San Diego, California, and is self-explanatory:

"Sometime ago the small the American gasoline steamer Jennie Griffin put in here and dicharged her crew, amongst whom were four Hawaiians.
She had shipped them in San Francisco on a lobster fishing expedition to San Nicholas, a small island about 75 miles north from this port.
On account of getting their reservoir filled with sand the lobsters died said the captain abandoned the trip.
The men were discharged penniless, their  advance being as much as their wages came to.
I rustled about and obtained work fo them, but it was not steady.
Finally, I succeeded in shipping three of them to Portland, from which it  will be more convenient for them to get home.
Three of them came over on the Forest Queen and left the ship in San Francisco.
Their names are John Hiton Lindsey of Waimea, Hawaii; Umi Makekau of Lahaina ; Tome Hakauila of Wailuku, Maui ; and John Ahia of Kona, Hawaii.
The first three sail today for Portland on the British ship Peter Iredale and the last is here still.
"Please let their friends know of their whereabouts and oblige,
Respectfnllv vours,
Js. W. Girvin
Hawaiian Consul."

The Hawaiian gazette. (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, August 15, 1893, Image 3
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025121/1893-08-15/ed-1/seq-3/

Page ? Labor Day Picnic On Monday next there will be a grand labor day picnic given at Pacific Beach under the auspices of the various labor organizations of San Diego.  The programme will be quite an elaborate and interesting one.  The opening addresses will be delivered by George H. Spears, the popular president of the Federated Traders.  Speeches will be made by Martin Doyle and John L. Dryden.  There will be a number of games and racing for both sexes and all ages.  These wil be followed by a splendid exhibition illustrating surf-riding by George McCullough.  This is an exciting scene rarely witnessed outside the Sandwich Islands.  Music and dancing will contine all day, and a pleasant time may be expected.

In September 1893, the San Diego Union announced the program for the upcoming Labor Day Picnic at Pacific Beach, including "a splendid exhibition illustrating surf-riding by George McCullough."
The report noted that "this is an exciting scene rarely witnessed outside the Sandwich Islands."

At present, the identity of George McCullough is unclear.
The California Voter Registers, 1866-1898 lists a George (Washington?) McCullough, born about 1870, as a resident of  San Francisco, California, United States in 1892
This McCullough would have been about 23 in 1893.

If McCullough was a Californian, it is possible he acquired his surf-riding skills at Waikiki.

According to Honolulu's The Daily Herald, the brig William G. Irwin was expected from San Francisco in July 1887, captained by "McCullough."
She was built  for J.D. Spreckels in 1881 by Matthew Turner, America's most prolific builder of timber ships, to export Hawai'ian sugar.

The Hawaiian Gazette reported that  the William G. Irwin made several further voyages to Hawai'i under Captain McCullough, including November 1889, November 1890, and March 1893.
On this last voyage, while in Honolulu, McCullough receveived notification of his appointment as a bar pilot for San Francisco bay, confirmed in later by San Francisco's The Morning Call in late April.

In July 1895, Captain McCullough skippered the "pilot-boat Gracie S"  in an ocean race organized by the Pacific Yacht Club from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, other competitors included ex-Commodore Spreckels in the Lurline.
McCullogh continued his service as a pilot-master at san francisco, in 1900 he was in command of the America.

In the collision of  Gracie S with the Titania on March 9, 1902, the shooner's boom struck and killed Christopher Kruger, the collier's mate.
In the following legal machinations, a dispute arouse in September amoung the pilot fraternity over the allocation of funds that led to Captains Johnson and McCullough coming to blows.
McCullough was still serving as a pilot in 1906, and was at sea on April 18 at the time of the California earthquake.

Given McCullough's many visits to Hawai'i, these certainly would have provided the opportunity to acquire considerable surf-riding skills.
that the position of captain probaly indicated an experienced mariner, with a considerable number of years at sea, Captain McCullough's apparent age may suggest it is unlikey he could perform "a splendid exhibition illustrating surf-riding."

Alternatively, George McCullough may have been a younger relative who crewed under Captain McCullough on his voyages to Hawai'i.

Gracie S., San Francisco Pilot Boat built in 1893 by Union Iron Works.
She served until 1947 and went through various hands including actor Sterling Hayden, who modified her and renamed her the Wanderer.
She appeared in the film Wolf Larsen in 1958 in her later configuration, playing the sealing schooner the "Ghost" – look for the pasted over name on the transom at the beginning of the film.

Vessels Expected From Foreign Ports
...
W G. lrwin, McCullough ffom San Francisco, due August 1-14.

DEPARTURES
SUNDAY NOV.. 23
...
Brig Wm. Irwin, [Captain] McCullough for San Francisco.

VESSELS IN PORT
...
Brig Wm. G. Irwin, [Captain] McCullough, San Francisco.

VESSELS IN PORT
...
Brig Wm G Irwin, [Captain] McCullough, San Francisco.

LOCAL AND GENERAL
...
Captain McCullough, of the W. G. Irwin, now in port, was recently appointed a bar pilot for San Francisco bay.
The news came on the Australia.
 

A R McCullough???

Captain McCullough, who was lately appointed bar pilot, has assumed his duties.
Captain Williams, late of the schooner Aniin, has taken the former* place as commander of the brig William G. Irwin.

San Diego, Cal. Sept. 1.
Here I am in San Diego in good health.
Note the manner of my residence beyond this letter.
The nature of those above is that they are my employers.

My work is that of a fisherman at $25 dollars a month, [but] my pay for surfing is $10 for each day.
It may be true that I’m the most unskilled of surfers there (Hawaii), but I’m the number one surfer here in California.

This is a fine land where all are equal.
I am just like all the others who are staying in this hotel.

I met my employers in Honolulu, where Johnson was the previous owner of the Hotel Hawaii.
I won’t tell you the tale of my wanderings that led me here now.
That will come later.

Because I assume you’d all wonder if I didn’t write, I am sending this letter to you.
I think I’ll stay here through this winter, and then next spring, I’ll wander on to the east to New York.

I appreciate this place more than our own in regard to the protection of personal rights of the people.
Even the birds are protected by law here, which is the ultimate.
Whereas I can no longer write this letter properly because of the amount of Caucasian people here, I shall close with regards to you and the family.

John Ahia

Notes.
1. This document was translated and  forwarded from John Clark via Joe Tabler on 18th September 2012.
John prefaced the article:
"On another historical note of interest, I ran across a letter about surfing in California on page 1 of the 30 September 1893 edition of the Hawaiian language newspaper Ka Nupepa Kuokoa.
This is a translation of the letter:"
The email also had excepts from Randolph: La Jolla Year By Year (1975) attached, see 3 below.
Many thanks to John and Joe T.

2. Presumably the editor has reproduced a printed header, La Jolla Park Hotel, Johnson and Ritchie, Proprietors, from the hotel's notepaper of the original letter.
The writer, perhaps with some sense of pride, indicates that this formal address identifies his employers and the hotel as his residence.

The La Jolla Park Hotel was constructed in 1888, but, apparently due to local injunctions, it did not open under the management of Howard Johnson and Chas. H. Ritchie until 1st January 1893.
The hotel was closed in February 1896 and, four months later, the vacant building was burnt to the ground.
Sometime before the fire, ownership had been transferred to French & Hamilton of Los Angeles
- Randolph, Howard S.F.: La Jolla Year By Year, The Library Association of La Jolla (1975), pages 14 to 19.
(The relevant excepts were forwarded by Joe Tabler or John [Clarke?] 18th September 2012.)

3. Dated 1st September, the letter does not indicate when Ahia first arrived in in La Jolla.
It was possibly somewhat earlier in the year; presumably surfing demonstrations were mostly in demand during the summer months when there were most hotel patrons and vistitors,

4. Employed pricipally as a fisherman at the rate of $25 per month, the relatively substantial fee of $10 a day for surfing was probably only applicable on weekends or holidays and, of course, with conducive weather and swell conditions.

6. Ahia knew, and was possibly employed by, Johnson and Ritchie in Honolulu in their role as the managers of the "Hotel Hawaii."
Located on the corner of Hotel and Richard streets, Honolulu, the Hawaiian Hotel (this discrepancy may be in the translation) was opened in early 1872 by Allen Herbert.
Howard Johnson was manager by October 1891, and around this period it was re-named the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
In September 1892 the management secured a lease on a bathouse and three cottages on the beachfront at Waikiki, where "the sea bathing being unsurpassed on the Island."
Known as Waikiki Villa since 1889, the new venture was re-named the Hotel Park Annex.
The site was later purchased by the Matson Navagation Co. for the construction of the present Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which opened on 1st February 1927.
Given his fishing skills, it is most likely that the Ahia made contact with Johnson and Ritchie at the Waikiki Annex.

- Hibbard, Don: Designing Paradise: The Allure of the Hawaiian Resort, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006, page 20.
http://books.google.com.au/

- Cohen, Stan: The Pink Palace - The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, Montana, 1986, Chapter 1.

7. John Ahia is modest about  his surfing abilities, whereas in Hawai'i his is "the most unskilled," in California he is "number one."
It is unclear if this indicates that he is the only local boardrider, or, more likely, that he is significantly more skilled than the local enthusiasts.

8. He is impressed with the unanimity with which he is treated in California, compared with "the protection of personal rights of the people" in Hawai'i.

9. John Ahia expresses an enviromental awareness, noting that "even the birds are protected by law here, which is the ultimate."

10. Ahia leaves the reader in anticipation as he promises that an account of the "wanderings that led me here ... will come later."
Whatever the extent of his travels, he is known to still be in Honolulu in April 1899 when he appeared before the local court on a charge of drunkeness and turned up in San Francisco with three other Hawai'ians in April 1893 after an aborted lobster fishing exbedition to St Nicholas Island, off the California coast.
See above.
An account, if one was later published, would be of further interest, particually if it confirmed the date of his arrival in La Jolla.
Furthermore, his travels (and those of Johnson and Ritchie) exemplify historian Matt K.Matsuda's concept of "trans-localism" in his definitive Pacific Worlds (2012).

11. Conversely, while he intends to remain in La Jolla for the next six months, he plans include a posible visit "to the east to New York."
Again, further details would be of interest.

12. The letter was translated and paraphrased by the Hawaiian Gazette on 3rd October, and  a brief summary, without mentioning Ahui by name, was printed in the Hawaiian Star on the 23rd November.
See below. 

John Ahia, a wandering Hawaiian youth, was last heard from at San Diego, Cal.
In a letter to friends here, dated Sept. 1st, he stated he was employed by Mr. Hamilton Johnson, formerly of this city, in the fishing business.
He claimed to be the champion surf-rider of California, although he admitted that he was of no account in Hawaii nei. (sic)
Ahia intends going to New York next year.

Native Hawaiians are at La Jolla, California, where Hamilton Johnson has a hotel, giving surf riding shows.

Chronicling America
The Hawaiian star. (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, November 23, 1893, Image 5
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015415/1893-11-23/ed-1/seq-5/

Note.
"Founded in 1894 as the Woman's Literary Club of La Jolla, its first mebers included ...  Nellie Johnson."- page 275.
"Nellie Johnson was the wife of Hamilton Johnson, owner of the La Jolla Park Hotel."- page 290, Footnote 2.

- M. McClain: The La Jolla of Ellen Browning Scripps,The Journal of San Diego History, viewed 25 June 2012.
www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/v57-4/v57-4mcclain.pdf

For hotel and local photographs, see:

Nan Cuthbert:La Jolla History, The Journal of San Diego History, viewed 25 June 2012.
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/80spring/legacy.htm

The genial and popular manager of the Concert Company which has delighted our musical world during the past fortnight,
Mr. M. L. 2?. Plunkett is making hosts of friends, and in company with those talented artistes the Misses Albuj whose career he is
overseeing, is staying amongst us for a few weeks longer prior to departure, and enjoying the sports and scenes of Island life to
carry away pleasant reminiscences and experiences of Island life untroubled by its political disputes.
Crab fishing, surf-riding, boating, etc. , have combined to make them think our Island life something to look forward to, as a haven of enjoyment when artistic triumphs pall and managerial successes have reaped that pecuniary harvest so well deserved, and so ungrudgingly bestowed on real merit

Chronicling America
Hawaii holomua = Progress. (Honolulu) 1893-1895, December 17, 1893, Image 2
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016410/1893-12-17/ed-1/seq-2/

Amoung the natives who will go to the Midwinter fair at San Fancisco under management to the Exhibition Company is James Apu, now in Honolulu from Kauai, who is the champion diver and surf rider of that island.
Many stories of the remarkable feats performed by this man in the water are related.
It is said that he is so expert at diving that he can stay underwater for four minutes at a time and meanwhile catch fish with a spear
and net which he uses while on his submarine visit.
He has no fear of sharks and will take to the water at any time and under any circumstances.
While on board one of the island steamers a little while ago off Diamond Head Apu got fish hungry and  jumped overboard, caught
some and returned to the steamer in a few minutes.
In 1884, while at Molokai in a small schooner with three or four other natives, after discussing several bottles of gin the others left Apu on shore and sailed for Maui.
Apu threw off his clothes, tired them in a bundle on his head and swam after the schooner, which he soon caught up with.
The others would not let him in, so he struck out for himself and swam the entire distance, reaching the Maui shore some time
before the others.
The distance is over eight miles and the current swift and dangerous.

Apu will give surf riding exhibitions at the Cliff House on his arrival at San Francisco, and the board which he will use is now to be seen at T.W. Hobron's office.
This one has been made to order of redwood, which Apu  says is preferable to koa, being so much lighter.
It will be painted black, that color being most obnoxious to sharks.
This surf board is 12 feet long, and when performing Apu stands errect on it and goes through a variety of wonderful feats in
balancing, etc.

Apu will give a private exhibition of his powers in surf riding, diving and fishing within three or four days for the edification of a few members of the company.

Chronicling America
The Hawaiian star. (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, December 20, 1893, Image 3
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015415/1893-12-20/ed-1/seq-3/

Note.
This article was extensively reprinted (in a slightly edited form) across the United States from the Hawaiian Star, see:
It also appeared in:
The Herald, Los Angeles, February 16, 1894, page 8.
Wilkes-Barre Times, February 20, 1894 Volume 4, Issue 1249, page 3, (located by Skipper Funderberg, 2010).
The Evening Bulletin. Maysville, Kentucky, February 23, 1894, page 4.
The Breckenridge News. Cloverport, Kentucky, March 21, 1894, page 3.
The Islander. Friday Harbor, Washington, May 23, 1895, page 4.

Once man who has been twice around the world and is now slowly drifting around on his third tour said to me that he thought life afforded more pleasure in the Sandwich Islands than anywhere else on the globe.
...
A few miles from the town of Honolulu, reached by a drive bordered with parks and gardens of luxuriant tropical plants and trees, with now and then a cocoanut grove, or an open space through which, on one side the smiling South Sea reached away forever, or, on the other, the dark green mountains rested the eyes and cooled the air, is a suburb called Waikiki.

...
Well, at Waikiki many wealthy people have homes, some on the very edge of the water, which are neither "summer" homes nor "winter" homes, to be closea and deserted half the year.
Their owners have homes in town, but keep the Waikiki places open always, to be occupied by any members of the family or all the family, as the fancy dictates: for a single meal, a night, a week, month, or continuously.
It must have been at Waikiki that the globe trotter referred to lived his South Sea idyl.

One of the most charming places on the beach at Waikiki is owned by a Honolulu merchant whom I had the singular good fortune to meet pleasantly in this country and then to accompany on the steamer from San Francisco to Honolulu.
In that way I became his guest at Walkiki.
He had a beautiful home in the town, but nearly every evenlng drove to the beach.
But, and this is a peculiarity of Hawaiian temperament, he never knew whether he was going to the beach or not  until he got into his buggy to do so.
...
Once during Kalakaua's reign I breakfasted at his Waikiki place with a party which included my merchant friend, an ex-Governor of Virginia, an English tourist, and Claus Spreckles.
After breakfast we went out intoa beautiful cocoanut grove, where Kalakaua ordered one of his most expert cllmbers to go up a tree and send down some nuts.
...
By the time the climber had descended, and the King had given an order for some surf riders to take their surf boards to the beach and give an exhibition of surf riding, all the Kanakas were in a delirium of excitement, their own expressions of this emotion constantly adding to It.
...
The lanai was, I would think, a hundred feet from where the baby surf broke after rolling in over the inside coral reef, the big surf breaking on the outside coral reef.
I don't know what the temperature was of air or water.
I don't think any one ever uses thermometers or things like that there.
You know that the air is balmy and soft, and that you are perfectly happy lying in the hammock in pajamas, or lying on the white beach sand in your wet bathing dress and that to be in the water is a luxury.

The native servants might not be accounted very good servants in the estimation of a New York housekeeper.
It takes two or three to do what one Chinese or Japanese will and there are plenty of the latter, if you prefer.
But the natives can do so many things outside of household work which the Chinese and Japs cannot.
I remember one night we were lounging on the lanai with a big moon swinging over us, the baby surf purring at our feet, the big surf sending in a faint, drowsy boom from the outside reef and a groupof natives just beyond the lanai rail softly singing and laughing.
We had all been silent for a long time when our host lazily called one of the servants and gave him some instructions that caused
the wildest delight.
The natives ran out a canoe, and three of them, absolutely nude, embarked.
One paddled, one held a torch, one carried a spear.
They silently moved out beyond the line of inside surf, and there the man with the paddle held the canoe still.
The  torch bearer and spearsman stood up.
For several minutes they were as motionless as bronze statues, and at handsome, too, the torch bearer holding his flaming light over his head, the spearsman standing with muscles tense, poised for a stroke.
Suddenly there was a quick, dexterous plungeof the spear and a royal kumu, that big golden fish of  these waters, captive.
The men in the canoe announced their prize, and their comrades on the beach danced exultantly.
We had that kumu for breakfast, and the natives seasoned their poi with a little devil fish one of the fishermen caught with his hands and calmly killed by biting the back of its head as it wound its tentacles around his arm.
I saw a Kanaka woman do that once, and her expression was just the same as an American seamstress wears when she bites her thread.
But what I wat going to say is that, while the natives may not makes good house servants as some others, they do something in
compensation.
The picture of those men in that canoe that night might even compensate for the lack of pictures painted on canvas.
...
Next the ocean was the fancy of the younger members ot the party, and soon from the different cottages came the bathers dressed for the surf bathlng by moonlight in thetiouth sea, where the water affects the whole body as a glass of fine wine sometimes does the palate, as something imparting more than a physical luxury almost, and where the companionship is fitted for just that kind of bathing, is a diversion that can be safely recommended between dancing and supper on an evening in Waikiki.
...
It is a significant fact that Honolulu was the first community in the world to make practical use of the telephone.
Modern science advances very slowly in Honolulu generally, but when that community heard of the telephone it arose as one man and said, "Now, here is something worth talking about and through.
They stilt tat raw flh jind use
thslr lingers for that purpose, but they use more telephones in proportion to population than New York does.
After learning by telephone that no ship had como in, and excusing himself from his office on the ground that he had something "very important to attend to at the beach," our host would join us in that occupation nowhere else to artistically perfected doing nothing.
...
The next morning at 10 he would come up from the bath houses in his pyjamas and would say that if we would excuse him he would breakfast just as he was.
At 12 he would be likely to suggest that we practise surf-board riding a little.
After that exciting and tumultuous sport he would engage himself seriously with the telephone for a period of time.
...
Edward W. Townsend

Chronicling America
The sun. (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, December 31, 1893, 2, Image 6
Image and text provided by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1893-12-31/ed-2/seq-6/

Notes
1.Edward Townsend's Waikiki ... where ... laziness is an art is a most unusual and culturally interesting article.
Townsend describes the members of a white privileged class succumbing to a mellifluous "native" or Polynesian lifestyle, augmented with the latest technology (in this case the telephone), where deemed useful.
There is an implication that the "native servants" actively (and sometimes, like their masters, less actively) share in many of the benefits of living at Waikiki.

2. The article is substantial and above extracts do not include, besides other topics, Townsend's extensive comments about the women of Waikiki.

3. "Kalkaua, born David Laamea Kamanakapuu Mahinulani Nalaiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalkaua[2] and sometimes called The Merrie Monarch (November 16, 1836 – January 20, 1891), was the last reigning king of the Kingdom of Hawai'i.
He reigned from February 12, 1874 until his death in San Francisco, California, on January 20, 1891."

-Wikipedia:Kalkaua, viewed 24th June 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal%C4%81kaua
 

"Townsend was born in Cleveland, Ohio on February 10, 1855, and attended private and public schools in that city.
He went to San Francisco, California in 1875 and engaged in newspaper and literary work.
He moved to New York City in 1893 and continued his reportorial and literary pursuits.
In 1900, he became a resident of Montclair, New Jersey.
He was an author of novels, plays, short stories, as well as a textbook on the United States Constitution."

- Wikipedia: Edward W. Townsend, viewed 28th June 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_W._Townsend

For a list of Townsend's literary works, see:
UNZ.org : Edward W. Townsend, viewed 28th June 2012.
http://www.unz.org/Author/TownsendEdwardW

surfresearch.com.au

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