Each man and boy, as you see, has got a
short board or plank, with which he swims out for a mile or more to
sea, and then, gettin' on the top o' yon thunderin' breaker, they come
to shore on the top of it, yellin' and screechin' like fiends. It's a
marvel to me that they're not dashed to shivers on the coral reef, for
sure an' sartin' am I that if any o' us tried it, we wouldn't be worth
the fluke of a broken anchor after the wave fell. But there they go!"
As he spoke, several hundreds of the natives, amongst whom we were now
standing, uttered a loud yell, rushed down the beach, plunged into the
surf, and were carried off by the seething foam of the retreating wave.
At the point where we stood, the encircling coral reef joined the
shore, so that the magnificent breakers, which a recent stiff breeze
had rendered larger than usual, fell in thunder at the feet of the
multitudes who lined the beach. For some time the swimmers continued to
strike out to sea, breasting over the swell like hundreds of black
seals. Then they all turned, and watching an approaching billow,
mounted its white crest, and each laying his breast on the short, flat
board, came rolling towards the shore, careering on the summit of the
mighty wave, while they and the onlookers shouted and yelled with
excitement. Just as the monster wave curled in solemn majesty to fling
its bulky length upon the beach, most of the swimmers slid back into
the trough behind; others, slipping off their boards, seized them in
their hands, and plunging through the watery waste, swam out to repeat
the amusement; but a few, who seemed to me the most reckless, continued
their career until they were launched upon the beach, and enveloped in
the churning foam and spray.
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