people and to
the crew, if one may judge from their behaviour on the occasion.

Then we sat on deck, gazing at the cloud of fire over Kilauea, and
wondering if the appearance of the crater could ever be grander than
it was last night, when we were standing on its brim.

So ended Christmas Day, 1876, at Hilo, in Hawaii. God grant that there
may be many more as pleasant for us in store in the future!

CHAPTER XVI.

HAWAIIAN SPORTS.

_In wrestling nimble, and in running swift,_
_In shooting steady, and in swimming strong,_
_Well made to strike, to leap, to throw, to lift,_
_And all the sports that shepherds are among._

_Tuesday, December 26th_.--We went ashore at eight o'clock, after an
early cup of coffee, and found Mr. Lyman already waiting for us. Two
baggage-mules were sent off with the photographic apparatus, and all
the materials for breakfast, to the Rainbow Falls, where the children
are looking forward with intense glee to boiling their own kettle,
poaching eggs, and trying other cooking experiments.

Before setting out for the Falls ourselves, we went to see the
national sport of surf-swimming, for their skill in which the
Hawaiians are so justly famed.

The natives have many other games of which they are very fond, and
which they play with great skill, including spear-throwing,
transfixing an object with a dart, _kona_, an elaborate kind of
draughts, and _talu_, which consists in hiding a small stone under one
of five pieces of cloth, placed in front of the players. One hides the
stone, and the others have to guess where it is; and it generally
happens that, however dexterously the hider may put his arm beneath
the cloth, and dodge about from one piece to another, a clever player
will be able to tell, by the movement of the muscles of the upper part
of his arm, when his fingers relax their hold of the stone. Another
game, called _parua_, is very like the Canadian sport of 'tobogging,'
only that it is carried on on the grass instead of on the snow. The
performers stand bolt upright on a narrow plank, turned up in front,
and steered with a sort of long paddle. They go to the top of a hill
or mountain, and rush down the steep, grassy, sunburnt slopes at a
tremendous pace, keeping their balance in a wonderful manner. There is
also a very popular amusement, called _pahe_, requiring a specially
prepared smooth floor, along which the javelins of the players glide
like snakes. On the s