ame floor they also play at another game, called
_maita_, or _uru maita_. Two sticks, only a few inches apart, are
stuck into the ground, and at a distance of thirty or forty yards the
players strive to throw a stone between them. The _uru_ which they use
for the purpose is a hard circular stone, three or four inches in
diameter, and an inch in thickness at the edge, but thicker in the
middle.

Mr. Ellis, in his 'Polynesian Researches,' states that 'these stones
are finely polished, highly valued, and carefully preserved, being
always oiled or wrapped up in native cloth after having been used. The
people are, if possible, more fond of this game than of the _pahe_,
and the inhabitants of a district not unfrequently challenge the
people of the whole island, or the natives of one island those of all
the others, to bring a man who shall try his skill with some favourite
player of their own district or island. On such occasions seven or
eight thousand people, men and women, with their chiefs and
chiefesses, assemble to witness the sport, which, as well as the
_pahe_, is often continued for hours together.'

With bows and arrows they are as clever as all savages, and
wonderfully good shots, attempting many wonderful feats. They are
swift as deer, when they choose, though somewhat lazy and indolent.
All the kings and chiefs have been special adepts in the invigorating
pastime of surf-swimming, and the present king's sisters are
considered first-rate hands at it. The performers begin by swimming
out into the bay, and diving under the huge Pacific rollers, pushing
their surf-boards--flat pieces of wood, about four feet long by two
wide, pointed at each end--edgewise before them. For the return
journey they select a large wave; and then, either sitting, kneeling,
or standing on their boards, rush in shorewards with the speed of a
racehorse, on the curling crest of the monster, enveloped in foarn and
spray, and holding on, as it were, by the milk-white manes of their
furious coursers. It looked a most enjoyable amusement, and I should
think that, to a powerful swimmer, with plenty of pluck, the feat is
not difficult of accomplishment. The natives here are almost
amphibious. They played all sorts of tricks in the water, some of the
performers being quite tiny boys. Four strong rowers took a whale-boat
out into the worst surf, and then, steering her by means of a large
oar, brought her safely back to the shore on the top of a huge