A Hawaiian who wrote down surf-riding
one who wrote down the old ways · Hawaii · 19th century
Someone who set down the old Hawaiian pastimes one by one in Hawaiian: the names and lengths of the surfboards, the names of the waves, and the chant to call when there is no surf. The paper is one of those gathered by Judge Abraham Fornander; the book does not say who wrote it.
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19th century · From an account of the old pastimes, the part on surf-riding. Just before it come the names and lengths of the boards and the names of the waves. The pohuehue is a creeping vine of the beach; the book's note says swimmers would swing strands of it round their heads and lash the water together while chanting. Kahiki is the word for the far lands across the sea. The English is the translation printed beside the Hawaiian in the same book (edited by Thomas G. Thrum).
If there is no surf, invoke seaward in the following manner: Arise, arise ye great surfs from Kahiki, The powerful curling waves. Arise with the pohuehue, Well up, long raging surf.
Ina aohe nalu, alaila, kahea aku i kai, penei e hea ai. Ku mai! Ku mai! Ka nalu nui mai Kahiki mai, Alo poi pu! Ku mai ka pohuehue, Hu! Kaikoo loa.
Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore, Third Series (1919) · "Relating to Amusements: Surf-riding (Heenalu)"
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