, 1869-05-28
The Hawaiian DiVers-How Il Feels to
Fall Far.

Inc 1dWdldn OiteIS-hOW II Feels to
Fall Far.
Sometimes the native children fix long
pole so as to project from bank over deep
water; along this they chase each other to
the outermost end, leaping in regular success
sion into the wafer. Leaping from high per
pendicular cliffs is favorte aud daring sport
with the men. They choose a place where
the water is not less Than fifteen or twenty
feet In depth at the bottom ofthe cliff; then
taking rOusing run, TO get fairly under
wsy-like Washington Twins Dutchman,
who started to jump over the mountain
they bound far into the air from the edge of
the cliff. As the leaper falls from the uizzy
height-sometimes hundred feet by meas
urement-toward the water, he bends him
self almost double, as in wanton muscular
play; but just before striking the water he
partially straightens himself SO that his body
is slightly curved forward at the moment of
the plunge, and the feet are, perhaps, foot
In advance of perpendicular line lei fall
from the head. He strikes the water with,
out splash, entering it with that quick, dull
chuck that o smooth pebble makes when
thrown torcibly into the water, aud at an
angle with the surface SO nicely calculated
that he is actually brought to the surface
again by the momentum of the fall. With
the body curved as 1 have described, be
shoots through the arc Of circle under the
water, and after two or three seconds he
comes up feet foremost The first thing you
see of him is his toes, emerging from the wa
ter fifteen or twenty feet in front of the place
where he went down. No athletic feat is
more daring and beautiful than this.
The sensations experienced by one who
fall: from great hight have not, l think,
been described in print. A singular good
fortune having made the writer of this arti,
Gle an expert in the Hawaiian manner, be i:
able to give some account of them. Until
you are thoroughly practiced in the leap,-you
have a decided inclination to)thiHk twice
about the matter before you risk it. You
6rst dive at the bottom ofthe cliff, and sat,
isfy yourself that there is sufficient depth O
water. You watch one after another o
your companions as they bound away il
long parabolic curves from the edge of tn,
cliff; but it requires some nerve to throw
yourself deliberately from high precipic
into mid air. The solid ground seems
much more comfortable place At last nerv
ing yourself, you run aud leap. Iustantl
5ou have feeling of floating rather thai
falling-such a feeling, suppose, as bir,
has when rapidly alighting from an elevate
fight. There is no sense of accelerated mo
tiOn as you fall; but you feel your hal
blown upward by fierce current of all
This does not, however, in the least embar
rass your breathing. The notion that peo
pie have their breath taken away in faiIin,
from height is erroneous. In an instan
comes the plunge; and you must enter ID
water in exactly the right position, or it vii
hurt you almost like the solid earth. If 70,
enter 1t with splash, you meet its resist
ance too suddenly, aud may b0 lamed or stun
ned. The great leapsr, Sam. Patch, lost hi
life thus. Had he possessed Hawaiian skill
and sober head, he would never have 10.
his position while falling, ns in his last eaI
at Genesee Falls. Could an Islander hay'
taught him how to come out toes foremost
he might have been alive and leaping at tn,
present day. You, wiser than he, come safe
to the surface, swim ashore, and prepare fo
another leap.-Hedrh and Home