The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-08

forth until miles had been covered and
! the beach reached without a single
| stop. The bay at Hiio was tIae best
suited for this, and Hauuia, on Oahu
below the Pail, came second.
| Hilo bay was also the great racing
ground of the heihei waa, or profess
siona1 canoemen. they would come in
preferably immediately after a great
storm, for miles before series OF
mountain combers.
The kalai Waa was the expert canoe
/ builder Of the old days, who would be
welcomed most heartily today by the
Outrigger Club.
The Oahu Walking Club might per-
haps take charge of the reviving the
profession of the kukini, or official
footracer, whose marvellous feets so
astonished Captain Cook. It is said
that there were men in the days of
Kamehameha the Great who could run
entirely around the island of Oahu in
half a day. Ed. Towse. of the Oahu
Walking Club, has followed many Of
these old messenger trails and declares
that they drop over precipices and
make short cuts that would give palpi-
tation of the heart to many a stout
walker of today On Hawaii, 1t is
claimed that these marvellous foot
racers would be sent sixty miles away
to secure fresh fish for the king. and
return with them alive. Many were
the famous racers, in the old days be-
tween rival celebrities, but there were
no hundred-yard, dashes. The foot
races of the old. Hawaiians were the
real thing and contestants sometimes
dropped dead in their tracks.
Next in honor to the kings messen-
gers, perhaps. were the wrestlers. There
were the pull, or men who wrestled
by placing their hands upon each
others shoulders and then closing in,
and the kulakulai, who were up in the
art of catch-as-catch-ca Their object
being TO push each other down, very
much as the Japanese wrestle today.
Then there were the spear throwers,
of three grades, the laumeki was the
small spear, the lodging and catching
of which was Kamehameha's chief de-
light. There was long spear to throw
at the enemy and another ribbed with
sharks teeth for close contact.
One ancient game pretty sure to be
revived is maika, or the rolling of the
old Hawaiian discus, or circular stone,
along the ground. There is an old ma
Ind 5IOA1AI Oli l41C lSId1lu III AAduI WuCTE
these old stones are still to be found.
In some of the South Sea Islands.
games of this sort still form one of the
sports of the people.
Keapua, the old record relates, is the
art of throwing dried sugar cane tops
along the ground. In Samoa, Fiji and
the New Hebrides, wands are still
used for this purpose and it is ia
vorite game.
Many other old Hawaiian sports and
pastimes does this old record relate
as among those that antedated any in
troduced by the white man. Pity it
is that these games that once delighted
the men of Cooks ships could not be
revived in time to edify the Jackies of
our own fleet. IF, however, Uncle Sam
will send his fleet back this way next
year, doubtless the Alumni OF Kane
hameha Schools and others will then
be able to provide our sailor boys
with series of old Hawaiian sports
and contests, which, IL successfully re-
produced, should draw many visitors
to Hawaii whenever the contestants
see fit to give an exhibition of their
skill.