An old
man, clothed only with his dark skin, was pounding baked kalo for
poi, in front of the house; a woman with flowers in her hair, but
apparently not otherwise clothed, was wading up to her waist in the
river, pushing before her a light trumpet-shaped basket used for
catching shrimps, and the other women wore the usual bright-coloured
chemises.
I wanted to make the most of the six hours of daylight left, and we
remounted our horses and rode for some distance up the river, which
is the highway of the valley, all the children swimming on our right
and left, each holding up a bundle of clothes with one hand, and two
canoes paddled behind us. The river is still and clear, with a
smooth bottom, but comes halfway up a horse's body, and riders take
their feet out of the stirrups, bring them to a level with the
saddle, lean slightly back, and hold them against the horse's neck.
Equestrians following this fashion, canoes gliding, children and
dogs swimming, were a most amusing picture. Several of the children
swim to and from school every day. I was anxious to get rid of this
voluntary escort, and we took a gallop over the soft springy grass
till we reached some very pretty grass houses, under the shade of
the most magnificent bread-fruit trees on Hawaii, loaded with fruit.
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