But they were not afraid, and presently went on with their sport.

They were finished swimmers and divers, and enjoyed themselves to the last degree.
They swam races, splashed and ducked and tumbled each other about, and filled the air with their laughter.

It is said that the first thing an Islander learns is how to swim; learning to walk being a matter of smaller consequence, comes afterward.

One hears tales of native men and women swimming ashore from vessels many miles at sea--more miles, indeed, than I dare vouch for or even mention.

And they tell of a native diver who went down in thirty or forty-foot waters and brought up an anvil! I think he swallowed the anvil afterward, if my memory serves me.
However I will not urge this point.
I have spoken, several times, of the god Lono--I may as well furnish two or three sentences concerning him.
The idol the natives worshipped for him was a slender, unornamented staff twelve feet long.