But charge they never so boldly, and charge they forever, old Ohonoo gallantly throws them back till all before her is one scud and rack.

So charged the bright billows of cuirassiers at Waterloo: so hurled them off the long line of living walls, whose base was as the sea-beach, wreck-strown, in a gale.
Without the break in the reef wide banks of coral shelve off, creating the bar, where the waves muster for the onset, thundering in water-bolts, that shake the whole reef, till its very spray trembles.
And then is it, that the swimmers of Ohonoo most delight to gambol in the surf.
For this sport, a surf-board is indispensable: some five feet in length; the width of a man's body; convex on both sides; highly polished; and rounded at the ends.

It is held in high estimation; invariably oiled after use; and hung up conspicuously in the dwelling of the owner.
Ranged on the beach, the bathers, by hundreds dash in; and diving under the swells, make straight for the outer sea, pausing not till the comparatively smooth expanse beyond has been gained.

Here, throwing themselves upon their boards, tranquilly they wait for a billow that suits.

Snatching them up, it hurries them landward, volume and speed both increasing, till it races along a watery wall, like the smooth, awful verge of Niagara.