Identifier: uncivilizedraces02wood (find matches)
Title: The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristics. By Rev. J. G. Wood... With new designs by Angas, Danby, Wolf, Zwecker... 1871
Year: 1871 (1870s)
Authors: Wood, John George, 1827-1889
Subjects: Ethnology. Manners and customs. Savages
Publisher: J. B. Burr and company
Contributing Library: Brigham Young University-Idaho, David O. McKay Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University-Idaho

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onlybe obtained by familiarity with the waterfrom earliest childhood. A Sandwich Islandchild can swim as soon as it can walk, if notsooner, the mothers taking them from thebreast, laying them on the surface of thewater and encouraging them to kick aboutas if lying on their mats ashore. Onewriter mentions his encounter with an ob-ject which he took to be a very large frog,but which turned out to be a Kanaka (i. e.Sandwich Island) baby, which was lying onits back and disporting itself quite at itsease. Indeed, in the mind of a Sandwich Isl-ander there seems to be no connection be-tween the ideas of water and danger, neitherdoes it enter his imagination that any hu-man being is unable to swim. Conse-quently, there have been several instanceswhere white men have fallen into the watel-and have been almost drowned, though inthe presence of the natives, simpty becausethe idea that any one could be endangeredby falling into the water never occurred tothem. They are equally skilful in managing
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SUUF SWIMMING BY SANDWICH ISLANDERS.(See page 1092.) (1098) A BOXING MATCH. 1095 their canoes, and have a curious mode ofextracting amusement out of them. Anumber of men will sometimes paddle acanoe after dressing themselves up in a mostludicrous fashion. They take large emptygourds, and put them over their heads, aftercutting holes in them corresponding withthe eyes and nose, so that the effect is notat all unlike that of a turnip lantern. Tothe upper part of the gourd is attached abunch of slender green twigs, which look ata little distance like a plume of feathers, andto the lower part are suspended a numberof narrow strips of cloth, looking like a longbeard. Their appearance is shown in illus-tration No. 2, on the 1089th page. In every case where these masks wereworn, the wearers seemed exceedingly jovial,laughing, shouting, and playing all kindsof antics. It was suggested that thesemasks were in fact helmets, used to protectthe wearers against the stones slung bytheir adversaries

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