Ohio-born church pastor William Westervelt moved to Hawaii in 1899, where he became deeply involved with the Hawaiian Historical Society, and the works of native-born historians, including David Malo and Samuel Kamakau. Westervelt's own well-regarded books on Hawaiian folklore include Hawaiian Historial Legends (1923). "Mamala the Surf-Rider," about a surfing royal who can transform from beautiful woman to giant lizard, appears in Westervelt's "Legends of Old Honolulu" (1915).

Honolulu was rich in old Hawaiian legends. The most interesting were those connected with the typical Hawaiian sport, surf-riding, the most religious, those connected with the founding of the local heiau, or temples.

One of the old surf legends was that of Mamala, the surfrider. Kou was the ancient name of Honolulu—the place for games and sports among the chiefs of long ago. A little to the east of Kou and inside the present filled land for the United States quarantine and coal station was a pond with a beautiful grove of coconut trees belonging to a chief, Honoka‘upu, and afterwards known by his name. Straight out toward the ocean was the narrow entrance to the harbor, through which rolled the finest surf waves of the Honolulu part of the island of Oahu. The surf bore the name “Ke-kai-o-Mamala,” “the sea of Mamala.” When the surf rose high it was called “Ka-nuku-o-Mamala,” “the nose of Mamala.” So the sea and entrance to the harbor were known by the name Mamala, and the shore gave the name Kou to the bay.

Mamala was a chiefess of Kupua character. This meant that she was a 

 or gigantic lizard or crocodile, as well as a beautiful woman, and could assume whichever shape she most desired. One of the legends says that she was a shark and woman, and had for her husband the shark-man, Ouha, afterward a shark god having his home in the ocean near Koko Head. Mamala and Ouha drank 

 [a game like checkers played with pebbles] on the smooth 

Mamala was a wonderful surf-rider. Very skillfully she danced on the roughest waves. The surf in which she most delighted rose far out in the rough sea, where the winds blew strong and white-caps were on waves which rolled in rough disorder into the bay of Kou. The people on the beach, watching her, filled the air with resounding applause as they clapped their hands over her extraordinary athletic feats.

The chief, Hono-kau-pu, chose to take Mamala as his wife, so she left Ouha and lived with her new husband. Ouha was very angry and tried at first to injure Hono and Mamala but he was driven away. He fled to the lake Ka-‘ihi-Kapu towards Waikiki. There he appeared as a man with a basketful of shrimps and fresh fish, which he offered to the women of that place, saying “Here is life (i.e., a living thing) for the children.” He opened his basket, but the shrimps and the fish leaped out and escaped into the water.

The women ridiculed the god-man. The ancient legendary characters of all Polynesia as well as of Hawaii could not endure anything that brought shame or disgrace upon them in the eyes of others. Ouha fled from the taunts of the women, casting off his human form, and dissolving his connection with humanity. Thus he became the great god-shark of the coast between Waikiki and Koko Head.

The surf-rider was remembered in the beautiful 

, or chant, coming from ancient times and called the 

There is the shaking sea, the running sea of Kou,

Prepare the ‘awa to drink, the crab to eat.

The small konane board is at Honoka‘upu.

My friend on the highest point of the surf.

By the path to Nuu-mea-lani (home of the gods),

The eyes of the day and the night are forgotten.

1913: "MAMALA, THE SURF-RIDER," BY WILLIAM WESTERVELT

Subscribe or Login

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Features