Chapter XIV: Canto II (1)

My wreath-maker dwells at Waimea.
Partnered is she to the swirling river;
They plant with flowers the sandy lea,
10 While the bearded surf, tossed by the breeze,
Vaunts on the hills as the sun-bow,
Looks on the crystal stream Makaweli,
And in the wildwood makes her abode
With Hinahina of silvern wreaths.
15 Koaea’s a speck to the eye,
Under the low-hanging rain-cloud,
Woodland home of the plaintive ó-ó.

From frost-bitten Pa-ie-ie
I bid you, guess me the fable:
20 Paddle-maker on Pele’s mount.

This mele comes from Kauai, an Island in many respects
individualized from the other parts of the group and that
seems to have been the nurse of a more delicate imagination
than was wont to flourish elsewhere. Its tone is archaic, and
it has the rare merit of not transfusing the more crudely
erotic human emotions into the romantic sentiments inspired
by nature.

The Hawaiians dearly loved fable and allegory. Argument or
truth, dressed out in such fanciful garb, gained double force
and acceptance. We may not be able to follow a poet in his
wanderings; his local allusions may obscure to us much of his
meaning; the doctrine of his allegory may be to us largely a
riddle; and the connection between the body of its thought
and illustration and the application, or solution, of the
poetical conundrum may be past our comprehension; but the
[Page 112] play of the poet’s fancy, whether childish or mature, is an
interesting study, and brings us closer in human sympathy to
the people who took pleasure in such things.

In translating this poem, while not following literally the
language of the poet, the aim has been to hit the target
of his deeper meaning, without hopelessly involving the
reader in the complexities of Hawaiian color and local
topography. A few words of explanation must suffice.

The _Makani Inu-wai_ (verse 1)—known to all the islands—is
a wind that dries up vegetation, literally a water-drinking
wind.

The _Naulu_ (verse 3) is the ordinary sea-breeze at Waimea,
Kauai, sometimes accompanied by showers.

_Hala-li’i_ (verse 5) is a sandy plain on Niihau, and the
peculiarity of its canes is that they sprawl along on the
ground, and are often to a considerable extent covered by the
loose soil.

_Lehua_ (verse 6) is the well-known bird-island, lying north
of Niihau and visible from the Waimea side of Kauai.

The wreath-maker, _haku-lei_ (verse 7), who dwells at Waimea,
is perhaps the ocean-vapor, or the moist sea-breeze, or, it
may be, some figment of the poet’s imagination—the author
can not make out exactly what.

The _hinahina_ (verse 14), a native geranium, is a mountain
shrub that stands about 3 feet high, with silver-gray leaves.

_Maka-weli, Maka-li’i, Koae’a_, and _Pa-ie-ie_ are names of
places on Kauai.

_Puu-ka-Pele_ (verse 20) as the name indicates, is a volcanic
hill, situated near Waimea.

The key or answer (_puana_), to the allegory given in verse
20, _Ke kahuna kalai-hoe o Puu-ka-Pele_, the paddle-making
kahuna of Pele’s mount, when declared by the poet
(_haku-mele_), is not very informing to the foreign mind; but
to the Hawaiian auditor it, no doubt, took the place of our
_haec fabula docet_, and it at least showed that the poet was
not without an intelligent motive. In the poem in point the
author acknowledges his inability to make connection between
it and the body of the song.

One merit we must concede to Hawaiian poetry, it wastes no
time in slow approach. The first stroke of the artist places
the auditor _in medias res_.

[Page 113]

XIV.—THE HULA PUÍLI

The character of a hula was determined to some extent by the
nature of the musical instrument that was its accompaniment.
In the hula _puíli_ it certainly seems as if one could
discern the influence of the rude, but effective, instrument
that was its musical adjunct. This instrument, the _puíli_
(fig. 1), consisted of a section of bamboo from which one
node with its diaphragm had been removed and the hollow
joint at that end split up for a considerable distance into
fine divisions, which gave forth a breezy rustling when the
instrument was struck or shaken.

The performers, all of them hoopaa, were often placed in two
rows, seated or kneeling and facing one another, thus
favoring a responsive action in the use of the puíli as well
as in the cantillation of the song. One division would
sometimes shake and brandish their instruments, while the
others remained quiet, or both divisions would perform at
once, each individual clashing one puíli against the other
one held by himself, or against that of his vis-a-vis; or
they might toss them back and forth to each other, one bamboo
passing another in mid air.

While the hula puíli is undeniably a performance of classical
antiquity, it is not to be regarded as of great dignity or
importance as compared with many other hulas. Its character,
like that of the meles associated with it, is light and
trivial.

The mele next presented is by no means a modern production.
It seems to be the work of some unknown author, a fragment of
folklore, it might be called by some, that has drifted down
to the present generation and then been put to service in the
hula. If hitherto the word _folklore_ has not been used it is
not from any prejudice against it, but rather from a feeling
that there exists an inclination to stretch the application
of it beyond its true limits and to make it include popular
songs, stories, myths, and the like, regardless of its
fitness of application. Some writers, no doubt, would apply
this vague term to a large part of the poetical pieces which
are given in this book.
[Page 114]
On the same principle, why should they not apply the term
folklore to the myths and stories that make up the body of
Roman and Greek mythology? The present author reserves the
term folklore for application to those unappropriated scraps
of popular song, story, myth, and superstition that have
drifted down the stream of antiquity and that reach us in the
scrap-bag of popular memory, often bearing in their battered
forms the evidence of long use.

Mele

Hiki mai, niki mai ka La, e.
Aloha wale ka La e kau nei,
Aia malalo o Ka-wai-hoa,[247]
A ka lalo o Kauai, o Lehua.
5 A Kauai au, ike i ka pali;
A Milo-lii[248] pale ka pali loloa.
E kolo ana ka pali o Makua-iki;[249]
Kolo o Pu-á, he keiki,
He keiki makua-ole ke uwe nei.

[Translation.]

_Song_

It has come, it has come; lo the Sun!
How I love the Sun that’s on high;
Below it swims Ka-wai-hoa,
On the slope inclined from Lehua.
5 On Kauai met I a pali,
A beetling cliff that bounds Milo-lii,
And climbing up Makua-iki,
Crawling up was Pua, the child,
An orphan that weeps out its tale.

The writer has rescued the following fragment from the
wastebasket of Hawaiian song. A lean-to of modern verse has
been omitted; it was evidently added within a generation:

_Mele_

Malua,[250] ki’i wai ke aloha,
Hoopulu i ka liko mamane.
Uleuleu mai na manu,
Inu wai lehua o Panaewa,[251]
5 E walea ana i ke onaona,
Ke one wali o Ohele.
[Page 115] Hele mai nei kou aloha
A lalawe i ko’u nui kino,
Au i hookohu ai,
10 E kuko i ka manao.
Kuhi no paha oe no Hopoe[252]
Nei lehua au i ka hana ohi ai.

[Footnote 247: Kawaihoa. The southern point of Niihau, which is
to the west of Kauai, the evident standpoint of the poet, and
therefore “below” Kauai.]

[Footnote 248: _Milo-lii_. A valley on the northwestern angle
of Kauai, a precipitous region, in which travel from one
point to another by land is almost impossible.]

[Footnote 249: _Makua-iki_. Literally “little father,” a name
given to an overhanging pali, where was provided a hanging
ladder to make travel possible. The series of palis in this
region comes to an end at Milo-lii.]

[Footnote 250: The _Malua_ was a wind, often so dry that it
sucked up the moisture from the land and destroyed the tender
vegetation.]

[Footnote 251: Panaewa was a woodland region much talked of in
poetry and song.]

[Footnote 252: _Hopoe_ was a beautiful young woman, a friend
of Hiiaka, and was persecuted by Pele owing to jealousy. One
of the forms in which she as a divinity showed herself was as
a lehua tree in full bloom.]

[Translation.]

_Song_

Malua, fetch water of love,
Give drink to this mamane bud.
The birds, they are singing ecstatic,
Sipping Panaewa’s nectared lehua,
5 Beside themselves with the fragrance
Exhaled from the garden Ohele.
Your love comes to me a tornado;
It has rapt away my whole body,
The heart you once sealed as your own,
10 There planted the seed of desire.
Thought you ’twas the tree of Hopoe,
This tree, whose bloom you would pluck?

What is the argument of this poem? A passion-stricken swain,
or perhaps a woman, cries to _Malua_ to bring relief to his
love-smart, to give drink to the parched _mamane_
buds—emblems of human feeling. In contrast to his own
distress, he points to the birds caroling in the trees,
reveling in the nectar of _lehua_ bloom, intoxicated with the
scent of nature’s garden. What answer does the lovelorn swain
receive from the nymph he adores? In lines 11 and 12 she
banteringly asks him if he took her to be like the
traditional lehua tree of Hopoe, of which men stood in awe as
a sort of divinity, not daring to pluck its flowers? It is as
if the woman had asked—if the poet’s meaning is rightly
interpreted—“Did you really think me plighted to vestal
vows, a tree whose bloom man was forbidden to pluck?”
[Page 116]

XV.—THE HULA KA-LAAU

The hula _ka-laau_ (_ka_, to strike; _laau_, wood) was named
from the instruments of wood used in producing the
accompaniment, a sort of xylophone, in which one piece of
resonant wood was struck against another. Both divisions of
the performers, the hoopaa and the olapa, took part and each
division was provided with the instruments. The cantillation
was done sometimes by one division alone, sometimes by both
divisions in unison, or one division would answer the other,
a responsive chanting that was termed _haawe aku, haawe
mai_—“to give, to return.”

Ellis gives a quotable description of this hula, which he
calls the “hura ka raau:”

Five musicians advanced first, each, with a staff in his left
hand, five or six feet long, about three or four inches in
diameter at one end, and tapering off to a point at the
other. In his right hand he held a small stick of hard wood,
six or nine inches long, with which he commenced his music by
striking the small stick on the larger one, beating time all
the while with his right foot on a stone placed on the ground
beside him for that purpose. Six women, fantastically dressed
in yellow tapas, crowned, with garlands of flowers, having
also wreaths of native manufacture, of the sweet-scented
flowers of the _gardenia_, on their necks, and branches of
the fragrant _mairi_ (another native plant,) bound round
their ankles, now made their way by couples through the
crowd, and, arriving at the area, on one side of which the
musicians stood, began their dance. Their movements were
slow, and, though not always graceful, exhibited nothing
offensive to modest propriety. Both musicians and dancers
alternately chanted songs in honor of former gods and chiefs
of the islands, apparently much to the gratification of the
spectators. (Polynesian Researches, by William Ellis, IV,
78–79, London, 1836.)

The mele here first presented is said to be an ancient mele
that has been modified and adapted to the glorification of
that astute politician, genial companion, and pleasure-loving
king, Kalakaua.

It was not an uncommon thing for one chief to appropriate the
_mele inoa_ of another chief. By substituting one name for
another, by changing a genealogy, or some such trifle, the
skin of the lion, so to speak, could be made to cover with
more or less grace and to serve as an apparel of masquerade
for the ass, and without interruption so long as there was no
lion, or lion’s whelp, to do the unmasking.

The poets who composed the mele for a king have been spoken
of as “the king’s washtubs.” Mele inoa were not crown-jewels
[Page 117] to be passed from one incumbent of the throne to another. The
practice of appropriating the mele inoa composed in honor of
another king and of another line was one that grew up with
the decadence of honor in times of degeneracy.

_Mele_

O Kalakaua, he inoa,
O ka pua mae ole i ka la;
Ke pua mai la i ka mauna,
I ke kuahiwi o Mauna-kea;
5 Ke a la i Ki-lau-e-a,
Malamalama i Wahine-kapu,
I ka luna o Uwe-kahuna,
I ka pali kapu o Ka-au-e-a.
E a mai ke alii kia-manu;
10 Ua Wahí i ka hulu o ka mamo,
Ka pua nani o Hawaii;
O Ka-la-kaua, he inoa!

[Translation.]

Song

Ka-la-kaua, a great name,
A flower not wilted by the sun;
It blooms on the mountains,
In the forests of Mauna-kea;
5 It burns in Ki-lau-e-a,
Illumines the cliff Wahine-kapu,
The heights of Uwe-kabuna,
The sacred pali of Ka-au-e-a.
Shine forth, king of bird-hunters,
10 Resplendent in plumage of mamo,
Bright flower of Hawaii:
Ka-la-kaua, the Illustrious!

The proper names _Wahine-kapu, Uwe-kahuna_, and _Ka-au-e-a_
in the sixth, seventh, and eighth verses are localities,
cliffs, bluffs, precipices, etc., in and about the great
caldera of Kilauea, following up the mention (in the fifth
verse) of that giant among the world’s active volcanoes.

The purpose of the poem seems to be to magnify the prowess of
this once famous king as a captivator of the hearts and
loving attentions of the fair sex.

_Mele_

Kona kai opua[253] i kala i ka la’i;
Opua hinano ua i ka malie;
Hiolo na wai naoa a ke kehau,
[Page 118] Ke’ na-ú[254] la na kamalii,
5 Ke kaohi la i ke kukuna o ka la;
Ku’u la koili i ke kai—
Pumehana wale ia aina!
Aloha wale ke kini o Hoolulu,
Aohe lua ia oe ke aloha,
10 O ku’u puni, o ka me’ owá.

[Footnote 253: _Opua_ means a distinct cloud-pile, an omen, a
weather-sign.]

[Footnote 254: The word _na-ú_ refers to a sportive contest
involving a trial of lung-power, that was practised by the
youth of Kona, Hawaii, as well as of other places. They stood
on the shore at sunset, and as the lower limb of the sun
touched the ocean horizon each one, having filled his lungs
to the utmost, began the utterance of the sound _na-u-u-u-u_,
which he must, according to the rules of the game, maintain
continuously until the sun had disappeared, a lapse of about
two minutes’ time. This must be done without taking fresh
breath. Anyone inhaling more air into his lungs or
intermitting the utterance of the sound was compelled by the
umpire to withdraw from the contest and to sit down, while
anyone who maintained the droning utterance during the
prescribed time was declared victor. It was no mean trial.]

[Translation.]

_Song_

The cloud-piles o’er Kona’s sea whet my joy,
Clouds that drop fain in fair weather.
The clustered dew-pearls shake to the ground;
The boys drone out the na-ú to the West,
5 Eager for Sol to sink to his rest.

This my day for a plunge in the sea—
The Sun will be warming other shores—
Happy the tribes of that land of calm!
Fathomless, deep is my love
10 To thee, my passion, my mate.

The author of this love-song, _mele ipo_, is said to have
been Kalola, a widow of Kamehameha I, at a time when she was
an old woman; the place was Lahaina, and the occasion an
amour between Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and a woman of rank.
The last two verses of the poem have been omitted from the
present somewhat free, yet faithful translation, as they do
not seem to be of interest or pertinent from our point of
view, and there is internal evidence that they were added as
an afterthought.

The hulas on the various islands differed somewhat from one
another. In general, it may be said that on Kauai they were
presented with more spirit and in greater variety than in
other parts of the group. The following account will
illustrate this fact:

About the year 1870 the late Queen Emma made the tour of the
island of Kauai, and at some places the hula was performed as
a recreation in her honor. The hula ka-laau was thus
presented; it was marked, however, by such peculiarities as
to make it hardly recognizable as being the same performance
as the one elsewhere known by that name. As given on Kauai,
both the olapa and the hoopaa took part, as they do on the
[Page 119] other islands, but in the Kauai performance the olapa alone
handled the two sticks of the xylophone, which in other parts
formed the sole instrument of musical accompaniment to this
hula. Other striking novelties also were introduced. The
olapa held between their toes small sticks with which they
beat upon a resonant beam of wood that lay on the floor, thus
producing tones of a low pitch. Another departure from the
usual style of this hula was that the hoopaa, at the same
time, devoted themselves with the right hand to playing upon
the pu-niu, the small drum, while with the left they
developed the deep bass of the pahu. The result of this outre
combination must have been truly remarkable.

It is a matter of observation that on the island of Kauai
both the special features of its spoken language and the
character of its myths and legends indicate a closer
relationship to the groups of the southern Pacific, to which
the Hawaiian people owe their origin, than do those of the
other islands of the Hawaiian group.
[Page 120]

XVI.—THE HULA ÍLI-ÍLI

The _hula íli-íli_, pebble-dance, was a performance of the
classical times, in which, according to one who has witnessed
it, the olapa alone took part. The dancers held in each hand
a couple of pebbles, _ili-ili_—hence the name of the
dance—which they managed to clash against each other, after
the fashion of castanets, thus producing a rude music of much
the same quality as that elicited from the “bones” in our
minstrel performances. According to another witness, the drum
also was sometimes used in connection with the pebbles as an
accompaniment to this hula.

The ili-ili was at times a hula of intensity—that is to say,
was acted with that stress of voice and manner which the
Hawaiians termed _ai-ha’a_; but it seems to have been more
often performed in that quiet natural tone of voice and of
manner termed _ko’i-honua_, which may be likened to utterance
in low relief.

The author can present only the fragment of a song to
illustrate this hula:

_Mele_

A lalo maua o Wai-pi’o,
Ike i ka nani o Hi’i-lawe.
E lawe mai a oki
I na hala o Naue i ke kai,
5 I na lehua lu-lu’u pali;
Noho ana lohe i ke kani o ka o-ó,
Hoolono aku i ka leo o ke kahuli.

[Translation.]

_Song_

We twain were lodged in Wai-pi’o,
Beheld Hi’i-lawe, the grand.
We brought and cut for our love-wreath
The rich hala drupe from Naue’s strand,
5 Tufted lehua that waves on the cliff;
Then sat and gave ear to song of o-ó,
Or harked the chirp of the tree-shell.

_Wai-pi’o_, the scene of this idyl, is a valley deep and
broad which the elements have scooped out in the windward
exposure of Hawaii, and scarce needs mention to Hawaiian
[Page 121] tourists. _Hi’i-lawe_ is one of several high waterfalls that
leap from the world of clouds into the valley-basin.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE XII

_Kahuli_ is a fanciful name applied to the beautiful and
unique genus of tree-shells (Achatinella), plate XII, that
inhabit the Hawaiian woods. The natives are persuaded that
these shells have the power of chirping a song of their own,
and the writer has often heard the note which they ascribe to
them; but to his ear it was indistinguishable from the piping
of the cricket. This is the song that the natives credit to
the tree-shells:

_Mele_

Kahuli aku,
Kahuli mai,
Kahuli lei ula,
Lei akolea.[255]
5 Kolea, kolea,[256]
Ki’i ka wai,
Wai akolea.

[Translation.]

_Song of the Tree-shell_

Trill a-far,
Trill a-near,
A dainty song-wreath,
Wreath akolea.
5 Kolea, Kolea,
Fetch me some dew,
Dew from pink akolea.

This little piece of rustic imagination is said to have been
used in the hula, but in connection with what dance the
author has not been able to learn.

[Footnote 255: The _akolea_ is a fern (by some classed as a
Polypodium) which, according to Doctor Hillebrand (Flora of
the Hawaiian Islands), “sustains its extraordinary length by
the circinnate tips which twine round the branches of
neighboring shrubs or trees.”]

[Footnote 256: _Kolea_. The red-breasted plover.]
[Page 122]

XVII.—THE HULA KÁ-ÉKE-ÉKE

The _kaekeeke_ was a formal hula worthy of high
consideration. Some authorities assert that the performers in
this dance were chosen from the hoopaa alone, who, it will be
remembered, maintained the kneeling position, while,
according to another authority, the olapa also took part in
it. There is no reason for doubting the sincerity of both
these witnesses. The disagreement probably arose from hasty
generalization. One is reminded of the wise Hawaiian saw,
already noted, “Do not think that your halau holds all the
knowledge.”

This hula took its name from the simple instrument that
formed its musical accompaniment. This consisted of a single
division of the long-jointed bamboo indigenous to Hawaii,
which was left open at one end. (The varieties of bamboo
imported from China or the East Indies have shorter joints
and thicker walls, and will not answer the purpose, being not
sufficiently resonant.) The joints used in the kaekeeke were
of different sizes and lengths, thus producing tones of
various pitch. The performer held one in each hand and the
tone was elicited by striking the base of the cylinder
sharply against the floor or some firm, nonresonant body.

On making actual trial of the kaekeeke, in order to prove by
experience its musical quality and capabilities, the writer’s
pleasure was as great as his surprise when he found it
capable of producing musical tones of great purity and of the
finest quality. Experiment soon satisfied him that for the
best production of the tone it was necessary to strike the
bamboo cylinder smartly upon some firm, inelastic substance,
such as a bag of sand. The tone produced was of crystalline
purity, and by varying the size and length of the cylinders
it proved possible to represent a complete musical scale. The
instrument was the germ of the modern organ.

The first mele to be presented partakes of the nature of the
allegory, a form of composition not a little affected by the
Hawaiians:

_Mele_

A Hamakua au,
Noho i ka ulu hala.
Malihini au i ka hiki ana,
I ka ua pe’epe’e pohaku.
5 Noho oe a li’u-li’u,
A luli-luli malie iho.
[Page 123]
He keiki akamai ko ia pali;
Elima no pua i ka lima.
Kui oe a lawa
10 I lei no ku’u aloha;
Malama malie oe i ka makemake,
I lei hooheno no ke aloha ole.

Moe oe a ala mai;
Nana iho oe i kou pono.
15 Hai’na ia ka puana:
Keiki noho pali o Hamakua;
A waka-waka, a waka-waka.

[Translation.]

_Song_

It was in Hamakua;
I sat in a grove of Pandanus,
A stranger at my arrival,
A rock was my shelter from rain.
5 I found it a wearisome wait,
Cautiously shifting about.

There’s a canny son of the cliff
That has five buds to his hand.
You shall twine me a wreath of due length,
10 A wreath to encircle my love,
Whilst you hold desire in strong curb,
Till love-touch thaws the cold-hearted.

When you rise from sleep on the mat,
Look down, see the conquest of love.
15 The meaning of this short story?
What child fondly clings to the cliff?
Waka-waka, the shell-fish.

The scene of this idyl, this love-song, _mele hoipoipo_, is
Hamakua, a district on the windward side of Hawaii, subject
to rain-squalls. The poet in his allegory represents himself
as a stranger sitting in a pandanus grove, _ulu hala_ (verse
2); sheltering himself from a rain-squall by crouching behind
a rock, _ua pe’epe’e pohaku_ (verse 4); shifting about on
account of the veering of the wind, _luli-luli malie iho_
(verse 6). Interpreting this figuratively, Hamakua, no doubt,
is the woman in the case; the grove an emblem of her
personality and physical charms; the rain-squall, of her
changeful moods and passions. The shifting about of the
traveler to meet the veering of the wind would seem to mean
the man’s diplomatic efforts to deal with the woman’s varying
caprices and outbursts.

He now takes up a parable about some creature, a child of the
cliff—Hamakua’s ocean boundary is mostly a precipitous
wall—which he represents as a hand with five buds.
Addressing it as a servant, he bids this creature twine a
[Page 124] wreath sufficient for his love, _kui oe a_ _lawa_ (verse 9),
_I lei no ku’u aloha_ (verse 10). This creature with five
buds, what is it but the human hand, the errand-carrier of
man’s desire, _makemake_ (verse 11)? The _pali_, by the way,
is a figure often used by Hawaiian poets to mean the glory
and dignity of the human body.

That is a fine imaginative touch in which the poet
illustrates the power of the human hand to kindle love in one
that is cold-hearted, as if he had declared the hand itself
to be not only the wreath-maker, but the very wreath that is
to encircle and warm into response the unresponsive loved
one, _I lei hooheno no ke aloha ole_ (verse 12).

Differences of physical environment, of social convention, of
accepted moral and esthetic standards interpose seemingly
impassable barriers between us and the savage mind, but at
the touch of an all-pervading human sympathy these barriers
dissolve into very thin air.

_Mele_

Kahiki-nui, auwahi[257] ka makani!
Nana aku au ia Kona,
Me ke kua lei ahi[258] la ka moku;
Me ke lawa uli e, la, no
5 Ku’u kai pa-ú hala-ká[259]
I ka lae o Hana-maló;[260]
Me he olohe ili polohiwa,
Ke ku a mauna,
Ma ka ewa lewa[261] Hawaii.
10 Me he ihu leiwi la, ka moku,
Kou mauna, kou palamoa:[262]
Kau a waha mai Mauna-kea[263]
A me Mauna-loa,[263]
Ke ku a Maile-hahéi.[264]
15 Uluna mai Mauna Kilohana[265]
I ka poohiwi o Hu’e-Hu’e.[265]

[Footnote 257: _Auwahi_ (a word not found in any dictionary)
is said by a scholarly Hawaiian to be an archaic form of the
word _uwahi_, or _uahi_ (milk of fire), smoke, _Kahiki-nui_
is a dry region and the wind (_makani_) often fills the air
with dust.]

[Footnote 258: _Kua lei ahi_. No Hawaiian has been found who
professes to know the true meaning of these words. The
translation of them here given is, therefore, purely formal.]

[Footnote 259: _Pa-ú halaká_. An expression sometimes applied
to the hand when used as a shield to one’s modesty; here it
is said of the ocean (_kai_) when one’s body is immersed in
it.]

[Footnote 260: _Hana-maló_. A cape that lies between Kawaihae
and Kailua in north Kona.]

[Footnote 261: _Ewa lewá_. In this reading the author has
followed the authoritative suggestion of a Hawaiian expert,
substituting it for that first given by another, which was
_elewa_. The latter was without discoverable meaning. Even as
now, given conjectures as to its meaning are at variance. The
one followed presents the less difficulty.]

[Footnote 262: _Palamoa_. The name of a virulent _kupua_ that
acted as errand-carrier and agent for sorcerers (_kahuna
ánaaná_); also the name of a beautiful grass found on Hawaii
that has a pretty red seed. Following the line of least
resistance, the latter meaning has been adopted; in it is
found a generic expression for the leafy covering of the
island.]

[Footnote 263: _Mauna-kea_ and _Mauna-loa_. The two well-known
mountains of the big island of Hawaii.]

[Footnote 264: _Maile-hahei_. Said to be a hill in Kona.]

[Footnote 265: _Kilohana_ and _Hu’e-hu’e_. The names of two
hills in Kona, Hawaii.]

[Page 125]

[Translation.]

_Song_

Kahiki-nui, land of wind-driven smoke!
Mine eyes gaze with longing on Kona;
A fire-wreath glows aback of the district,
And a robe of wonderful green
5 Lies the sea that has aproned my loins
Off the point of Hana-malo.
A dark burnished form is Hawaii,
To one who stands on the mount—
A hamper swung down from heaven,
10 A beautiful carven shape is the island—
Thy mountains, thy splendor of herbage:
Mauna-kea and Loa stand (in glory) apart,
To him who looks from Maile-hahéi;
And Kilohana pillows for rest
15 On the shoulder of Hu’e-hu’e.

This love-song—_mele hoipoipo_—which would be the
despair of a strict literalist—what is it all about? A
lover in Kahiki-nui—of the softer sex, it would appear—
looks across the wind-swept channel and sends her thoughts
lovingly, yearningly, over to Kona of Hawaii, which district
she personifies as her lover. The mountains and plains,
valleys and capes of its landscapes, are to her the parts and
features of her beloved. Even in the ocean that flows between
her and him, and which has often covered her nakedness as
with a robe, she finds a link in the chain of association.
[Page 126]

XVIII.—AN INTERMISSION

During the performance of a hula the halau and all the people
there assembled are under a tabu, the imposition of which was
accomplished by the opening prayer that had been offered
before the altar. This was a serious matter and laid everyone
present under the most formal obligations to commit no breach
of divine etiquette; it even forbade the most innocent
remarks and expressions of emotion. But when the performers,
wearied of the strait-jacket, determined to unbend and
indulge in social amenities, to lounge, gossip, and sing
informal songs, to quaff a social bowl of awa, or to indulge
in an informal dance, they secured the opportunity for this
interlude, by suspending the tabu. This was accomplished by
the utterance of a _pule hoo-noa_, a tabu-lifting prayer. If
the entire force of the tabu was not thus removed, it was at
least so greatly mitigated that the ordinary conversations of
life might be carried on without offense. The pule was
uttered by the kumu or some person who represented the
whole-company:

_Pule Hoo-noa_

Lehua[266] i-luna,
Lehua i-lalo,
A wawae,
A Ka-ulua,[267]
5 A o Haumea,[268]
Kou makua-kane,[269]
Manu o Kaáe;[270]
A-koa-koa,
O Pe-kau,[271]
10 O Pe-ka-nana,[272]
[Page 127] Papa pau.
Pau a’e iluna;
O Ku-mauna,
A me Laka,
15 A me Ku.
Ku i ka wao,
A me Hina,
Huna mele-lani.
A ua pau;
20 Pau kakou;
A ua noa;
Noa ke kahua;
Noa!

[Footnote 266: _Lehua_. See plate XIII.]

[Footnote 267: _Ka-ulua_. The name of the third month of the
Hawaiian year, corresponding to late January or February, a
time when In the latitude of Hawaii nature does not refrain
from leafing and flowering.]

[Footnote 268: _Haumea_. The name applied after her death and
apotheosis to Papa, the wife of Wakea, and the ancestress of
the Hawaiian race. (The Polynesian Race, A. Fornander, 1,
205. London, 1878.)]

[Footnote 269: It is doubtful to whom the expression
“makua-kane” refers, possibly to Wakea, the husband of Papa;
and if so, very properly termed father, ancestor, of the
people.]

[Footnote 270: _Manu o Kaáe_ (_Manu-o-Kaáe_ it might be
written) is said to have been a goddess, one of the family of
Pele, a sister of the sea nymph _Moana-nui-ka-lehua_,
whose dominion was in the waters between Oahu and Kauai. She
is said to have had the gift of eloquence.]

[Footnote 271: _Pe-káu_ refers to the ranks and classes of the
gods.]

[Footnote 272: _Pe-ka-naná_ refers to men, their ranks and
classes.]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE XIII

[Translation.]

_Power to Remove Tabu_

Bloom of lehua on altar piled,
Bloom of lehua below,
Bloom of lehua at altar’s base,
In the month Ka-ulua.
5 Present here is Haumea,
And the father of thee,
And the goddess of eloquent speech;
Gather, now gather,
Ye ranks of gods,
10 And ye ranks of men,
Complete in array.
The heavenly service is done,
Service of Ku of the mount,
Service of Laka,
15 And the great god Ku,
Ku of the wilds,
And of Hina,
Hina, the heavenly singer.
Now it is done,
20 Our work is done;
The tabu is lifted,
Free is the place,
Tabu-free!

Here also is another pule hoo-noa, a prayer-song addressed to
Laka, an intercession for the lifting of the tabu. It will be
noticed that the request is implied, not explicitly stated.
All heads are lifted, all eyes are directed heavenward or to
the altar, and the hands with a noiseless motion keep time as
the voices of the company, led by the kumu, in solemn
cantillation, utter the following prayer:
[Page 128]

_Pule Hoo-noa no Laka_

Pupu we’u-we’u[273] e, Láka e,
O kona we’u-we’u e ku-wá;[274]
O Ku-ka-ohia-Laká,[275] e;
Laua me Ku-pulu-pulu;[276]
5 Ka Lehua me ke Koa lau-lii;
O ka Lama me Moku-halii,
Kú-i-kú-i[277] me ka Hala-pepe;
Lakou me Lau-ka-ie-ie,
Ka Palai me Maile-lau-lii.
10 Noa, noa i kou kuahu;
Noa, noa ia oe, Làka;
Pa-pá-lùa noa!

[Translation.]

_Tabu-lifting Prayer (to Laka)_

Oh wildwood bouquet, O Láka!
Set her greenwood leaves in order due;
And Ku, god of Ohia-La-ká,
He and Ku, the shaggy,
5 Lehua with small-leafed Koa,
And Lama and Moku-hali’i,
Kú-i-kú-i and Hála-pé-pé;
And with these leafy I-e-i-e,
Fern and small-leafed Maile.
10 Free, the altar is free!
Free through, you, Laka,
Doubly free!

[Footnote 273: _Pupu we’u-we’u_. A bouquet. The reference is to
the wreaths and floral decorations that bedecked the altar,
and that were not only offerings to the goddess, but symbols
of the diverse forms in which she manifested herself. At the
conclusion of a performance the players laid upon the altar
the garlands they themselves had worn. These were in addition
to those which were placed there before the play began.]

[Footnote 274: _Ku-wá_. It has cost much time and trouble to
dig out the meaning of this word. The fundamental notion is
that contained in its two parts, _ku_, to stand, and _wa_, an
interval or space, the whole meaning to arrange or set in
orderly intervals.]

[Footnote 275: _La-ká_. A Tahitian name for the tree which in
Hawaii is called _lehua_, or _ohia_. In verse 3 the Hawaiian
name _ohia_ and the Tahitian _laká_ (accented on the final
syllable, thus distinguishing it from the name of the goddess
_Láka_, with which it has no discoverable connection) are
combined in one form as an appellation of the god
_Ku-ku-ka-ohia-Laká_. This is a notable instance of the
survival of a word as a sacred epithet in a liturgy, which
otherwise, had been lost to the language.]

[Footnote 276: _Ku-pulu-pulu_. Ku, the fuzzy or shaggy, a deity
much worshiped by canoe-makers, represented as having the
figure of an old man with a long beard. In the sixth verse
the full form of the god’s name here given as _Moku-ha-li’i_
would be _Ku-moku-hali’i_, the last part being an epithet
applied to _Ku_ working in another capacity. _Moku-hali’i_ is
the one who bedecks the island. His special emblem, as here
implied, was the _lama_, a beautiful tree, whose wood was
formerly used in making certain sacred inclosures. From this
comes the proper name _Palama_, one of the districts of
Honolulu.]

[Footnote 277: _Kú-i-kú-i_. The same as the tree now called
_ku-kú-i_, the tree whose nuts were used as candles and
flambeaus. The Samoan name of the same tree is _tú-i-tú-i_.]

But even now, when the tabu has been removed and the assembly
is supposed to have assumed an informal character, before
they may indulge themselves in informalities, there remains
to be chanted a dismissing prayer, _pule hooku’u_, in which
all voices must join:
[Page 129]

_Pule Hooku’u_

Ku ka makaia a ka huaka’i moe ipo;[278]
Ku au, hele;
Noho oe, aloha!
Aloha na hale o makou i makamaka ole,
5 Ke alanui hele mauka o Huli-wale,[279] la;
H-u-l-i.
E huli a’e ana i ka makana,
I ke alana ole e kanaenae aku ia oe.
Eia ke kanaenae, o ka leo.

[Translation.]

_Dismissing Prayer_

Doomed sacrifice I in the love-quest,
I stand [loin-girt][280] for the journey;
To you who remain, farewell!
Farewell to our homes forsaken.
5 On the road beyond In-decision,
I turn me about—
Turn me about, for lack of a gift,
An offering, intercession, for thee—
My sole intercession, the voice.

[Footnote 278: A literal translation of the first line would be
as follows: (Here) stands the doomed sacrifice for the
journey in search of a bed-lover.]

[Footnote 279: _Huli-wale_. To turn about, here used as the
name of a place, is evidently intended figuratively to stand
for mental indecision.]

[Footnote 280: The bracketed phrase is not in the text of the
original.]

This fragment—two fragments, in fact, pieced
together—belongs to the epic of Pele. As her little sister,
Hiiaka, is about to start on her adventurous journey to bring
the handsome Prince Lohiau from the distant island of Kauai
she is overcome by a premonition of Pele’s jealousy and
vengeance, and she utters this intercession.

The formalities just described speak for themselves. They
mark better than any comments can do the superstitious
devotion of the old-timers to formalism, their remoteness
from that free touch of social and artistic pleasure, the
lack of which we moderns often lament in our own lives and
sigh for as a lost art, conceiving it to have been once the
possession of “the children of nature.”

The author has already hinted at the form and character of
the entertainments with which hula-folk sometimes beguiled
their professional interludes. Fortunately the author is able
to illustrate by means of a song the very form of
entertainment they provided for themselves on such an
occasion. The following mele, cantillated with an
accompaniment of expressive gesture, is one that was actually
given at an awa-drinking bout indulged in by hula-folk. The
author has an account of its recital at Kahuku, island of
Oahu, so late as the year 1849, during a circuit of that
[Page 130] island made by King Kamehameha III. This mele is reckoned as
belonging to the ordinary repertory of the hula; but to which
particular form of the dance it was devoted has not been
learned:

_Mele_

Ua ona o Kane i ka awa;
Ua kau ke kéha[281] i ka uluna;
Ua hi’o-lani[282] i ka moena.
Kipú mai la i ke kapa o ka noe.
5 Noe-noe na hokú o ka lani—
Imo-imo mai la i ka po a’e-a’e.
Mahana-lua[283] na kukui a Lanikaula,[274]
He kaula no Kane.[285]
Meha na pali o Wai-pi’o
10 I ke kani mau o Kiha-pú;
A ono ole ka awa a ke alii
I ke kani mau o Kiha-pú;
Moe ole kona po o ka Hooilo;
Uluhua, a uluhua,
15 I ka mea nana e huli a loaa
I kela kupua ino i ka pali,
Olali la, a olali.

[Translation.]

_Song_

Kane is drunken with awa;
His head is laid on the pillow;
His body stretched on the mat.
A trumpet sounds through the fog,
5 Dimmed are the stars in the sky;
When the night is clear, how they twinkle!
Lani-kaula’s torches look double,
The torches that burn for Kane.
Ghostly and drear the walls of Waipio
10 At the endless blasts of Kiha-pú.
The king’s awa fails to console him;
’Tis the all-night conching of Kiha-pú.
Broken his sleep the whole winter;
Downcast and sad, sad and downcast,
15 At loss to find a brave hunter
Shall steal the damned conch from the cliff.
Look, how it gleams [through the fog]!

[Footnote 281: _Kéha_ is an elegant expression for the side of
the head.]

[Footnote 282: _Hi’o-lani_, literally to turn the side to
heaven, is a classic expression of refinement.]

[Footnote 283: _Mahana-lua_, literally to see double, was an
accepted test of satisfactory drunkenness. It reminds the
author of an expression he once heard used by the comedian
Clarke in the play of Toodles. While in a maudlin state from
liquor he spoke of the lighted candle that was in his hand as
a “double-barreled candle.”]

[Footnote 284: _Lani-kaula_ was a prophet who lived on Molokai
at a place that still bears his name. He had his residence in
the midst of a grove of fine kukui trees, the remnants of
which remain to this day. Torches made from the nuts of these
trees were supposed to be of superior quality and they
furnished the illumination for the revelries of Kane and his
fellows.]

[Footnote 285: _He kaula no Kane_. A literal translation would
be, a prophet of Kane.]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE XIV

[Page 131]

Kane, the chief god of the Hawaiian pantheon, in company with
other immortals, his boon companions, met in revelry on the
heights bounding Wai-pi’o valley. With each potation of awa
they sounded a blast upon their conch-shells, and the racket
was almost continuous from the setting of the sun until
drowsiness overcame them or the coming of day put an end to
their revels.

The tumult of sound made it impossible for the priests to
perform acceptably the offices of religion, and the pious
king, Liloa, was distressed beyond measure. The whole valley
was disturbed and troubled with forebodings at the suspension
of divine worship.

The chief offender was Kane himself. The trumpet which he
held to his lips was a conch of extraordinary size (pl. XIV)
and credited with a divine origin and the possession of
supernatural power; its note was heard above all the others.
This shell, the famed Kiha-pú, had been stolen from the heiau
of Paka’a-lána, Liloa’s temple in Waipi’o valley, and after
many adventures had come into the hands of god Kane, who used
it, as we see, for the interruption of the very services that
were intended for his honor.

The relief from this novel and unprecedented situation came
from an unexpected quarter. King Liloa’s awa-patches were
found to be suffering from the nocturnal visits of a thief. A
watch was set; the thief proved to be a dog, Puapua-lenalena,
whose master was a confirmed awa-toper. When master and dog
were brought into the presence of King Liloa, the shrewd
monarch divined the remarkable character of the animal, and
at his suggestion the dog was sent on the errand which
resulted in the recovery by stealth of the famed conch
Kiha-pú. As a result of his loss of the conch, Kane put an
end to his revels, and the valley of Wai-pi’o again had
peace.

This mele is an admirable specimen of Hawaiian poetry, and
may be taken as representative of the best product of
Hawaii’s classical period. The language is elegant and
concise, free from the redundancies that so often load down
Hawaiian compositions. No one, it is thought, will deny to
the subject-matter of this mele an unusual degree of
interest.

There is a historic side to the story of the conch-shell
Kiha-pú. Not many years ago the Hawaiian Museum contained an
ethnological specimen of great interest, the conch-shell
Kiha-pú. It was fringed, after the fashion of a witch-doll,
with strings, beads, and wampumlike bits of mother-of-pearl,
and had great repute as a _kupua_ or luckbringer. King
Kalakaua, who affected a sentimental leaning to the notions
of his mother’s race, took possession of this famous “curio”
and it disappeared from public view.

[Page 132]

XIX.—THE HULA NIAU-KANI

The hula _niau-kani_ was one of the classic dances of the
halau, and took its name from the musical instrument that was
its accompaniment. This was a simple, almost extemporaneous,
contrivance, constructed, like the Jew’s-harp, on the
principle of a reed instrument. It was made of two parts, a
broad piece of bamboo with a longitudinal slit at one end and
a thin narrow piece of the same material, the reed, which was
held firmly against the fenestra on the concave side of part
number one. The convexity of the instrument was pressed
against the lips and the sound was produced by projecting
the breath through the slit in a speaking or singing tone in
such a way as to cause vibrations in the reed. The manner of
constructing and operating this reed instrument is suggestive
of the jew’s-harp. It is asserted by those who should know
that the niau-kani was an instrument of purely Hawaiian
invention.

The performer did not depend simply upon the musical tone,
but rather upon the modification it produced in the
utterances that were strained through it. It would certainly
require a quick ear, much practice, and a thorough
acquaintance with the peculiarities of Hawaiian mele to
enable one to distinguish the words of a song after being
transformed by passage through the niau-kani.

As late as about thirty or forty years ago the niau-kani was
often seen in the hands of the native Hawaiian youth, who
used it as a means of romantic conversations and flirtation.
Since the coming in of the Portuguese and their importation
of the _uku-lele_, the _taro-patch-fiddle_, and other cheap
stringed instruments, the niau-kani has left the field to
them and disappeared.

The author’s informant saw the niau-kani dance performed some
years ago at Moana-lua, near Honolulu, and again on the
island of Kauai. The dance in each case was the same. The
kumu, aided by a pupil, stood and played on the niau-kani,
straining the cantillations through the reed-protected
aperture, while the olapa, girls, kept time to the music with
the movements of their dancing,

[Page 133]

_Mele_

E pi’i ka wai ka nahele,
U’ina, nakolo i na Molo-kama;[286]
Ka ua lele mawaho o Mamala-hoa.
He manao no ko’u e ike
5 I na pua ohi’a o Kupa-koili,[287]
I hoa kaunu no Manu’a-kepa;[288]
Ua like laua me Maha-moku.[289]
Anapa i ke kai o Mono-lau.[290]
Lalau ka lima a noa ia ia la,
10 I hoa pili no Lani-huli.[291]
E huli oe i ku’u makemake,
A loa’a i Kau-ka-opua.[292]
Elua no pua kau
A ka manao i makemake ai.
15 Hoohihi oe a hihi
I lei kohu no neia kino.
Ahea oe hiki mai?
A kau ka La i na pali;[293]
Ka huli a ka makani Wai-a-ma’o,[294]
20 Makemake e iki ia ka Hala-mapu-ana,
Ka wai halana i Wai-pá.[295]

NOTE.—The proper names belong to localities along the course
of the Wai-oli stream.

[Footnote 286: _Molokama_ (more often given as _Na Molo-kama_).
The name applied to a succession of falls made by the stream
far up in the mountains. The author has here used a
versifier’s privilege, compressing this long word into
somewhat less refractory shape.]

[Footnote 287: _Kupa-koili_. A grove of mountain-apples, _ohia
ai_, that stand on the bank of the stream not far from the
public road.]

[Footnote 288: _Manu’a-kepa_. A sandy, grass-covered meadow on
the opposite side of the river from Kupa-koili.]

[Footnote 289: _Maha-moku_. A sandy beach near the mouth of the
river, on the same bank as Manu’a-kepa.]

[Footnote 290: _Mono-lau_. That part of the bay into which the
river flows, that is used as an anchorage for vessels.]

[Footnote 291: _Lani-huli_. The side of the valley Kilauea of
Wai-oli toward which the river makes a bend before it enters
the ocean.]

[Footnote 292: _Kau-ka-opua_. Originally a phrase meaning “the
cloud-omen hangs,” has come to be used as the proper name of
a place. It is an instance of a form of personification often
employed by the Hawaiians, in which words having a specific
meaning—such, for instance, as our “jack-in-the-box”—have
come to be used as a noun for the sake of the meaning wrapped
up in the etymology. This figure of speech is, no doubt,
common to all languages, markedly so in the Hawaiian. It may
be further illustrated by the Hebrew name Ichabod—“his glory
has departed.”]

[Footnote 293: _A kau ka La, i na pali_. When stands the sun
o’er the pali, evening or late in the afternoon. On this part
of Kauai the sun sets behind the mountains.]

[Footnote 294: _Wai-a-ma’o_. The land-breeze, which sometimes
springs up at night.]

[Footnote 295: _Wai-pá_. A spot on the bank of the stream where
grew a pandanus tree, _hala_, styled _Ka-hala-mapu-ana_, the
hala-breathing-out-its-fragrance.]

[Translation.]

_Song_

Up to the streams in the wildwood,
Where rush the falls Molo-kama,
While the rain sweeps past Mala-hoa,
I had a passion to visit
5 The forest of bloom at Koili,
[Page 134] To give love-caress to Manu’a,
And her neighbor Maha-moku,
And see the waters flash at Mono-lau;
My hand would quiet their rage,
10 Would sidle and touch Lani-huli.
Grant me but this one entreaty,
We’ll meet ’neath the omens above.
Two flowers there are that bloom
In your garden of being;
15 Entwine them into a garland,
Fit emblem and crown of our love.
And what the hour of your coming?
When stands the Sun o’er the pali,
When turns the breeze of the land,
20 To breathe the perfume of hala,
While the currents swirl at Wai-pá.

This mele is the language of passion, a song in which the
lover frankly pours into the ear of his inamorata the story
of his love up to the time of his last enthrallment. Verses
11, 12, and 17 are the language of the woman. The scene is
laid in the rainy valley of Hanalei, Kauai, a broad and deep
basin, to the finishing of which the elements have
contributed their share. The rush and roar of the waters that
unite to form the river Wai-oli, from their wild tumbling in
the falls of Molo-kama till they pass the river’s mouth and
mingle with the flashing waves of the ocean at Mono-lau,
_Anapa i ke kai o Mono-lau_ (verse 8), are emblematic of the
man’s passion and his quest for satisfaction.

[Page 135]

XX.—THE HULA OHE

The action of the hula _ohe_ had some resemblance to one of
the figures of the Virginia reel. The dancers, ranged in two
parallel rows, moved forward with an accompaniment of
gestures until the head of each row had reached the limit in
that direction, and then, turning outward to right and left,
countermarched in the same manner to the point of starting,
and so continued to do. They kept step and timed their
gestures and movements to the music of the bamboo nose-flute,
the _ohe_.

In a performance of this hula witnessed by an informant the
chorus of dancers was composed entirely of girls, while the
kumu operated the nose-flute and at the same time led the
cantillation of the mele. This seemed an extraordinary
statement, and the author challenged the possibility of a
person blowing with the nose into a flute and at the same
time uttering words with the mouth. The Hawaiian asserted,
nevertheless, that, the leader of the hula, the kumu, did
accomplish these two functions; yet his answer did not remove
doubt that they were accomplished jointly and at the same
time. The author is inclined to think that the kumu performed
the two actions alternately.

The musical range of the nose-flute was very limited; it had
but two or, at the most, three stops. The player with his
left hand held the flute to the nostril, at the same time
applying a finger of the same hand to keep the other nostril
closed. With the fingers of his right hand he operated the
stops (pl. xv).

_Mele_

E pi’ i ka nahele,
E ike ia Ka-wai-kini,[296]
Nana ia Pihaua-ka-lani,[297]
[Page 136] I kela manu hulu ma’e-ma’e,[298]
5 Noho pu me Ka-hale-lehua,
Punahele ia Kaua-kahi-alii.[299]
E Kaili,[300] e Kaili, e!
E Kaili, lau o ke koa,
E Kaili, lau o ke koa,
10 Moopuna a Hooipo-i-ka-Malanai,[301]
Hiwa-hiwa a ka Lehua-wehe![302]
Aia ka nani i Wai-ehu,
I ka wai kaili puuwai o ka makemake.
Makemake au i ke kalukalu o Kewá,[303]
15 E he’e ana i ka nalu o Maka-iwa.
He iwa-iwa oe na ke aloha,
I Wai-lua nui hoano.
Ano-ano ka hale, aohe kanaka,
Ua la’i oe no ke one o Ali-ó.
20 Aia ka ipo i ka nahele.

[Footnote 296: _Ka-wai-kini_. The name of a rocky bluff that
stands on the side of Mount Wai-ale-ale, looking to Wailua.
It as said to divide the flow from the great morass, the
natural reservoir formed by the hollow at the top of the
mountain, turning a part of it in the direction of Wai-niha,
a valley not far from Hanalei, which otherwise would, it is
said by Hawaiians, go to swell the stream that forms the
Wailua river. This rock, in the old times, was regarded as a
demigod, a _kupua_, and had a lover who resided in Wai-lua,
also another who resided in the mountains. The words in the
first two or three verses may be taken as if they were the
utterance of this Wai-lua lover, saying “I will go up and see
my sweetheart Ka-wai-kini.”]

[Footnote 297: _Pihana-ka-lani_. Literally, the fullness of
heaven. This was a forest largely of lehua that covered the
mountain slope below Ka-wai-kini. It seems as if the purpose
of its mention was to represent the beauties and charms of
the human body. In this romantic region lived the famous
mythological princes—_alii kupua_, the Hawaiians called
them—named _Kaua-kahi-alii_ and _Aiwohi-kupua_, with their
princess sister _Ka-hale-lehua_. The second name mentioned
was the one who married the famous heroine of the romantic
story of _Laie-i-ka-wai_.]