Poli Anuanu
1.
2.
3.
Aloha wale oe,
Poli anuanu;
Máeéle au
I ke ánu, e.
2.
He anu e ka ua,
He anu e ka wai,
Li'a kuu ill
I ke anu, e.
3.
Ina paha,
Ooe a owau
Ka i pu-kukú'i,
I ke anu, e.
[Translation]
Cold Breast
1.
2.
3.
Love fain compels to greet thee,
Breast so cold, so cold.
Chilled, benumbed am I
With the pinching cold.
2.
How bitter cold the rainfall,
Bitter cold the stream,
Body all a-shiver,
From the pinching cold.
3.
Pray, what think you?
What if you and I
Should our arms enfold,
Just to keep off the cold?
Page 166
Huahua'i
He aloha wau ia oe,
I kau hana, hana pono;
La'i ai ke kaunu me ia la,
Hoapaapa i ke kino.
Chorus:
Kaua i ka huahua'i,
E uhene la'i pili koolua,
Pu-kuku'i aku i ke koekoe,
Anu lipo i ka palai.
[Translation]
Outburst
O my love goes out to thee,
For thy goodness and thy kindness.
Fancy kindles at that other,
Stirs, with her arts, my blood.
Chorus:
You and I, then, for an outburst!
Sing the joy of love's encounter,
Join arms against the invading damp,
Deep chill of embowering ferns.
NOTE.--The music to which this hula song is set was produced by a member of the Hawaiian Band, Mr. Solomon A. Hiram, and arranged by Capt. H. Berger, to whom the author is indebted for permission to use it.
Ka Mawae
A e ho'i ke aloha i ka mawae,
I ke Kawelu-holu, Papi'ohúli. 325
Huli mai kou alo, ua anu wau,
Ua pulu i ka ua, malule o-luna.
Footnote 325: (return) Papi'o-huli. A slope in the western valley-side at the head of Nuuanu, where the tall grass (kawelu) waves (holu) in the wind.Page 168
[Translation]
The Refuge
Return, O love, to the refuge,
The wind-tossed covert of Papi'ohúli.
Face now to my face; I'm smitten with cold,
Soaked with the rain and benumbed.
Like no a Like
1.
2.
Ua like no a like
Me ka ua kani-lehua;
Me he la e i mai ana,
Aia ilaila ke aloha.
Chorus:
Ooe no ka'u i upu ai,
Ku'u lei hiki ahiahi,
O ke kani o na manu,
I na hora o ke aumoe.
2.
Maanei mai kaua,
He welina pa'a i ka piko,
A nau no wau i imi mai,
A loaa i ke aheahe a ka makani.
Chorus.
[Translation]
Resemblance
1.
2.
When the rain drums loud on the leaf,
It makes me think of my love;
It whispers into my ear,
Your love, your love--she is near.
Chorus:
Thou art the end of my longing,
The crown of evening's delight,
When I hear the cock blithe crowing,
In the middle watch of the night.
2.
This way is the path for thee and me,
A welcome warm at the end.
I waited long for thy coming,
And found thee in waft of the breeze.
Chorus.
1.
2.
O ka ponaha iho a ke ao.
Ka pipi'o malie maluna,
Ike oe i ka hana, mikiala,
Nowelo i ka pili aoao.
Chorus:
Maikai ke aloha a ka ipo--
Hana mao ole i ka puuwai,
Houhou liilii i ka poli--
Nowelo i ka pili aoao.
2.
A mau ka pili'na olu pono;
Huli a'e, hooheno malie,
Hanu liilii nahenahe,
Nowelo i ka pili aoao.
Chorus.
The author of the mele was a Hawaiian named John Meha, who died some years ago. He was for many years a member of the Hawaiian Band and set the words to the music given below, which has since been arranged by Captain Berger.
[Translation]
Side by Side
1.
2.
Outspreads now the dawn,
Arching itself on high--
But look! a wondrous thing,
A thrill at touch of the side.
Chorus:
Most dear to the soul is a love-touch;
Its pulse stirs ever the heart
And gently throbs in the breast--
At thrill from the touch of the side.
2.
In time awakes a new charm
As you turn and gently caress;
Short comes, the breath--at
The thrill from the touch of the side.
Chorus.
If, on the other hand, we set down the positive qualities by the possession of which it makes good its claim to be classed as music, we shall find that it has a firm hold on rhythm. This is indeed one of the special excellencies of Hawaiian music. Added to this, we find that it makes a limited use of such-intervals as the third, fifth, fourth, and at the same time resorts extravagantly, as if in compensation, to a fine tone-carving that divides up the tone-interval into fractions so much less than the semitone that our ears are almost indifferent to them, and are at first inclined to deny their existence. This minute division of the tone, or step, and neglect at the same time of the broader harmonic intervals, reminds one of work in which the artist charges his picture with unimportant detail, while failing in attention to the strong outlines. Among its merits we must not forget to mention a certain quality of tone-color which inheres in the Hawaiian tongue and which greatly tends to the enhancement of Hawaiian music, especially when thrown into rhythmic forms.
The first thing, then, to repeat, that will strike the auditor on listening to this primitive music will be its lack of melody. The voice goes wavering and lilting along like a canoe on a rippling ocean.
Then, of a sudden, it swells upward, as if lifted by some wave of emotion; and there for a time it travels with the same fluctuating movement, soon descending to its old monotone, until again moved to rise on the breast of some fresh impulse. The intervals sounded may be, as already said, a third, or a fifth, or a fourth; but the whole movement leads nowhere; it is an unfinished sentence. Yet, in spite of all these drawbacks and of this childish immaturity, the amateur and enthusiast finds himself charmed and held as if in the clutch of some Old-World spell, and this at what others will call the dreary and monotonous intoning of the savage.
In matters that concern the emotions it is rarely possible to trace with certainty the lines that lead up from effect to cause. Such is the nature of art. If we would touch the cause which lends attractiveness to Hawaiian music, we must look elsewhere than to melody. In the belief of the author the two elements that conspire for this end are rhythm and tone-color, which comes of a delicate feeling for vowel-values.
The hall-mark of Hawaiian music is rhythm, for the Hawaiians belong to that class of people who can not move hand or foot or perform any action except they do it rhythmically. Not alone in poetry and music and the dance do we find this recurring accent of pleasure, but in every action of life it seems to enter as a timekeeper and regulator, whether it be the movement of a fingerful of poi to the mouth or the swing of a kahili through the incense-laden air at the burial of a chief.
The typical Hawaiian rhythm is a measure of four beats, varied at times by a 2-rhythm, or changed by syncopation into a 3-rhythm.
These people have an emotional susceptibility and a sympathy with environment that belongs to the artistic temperament; but their feelings, though easily stirred, are not persistent and ideally centered; they readily wander away from any example or pattern. In this way may be explained their inclination to lapse from their own standard of rhythm into inexplicable syncopations.
As an instance of sympathy with environment, an experience with a hula dancer may be mentioned. Wishing to observe the movement of the dance in time with the singing of the mele, the author asked him to perform the two at one time. He made the attempt, but failed. At length, bethinking himself, he drew off his coat and bound it about his loins after the fashion of a pa-ú, such as is worn by hula dancers. He at once caught inspiration, and was thus enabled to perform the double rôle of dancer and singer.
It has been often remarked by musical teachers who have had experience with these islanders that as singers they are prone to flat the tone and to drag the time, yet under the stimulus of emotion they show the ability to acquit themselves in these respects with great credit. The native Page 172 inertia of their being demands the spur of excitement to keep them up to the mark. While human nature everywhere shares in this weakness, the tendency seems to be greater in the Hawaiian than in some other races of no higher intellectual and esthetic advancement.
Another quality of the Hawaiian character which reenforces this tendency is their spirit of communal sympathy. That is but another way of saying that they need the stimulus of the crowd, as well as of the occasion, even to make them keep step to the rhythm of their own music. In all of these points they are but an epitome of humanity.
Before closing this special subject, the treatment of which has grown to an unexpected length, the author feels constrained to add one more illustration of Hawaii's musical productions. The Hawaiian national hymn on its poetical side may be called the last appeal of royalty to the nation's feeling of race-pride. The music, though by a foreigner, is well suited to the words and is colored by the environment in which the composer has spent the best years of his life. The whole production seems well fitted to serve as the clarion of a people that need every help which art and imagination can offer.
HAWAI'I PONOI
1.
2.
3.
Hawai'i ponoi,
Nana i kou Moi,
Ka lani Ali'i,
Ke Ali'i.
Refrain:
Makua lani, e,
Kamehameha, e,
Na kaua e pale,
Me ka ihe.
2.
Hawai'i ponoi,
Nana i na 'li'i,
Na pua muli kou,
Na poki'i.
Refrain:
3.
Hawai'i ponoi
E ka lahui, e,
O kau hana nui
E ui, e.
Refrain.
[Translation]
Hawaii Ponoi
1.
2.
3.
Hawaii's very own,
Look to your sovran Lord,
Your chief that's heaven-born,
Who is your King.
Refrain:
Protector, heaven-sent,
Kamehameha great,
To vanquish every foe,
With conquering spear.
2.
Men of Hawaii's land,
Look to your native chiefs,
Your sole surviving lords,
The nation's pride.
Refrain:
3.
Men of Hawaiian stock,
My nation ever dear,
With loins begirt for work,
Strive with your might.
Refrain.
XXII.--GESTURE
Gesture is a voiceless speech, a short-hand dramatic picture. The Hawaiians were adepts in this sort of art. Hand and foot, face and eye, and those convolutions of gray matter which are linked to the organs of speech, all worked in such harmony that, when the man spoke, he spoke not alone with his vocal organs, but all over, from head to foot, every part adding its emphasis to the utterance. Von Moltke could be reticent in six languages; the Hawaiian found it impossible to be reticent in one.The hands of the hula dancer are ever going out in gesture, her body swaying and pivoting itself in attitudes of expression. Her whole physique is a living and moving picture of feeling, sentiment, and passion. If the range of thought is not always deep or high, it is not the fault of her art, but the limitations of her original endowment, limitations of hereditary environment, the universal limitations imposed on the translation from spirit into matter.
The art of gesture was one of the most important branches taught by the kumu. When the hula expert, the olohe, who has entered the halau as a visitor, utters the prayer (p. 47), "O Laka, give grace to the feet of Pohaku, and to her bracelets and anklets; give comeliness to the figure and skirt of Luukia. To each one give gesture and voice. O Laka, make beautiful the lei; inspire the dancers to stand before the assembly," his meaning was clear and unmistakable, and showed his high valuation of this method of expression. We are not, however, to suppose that the kumu-hula, whatever his artistic attainments, followed any set of formulated doctrines in his teaching. His science was implicit, unformulated, still enfolded in the silence of unconsciousness, wrapped like a babe in its mother's womb. To apply a scientific name to his method, it might be called inductive, for he led his pupils along the plain road of practical illustration, adding example to example, without the confusing aid of preliminary rule or abstract proposition, until his pupils had traveled over the whole ground covered by his own experience.
Each teacher went according to the light that was in him, not forgetting the instructions of his own kumu, but using them as a starting point, a basis on which to build as best he knew. There were no books, no manuals of instruction, to pass from hand to hand and thus secure uniformity of instruction. Then, again, it was a long journey from Hawaii to Kauai, or Page 177 even from one island to another. The different islands, as a rule, were not harnessed to one another under the same political yoke; even districts of the same island were not unfrequently under the independent sway of warring chiefs; so that for long periods the separation, even the isolation, in matters of dramatic art and practice was as complete as in politics.
The method pursued by the kumu may be summarized as follows: Having labored to fix the song, the mele or oli, in the minds of his pupils, the haumana, he appointed some one to recite the words of the piece, while the class, standing with close attention to the motions of the kumu and with ears open at the same time to the words of the leader, were required to repeat the kumu's gestures in pantomime until he judged them to have arrived at a sufficient degree of perfection. That done, the class took up the double task of recitation joined to that of gesture. In his attempt to translate his concepts into physical signs the Hawaiian was favored not only by his vivid power of imagination, but by his implicit philosophy, for the Hawaiian, looked at things from a physical plane--a safe ground to stand upon--albeit he had glimpses at times far into the depths of ether. When he talked about spirit, he still had in mind a form of matter. A god was to him but an amplified human being.
It is not the purpose to attempt a scientific classification of gesture as displayed in the halau. The most that can be done will be to give a few familiar generic illustrations which are typical and representative of a large class.
The pali, the precipice, stands for any difficulty or obstacle of magnitude. The Hawaiian represents this in his dramatic, pictorial manner with the hand vertically posed on the outstretched arm, the palm of the hand looking away. If it is desired to represent this wall of obstacle as being surmounted, the hand is pushed forward, and at the same time somewhat inclined, perhaps, from its rigid perpendicularity, the action being accompanied by a series of slight lifting or waving movements as of climbing.
Another way of dramatically picturing this same concept, that of the pali as a wall of obstacle, is by holding the forearm and hand vertically posed with the palmar aspect facing the speaker. This method of expression, while perhaps bolder and more graphic than that before mentioned, seems more purely oratorical and less graceful, less subtly pictorial and elegant than the one previously described, and therefore less adapted to the hula. For it must be borne in mind that the hula demanded the subordination of strength to grace and elegance. We may at the same time be sure that the halau showed individuality in its choice of methods, that it varied its technique and manner of expression at different times and places, according to the different conception of one or another kumu.
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Progression, as in walking or traveling, is represented by means of a forward undulatory movement of the outstretched arm and hand, palm downward, in a horizontal plane. This gesture is rhythmic and beautifully pictorial. If the other hand also is made a partner in the gesture, the significance would seem to be extended, making it include, perhaps, a larger number in the traveling company. The mere extension of the arm, the back-hand advanced, would serve the purpose of indicating removal, travel, but in a manner less gracious and caressing.
To represent an open level space, as of a sand-beach or of the earth-plain, the Hawaiian very naturally extended his arms and open hands--palms downward, of course--the degree of his reaching effort being in a sense a measure of the scope intended.
To represent the act of covering or protecting oneself with clothing, the Hawaiian placed the hollow of each hand over the opposite shoulder with a sort of hugging action. But here, again, one can lay down no hard and fast rule. There was differentiation; the pictorial action might well vary according to the actor's conception of the three or more generic forms that constituted the varieties of Hawaiian dress, which were the málo of the man, the pa-ú of the woman, and the decent kiheí, a toga-like robe, which, like the blanket of the North American Indian, was common to both sexes. Still another gesture, a sweeping of the hands from the shoulder down toward the ground, would be used to indicate that costly feather robe, the ahuula, which was the regalia and prerogative of kings and chiefs.
The Hawaiian places his hands, palms up, edge to edge, so that the little finger of one hand touches its fellow of the other hand. By this action he means union or similarity. He turns one palm down, so that the little finger and thumb of opposite hands touch each other. The significance of the action is now wholly reversed; he now means disunion, contrariety.
To indicate death, the death of a person, the finger-tips, placed in apposition, are drawn away from each other with a sweeping gesture and at the same time lowered till the palms face the ground. In this case also we find diversity. One old man, well acquainted with hula matters, being asked to signify in pantomimic fashion "the king is sick," went through the following motions: He first pointed upward, to indicate the heaven-born one, the king; then he brought his hands to his body and threw his face into a painful grimace. To indicate the death of the long he threw his hands upward toward the sky, as if to signify a removal by flight. He admitted the accuracy of the gesture, previously described, in which the hands are moved toward the ground.
There are, of course, imitative and mimetic gestures galore, as of paddling, swimming, diving, angling, and the like, Page 179 which one sees every day of his life and which are to be regarded as parts of that universal shorthand vocabulary of unvocalized speech that is used the world over from Naples to Honolulu, rather than stage-conventions of the halau. It will suffice to mention one motion or gesture of this sort which the author has seen used with dramatic effect. An old man was describing the action of Hiiaka (the little sister of Pele) while clearing a passage for herself and her female companion with a great slaughter of the reptilian demon-horde of ma'o that came out in swarms to oppose the progress of the goddess through their territory while she was on her way to fetch Prince Lohiau. The goddess, a delicate piece of humanity in her real self, made short work of the little devils who covered the earth and filled the air. Seizing one after another, she bit its life out, or swallowed it as if it had been a shrimp. The old man represented the action most vividly: pressing his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger into a cone, he brought them quickly to his mouth, while he snapped his jaws together like a dog seizing a morsel, an action that pictured the story better than any words.
It might seem at first blush that facial expression, important as it is, owing to its short range of effectiveness, should hardly be put in the same category with what may be called the major stage-gestures that were in vogue in the halau. But such a judgment would certainly be mistaken. The Greek use of masks on the stage for their "carrying power" testified to their valuation of the countenance as a semaphore of emotion; at the same time their resort to this artifice was an implicit recognition of the desirability of bringing the window of the soul nearer to the audience. The Hawaiians, though they made no use of masks in the halau, valued facial expression no less than the Greeks. The means for the study of this division of the subject, from the nature of the case, is somewhat restricted and the pursuit of illustrations makes it necessary to go outside of the halau.
The Hawaiian language was one of hospitality and invitation. The expression mai, or komo mai, this way, or come in, was the most common of salutations. The Hawaiian sat down to meat before an open door; he ate his food in the sight of all men, and it was only one who dared being denounced as a churl who would fail to invite with word and gesture the passer-by to come in and share with him. This gesture might be a sweeping, downward, or sidewise motion of the hand in which the palm faced and drew toward the speaker. This seems to have been the usual form when the two parties were near to each other; if they were separated by any considerable distance, the fingers would perhaps more likely be turned upward, thus making the signal more distinctly visible and at the same time more emphatic.
Page 180
In the expression of unvoiced assent and dissent the Hawaiian practised refinements that went beyond our ordinary conventions. To give assent he did not find it necessary so much as to nod the head; a lifting of the eyebrows sufficed. On the other hand, the expression of dissent was no less simple as well as decisive, being attained by a mere grimace of the nose. This manner of indicating dissent was not, perhaps, without some admixture of disdain or even scorn; but that feeling, if predominant, would call for a reenforcement of the gesture by some additional token, such as a pouting of the lips accompanied by an upward toss of the chin. A more impersonal and coldly businesslike way of manifesting a negative was by an outward sweep of the hand, the back of the hand being turned to the applicant. Such a gesture, when addressed to a huckster or a beggar--a rare bird, by the way, in old Hawaii--was accepted as final.
There was another method of signifying a most emphatic, even contemptuous, no. In this the tongue is protruded and allowed to hang down flat and wide like the flaming banner of a panting hound. A friend states that the Maoris made great use of gestures with the tongue in their dances, especially in the war-dance, sometimes letting it hang down broad, flat, and long, directly in front, sometimes curving it to right or left, and sometimes stuffing it into the hollow of the cheek and puffing out one side of the face. This manner--these methods it might be said--of facial expression, so far as observed and so far as can be learned, were chiefly of feminine practice. The very last gesture--that of the protruded tongue--is not mentioned as one likely to be employed on the stage in the halau, certainly not in the performance of what one would call the serious hulas. But it might well have been employed in the hula ki'i (see p. 91), which was devoted, as we have seen, to the portrayal of the lighter and more comic aspects of daily life.
It is somewhat difficult to interpret the meaning of the various attitudes and movements of the feet and legs. Their remoteness from the centers of emotional control, their detachment from the vortices of excitement, and their seeming restriction to mechanical functions make them seem but slightly sympathetic with those tides of emotion that speed through the vital parts of the frame. But, though somewhat aloof from, they are still under the dominion of, the same emotional laws that govern the more central parts.
Man is all sympathy one part with another;
For head with, heart hath joyful amity,
And both with moon and tides.
It would be a mistake to suppose that every motion or gesture displayed by the actors on the stage of the halau was significant of a purpose. To do that would be to ascribe to them a flawless perfection and strength that no body of artists have ever attained. Many of their gestures, like the rhetoric of a popular orator, were mere flourishes and ornaments. With a language so full of seemingly superfluous parts, it could not well be otherwise than that their rhetoric of gesture should be overloaded with flourishes.
The whole subject of gesture, including facial expression, is worthy of profound study, for it is linked to the basic elements of psychology. The illustrations adduced touch only the skirts of the subject; but they must suffice. An exhaustive analysis, the author believes, would show an intimate and causal relation between these facial expressions and the muscular movements that are the necessary accompaniments or resultants of actual speech. To illustrate, the pronunciation of the Hawaiian word ae (pronounced like our aye), meaning "yes," involves the opening of the mouth to its full extent; and this action, when accomplished, results in a sympathetic lifting of the eyebrows. It is this ultimate and completing part of the action which the Hawaiian woman adopts as her semaphore of assent.
One of the puzzling things about gesture comes when we try to think of it as a science rooted in psychology. It is then we discover variations presented by different peoples in different lands, which force us to the conviction that in only a part of its domain does it base itself on the strict principles of psychology. Gesture, like language, seems to be made up in good measure of an opportunist growth that springs up in answer to man's varying needs and conditions. The writer hopes he will not be charged with begging the question in suggesting that another element which we must Page 182[ reckon with as influential in fashioning and stereotyping gesture is tradition and convention. To illustrate--the actor who took the rôle of Lord Dundreary in the first performance of the play of the same name accidentally made a fantastic misstep while crossing the stage. The audience was amused, and the actor, quick to avail himself of any open door, followed the lead thus hinted at. The result is that he won great applause and gave birth to a mannerism which has well-nigh become a stage convention.
Page 183
XXIII.--THE HULA PA-HUA
The hula pa-hua was a dance of the classical times that has long been obsolete. Its last exhibition, so far as ascertained, was in the year 1846, on the island of Oahu. In this performance both the olapa and the hoopaa cantillated the mele, while the latter squatted on the floor. Each one was armed with a sharp stick of wood fashioned like a javelin, or a Hawaiian spade, the o-ó; and with this he made motions, thrusting to right and to left; whether in imitation of the motions of a soldier or of a farmer could not be learned. The gestures of these actors were in perfect time with the rhythm of the mele.The dance-movements performed by the olapa, as the author has heard them described, were peculiar, not an actual rotation, but a sort of half-turn to one side and then to the other, an advance followed by a retreat. While doing this the olapa, who were in two divisions, marked the time of the movement by clinking together two pebbles which they held in each hand.
The use of the pebbles after the manner of castanets, the division of the dancers into two sets, their advance and retreat toward and away from each other are all suggestive of the Spanish bolero or fandango. The resemblance went deeper than the surface. The prime motive of the song, the mele, also is the same, love in its different phases even to its most frenzied manifestations.
Mele
Pa au i ka ihee a Kane; 326
Nana ka maka ia Koolau; 327
Kau ka opua 328 ma ka moana.
Lu'u a e-a, lu'u a e-a, 329
5
Hiki i Wai-ko-loa.
Aole loa ke kula
I ka pai-lani a Kane. 330
Ke kane[330] ia no hoi ia
Ka tula pe-pe'e
10
A ka hale ku'i.
Ku'i oe a lono Kahiki-nui;
Hoolei ia iluna o Kaua-loa,
Ka lihilihi pua o ka makemake.
Mao ole ke Koolau i ka lihilihi.
15
He lihi kuleana ia no Puna.
O ko'u puni no ia o ka ike maka.
Aohe makamaka o ka hale, ua hele oe;
Nawai la au e hookipa
I keia mahaoi ana mai nei o ka loa?
20
He makemake no au e ike maka;
I hookahi no po, le'a ke kaunu,
Ka hana mao ole a ke anu.
He anu mawaho, a he hu'i ma-loko.
A ilaila laua la, la'i pono iho.
25
Ua pono oe o kaua, ua alu ka moena;
Ka hana mau a ka Inu-wai;
Mao ole i ka nui kino.
Ku'u kino keia mauna ia ha'i.
E Ku, e hoolei la!
30
A ua noa!
Footnote 326: (return) The a Kane. The spear of Kane. What else can this he than that old enemy to man's peace and comfort, love, passion?
Footnote 327: (return) Koolau. The name applied to the weather side of an island; the direction in which one would naturally turn first to judge of the weather.
Footnote 328: (return) Opua. A bunch of clouds; a cloud-omen; a heavenly phenomenon; a portent. In this case it probably means a lover. The present translation, is founded on this view.
Footnote 329: (return) Lu'u a e-a. To dive and then come up to take breath, as one does in swimming out to sea against the incoming breakers, or as one might do in escaping from a pursuer, or in avoiding detection, after the manner of a loon.
Footnote 330: (return) A Kane and Ke kane. Instances of word-repetition, previously mentioned as a fashion much used in Hawaiian poetry. See instances also of the same figure in lines 13 and 14 and in lines 16 and 17.Page 184
[Translation]
Song
I am smitten with spear of Kane;
Mine eyes with longing scan Koolau;
Behold the love-omen hang o'er the sea.
I dive and come up, dive and come up;
5
Thus I reach my goal Wai-ko-loa.
The width of plain is a trifle
To the joyful spirit of Kane.
Aye, a husband, and patron is he
To the dance of the bended knee,
10
In the hall of the stamping feet.
Stamp, till the echo reaches Kahiki;
Still pluck you a wreath by the way
To crown your fondest ambition;
A wreath not marred by the salt wind
15
That plays with the skirts of Puna.
I long to look eye into eye.
Friendless the house, you away;
Pray who will receive, who welcome,
This guest uninvited from far?
20
I long for one (soul-deep) gaze,
One night of precious communion;
Such a flower wilts not in the cold--
Cold without, a tumult within.
What bliss, if we two were together!
25
You are the blest of us twain;
The mat bends under your form.
The thirsty wind, it still rages,
Page 185
Appeased not with her whole body.
My body is pledged to another.
30
Crown it, Ku, crown it.
Now the service is free!
The author has discarded from the text two verses which followed verse 28:
Hai'na ia mai ka puana:
Ka wai anapa i ke kala.
[Translation]
Declare to me now the riddle:
The waters that flash on the plain.
Page 186
XXIV--THE HULA PELE
The Hawaiian drama could lay hold of no worthier theme than that offered by the story of Pele. In this epic we find the natural and the supernatural, the everyday events of nature and the sublime phenomena of nature's wonderland, so interwoven as to make a story rich in strong human and deific coloring. It is true that the genius of the Hawaiian was not equal to the task of assembling the dissevered parts and of combining into artistic unity the materials his own imagination had spun. This very fact, however, brings us so much nearer to the inner workshop of the Hawaiian mind.The story of Pele is so long and complicated that only a brief abstract of it can be offered now:
Pele, the goddess of the volcano, in her dreams and wanderings in spirit-form, met and loved the handsome Prince Lohiau. She would not be satisfied with mere spiritual intercourse; she demanded the sacrament of bodily presence. Who should be the ambassador to bring the youth from his distant home on Kauai? She begged her grown-up sisters to attempt the task. They foresaw the peril and declined the thankless undertaking. Hiiaka, the youngest and most affectionate, accepted the mission; but, knowing her sister's evil temper, strove to obtain from Pele a guaranty that her own forests and the life of her bosom friend Hopoe should be safeguarded during her absence.
Hiiaka was accompanied by Wahine-oma'o--the woman in green--a woman as beautiful as herself. After many adventures they arrived at Haena and found Lohiau dead and in his sepulchre, a sacrifice to the jealousy of Pele. They entered the cave, and after ten days of prayer and incantation Hiiaka had the satisfaction of seeing the body of Lohiau warmed and animated by the reentrance of the spirit; and the company, now of three, soon started on the return to Kilauea.
The time consumed by Hiiaka in her going and doing and returning had been so long that Pele was moved to unreasonable jealousy and, regardless of her promise to her faithful sister, she devastated with fire the forest parks of Hiiaka and sacrificed the life of Hiiaka's bosom friend, the innocent and beautiful Hopoe.
Hiiaka and Lohiau, on their arrival at Kilauea, seated themselves on its ferny brink, and there, in the open view of Pele's court, Hiiaka, in resentment at the broken faith of her sister and in defiance of her power, invited and received Page 187 from Lohiau the kisses and dalliance which up to that time she had repelled. Pele, in a frenzy of passion, overwhelmed her errant lover, Lohiau, with fire, turned his body into a pillar of rock, and convulsed earth and sea. Only through the intervention of the benevolent peacemaking god Kane was the order of the world saved from utter ruin.
The ancient Hawaiians naturally regarded the Pele hula with special reverence by reason of its mythological importance, and they selected it for performance on occasions of gravity as a means of honoring the kings and alii of the land. They would have considered its presentation on common occasions, or in a spirit of levity, as a great impropriety.
In ancient times the performance of the hula Pele, like that of all other plays, was prefaced with prayer and sacrifice. The offering customarily used in the service of this hula consisted of salt crystals and of luau made from the delicate unrolled taro leaf. This was the gift demanded of every pupil seeking admission to the school of the hula, being looked upon as an offering specially acceptable to Pele, the patron of this hula. In the performance of the sacrifice teacher and pupil approached and stood reverently before the kuahu while the former recited a mele, which was a prayer to the goddess. The pupil ate the luau, the teacher placed the package of salt on the altar, and the service was complete.
Both olapa and hoopaa took part in the performance of this hula. There was little or no moving about, but the olapa did at times sink down to a kneeling position. The performance was without instrumental accompaniment, but with abundant appropriate gestures. The subjects treated of were of such dignity and interest as to require no extraneous embellishment.
Perusal of the mele which follows will show that the story of Pele dated back of her arrival in this group:
He Oli-O ka mele mua keia o ka, hula Pele
Mai Kahiki ka wahine, o Pele,
Mai ka aina i Pola-pola,
Mai ka punohu ula a Kane,
Mai ke ao lalapa i ka lani,
5
Mai ka opua lapa i Kahiki.
Lapa-ku i Hawaii ka wahine, o Pele;
Kalai i ka wa'a Houna-i-a-kea,
Kou wa'a, e Ka-moho-alii.
I apo'a ka moku i pa'a;
10
Ua hoa ka wa'a o ke Akua,
Ka wa'a o Kane-kalai-honua.
Holo mai ke au, a'ea'e Pele-honua-mea;
A'ea'e ka Lani, ai-puni'a i ka moku;
A'ea'e Kini o ke Akua,
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Noho a'e o Malau.
Ua ka ia ka liu o ka wa'a.
Ia wai ka hope, ka uli o ka wa'a, e ne hoa 'lii?
Ia Pele-honua-mea.
A'ea'e kai hoe oluna o ka wa'a.
20
O Ku ma, laua o Lono,
Noho i ka honua aina,
Kau aku i hoolewa moku.
Hiiaka, noiau, he akua,
Ku ae, hele a noho i ka hale o Pele.
25
Huahua'i Kahiki, lapa uila, e Pele.
E hua'i, e!
[Translation]
A Song--The first song of the hula Pele
From Kahiki came the woman, Pele,
From the land of Pola-pola,
From the red cloud of Kane,
5
Fiery cloud-pile in Kahiki.
Eager desire for Hawaii seized the woman, Pele;
She carved the canoe, Honna-i-a-kea,
Your canoe, O Ka-moho-alii.
They push the work on the craft to completion.
10
The lashings of the god's canoe are done,
The canoe of Kane, the world-maker.
The tides swirl, Pele-honua-mea o'ermounts them;
The god rides the waves, sails about the island;
The host of little gods ride the billows;
15
Malau takes his seat;
One bales out the bilge of the craft.
Who shall sit astern, be steersman, O, princes?
Pele of the yellow earth.
The splash of the paddles dashes o'er the canoe.
20x
Ku and his fellow, Lono,
Disembark on solid land;
They alight on a shoal.
Hiiaka, the wise one, a god,
Stands up, goes to stay at the house of Pele.
25
Lo, an eruption in Kahiki!
A flashing of lightning, O Pele!
Belch forth, O Pele!
Mele
A Kauai, a ke olewa 332 iluna,
Ka pua lana i kai o Wailua;
Nana mai Pele ilaila;
E waiho aku ana o Aim. 333
5
Aloha i ka wai niu o ka aina;
E ala mai ana mokihana,
Wai auau o Hiiaka.
Hoo-paapaa Pele ilaila;
Aohe Kau 334 e ulu ai.
10
Keehi aku Pele i ka ale kua-loloa,
He onohi no Pele, ka oaka o ka lani, la.
Eli-eli, kau mai!
[Translation]
Song
To Kauai, lifted in ether,
A floating flower at sea off Wailua--
That way Pele turns her gaze,
She's bidding adieu to Oahu,
5
Loved land of new wine of the palm.
There comes a perfumed waft--mokihana--
The bath of the maid Hiiaka.
Scene it was once of Pele's contention,
Put by for future attention.
10
Her foot now spurns the long-backed wave;
The phosphor burns like Pele's eye,
Or a meteor-flash in the sky.
Finished the prayer, enter, possess!
Footnote 332: (return) Olewa. Said to be the name of a wooded region high up on the mountain of Kauai. It is here treated as if it meant the heavens or the blue ether. Its origin is the same with the word lewa, the upper regions of the air.
Footnote 333: (return) O Ahu. In this instance the article still finds itself disunited from its substantive. To-day we have Oahu and Ola'a.
Footnote 334: (return) Kau, The summer; time of warm weather; the growing season.Page 190
The incidents and allusions in this mele belong to the story of Pele's journey in search of Lohiau, the lover she met in her dreams, and describe her as about to take flight from Oahu to Kauai (verse 4).
Hiiaka's bath, Wai auau o Hiiaka (verse 7), which was the subject of Pele's contention (verse 8), was a spring of water which Pele had planted at Huleia on her arrival from Kahiki. The ones with whom Pele had the contention were Kukui-lau-manienie and Kukui-lauhanahana, the daughters of Lima-loa, the god of the mirage. These two women lived at Huleia near the spring. Kamapua'a, the swinegod, their accepted lover, had taken the liberty to remove the spring from the rocky bed where Pele had planted it to a neighboring hill. Pele was offended and demanded of the two women:
"Where is my spring of water?"
"Where, indeed, is your spring? You belong to Hawaii. What have you to do with any spring on Kauai?" was their answer.
"I planted a clean spring here on this rock," said Pele.
"You have no water here," they insisted; "your springs are on Hawaii."
"If I were not going in search of my husband Lohiau," said Pele, "I would set that spring back again in its old place."
"You haven't the power to do that," said they. "The son of Kahiki-ula (Kama-puaa) moved it over there, and you can't undo his action."
The eye of Pele, He onohi no Pele (verse 11), is the phosphorescence which Pele's footfall stirs to activity in the ocean.
The formal ending of this mele, Elieli, kau mai, is often found at the close of a mele in the hula Pele, and marks it as to all intents and purposes a prayer.
E waiho aku ana, o Ahu (verse 4). This is an instance of the separation of the article o from the substantive Ahu, to which it becomes joined to form the proper name of the island now called Oahu.
Mele
Ke amo la ke ko'i ke akua la i-uka;
Haki nu'a-nu'a mai ka nalu mai Kahiki,
Po-po'i aku la i ke alo o Kilauea. 335
Kanaka hea i ka lakou puaa kanu;
5
He wahine kui lei lehua i uka o Olaa,
Ku'u moku lehua i ke alo o He-eia.
O Kuku-ena 336 wahine,
Komo i ka lau-ki,
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A'e-a'e a noho.
10
Eia makou, kou lau kaula la.
Eli-eli, kau mai!
Footnote 335: (return) The figure in the second and third verses, of waves from Kahiki (nalu mai Kahiki) beating against the front of Kilauea (Po-po'i aku la i ke alo o Kilauea), seems to picture the trampling of the multitude splashing the mire as if it were, waves of ocean.
Footnote 336: (return) Kukuena. There is some uncertainty as to who this character was; probably the same as Haumea, the mother of Pele.
[Translation]
Song
They bear the god's ax up the mountain;
Trampling the mire, like waves from Kahiki
That beat on the front of Kilauea.
The people with offerings lift up a prayer;
5
A woman strings wreaths in Olaa--
Lehua grove mine bord'ring He-eia.
And now Kukuena, mother god,
Covers her loins with a pa-ú of ti leaf;
She mounts the altar; she sits.
10
Behold us, your conclave of priests.
Enter in, possess us!
Mele
Ku i Wailua ka pou hale 338
Ka ipu hoolono i ka uwalo,
Ka wawa nui, e Ulupo.
Aole uwalo mai, e.
5
Aloha nui o Ikuwa, Mahoena.
Ke lele la ka makawao o ka hinalo.
Aia i Maná ka oka'i o ka ua o Eleao;
Ke holu la ka a'ahu o Ka-ú 339 i ka makani;
Ke puhi a'e la ka ale kumupali o Ka-ú, Honuapo;
10
Ke hakoko ka niu o Paiaha'a i ka makani.
Uki-uki oukou:
Ke lele la ke kai;
Lele iao, 340 lele!
O ka makani Koolau-wahine,
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O ka Moa'e-ku.
Lele ua, lele kawa! 341
Lele aku, lele mai!
Lele opuhi, 344 lele;
20
Lele o Kauná, 345 kaha oe.
E Hiiaka e, ku!
Footnote 337: (return) For an account of the Makahiki idol see Hawaiian Antiquities, p. 189, by David Malo; translated by N.B. Emerson, A.M., M.D., Honolulu, Hawaiian Gazette Company (Limited), 1903.
Footnote 338: (return) Pou hele. The main post of a house, which is here intended, was the pou-haná; it was regarded with a superstitious reverence.
Footnote 339: (return) A'hu o Ka-u. A reference, doubtless, to the long grass that once covered Ka-ú.
Footnote 340: (return) I-áo. A small fish that took short flights in the air.
Footnote 341: (return) Lele kawa. To jump in sport from a height into the water.
Footnote 342: (return) Lele o-ó. To leap feet first into the water.
Footnote 343: (return) O-ó lele. To dive head first into the water.
Footnote 344: (return) Lele opuhi. The same as pahi'a, to leap obliquely into the water from a height, bending oneself so that the feet come first to the surface.
Footnote 345: (return) Kauná. A woman of Ka-ú celebrated for her skill in the hula, also the name of a cape that reaches out into the stormy ocean.
[Translation]
Song
At Wailua stands the main house-post;
This oracle harks to wild voices,
Tumult and clamor, O Ulu-po;
It utters no voice to entreaty.
5
Alas for the prophet that's dumb!
But there drifts the incense of hala.
Maná sees the rain-whirl of Eleao.
The robe of Ka-ú sways in the wind,
That dashes the waves 'gainst the sea-wall,
10
At Honu-apo, windy Ka-ú;
The Pai-ha'a palms strive with the gale.
Such weather is grievous to you:
The sea-scud is flying.
My little i-ao, O fly
15
With the breeze Koolau!
Fly with the Moa'e-ku!
Look at the rain-mist fly!
Leap with the cataract, leap!
Plunge, now here, now there!
20
Feet foremost, head foremost;
Leap with a glance and a glide!
Kauná, opens the dance; you win.
Rise, Hiiaka, arise!
The mele does not stick to the unities as we understand them. The poets of old Hawaii felt at liberty to run to the ends of their earth; and the auditor must allow his imagination to be transported suddenly from one island to another; in this Page 193 case, first from Wailua to Maná on the same island, where he is shown the procession of whirling rain clouds of Eleao (verse 7). Thence the poet carries him to Honuapo, Hawaii, and shows him the waves dashing against the ocean-walls and the clashing of the palm-fronds of Paiaha'a in the wind.
The scene shifts back to Kauai, and one stands with the poet looking down on a piece of ocean where the people are wont to disport themselves. (Maka-iwa, not far from Ka-ipu-ha'a, is said to be such a place.) Verses 12 to 19 in the Hawaiian (13 to 21 in the translation) describe the spirited scene.
It is somewhat difficult to determine whether the Kauná mentioned in the next poem is the name of the woman or of the stormy cape. In the mind of a Hawaiian poet the inanimate and the animate are often tied so closely together in thought and in speech as to make it hard to decide which is intended.
Mele
Ike ia Kauná-wahine, Makani Ka-ú,
He umauma i pa ia e ka Moa'e,
E ka makani o-maka o Unulau.
Lau ka wahine kaili-pua o Paía,
5
Alualu puhala o ka Milo-pae-kanáka, e-e-e-e!
He kanáka ke koa no ka ehu ahiahi,
O ia nei ko ka ehu kakahiaka--
O maua no, me ka makua o makou.
Ua ike 'a!
[Translation]
Song
Behold Kauná, that sprite of windy Ka-ú,
Whose bosom is slapped by the Moa'e-kú,
And that eye-smiting wind Unulaú--
Women by hundreds filch the bloom
5
Of Paía, hunt fruit of the hala, a-ha!
That one was the gallant, at evening,
This one the hero of love, in the morning--
'Twas our guardian I had for companion.
Now you see it, a-ha!
The language, as pointed out by the author's informant, is marked with an elegance that stamps it as the product of a courtly circle.
Mele
E oe mauna i ka ohu,
Kahá, ka leo o ka ohi'a;
Auwe! make au i ke ahi a mau
A ka luahine 346 moe naná,
5
A papa enaena, wai hau,
A wa'a kau-hí. 347
Haila pepe 348 mua me pepe waena,
O pepe ka muimui:
O kiele[348] i na ulu[348]
10
Ka makahá kai kea
O Niheu 349 kolohe;
Ka makaha kai kea!
Eli-eli, kau mai.
[Translation]
Song
Ho! mountain of vapor-puffs,
Now groans the mountain-apple tree.
Alas! I burn in this deathless flame,
That is fed by the woman who snores
5
On a lava plate, now hot, now cold;
Now 'tis a canoe full-rigged for sea;
There are seats at the bow, amidships, abaft;
Baggage and men--all is aboard.
And now the powerful thrust of the paddle,
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Making mighty swirl of wat'ry yeast,
As of Nihéu, the mischief-maker--
A mighty swirl of the yeasty wave.
In heavea's name, come aboard!
Footnote 346: (return) Pele is often spoken of as ka luahine, the old woman; but she frequently used her power of transformation to appear as a young woman of alluring beauty.
Footnote 347: (return) Lava poured out in plates and folds and coils resembles many diverse things, among others the canoe, wa'a here characterized as complete in its appointments and ready for launching, kauhí. The words are subtly intended, no doubt, to convey the thought of Pele's readiness to launch on the voyage of matrimony.
Footnote 348: (return) Pepe, a seat; kiele, to paddle; and ulu, a shortened form of the old word oulu, meaning a paddle, are archaisms now obsolete.
Footnote 349: (return) Nihéu. One of the mythological heroes of an old-time adventure, in which his elder brother Kana, who had the form of a long rope, played the principal part. This one enterprise of their life in which they joined forces was for the rescue of their mother, Hina, who had been kidnaped by a marauding chief and carried from her home in Hilo to the bold headland of Haupu, Molokai. Nihéu is generally stigmatized as kolohe (verse 11), mischievous, for no other reason apparently than that he was an active spirit, full of courage, given to adventure and heaven-defying audacities, such as put the Polynesian Mawi and the Greek Prometheus in bad odor with the gods of their times. One of these offensive actions was Nihéu's theft of a certain ulu, breadfruit, which one of the gods rolled with a noise like that of thunder in the underground caverns of the southern regions of the world. Nihéu is represented as a great sport, an athlete, skilled in all the games of his people. The worst that could be said of him was that he had small regard for other people's rights and that he was slow to pay his debts of honor.
The piece next appearing is also a song that was a prayer, and seems to have been uttered by the same mouth that, groaned forth the one given above.
It does not seem necessary to take the language of the mele literally. The sufferings that the person in the mele describes in the first person, it seems to the author, may be those of his friend Lohiau; and the first person is used for literary effect.
Mele 350
Aole e mao ka ohu:
Auwe! make au i ke ahi a mau
A ka wahine moe naná,
A papa ena-ena,
5
A wa'a kau-hí.
Ilaila pepe mua me pepe waena,
O pepe ka mu'imu'i,
O lei'na kiele,
Kau-meli-eli: 351
10
Ka maka kakahi kea
O Niheu kolohe--
Ka maka kaha-kai kea.
Eli-eli, kau mai!
[Translation]
Song
Alas, there's no stay to the smoke;
I must die mid the quenchless flame--
Deed of the hag who snores in her sleep,
Bedded on lava plate oven-hot.
5
Now it takes the shape of canoe;
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Seats at the bow and amidships,
And the steersman sitting astern;
Their stroke stirs the ocean to foam--
The myth-craft, Kau-meli-eli!
10
Now look, the white gleam of an eye--
It is Nihéu, the turbulent one--
An eye like the white sandy shore.
Amen, possess me!
Footnote 350: (return) The remarks on pp. 194 and 195 regarding the mele on p. 194 are mostly applicable to this mele.
Footnote 351: (return) Kau-meli-eli. The name of the double canoe which brought a company of the gods from the lands of the South--Kukulu o Kahiki--to Hawaii. Hawaiian myths refer to several migrations of the gods to Hawaii; one of them is that described in the mele given on p. 187, the first mele in this chapter.The mele now to be given has the form of a serenade. Etiquette forbade anyone to wake the king by rude touch, but it was permissible for a near relative to touch his feet. When the exigencies of business made it necessary for a messenger, a herald, or a courtier to disturb the sleeping monarch, he took his station at the king's feet and recited a serenade such as this:
Mele Hoala (no ka Hula Pele)
E ala, e Kahiki-ku; 352
E ala, e Kahiki-moe; [352]
E ala, e ke apapa nu'u; 353
E ala, e ke apapa lani.[353]
5
Eia ka hoala nou, e ka lani 354 la, e-e!
E ala oe!
E ala, ua ao, ua malamalama.
Aia o Kape'a ma, 355 la, i-luna;
Ua hiki mai ka maka o Unulau; 356
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Ke hóolalé mai la ke kupa holowa'a o Ukumehame, 357
Ka lae makaui kaohi-wa'a o Papawai, 358
Ka lae makani o'Anahenahe la, e-e!
E ala oe!
E ala, ua ao, ua malamalama;
15
Ke o a'e la ke kukuna o ka La i lea ili o ke kai;
Ke hahai a'e la, e like me Kumukahi 359
E hoaikane ana me Makanoni;
Ka papa o Apua, ua lohi i ka La.
E ala oe!
20
E ala, ua ao, ua malamalama;
Ke kau aku la ka La i Kawaihoa:
Ke kolii aku la ka La i ka ili o ke kai;
Ke anai mai la ka iwa auai-maka o Lei-no-ai,
I ka lima o Maka-iki-olea,
25
I ka poll wale o Leliua la.
E ala oe!
Footnote 352: (return) Hawaiians conceived of the dome of heaven as a solid structure supported by walls that rested on the earth's plain. Different names were given to different sections of the wall. Kahiki-ku and Kahiki-moe were names applied to certain of these sections. It would, however, be too much, to expect any Hawaiian, however intelligent and well versed in old lore, to indicate the location of these regions.
Footnote 353: (return) The words apapa nu'u and apapa lani, which convey to the mind of the author the picture of a series of terraced plains or steppes--no doubt the original meaning--here mean a family or order of gods, not of the highest rank, at or near the head of which stood Pele. Apropos of this subject the following lines have been quoted:
Hanau ke apapa nu'u:Hanau ke apapa lani;Hanau Pele, ka hihi'o na lani.[Translation]
This same expression was sometimes used to mean an order of chiefs, alii. Apapa lani was also used to mean the highest order of gods, Ku, Kane, Kanaloa, Lono. The kings also were gods, for which reason this expression at times applied to the alii of highest rank, those, for instance, who inherited the rank of niau-pi'o or of wohi.Begotten were the gods of graded rank;Begotten were the gods of heavenly rank;Begotten was Pele, quintessence of heaven.
Footnote 354: (return) Lani. Originally the heavens, came to mean king, chief, alii.
Footnote 355: (return) There is a difference of opinion as to the meaning of Kape'a ma. After hearing diverse opinions the author concludes that it refers to the rays of the sun that precede its rising--a Greek idea.
Footnote 356: (return) Unulau. A name for the trade-wind which, owing to the conformation of the land, often sweeps down with great force through the deep valleys that seam the mountains of west Maui between Lahaina and Maalaea bay; such a wind squall was called a mumuku.
Footnote 357: (return) Ukumehame. The name of a deep valley on west Maui in the region above described.
Footnote 358: (return) Papawai. The principal cape on west Maui between Lahaina and Maalaea bay.
Footnote 359: (return) Kumu-kahi. A cape in Puna, the easternmost part of Hawaii; by some said to be the sun's wife, and the object of his eager pursuit after coming out of his eastern gate Ha'eha'e. The name was also applied to a pillar of stone that was planted on the northern border of this cape. Standing opposite to it, on the southern side, was the monolith Makanoni. In summer the sun in its northern excursion inclined, as the Hawaiians noted, to the side of Kumukahi, while in the season of cool weather, called Makalii, it swung in the opposite direction and passed over to Makanoni. The people of Puna accordingly said, "The sun has passed over to Makanoni," or "The sun has passed over to Kumukahi," as the case might be. These two pillars are said to be of such a form as to suggest the thought that they are phallic emblems, and this conjecture is strengthened by consideration of the tabus connected with them and of the religious ceremonies peformed before them. The Hawaiians speak of them as pohaku eho, which, the author believes, is the name given to a phallus, and describe them as plain uncarved pillars.
These stones were set up in very ancient times and are said to have been tabu to women at the times of their infirmity. If a woman climbed upon them at such a period or even set foot upon the platform on which one of them stood she was put to death. Another stringent tabu forbade anyone to perform an office of nature while his face was turned toward one of these pillars.
The language of the mele, Ke hahai ae la e like me Kumukahi (verse 16), implies that the sun chased after Kumukahi. Apropos of this is the following quotation from an article on the phallus in Chambers's Encyclopedia: "The common myth concerning it [the phallus] was the story of some god deprived of his power of generation--an allusion to the sun, which in autumn loses its fructifying influence."
In modern times there seems to have grown up a curious mixture of traditions about these two stones, in which the old have become overlaid with new superstitions; and these last in turn seem to be dying out. They are now vaguely remembered as relics of old demigods, petrified forms of ancient kupua. 360 Fishermen, it is said, not long ago offered sacrifices to them, hoping thus to purchase good luck. Any offense against them, such as that by women, above mentioned, or by men, was atoned for by offering before these ancient monuments the first fish that came to the fisherman's hook or net.
Mention of the name Kumu-kahi to a Hawaiian versed in ancient lore called up to his memory the name of Pala-moa as his associate. The account this old man gave of them was that they were demigods much worshiped and feared for their power and malignity. They were reputed to be cannibals on the sly, and, though generally appearing in human form, were capable of various metamorphoses, thus eluding detection. They were believed to have the power of taking possession of men through spiritual obsession, as a result of which the obsessed ones were enabled to heal sickness as well as to cause it, to reveal secrets, and to Inflict death, thus terrifying people beyond measure. The names of these, two demigods, especially that of Palamoa, are to this day appealed to by practitioners of the black arts.
Footnote 360: (return) The Hawaiian alphabet had no letter s. The Hawaiians indicated the plural by prefixing the particle na.Page 198
[Translation]
Song
Awake now, Kahiki-ku;
Awake now, Kahiki-moe;
Awake, ye gods of lower grade;
Awake, ye gods of heavenly rank.
5
A serenade to thee, O king.
Awake thee!
Awake, it is day, it is light;
The Day-god his arrows is shooting,
Unulau his eye far-flashing,
10
Canoe-men from Uku-me-hame
Are astir to weather the windy cape,
The boat-baffling cape, Papa-wai,
And the boisterous A-nahe-nahe.
Awake thee!
15
Awake, day is come and the light;
The sun-rays stab the skin of the deep;
It pursues, as did god Kumu-kahi
To companion with god Maka-noni;
The plain of Apua quivers with heat.
20
Awake thee!
Awake, 'tis day, 'tis light;
The sun stands over Waihoa,
Afloat on the breast of ocean;
The iwa of Leinoai is preening
25
On the cliff Maka-iki-olea.
On the breast of naked Lehua.
Awake thee! awake!
He Pule no Pele
PALE I
O Pele la ko'u akua:
Miha ka lani, miha ka honua.
Awa iku, awa lani;
Kai awaawa, ka awa nui a Hiiaka,
5
I kua i Mauli-ola; 361
Page 199
He awa kapu no na wahine.
E kapu!
Ka'i kapu kou awa, e Pele a Honua-mea;
E kala, e Haumea wahine,
10
O ka wahine i Kilauea,
Nana i eli a hohonu ka lua
O Mau-wahine, o Kupu-ena,
O na wahine i ka inu-hana awa.
E ola na 'kua malihini! 362
PALE II
15
20
I kama'a-ma'a la i ka pua-lei;
E loa ka wai apua,
Ka pii'na i Ku-ka-la-ula; 363
Hoopuka aku i Puu-lena,
Aina a ke Akua i noho ai.
20
Kanaenae a ke Akua malihini;[362]
O ka'u wale iho la no ia, o ka leo,
He leo wale no, e-e!
E ho-i!
Eia ka ai!
Footnote 361: (return) Maull-ola. A god of health; perhaps also the name of a place. The same word also was applied to the breath of life, or to the physician's power of healing. In the Maori tongue the word mauri, corresponding to mauli, means life, the seat of life. In Samoan the word mauli means heart. "Sneeze, living heart" (Tihe mauri ora), says the Maori mother to her infant when it sneezes. For this bit of Maori lore acknowledgment is due to Mr. S. Percy Smith, of New Zealand.
Footnote 362: (return) According to one authority, at the close of the first canto the stranger gods--akua malihini--who consisted of that multitude of godlings called the Kini Akua, took their departure from the ceremony, since they did not belong to the Pele family. Internal evidence, however, the study of the prayer itself in its two parts, leads the writer to disagree with this authority. Other Hawaiians of equally deliberate judgment support him in this opinion. The etiquette connected with ceremonious awa-drinking, which the Samoans of to-day still maintain in full form, long ago died out in Hawaii. This etiquette may never have been cultivated here to the same degree as in its home, Samoa; but this poem is evidence that the ancient Hawaiians paid greater attention to it than they of modern times. The reason for this decline of ceremony must be sought for in the mental and esthetic make-up of the Hawaiian people; it was not due to any lack of fondness in the Hawaiian for awa as a beverage or as an intoxicant. It is no help to beg the question by ascribing the decline of this etiquette to the influence of social custom. To do so would but add one more link to the chain that binds cause to effect. The Hawaiian mind was not favorable to the observance of this sort of etiquette; it did not afford a soil fitted to nourish such an artificial growth.
Footnote 363: (return) The meaning of the word Ku-ka-la-ula presented great difficulty and defied all attempts at translation until the suggestion was made by a bright Hawaiian, which was adopted with satisfaction, that it probably referred to that state of dreamy mental exaltation which comes with awa-intoxication. This condition, like that of frenzy, of madness, and of idiocy, the Hawaiian regarded as a divine possession.
[Translation]
A Prayer to Pele
CANTO I
Lo, Pele's the god of my choice:
Let heaven and earth in silence wait
Here is awa, potent, sacred,
Bitter sea, great Hiiaka's root;
5
'Twas cut at Mauli-ola--
Awa to the women forbidden,
Let it tabu be!
Exact be the rite of your awa,
O Pele of the sacred land.
Page 20010
Proclaim it, mother. Haumea,
Of the goddess of Kilauea;
She who dug the pit world-deep,
And Mau-wahine and Kupu-ena,
Who prepare the awa for drink.
15
A health to the stranger gods!
CANTO II
Bedeck now the board for the feast;
Fill up the last bowl to the brim;
Then pour a draught in the sun-cave
Shall flow to the mellow haze,
20
That tints the land of the gods.
All hail to the stranger gods!
This my offering, simply a voice,
Only a welcoming voice.
Turn in!
25
Lo, the feast!
One more mele of the number specially used in the hula Pele:
Mele
Nou paha e, ka inoa
E ka'i-ka'i ku ana,
A kau i ka nuku.
E hapa-hapai a'e;
5
A pa i ke kihi
O Ki-lau-é-a.
Ilaila ku'u kama,
O Ku-nui-akea. 364
Hookomo a'e iloko
10
A o Hale-ma'u-ma'u; 365
A ma-ú na pu'u
E óla-olá, nei.
E kulipe'e nui ai-ahua. 366
E Pele, e Pele!
15
E Pele, e Pele!
Huai'na! huai'na!
Ku ia ka lani,
Pae a huila!
Footnote 364: (return) Kalakaua, for whom all these fine words are intended, could no more claim kinship with Ku-nui-akea, the son of Kau-i-ke-aouli, than with Julius Cæsar.
Footnote 365: (return) Hale-mau-mau. Used figuratively of the mouth, whose hairy fringe--moustache and beard--gives it a fancied resemblance to the rough lava pit where Pele dwelt. The figure, to us no doubt obscure, conveyed to the Hawaiian the idea of trumpeting the name and making it famous.
Footnote 366: (return) E kuli-pe'e nui ai-ahua. Pele is here figured as an old, infirm woman, crouching and crawling along; a character and attitude ascribed to her, no doubt, from the fancied resemblance of a lava flow, which, when in the form of a-á, rolls and tumbles along over the surface of the ground in a manner suggestive of the motions and attitude of a palsied crone.Page 201
[Translation]
Song
Yours, doubtless, this name.
Which people are toasting
With loudest acclaim.
Now raise it, aye raise it,
5
Till it reaches the niches
Of Kí-lau-é-a.
Enshrined is there my kinsman,
Kú-núi-akéa.
Then give it a place
10
In the temple of Pele;
And a bowl for the throats
That are croaking with thirst.
Knock-kneed eater of land,
O Pele, god Pele!
15
O Pele, god Pele!
Burst forth now! burst forth!
Launch a bolt from the sky!
Let thy lightnings fly:
Footnote 367: (return) It is said to ue the work of a hula-master, now some years dead, by the name of Namakeelua.Page 202
XXV.--THE HULA PA'I-UMAUMA
The hula pa'i-umauma--chest-beating hula--called also hula Pa-láni, 368 was an energetic dance, in which the actors, who were also the singers, maintained a kneeling position, with the buttocks at times resting on the heels. In spite of the restrictions imposed by this attitude, they managed to put a spirited action into the performance; there were vigorous gestures, a frequent smiting of the chest with the open hand, and a strenuous movement of the pelvis and lower part of the body called ami. This consisted of rhythmic motions, sidewise, backward, forward, and in a circular or elliptical orbit, all of which was done with the precision worthy of an acrobat, an accomplishment attained only after long practice. It was a hula of classic celebrity, and was performed without the accompaniment of instrumental music.Footnote 368: (return) Paláni, French, so called at Moanalua because a woman who was its chief exponent was a Catholic, one of the "poe Paláni." Much odium has been laid to the charge of the hula on account of the supposed indecency of the motion termed ami. There can be no doubt that the ami was at times used to represent actions unfit for public view, and so far the blame is just. But the ami did not necessarily nor always represent obscenity, and to this extent the hula has been unjustly maligned.In the mele now to be given the poet calls up a succession of pictures by imagining himself in one scenic position after another, beginning at Hilo and passing in order from one island to another--omitting, however, Maui--until he finds himself at Kilauea, an historic and traditionally interesting place on the windward coast of the garden-island, Kauai. The order of travel followed by the poet forbids the supposition that the Kilauea mentioned is the great caldera of the volcano on Hawaii in which Pele had her seat.
It is useless to regret that the poet did not permit his muse to tarry by the way long enough to give us something more than a single eyeshot at the quickly shifting scenes which unrolled themselves before him, that so he might have given us further reminiscence of the lands over which his Pegasus bore him. Such completeness of view, however, is alien to the poesy of Hawaii.
Page 203
Mele
A Hilo au e, hoolulu ka lehua 369;
A Wai-luku la, i ka Lua-kanáka 370;
A Lele-iwi 371 la, au i ke kai;
A Pana-ewa 372, i ka ulu-lehna;
5
A Ha-ili 373, i ke kula-manu;
A Mologai, i ke ala-kahi,
Ke kula o Kala'e 374 wela i ka la;
Na hala o Nihoa 377, he mapuna la;
10
A Ko'i-ahi 378 au, ka maile lau-lu la;
E holu ana ke kai o-lalo;
He wahine a-po'i-po'i 381 e noho ana,
A Kilauea 382, i ke awa ula.
[Translation]
Song
At Hilo I rendezvoused with, the lehua;
By the Wailuku stream, near the robber-den;
Off cape Lele-iwi I swam in the ocean;
At Pana-ewa, mid groves of lehua;
5
At Ha-ili, a forest of flocking birds.
On Molokai I travel its one highway;
I saw the plain of Kala'e quiver with heat,
And beheld the ax-quarries of Mauna-loa.
Ah, the perfume Nihoa's pandanus exhales!
10
Ko'i-ahi, home of the small-leafed maile;
And now at Makua, lo, its virgin sand,
While ocean surges and scours on below.
Lo, a woman crouched on the shore by the sea,
In the brick-red bowl, Kilauea's bay.
Footnote 369: (return) Lehúa. A tree that produces the tufted scarlet flower that is sacred to the goddess of the hula, Laka.
Footnote 370: (return) Lua-kanáka. A deep and dangerous crossing at the Wailuku river, which is said to have been the cause of death by drowning of very many. Another story is that it was once the hiding place of robbers.
Footnote 371: (return) Lele-iwi. The name of a cape at Hilo, near the mouth of the Wai-luku river;--water of destruction.
Footnote 372: (return) Pana-ewa. A forest region in Ola'a much mentioned in myth and poetry.
Footnote 373: (return) Haili. A region in Ola'a, a famous: resort for bird-catchers.
Footnote 374: (return) Ka-la'e. A beautiful place in the uplands back of Kaunakakai, on Molokai.
Footnote 375: (return) Mauna-loa. The mountain in the western part of Molokai.
Footnote 376: (return) Ka-lua-ko'i. A place on this same Mauna-loa where was quarried stone suitable for making the Hawaiian ax.
Footnote 377: (return) Nihoa. A small land near Kalaupapa, Molokai, where was a grove of fine pandanus trees.
Footnote 378: (return) Ko'i-ahi. A small valley in the district of Waianae, Oahu, where was the home of the small-leafed maile.
Footnote 379: (return) Makua. A valley in Waianae.
Footnote 380: (return) One opio-pio. Sand freshly smoothed by an ocean wave.
Footnote 381: (return) Apo'i-po'i. To crouch for the purpose, perhaps, of screening oneself from view, as one, for instance, who is naked and desires to escape observation.
Footnote 382: (return) Kilauea. There is some doubt whether this is the Kilauea on Kauai or a little place of the same name near cape Kaeua, the westernmost point of Oahu.Page 204
In the next mele to be given it is evident that, though the motive is clearly Hawaiian, it has lost something of the rugged simplicity and impersonality that belonged to the most archaic style, and that it has taken on the sentimentality of a later period.
Mele
E Manono la, e-a,
E Manono la, e-a,
Kau ka ópe-ópe;
Ka ulu hala la, e-a,
5
Ka uluhe la, e-a.
Ka uluhe la, e-a,
A hiki Pu'u-naná,
Hali'i punána
No huli mai.
10
Hull mai o-e la;
Moe kaua;
Hali'i punana
No hull mai.
Hull mai o-e la;
15
Moe kaua;
Moe aku kaua;
O ka wai welawela,
O ka papa lohi
O Mau-kele;
20
Moe aku kaua;
O ka wai welawela,
O ka papa lohi
O Mau-kele.
A kele, a kele
25
Kou manao la, e-a;
A kele, a kele
Kou manao la, e-a.
[Translation]
Song
Come now, Manono,
Come, Manono, I say;
Take up the burden;
Through groves of pandanus
5
And wild stag-horn fern,
Wearisome fern, lies our way.
Arrived at the hill-top,
We'll smooth out the nest,
That we may snug close.
10
Turn now to me, dear,
While we rest here.
Make we a little nest,
That we may draw near.
This way your face, dear,
Page 20515
While, we rest here.
Rest thou and I here,
Near the warm, warm water
And the smooth lava-plate
Of Mau-kele.
20
Rest thou and I here.
By the water so warm,
And the lava-plate smooth
Of Mau-kele.
Little by little
25
Your thoughts will be mine.
Little by little
Your thoughts I'll divine.
The uluhe (verses 5, 6) is the stag-horn fern, which forms a matted growth most obstructive to woodland travel.
The burden Manono is asked to bear, what else is it but the burden of life, in this case lightened by love?
Whether there is any connection between the name of the hula--breast-beating--and the expression, in the first verse of the following mele is more than the author can say.
Mele
Ka-hipa 383, na waiu olewa,
Lele ana, ku ka mahiki akea;
Keké ka niho o Laui-wahine 384;
Opi ke a lalo, ke a luna.
5
A hoi aku au i Lihue,
Kana aku ia Ewa;
E au ana o Miko-lo-lóu, 385
Page 206
A pahú ka naau no Pa-pi'-o 386.
A pa'a ka mano.
10
Hopu i ka lima.
Ai pakahi, e, i ka nahele, 387
Alawa a'e na ulu kani o Leiwalo.
E noho ana Kolea-kani 388
Ka pii'na i ka Uwa-lua;
15
Oha-ohá, lei i ka makani.
Footnote 383: (return) Ka-hipa. Said to be the name of a mythological character, now applied to a place in Kahuku where the mountains present the form of two female breasts.
Footnote 384: (return) Lani-wahine. A benignant mo'o, or water-nymph, sometimes taking the form of a woman, that is said to have haunted the lagoon of Uko'a, Waialua, Oahu. There is a long story about her.
Footnote 385: (return) Miko-lo-lóu. A famous man-eating shark-god whose home was in the waters of Hana, Maui. He visited Oahu and was hospitably received by Ka-ahu-pahau and Ka-hi'u-ká, sharks of the Ewa lagoons, who had a human ancestry and were on friendly terms with their kindred. Miko-lo-lóu, when his hosts denied him human flesh, helped himself. In the conflict that rose the Ewa sharks joined with their human relatives and friends on land to put an end to Miko-lo-lóu. After a fearful contest they took him and reduced his body to ashes. A dog, however, snatched and ate a portion--some say the tongue, some the tail--and another part fell into the water. This was reanimated by the spirit of the dead shark and grew to be a monster of the same size and power as the one deceased. Miko-lo-lóu now gathered his friends and allies from all the waters and made war against the Ewa sharks, but was routed.
Footnote 386: (return) Pa-pi'-o. A shark of moderate size, but of great activity, that fought against Mlko-lo-lóu. It entered his enormous mouth, passed down into his stomach, and there played havoc with the monster, eating its way out.
Footnote 387: (return) Ai pakahi, e, i ka nahele. The company represented by the poet to be journeying pass through an uninhabited region barren of food. The poet calls upon them to satisfy their Imnger by eating of the edible wild herbs--they abound everywhere in Hawaii--at the same time representing them as casting longing glances on the breadfruit trees of Leiwalo. This was a grove in the lower levels of Ewa that still survives.
Footnote 388: (return) Kolea-kani. A female kupua--witch she might be called now--that had the form of a plover. She looked after the thirsty ones who passed along the road, and benevolently showed them where to find water. By her example the people of the district are said to have been induced to give refreshment to travelers who went that way.
[Translation]
Song
'Tis Kahipa, with, pendulous breasts;
How they swing to and fro, see-saw!
The teeth of Lani-wahine gape--
A truce to upper and lower jaw!
5
From Lihue we look upon Ewa;
There swam the monster, Miko-lo-lóu,
His bowels torn out by Pa-pi'-o.
The shark was caught in grip of the hand.
Let each one stay himself with wild herbs,
And for comfort turn his hungry eyes
10
To the rustling trees of Lei-walo.
Hark! the whistling-plover--her old-time seat,
As one climbs the hill from Echo-glen,
And cools his brow in the breeze.
Page 207
XXVI.--THE HULA KU'I MOLOKAI
The hula ku'i Molokai was a variety of the Hawaiian dance that originated on the island of Molokai, probably at a later period than what one would call the classic times. Its performance extended to the other islands. The author has information of its exhibition on the island of its name as late as the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The actors, as they might be called, in this hula were arranged in pairs who faced each other and went through motions similar to those of boxing. This action, ku'i, to smite, gave the name to the performance. The limiting word Molokai was added to distinguish it from another still more modern form of dance called ku'i, which will be described later.While the performers stood and went through with their motions, marching and countermarching, as they are said to have done, they chanted or recited in recitative some song, of which the following is an example. This they did with no instrumental accompaniment:
Mele
He ala kai olohia, 389
He hiwahiwa na ka la'i luahine,
He me' aloha na'u ka makani hauai-loli, 390
E uwe ana I ke kai pale iliahi.
5
Kauwá ke aloha i na lehua o Kaana. 391
Pomaikai au i kou aloha e noho nei;
Ka haluku wale no ia a ka waimaka,
Me he makamaka puka a la
Ke aloha i ke kanaka,
10
E ho-iloli nei i ku'u nui kino.
Mahea hoi au, a?
Ma ko oe alo no.
Footnote 389: (return) Kai olohia. A calm and tranquil sea. This expression has gained a poetic vogue that almost makes it pass current as a single word, meaning tranquillity, calmness of mind. As thus explained, it is here translated by the expression "heart's-ease."
Footnote 390: (return) Makani hanai-loli. A wind so gentle as not to prevent the bêche de mer loli sea-anemones, and other marine slugs from coming out of their holes to feed. A similar figure is used in the next line in the expression kai pale iliahi. The thought is that the calmness of the ocean invites one to strip and plunge in for a bath.
Footnote 391: (return) Kauwá ke aloha i na lehua o Kaana. Kaana is said to be a hill on the road from Keaau to Olaa, a spot where travelers were wont to rest and where they not infrequently made up wreaths of the scarlet lehua bloom which there abounded. It took a large number of lehua flowers to suffice for a wreath, and to bind them securely to the fillet that made them a garland was a work demanding not only artistic skill hut time and patience. If a weary traveler, halting at Kaana, employed his time of rest in plaiting flowers into a wreath for some loved one, there would be truth as well as poetry in the saying, "Love slaves for the lehuas of Kaana."Page 208
[Translation]
Song
Precious the gift of heart's-ease,
A wreath for the cheerful dame;
So dear to my heart is the breeze
That murmurs, strip for the ocean.
5
Love slaves for wreaths from Kaana.
I'm blest in your love that reigns here;
It speaks in the fall of a tear--
The choicest thing in one's life,
This love for a man by his wife--
10
It has power to shake the whole frame.
Ah, where am I now?
Here, face to your face.
Mele
He inoa no ka Lani,
No Náhi-éna-éna;
A ka luna o wahine.
Ho'i ka ena a ka makani;
5
Noho ka la'i i ka malino--
Makani ua ha-aó;
Ko ke au i hala, ea.
Punawai o Maná, 392
Wai ola na ke kupa
10
A ka ilio naná,
Hae, nanahu i ke kai;
Ehu kai nána ka pua,
Ka pua o ka iliau,
Page 209
Ka ohai o Mapépe, 393
15
Ka moena we'u-we'u,
I ulana ia e ke A'e,
Ka naku loloa.
Hea mai o Kawelo-hea, 394
Nawai la, e, ke kapu?
20
No Náhi-éna-éna.
Ena na pua i ka wai,
Wai au o Holei.
Footnote 392: (return) Punaurai o Maná. A spring of water at Honuapo, Hawaii, which bubbled up at such a level that the ocean covered it at high tide.
Footnote 393: (return) Ka ohai o Mapépe. A beautiful flowering shrub, also spoken of as ka ohai o Papi'o-huli, said to have been brought from Kahiki by Namaka-o-kaha'i.
Footnote 394: (return) Kawelo-hea. A blowhole or spouting horn, also at Honuapo, through which the ocean at certain times sent up a column of spray or of water. After the volcanic disturbance of 1868 this spouting horn ceased action. The rending force of the earthquakes must have broken up and choked the subterranean channel through which the ocean had forced its way.
[Translation]
Song
A eulogy for the princess,
For Náhi-éna-éna a name!
Chief among women!
She soothes the cold wind with her flame--
5
A peace that is mirrored in calm,
A wind that sheddeth rain;
A tide that flowed long ago;
The water-spring of Maná,
Life-spring for the people,
10
A fount where the lapping dog
Barks at the incoming wave,
Drifting spray on the bloom
Of the sand-sprawling ili-au
And the scarlet flower of ohai,
15
On the wind-woven mat of wild grass,
Long naku, a springy mattress.
The spout-horn, Kawelo-hea,
Asks, Who of right has the tabu?
The princess Náhi-éna-éna!
20
The flowers glow in the pool,
The bathing pool of Holei!
Page 210
XXVII.--THE HULA KIELÉI
The hula kí-e-léi, or kí-le-léi, was a performance of Hawaii's classic times, and finds mention as such in the professedly imperfect list of hulas given by the historian David Malo. 395 It was marked by strenuous bodily action, gestures with feet and hands, and that vigorous exercise of the pelvis and body termed ami, the chief feature of which was a rotation of the pelvis in circles and ellipses, which is not to be regarded as an effort to portray sexual attitudes. It was a performance in which the whole company stood and chanted the mele without instrumental accompaniment.Footnote 395: (return) Hawaiian Antiquities, by David Malo; translated by N.B. Emerson, A.M., M.D. Honolulu, the Hawaiian Gazette Company (Limited), 1903.The sacrifice offered at the kuahu in connection with the production of this hula consisted of a black pig, a cock of the color termed ula-hiwa--black pointed with red--a white hen, and awa. According to some authorities the offerings deemed appropriate for the sacrifice that accompanied each hula varied with the hula, but was definitely established for each variety of hula. The author's studies, however, lead him to conclude that, whatever may have been the original demands of the gods, in the long run they were not overparticular and were not only willing to put up with, but were well pleased so long as the offering contained, good pork or fish and strong awa.
Mele
Footnote 396: (return) Hanalei-lehua. A wilderness back of Hanalei valley, Kauai, in which the lehua tree abounds. The features of this region are as above described.
Footnote 397: (return) Kaó'o. To bend down the shrubs and tussocks of grass to furnish solid footing in crossing swampy ground.
Footnote 398: (return) Naé'le. Boggy ground; a swamp, such as pitted the summit of Kauai's central mountain mass, Waiáleále.
Footnote 399: (return) A'a lewalewa. Aerial roots such as are put forth by the lehua trees in high altitudes and in a damp climate. They often aid the traveler by furnishing him with a sort of ladder.
Footnote 400: (return) U'i elua. Literally two beauties. One interpreter says the reference is to the arms, with which one pulls himself up; it is here rendered "flanks."
Footnote 401: (return) Ki-ki'i ka na i ka nana keia, la. The meaning of this passage is obscure. The most plausible view is that this is an exclamation made by one of the two travelers while crouching for shelter under an overhanging bank. This one, finding himself unprotected, exclaims to his companion on the excellence of the shelter he has found, whereupon the second man comes over to share his comfort only to find that he has been hoaxed and that the deceiver has stolen his former place. The language of the text seems a narrow foundation on which to base such an incident. A learned Hawaiian friend, however, finds it all implied in this passage.
[Translation]
Song
Perilous, steep, is the climb to Hanalei woods;
To walk canny footed over its bogs;
To balance oneself on its ledges,
And toil up ladder of hanging roots.
5
The bulk of my guide overhangs me,
His loins are well-nigh exhausted;
Two beautiful shapes!
'Neath this bank I crouch sheltered from rain.
Page 212
XXVIII.--THE HULA MÚ'U-MÚ'U
The conception of this peculiar hula originated from a pathetic incident narrated in the story of Hiiaka's journey to bring Prince Lohiau to the court of Pele. Haiika, standing with her friend Wahine-oma'o on the heights that overlooked the beach at Kahakuloa, Maui, saw the figure of a woman, maimed as to hands and feet, dancing in fantastic glee on a plate of rock by the ocean. She sang as she danced, pouring out her soul in an ecstasy that ill became her pitiful condition; and as she danced her shadow-dance, for she was but a ghost, poor soul! these were the words she repeated:
Auwé, auwé, mo' ku'u lima!
Auwé, auwé, mo' ku'u lima!
[Translation]
Alas, alas, maimed are my hands!
Alas, alas, maimed are my hands!
Le'a wale hoi ka wahine lima-lima ole, wawae ole,
E ha ana i kana i'a, ku'i-ku'i ana i kana opihi,
Wa'u-wa'u ana i kana limu, Mana-mana-ia-kalu-é-a.
[Translation]
How pleased is the girl maimed of hand and foot,
Groping for fish, pounding shells of opihi,
Kneading her moss, Mana-mana-ia-kalu-éa!
Ke lei mai la o Ka-ula i ke kai, e-e!
Ke malamalama o Niihau, ua malie.
A malie, pa ka Inu-wai.
Ke inu mai la na hala o Naue i ke kai.
5
No Naue ka hala, no Puna ka wahine,
No ka lua no i Kilauea.
[Translation]
Kaula wreathes her brow with the ocean;
Niihau shines forth in the calm.
After the calm blows the Inu-wai,
And the palms of Naue drink of the salt.
5
From Naue the palm, from Puna the maid,
Aye, from the pit of Kilauea.
Pii ana a-áma, 402
A-áma kai nui;
Kai pua-lena;
A-áma, pai-é-a, 403
5
Naholo i lea laupapa.
Popo'i, popo'i, popo'i!
Pii mai pipipi, 404 alea-lea;
Noho i ka malua kai
Ai ka limu akaha-kaha; 406
Ku e, Kahiki, i ke kai nui!
I ke kai pualena a Kane!
A ke Akua o ka lua,
Ua hiki i kai!
15
Ai humu-humu,
E lau, e lau e,
Ka opihi 407 koele!
Pa i uka, pa i kai,
Kahi a ke Akua i pe'e ai.
20
Pe'e oe a nalo loa;
Ua nalo na Pele.
E hua'i e, hua'i e, hua'i,
O Ku ka mahu nui akea! 408
Iho i kai o ka Milo-holu; 409
25
Auau meliana i ka wai o ke Akua.
Ke a e, ke a mai la
Ke ahi a ka Wahine.
E hula e, e hula e, e hula e!
E hula mai oukou!
30
Ua noa no Manamana-ia-kalu-é-a,
Puili kua, puili alo;
Holo i kai, holo i uka,
Holo i ka lua o Pele--
He Akua ai pohaku no Puna.
35
O Pi, 410 o Pa,[410] uhini mai ana,
O Pele i ka lua.
A noa!
Footnote 402: (return) A-áma. An edible black crab. When the surf is high, it climbs up on the rocks.
Footnote 403: (return) Pai-é-a. An edible gray crab. The favorite time for taking these crabs is when the high tide or surf forces them to leave the water for protection.
Footnote 404: (return) Pipípi. A black seashell (Nerita). With it is often found the alea-lea, a gray shell. These shellfish, like the crabs above mentioned, crawl up the rocks and cliffs during stormy weather.
Footnote 405: (return) O-ú. A variety of eel that lurks in holes; it is wont to keep its head lifted. The o-i' (same verse) is an eel that snakes about in the shallow water or on the sand at the edge of the water.
Footnote 406: (return) Akahakaha. A variety of moss. If one ate of this as he gathered it, the ocean at once became tempestuous.
Footnote 407: (return) Opihi. An edible bivalve found in the salt waters of Hawaii. Pele is said to have been very fond of it. There is an old saying, He akua ai opihi o Pele--"Pele is a goddess who eats the opihi." In proof of this statement they point to the huge piles of opihi shells that may be found along the coast of Puna, the middens, no doubt, of the old-time people. Koéle was a term applied to the opihi that lives well under water, and therefore are delicate eating. Another meaning given to the word koele--opihi koele,--line 17--is "heaped up."
Footnote 408: (return) O Ku ka mahu nui akea. The Hawaiians have come to treat this phrase as one word, an epithet applied to the god Ku. In the author's translation it is treated as an ordinary phrase.
Footnote 409: (return) Milo-hólu. A grove of milo trees that stood, as some affirm, about that natural basin of warm water in Puna, which the Hawaiians called Wai-wela-wela.
Footnote 410: (return) Pi, Pa. These were two imaginary little beings who lived in the crater of Kilauea, and who declared their presence by a tiny shrill piping sound, such, perhaps, as a stick of green wood will make when burning. Pi was active at such times as the fires were retreating, Pa when the fires were rising to a full head.Page 214
[Translation]
Black crabs are climbing,
Crabs from the great sea,
Sea that is darkling.
Black crabs and gray crabs
5
Scuttle o'er the reef-plate.
Billows are tumbling and lashing,
Beating and surging nigh.
Seashells are crawling up;
And lurking in holes
10
Are the eels o-ú and o-í.
But taste the moss akáhakáha,
Kahiki! how the sea rages!
The wild sea of Kane!
The pit-god has come to the ocean,
15
All consuming, devouring
By heaps the delicate shellfish!
Lashing the mount, lashing the sea,
Lurking place of the goddess.
Pray hide yourself wholly;
20
The Pele women are hidden.
Burst forth now! burst forth!
Ku with spreading column of smoke!
Now down to the grove Milo-holu;
Bathe in waters warmed by the goddess.
25
Behold, they burn, behold, they burn!
Page 215
The fires of the goddess burn!
Now for the dance, the dance!
Bring out the dance made public
By Mána-mána-ia-kálu-é-a.
30
Turn about back, turn about face;
Advance toward the sea;
Advance toward the land,
Toward the pit that is Pele's,
Portentous consumer of rocks in Puna.
35
Pi and Pa chirp the cricket notes
Of Pele at home in her pit.
Have done with restraint!
Page 216
XXIX.--THE HULA KOLANI
For the purpose of this book the rating of any variety of hula must depend not so much on the grace and rhythm of its action on the stage as on the imaginative power and dignity of its poetry. Judgedin this way, the kolani is one of the most interesting and important of the hulas. Its performance seems to have made no attempt at sensationalism, yet it was marked by a peculiar elegance. This must have been due in a measure to the fact that only adepts--olóhe--those of the most finished skill in the art of hula, took part in its presentation. It was a hula of gentle, gracious action, acted and sung while the performers kept a sitting position, and was without instrumental accompaniment. The fact that this hula was among the number chosen for presentation before the king (Kamehameha III) while on a tour of Oahu in the year 1846 or 1847 is emphatic testimony as to the esteem in which it was held by the Hawaiians themselves.The mele that accompanied this hula when performed for the king's entertainment at Waimanalo was the following:
He ua la, he ua,
He ua pi'i mai;
Noe-noe halau,
Halau loa o Lono.
5
O lono oe;
Pa-á-a na pali
I ka hana a Ikuwá--
Pohá ko-ele-ele.
A Welehu ka maláma,
10
Noho i Makali'i;
Li'i-li'i ka hana.
Aia a e'é-u,
He eu ia no ka la hiki.
Hiki mai ka Lani,
15
Nauweuwe ka honua,
Ka hana a ke ola'i nui:
Moe pono ole ko'u po--
Na niho ai kalakala,
Ka hana a ka Niuhi
20
A mau i ke kai loa.
He loa o ka hiki'na.
A ua noa, a ua noa.
[Translation]
Lo, the rain, the rain!
The rain is approaching;
The dance-hall is murky,
The great hall of Lono.
5
Listen! its mountain walls
Are stunned with the clatter,
As when in October,
Heaven's thunderbolts shatter.
Then follows Welehu,
10
The month of the Pleiads.
Scanty the work then done,
Save as one's driven.
Spur comes with the sun,
When day has arisen.
15
Now comes the Heaven-born;
The whole land doth shake,
As with an earthquake;
Sleep quits then my bed:
How shall this maw be fed!
20
Great maw of the shark--
Eyes that gleam in the dark
Of the boundless sea!
Rare the king's visits to me.
All is free, all is free!
Maka-li'i (verse 10) was not only the name of a month and the name applied to the Pleiades, but was also a name given the cool, the rainy, season. The name more commonly given this season was Hooilo. The Makahiki period, continuing four months, occurred at this time of the year. This was a season when the people rested from unnecessary labor and devoted themselves to festivals, games, and special religious observances. Allusion is made to this avoidance of toil in the words Li'ili'i ka hana (verse 11).
One can not fail to perceive a vein of gentle sarcasm cropping up in this idyl, softened, however, by a spirit of honest good feeling. Witness the following: Noe-noe (verse 3), primarily meaning cloudy, conveys also the idea of agreeable coolness and refreshment. Again, while the multitude that follows the king is compared to the ravenous man-eating Niuhi (verse 19), the final remark as to the rarity of the king's visits, He loa o ka hiki'na (verse 21), may be taken not only as a salve to atone for the satire, but as a sly self-gratulation that the affliction is not to be soon repeated.
Page 219
XXX.--THE HULA KOLEA
There was a peculiar class of hulas named after animals, in each one of which the song-maker developed some characteristic of the animal in a fanciful way, while the actors themselves aimed to portray the animal's movements in a mimetic fashion. To this class belongs the hula kolea. 411 It was a peculiar dance, performed, as an informant asserts, by actors who took the kneeling posture, all being placed in one row and facing in the same direction. There were gestures without stint, arms, heads, and bodies moving in a fashion that seemed to imitate in a far-off way the movements of the bird itself. There was no instrumental accompaniment to the music. The following mele is one that was given with this hula:
Kolea kai piha! 412
I aha mai nei?
Ku-non 413 mai nei.
E aha kakou?
5
E ai kakou. 414
Nohea ka ai? 415
No Kahiki mai.[415]
Hiki mai ka Lani,[415]
Olina Hawaii,
10
Mala'ela'e ke ala,
Nou, e ka Lani.
Puili pu ke aloha,
Pili me ka'u manu. 416
Ka puana a ka moe?
15
Moe oe a hoolana
Page 220
Ka hali'a i hiki mai;
Ooe pu me a'u
Noho pu i ka wai aliali.
Hai'na ia ka pauna.
20
O ka hua o ke kolea, aia i Kahiki. 417
Hiki mai kou aloha, mae'ele au.
Footnote 411: (return) The plover.
Footnote 412: (return) Kolea kai piha. The kolea is a feeder along the shore, his range limited to a narrower strip as the tide rises. The snare was one of the methods used by the Hawaiians for the capture of this bird. In his efforts to escape when snared he made that futile bobbing motion with his head that must be familiar to every hunter.
Footnote 413: (return) Usually the bobbing motion, ku-nou, is the prelude to flight; but the snared bird can do nothing more, a fact which suggests to the poet the nodding and bowing of two lovers when they meet.
Footnote 414: (return) E ai kakou. Literally, let us eat. While this figure of speech often has a sensual meaning, it does not necessarily imply grossness. Hawaiian literalness and narrowness of vocabulary is not to be strained to the overthrow of poetical sentiment.
Footnote 415: (return) To the question Nohea ka ai?, whence the food? that is, the bird, the poet answers, No Kahiki mai, from Kahiki, from some distant region, the gift of heaven, it may be, as implied in the next line, Hiki mai ka Lani. The coming of the king, or chief, Lani, literally, the heaven-born, with the consummation of the love. Exactly what this connection is no one can say.
Footnote 416: (return) In the expression Pili me ka'u manu the poet returns to his figure of a bird as representing a loved one.
Footnote 417: (return) O ka hua o ke kolea, aia i Kahiki. In declaring that the egg of the kolea is laid in a foreign land, Kahiki, the poet enigmatizes, basing his thought on some fancied resemblance between the mystery of love and the mystery of the kolea's birth.
[Translation]
A plover at the full of the sea--
What, pray, is it saying to me?
It keeps bobbing its noddy.
To do what would you counsel?
5
Why, eat its plump body!
Whence comes the sweet morsel?
From the land of Kahiki.
When our sovereign appears,
Hawaii gathers for play,
10
Stumble-blocks cleared from the way--
Fit rule of the king's highway.
Let each one embrace then his love;
For me, I'll keep to my dove.
Hark now, the signal for bed!
15
Attentive then to love's tread,
While a wee bird sings in the soul,
My love comes to me heart-whole--
Then quaff the waters of bliss.
Say what is the key to all this?
20
The plover egg's laid in Kahiki.
Your love, when it comes, finds me dumb.
Page 221
XXXI.--THE HULA MANÓ
The hula manó, shark-dance, as its name signifies, was a performance that takes class with the hula kolea, already mentioned, as one of the animal dances. But little can be said about the physical features of this hula as a dance, save that the performers took a sitting position, that the action was without sensationalism, and that there was no instrumental accompaniment. The cantillation of the mele was in the distinct and quiet tone and manner which the Hawaiians termed ko'i-honua.The last and only mention found of its performance in modern times was in the year 1847, during the tour, previously mentioned, which Kamehameha III made about Oahu. The place was the lonely and romantic valley of Waimea, a name already historic from having been the scene of the tragic death of Lieutenant Hergest (of the ship Dædalus) in 1792.
Mele
Auwe! pau au i ka manó nui, e!
Lala-keat 418 niho pa-kolu.
Pau ka papa-ku o Lono 419
I ka ai ia e ka manó nui,
5
O Niuhi maka ahi,
Olapa i ke kai lipo.
Ahu e! au-we!
A pua ka wili-wili,
A nanahu ka manó, 420
Page 22210
Auwe! pau au i ka manó nui!
Kai uli, kai ele,
Kai popolohua o Kane.
A lealea au i ka'u hula,
Pau au i ka manó nui!
Footnote 418: (return) Lala-kea. This proper name, as it seems once to have been, has now become rather the designation of a whole class of man-eating sea-monsters. The Hawaiians worshiped individual sharks as demigods, in the belief that the souls of the departed at death, or even before death, sometimes entered and took possession of them, and that they at times resumed human form. To this class belonged the famous shark Niuhi (verse 5).
Footnote 419: (return) Papa-ku o Lono. This was one of the underlying strata of the earth that must be passed before reaching Mílu, the hades of the Hawaiians. The cosmogony of the southern Polynesians, according to Mr. Tregear, recognized ten papa, or divisions. "The first division was the earth's surface; the second was the abode of Rongo-ma-tane and Haumia-tiketike; ... the tenth was Meto, or Ameto, or Aweto, wherein the soul of man found utter extinction." (The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, by Edward Tregear, F.R.G.S., etc., Wellington, New Zealand, 1891.)
Footnote 420: (return) Verses 8 and 9 are from an old proverb which the Hawaiians put into the following quatrain:
A pua ka wiliwili,A nanahu ka manó;A pua ka wahine u'i,A nanahu ke kanawai.[Translation]
The people came to take this old saw seriously and literally, and during the season when the wiliwili (Erythrina monosperma) was clothed in its splendid tufts of brick-red, mothers kept their children from swimming into the deep sea by setting before them the terrors of the shark.When flowers the wiliwili,Then bites the shark;When flowers a young woman.Then bites the law.
[Translation]
Song
Alas! I am seized by the shark, great shark!
Lala-kea with triple-banked teeth.
The stratum of Lono is gone,
Torn up by the monster shark,
5
Niuhi with fiery eyes,
That flamed in the deep blue sea.
Alas! and alas!
When flowers the wili-wili tree,
That is the time when the shark-god bites.
10
Alas! I am seized by the huge shark!
O blue sea, O dark sea,
Foam-mottled sea of Kane!
What pleasure I took in my dancing!
Alas! now consumed by the monster shark!
Page 223
XXXII.--THE HULA ILÍO
The dog took his part and played his enthusiastic rôle in the domestic life of every Hawaiian. He did not starve in a fool's paradise, a neglected object of man's superstitious regard, as in Constantinople; nor did he vie with kings and queens in the length and purity of his pedigree, as in England; but in Hawaii he entered with full heart of sympathy into all of man's enterprises, and at his death bequeathed his body a sacrifice to men and gods. It was fitting that the Hawaiian poet should celebrate the dog and his altogether virtuous and altruistic services to mankind. The hula ilío may be considered as part of Hawaii's tribute to man's most faithful friend, the dog.The hula ilío was a classic performance that demanded of the actors much physical stir; they shifted their position, now sitting, now standing; they moved from place to place; indulged in many gestures, sometimes as if imitating the motions of the dog. This hula has long been out of commission. Like the two animal-hulas previously mentioned, it was performed without the aid of instrumental accompaniment.
The allusions in this mele are to the mythical story that tells of Kane's drinking, revels on the heights about Waipi'o valley; how he and his fellows by the noise of their furious conching disturbed the prayers and rituals of King Liloa and his priests, Kane himself being the chief offender by his blowing on the conch-shell Kihapú, stolen from Liloa's temple of Paka'alana: its recovery by the wit and dramatic action of the gifted dog Puapua-lenalena. (See p. 131.)
Mele
Ku e, naná e!
Makole 421 o Ku!
Hoolei ia ka lei, 422
I lei no Puapua-lenalena,
5
He lei hinano no Kahili, 423
He wehiwehi no Niho-kú 424
Page 224
Kaanini ka lani, 425 uwé ka honua:
A aoa aku oe;
Lohe o Hiwa-uli, 426
10
Ka milimili a ka lani.
Noho opua i ka malámaláma
Málama ia ka ipu. 427
He hano-wai no Kilioe, 428
Wahine noho pali o Haena.
15
Enaena na ahi o Kilauea, 429
Ka haku pali o Kamohoalii. 430
A noho i Waipi'o,
Ka pali kapu a Kane.
Moe ole ka po o ke alii,
20
Ke kani mau o Kiha-pú.
Ukiuki, uluhua ke alii:
Hoouna ka elele; 431
Loaa i Kauai o Máno,
Kupueu a Wai-uli me Kahili;
25
A ao aku oe, aoa, 432 aoa a aoa.
Hana e o Kaua-hoa, 433
Ka mea [=u]i o Hanalei,
Hu'e'a kaua, moe i ke awakea,
Page 225
Kapae ke kaua o ka hoahanau! 434
30
Hookahi no pua o ka oi;
Awili pu me ke kaio'e. 435
I lei no Puapua-lenalena.
O ku'u luhi ua hiki iho la,
Ka nioi o Paka'a-lana. 436
35
A lana ka manao, hakuko'i 'loko,
Ka hae mau ana a Puapua-lenalena,
A hiki i Kuma-kahi, 437
Kahi an i noho ai,
A hiki iho la ka elele,
40
Inu i ka awa kau-laau o Puna. 438
Aoa, he, he, hene!
Footnote 421: (return) Makole. Red-eyed; ophthalmic.
Footnote 422: (return) The wreath, lei, is not for the god, but for the dog Puapua-lenalena, the one who in the story recovered the stolen conch, Kiha-pú (verse 20), with which god Kane made night hideous and disturbed the repose of pious King Liloa (Moe ole ka po o ke alii, verse 19).
Footnote 423: (return) Kahili. Said to be the foster mother of Puapua-lenalena.
Footnote 424: (return) Niho-kú. Literally an upright tooth, was the name of the hill on which lived the old couple who were the foster parents of the dog.
Footnote 425: (return) Kaanini ka lani, etc. Portents by which heaven and earth expressed their appreciation of the birth of a new prodigy, the dog Puapua-lenalena.
Footnote 426: (return) Hiwa-uli. An epithet applied to the island of Hawaii, perhaps on account of the immense extent of territory on that island that was simply black lava; hiwa, black, was a sacred color. The term uli has reference to its verdancy.
Footnote 427: (return) Ipu. Wai-uli, the foster father of the dog, while fishing in a mountain brook, brought up a pebble on his hook; his wife, who was childless and yearned for offspring, kept it in a calabash wrapped in choice tapa. In a year or two it had developed into the wonderful dog, Puapua-lenalena. The calabash was the ipu here mentioned, the same as the hano wai (verse 13), a water-container.
Footnote 428: (return) Kilióe. A sorceress who lived at Haena, Kauai, on the steep cliffs that were inaccessible to human foot.
Footnote 429: (return) Ena-ena, na ahi o Kilauea. "Hot are the fires of Kilauea." The duplicated word ena-ena, taken in connection with Ha-ena in the previous verse, is a capital instance of a form of assonance, or nonterminal rhyme, much favored and occasionally used by Hawaiian poets of the middle period. From the fact that its use here introduces a break in the logical relation which it is hard to reconcile with unity one may think that the poet was seduced from the straight and narrow way by this opportunity for an indulgence that sacrifices reason to rhyme.
Footnote 430: (return) Kamoho-alii. The brother of Pele; his person was so sacred that the flames and smoke of Kilauea dared not invade the bank on which he reposed. The connection of thought between this and the main line of argument is not clear.
Footnote 431: (return) Hoouna ka elele. According to one story Liloa dispatched a messenger to bring Puapua-lenalena and his master to Waipi'o to aid him in regaining possession of Kiha-pú.
Footnote 432: (return) A ao aku oe, aoa ... This indicated the dog's assent. Puapua-lenalena understood what was said to him, but could make no reply in human speech. When a question was put to him, if he wished to make a negative answer, he would keep silent; but if he wished to express assent to a proposition, he barked and frisked about.
Footnote 433: (return) Hana e o Kaua-hoa ... No one has been found who can give a satisfactory explanation of the logical connection existing between the passage here cited and the rest of the poem. It treats of an armed conflict between Kauahoa and his cousin Kawelo, a hero from Oahu, which took place on Kauai. Kauahoa was a retainer and soldier of Ai-kanaka, a king of Kauai. The period was in the reign of King Kakuhihewa, of Oahu. Kawelo invaded Kauai with an armed force and made a proposition to Kauahoa which involved treachery to Kauahoa's liege-lord Ai-kanaka. Kauahoa's answer to this proposition is given in verse 28; Hu'e a kaua, moe i ke awakea!--"Strike home, then sleep at midday!" The sleep at midday was the sleep of death.
Footnote 434: (return) Kapae ke kaua o ka hoahanau! This was the reply of Kawelo, urging Kauahoa to set the demands of kinship above those of honor and loyalty to his liege-lord. In the battle that ensued Kauahoa came to his death. The story of Kawelo is full of romance.
Footnote 435: (return) Kaio'e. Said to be a choice and beautiful flower found on Kauai. It is not described by Hillebrand.
Footnote 436: (return) Ka nioi o Paka'a-lana. The doorsill of the temple, heiau, of Paka'a-lana was made of the exceedingly hard wood nioi. It was to this temple that Puapua-lenalena brought the conch Kiha-pú when he had stolen (recovered) it from god Kane.
Footnote 437: (return) Qumukahi. See note c on p. 197.
Footnote 438: (return) Awa kau-laau o Puna. It is said that in Puna the birds sometimes planted the awa in the stumps or in the crotches of the trees, and this awa was of the finest quality.The author of this mele, apparently under the sanction of his poetic license, uses toward the great god Ku a plainness of speech which to us seems satirical; he speaks of him as makole, red-eyed, the result, no doubt, of his notorious addiction to awa, in which he was not alone among the gods. But it is not at all certain that the Hawaiians looked upon this ophthalmic redness as repulsive or disgraceful. Everything connected with awa had for them a cherished value. In the mele given on p. 130 the cry was, "Kane is drunken with awa!" The two gods Kane and Ku were companions in their revels as well as in nobler adventures. Such a poem as this flashes a strong light into the workings of the Hawaiian mind on the creations of their own imagination, the beings who stood to them as gods; not robbing them of their power, not deposing them from the throne of the universe, perhaps not even penetrating the veil of enchantment and mystery with which the popular regard covered them, at the most perhaps giving them a hold on the affections of the people.
[Translation]
Song
Look forth, god Ku, look forth!
Huh! Ku is blear-eyed!
Aye, weave now the wreath--
A wreath for the dog Pua-lena;
5
A hala plume for Kahili,
Choice garlands from Niho-kú.
Page 226
There was a scurry of clouds, earth, groaned;
The sound of your baying reached
Hawaii the verdant, the pet of the gods;
10
A portent was seen in the heavens.
You were kept in a cradle of gourd,
Water-gourd of the witch Kilioe,
Who haunted the cliffs of Haena--
The fiery blasts of the crater
05
Touch not Kamoho-alii's cliff.
Your travel reaches Waipi'o,
The sacred cliff of god Kane.
Sleep fled the bed of the king
At the din of the conch Kiha-pú.
20
The king was tormented, depressed;
His messenger sped on his way;
Found help from Kanai of Máno--
The marvelous foster child,
By Waiuli, Kahuli, upreared;
25
Your answer, a-o-a, a-o-a!--
'Twas thus Kauahoa made ready betimes,
That hero of old Hanalei--
"Strike home! then sleep at midday!"
"God fend a war between kindred!"
30
One flower all other surpasses;
Twine with it a wreath of kai-o'e,
A chaplet to crown Pua-lena.
My labor now has its reward,
The doorsill of Pa-ka'a-lana.
35
My heart leaps up in great cheer;
The bay of the dog greets my ear,
It reaches East Cape by the sea,
Where Puna gave refuge to thee,
Till came the king's herald, hot-foot,
40
And quaffed the awa's tree-grown root.
A-o-a, a-o-a, he, he, hene!
Page 227
The solution of this problem here furnished is based on careful study of the text and of the allusions to tradition and myth that therein abound. Its expression in the translation has rendered necessary occasional slight departures from absolute literalness, and has involved the supplying of certain conjunctive and explanatory words and phrases of which the original, it is true, gives no hint, but without which the text would be meaningless.
One learned Hawaiian with whom the author has enjoyed much conference persists in taking a most discouraging and pessimistic view of this mele. It is gratifying to be able to differ from him in this matter and to be able to sustain one's position by the consenting opinion of other Hawaiians equally accomplished as the learned friend just referred to.
The incidents in the story of Puapua-lenalena alluded to in the mele do not exactly chime with any version of the legend met with. That is not strange. Hawaiian legends of necessity had many variants, especially where, as in this case, the adventures of the hero occurred in part on one and in part on another island. The author's knowledge of this story is derived from various independent sources, mainly from a version given to his brother, Joseph S. Emerson, who took it down from the words of an intelligent Hawaiian youth of Kohala.
English literature, so far as known to the author, does not furnish any example that is exactly comparable to or that will serve as an illustration of this nonterminal rhyme, which abounds in Hawaiian poetry. Perhaps the following will serve the purpose of illustration:
'Twas the swine of Gadara, fattened on mast.
The mast-head watch of a ship was the last
To see the wild herd careering past,
He was a mere flat,
Yet flattered the girls.
Page 228
XXXIII.--THE HULA PUA'A
The hula pua'a rounds out the number of animal-dances that have survived the wreck of time, or the memory of which has come down to us. It was a dance in which only the olapa took part without the aid of instrumental accompaniment. Women as well as men were eligible as actors in its performance. The actors put much spirit into the action, beating the chest, flinging their arms in a strenuous fashion, throwing the body into strained attitudes, at times bending so far back as almost to touch the floor. This energy seems to have invaded the song, and the cantillation of the mele is said to have been done in that energetic manner called ai-ha'a.The hula pua'a seems to have been native to Kauai. The author has not been able to learn of its performance within historic times on any other island.
The student of Hawaiian mythology naturally asks whether the hula pua'a concerned itself with the doings of the mythological hog-deity Kama-pua'a whose amour with Pele was the scandal of Hawaiian mythology. It takes but a superficial reading of the mele to answer this question in the affirmative.
The following mele, or oli more properly, which was used in connection with the hula pua'a, is said to have been the joint production of two women, the daughters of a famous bard named Kana, who was the reputed brother of Limaloa (long-armed), a wonder-working hero who piled up the clouds in imitation of houses and mountains and who produced the mirage:
Oli
Ko'i maka nui, 439
Ike ia na pae moku,
Na moku o Mala-la-walu, 440
Ka noho a Ka-maulu-a-niho,
5
Kupuna o Kama-pua'a.
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Ike ia ka hono a Pii-lani; 441
Ku ka paóa i na mokupuni.
Ua puni au ia Pele,
Ka u'i noho mau i Kilauea,
10
Anau hewa i ke a o Puna.
Keiki kolohe a Ku ame Hina-- 442
Hina ka opua, kau i ke olewa,
Ke ao pua'a 443 maalo i Haupu.
Haku'i ku'u manao e hoi 444 i Kahiki;
15
Pau ole ka'u hoohihi ia Hale-ma'u-ma'u, 445
I ka pali kapu a Ka-moho-alii. 446
Kela kuahiwi a mau a ke ahi.
He manao no ko'u e noho pu;
Pale 'a mai e ka hilahila,
20
I ka hakukole ia mai e ke Akua wahine
Pale oe, pale au, iloko o ka hilahila;
A hilahila wale ia iho no e oe;
Nau no ia hale i noho. 447
Ka hana ia a ke Ko'i maka nui,
25
Ike ia na pae moku.
He hiapo 448 au na Olopana,
He hi'i-alo na Ku-ula,
Ka mea nana na haka moa;
Page 230
Noho i ka uka o Ka-liu-wa'a; 449
30
Ku'u wa'a ia ho'i i Kahiki.
Pau ia ike ana ia Hawaii,
Ka aina a ke Akua i hiki mai ai,
I noho malihini ai i na moku o Hawaii.
Malihini oe, malihini au,
35
Ko'i maka nui, ike ia na-pae opuaa.
A pepelu, a pepelu, a pepelu
Ko ia la huelo! pili i ka lemu!
Hu! hu! hu! hu!
Ka-haku-ma'a-lani 450 kou inoa!
40
A e o mai oe, e Kane-hoa-lani.
Ua noa.
Footnote 439: (return) Ko'i maka nui The word maka, which from the connection here must mean the edge of an ax, is the word generally used to mean an eye. Insistence on their peculiarity leads one to think that there must have been something remarkable about the eyes of Kama-pua'a. One account describes Kama-pua'a as having eight eyes and as many feet. It is said that on one occasion as Kama-pua'a was lying in wait for Pele in a volcanic bubble in the plains of Puna Pele's sisters recognized his presence by the gleam of his eyes. They immediately walled up the only door of exit.
Footnote 440: (return) Mala-la-walu. A celebrated king of Maui, said to have been a just ruler, who was slain in battle on Hawaii while making war against Lono-i-ka-makahiki, the rightful ruler of the island. It may be asked if the name is not introduced here because of the word walu (eight) as a reference to Kama-pua'a's eight eyes.
Footnote 441: (return) Pi'i-lani. A king of Maui, father-in-law to Umi, the son of Liloa.
Footnote 442: (return) Hina. There were several Hinas in Hawaiian mythology and tradition. Olopana, the son of Kamaulu-a-niho (Fornander gives this name as Ka-maunu-a-niho), on his arrival from Kahiki, settled in Koolau and married a woman named Hina. Kama-pua'a is said to be the natural son of Hina by Kahiki-ula, the brother of Olopana. To this Olopana was attributed the heiau of Kawaewae at Kaneohe.
Footnote 443: (return) A o pu-a'a. The cloud-cap that often rested on the summit of Haupu, a mountain on Kauai, near Koloa, is said to have resembled the shape of a pig. It was a common saying, "The pig is resting on Haupu."
Footnote 444: (return) Ho'i. To return. This argues that, if Kama-pua'a was not originally from Kahiki, he had at least visited there.
Footnote 445: (return) Hale-ma'u-ma'u. This was an ancient lava-cone which until within a few years continued to be the most famous fire-lake in the caldera of Kilauea. It was so called, probably, because the roughness of its walls gave it a resemblance to one of those little shelters made from rough ama'u fern such as visitors put up for temporary convenience. The word has not the same pronunciation and is not to be confounded with that other word mau, meaning everlasting.
Footnote 446: (return) Kamoho-ali'i. The brother of Pele; in one metamorphosis he took the form of a shark. A high point in the northwest quarter of the wall of Kilauea was considered his special residence and regarded as so sacred that no smoke or flame from the volcano ever touched it. He made his abode chiefly In the earth's underground caverns, through which the sun made its nightly transit from West back to the East. He often retained the orb of the day to warm and illumine his abode. On one such occasion the hero Mawi descended into this region and stole away the sun that his mother Hina might have the benefit of its heat in drying her tapas.
Footnote 447: (return) Hale i noho. The word hale, meaning house, is frequently used metaphorically for the human body, especially that of a woman. Pele thus acknowledges her amour with Kama-pua'a.
Footnote 448: (return) Hiapo. A firstborn child. Legends are at variance with one another as to the parentage of Kama-pua'a. According to the legend referred to previously, Kama-pua'a was the son of Olopana's wife Hina, his true father being Kahiki-ula, the brother of Olopana. Olopana seems to have treated him as his own son. After Kama-pua'a's robbery of his mother's henroosts, Olopana chased the thief into the mountains and captured him. Kama eventually turned the tables against his benefactor and caused the death of Olopana through the treachery of a priest in a heiau; he was offered up on the altar as a sacrifice.
Footnote 449: (return) Ka-liu-wa'a. The bilge of the canoe. This is the name of a deep and narrow valley at Hauula, Koolau, Oahu, and is well worth a visit. Kama-pua'a, hard pressed by the host of his enemies, broke through the multitude that encompassed him on the land side and with his followers escaped up this narrow gorge. When the valley came to an abrupt end before him, and he could retreat no farther, he reared up on his hind legs and scaled the mountain wall; his feet, as he sprang up, scored the precipice with immense hollowed-out grooves or flutings. The Hawaiians call these wa'a from their resemblance to the hollow of a Hawaiian canoe. This feat of the hog-god compelled recognition of Kama-pua'a as a deity; and from that time no one entered Ka-liu-wa'a valley without making an offering to Kama-pua'a.
Footnote 450: (return) Ka-haku-ma'a-lani. A name evidently applied to Kama-pua'a.
[Translation]
Song
Ax of broadest edge I'm hight;
The island groups I've visited,
Islands of Mala-la-walu,
Seat of Ka-maulu-a-niho,
5
Grandam of Kama, the swine-god.
I have seen Pi'i-lani's glory,
Whose fame spreads over the islands.
Enamored was I of Pele;
Her beauty holds court at the fire-pit,
10
Given to ravage the plains of Puna.
Mischievous son of Ku, and of Hina,
Whose cloud-bloom hangs in ether,
The pig-shaped cloud that shadows Haupu.
An impulse comes to return to Kahiki--
15
The chains of the pit still gall me,
The tabu cliff of Ka-moho-alii,
The mount that is ever ablaze.
I thought to have domiciled with her;
Was driven away by mere shame--
20
The shameful abuse of the goddess!
Go thou, go I--a truce to the shame.
It was your manners that shamed me.
Free to you was the house we lived in.
These were the deeds of Broad-edged-Ax,
25
Who has seen the whole group of islands.
Olopana's firstborn am I,
Nursed in the arms of Ku-ula;
Page 231
Hers were the roosts for the gamecocks.
The wilds of Ka-liu-wa'a my home,
30
That too my craft back to Kahiki;
This my farewell to Hawaii,
Land of the God's immigration.
Strangers we came to Hawaii;
A stranger thou, a stranger I,
35
Called Broad-edged-Ax:
I've read the cloud-omens in heaven.
It curls, it curls! his tail--it curls!
Look, it clings to his buttocks!
Faugh, faugh, faugh, faugh, uff!
40
What! Ka-haku-ma'a-lani your name!
Answer from heaven, oh Kane!
My song it is done!
Hawaiian mythology figured Pele, the goddess of the volcano, as a creature of passion, capable of many metamorphoses; now a wrinkled hag, asleep in a cave on a rough lava bed, with banked fires and only an occasional blue flame playing about her as symbols of her power; now a creature of terror, riding on a chariot of flame and carrying destruction; and now as a young woman of seductive beauty, as when she sought passionate relations with the handsome prince, Lohiau; but in disposition always jealous, fickle, vengeful.
Kama-pua'a was a demigod of anomalous birth, character, and make-up, sharing the nature and form of a man and of a hog, and assuming either form as suited the occasion. He was said to be the nephew of Olopana, a king of Oahu, whose kindness in acting as his foster father he repaid by the robbery of his henroosts and other unfilial conduct. He lived the lawless life of a marauder and freebooter, not confining his operations to one island, but swimming from one to another as the fit took him. On one occasion, when, the farmers of Waipi'o, whom he had robbed, assembled with arms to bar his retreat and to deal vengeance upon him, he charged upon the multitude, overthrew them with great slaughter, and escaped with his plunder.
Toward Pele Kama-pua'a assumed the attitude of a lover, whose approaches she at one time permitted to her peril. The incident took place in one of the water caves--volcanic bubbles--in Puna, and at the level of the ocean; but when he had the audacity to invade her privacy and call to her as she reposed in her home at Kilauea she repelled his advances and answered his persistence with a fiery onset, from which he Page 232 fled in terror and discomfiture, not halting until he had put the width of many islands and ocean channels between himself and her.
In seeking an explanation of this myth of Pele, the volcano god and Kama-pua'a, who, on occasion, was a sea-monster, there is no necessity to hark back to the old polemics of Asia. Why not account for this remarkable myth as the statement in terms of passion familiar to all Hawaiians of those impressive natural phenomena that were daily going on before them? The spectacle of the smoking mountain pouring out its fiery streams, overwhelming river and forest, halting not until they had invaded the ocean; the awful turmoil as fire and water came in contact; the quick reprisal as the angry waves overswept the land; then the subsiding and retreat of the ocean to its own limits and the restoration of peace and calm, the fiery mount still unmoved, an apparent victory for the volcanic forces. Was it not this spectacular tournament of the elements that the Hawaiian sought to embody and idealize in his myth of Pele and Kama-pua'a? 451
Footnote 451: (return) "The Hawaiian tradition of Pele, the dread goddess of the volcanic fires," says Mr. Fornander, "analogous to the Samoan Fe'e, is probably a local adaptation in aftertimes of an elder myth, half forgotten and much distorted. The contest related in the legend between Pele and Kamapua'a, the eight-eyed monster demigod, indicates, however, a confused knowledge of some ancient strife between religious sects, of which the former represented the worshipers of fire and the latter those with whom water was the principal element worthy of adoration." (Abraham Fornander, The Polynesian Race, pp. 51, 52, Trubner & Co., London.)The likeness to be found between the amphibious Kama-pua'a and the hog appeals picturesquely to one's imagination in many ways. The very grossness of the hog enables him becomingly to fill the role of the Beast as a foil to Pele, the Beauty. The hog's rooting snout, that ravages the cultivated fields; his panicky retreat when suddenly disturbed; his valiant charge and stout resistance if cornered; his lowered snout in charge or retreat; his curling tail--how graphically all these features appeal to the imagination in support of the comparison which likens him to a tidal wave.
Page 233
XXXIV.--THE HULA OHELO
The hula ohelo was a very peculiar ancient dance, in which the actors, of both sexes, took a position almost that of reclining, the body supported horizontally by means of the hand and extended leg of one side, in such a manner that flank and buttock did not rest upon the floor, while the free leg and arm of the opposite side swung in wide gestures, now as if describing the arch of heaven, or sweeping the circle of the horizon, now held straight, now curved like a hook. At times the company, acting in concert, would shift their base of support from the right hand to the left hand, or vice versa. The whole action, though fantastical, was conducted with modesty. There was no instrumental accompaniment; but while performing the gymnastics above described the actors chanted the words of a mele to some Old World tune, the melody and rhythm of which are lost.A peculiar feature of the training to which pupils were subjected in preparation for this dance was to range them in a circle about a large fire, their feet pointing to the hearth. The theory of this practice was that the heat of the fire suppled the limbs and imparted vivacity to the motions, on the same principle apparently as fire enables one to bend into shape a crooked stick. The word kapuahi, fireplace, in the fourth line of the mele, is undoubtedly an allusion to this practice.
The fact that the climate of the islands, except in the mountains and uplands, is rarely so cold as to make it necessary to gather about a fire seems to argue that the custom of practising this dance about a fireplace must have originated in some land of climate more austere than Hawaii.
It is safe to say that very few kumu-hulas have seen and many have not even heard of the hula ohelo. The author has an authentic account of its production at Ewa in the year 1856, its last performance, so far as he can learn, on the public stage.
Mele
1
Ku, oe ko'u wahi ohelo nei la, auwe, auwe!
Maka'u au i kau mea nui wali-wali, wali-wali!
Ke hoolewa nei, a lewa la, a lewa nei!
Minomino, enaena ka ia la kapuani, kapuahi!
5
Nenea i ka la'i o Kona, o Kona, a o Kona!
Ponu malino i ke kai hawana-wana, hawana-wana!
He makau na ka lawaia nui, a nui e, a nui la!
Ke o-é nei ke aho o ka ipu-holoholona, holoholona!
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Naná, i ka opua makai e, makai la!
10
Maikai ka hana a Mali'o e, a Mali'o la!
Kohu pono ka inu ana i ka wai, a wai e!
Auwe, ku oe ko'u wahi ohelo nei la, ohelo nei la!
2
Ki-ó lele, ki-ó lele, ki-ó lele, e!
Ke mapu mai nei ke ala, ke ala e!
15
Ua malihini ka hale, ua hiki ia, ua hiki e!
Ho'i paoa i ka uka o Manai-ula, ula la, ula e!
Maanei oe, e ka makemake e noho malie, ma-li-e!
Ka pa kolonahe o ka Unulau mahope, ma-ho-pe!
Pe'e oe, a pe'e au, pe'e o ia la,
20
A haawe ke aloha i ke kaona, i ke kaona la!
Mo-li-a i ka nahele e, nahele la!
E hele oe a manao mai i ka luhi mua, a i-mua!
O moe hewa na iwi i ke alanui, alanui.
Kaapa Hawaii a ka moku nui, a nui e!
25
Nui mai ke aloha a uwe au, a uwe au.
Au-we! pau au i ka manó nui, manó nui!
Au-we! pau au i ka manó nui, manó nui!
[Translation]
Song
1
Touched, thou art touched by my gesture, I fear, I fear.
I dread your mountain of flesh, of flesh;
How it sways, how it sways, it sways!
I'm scorched by the heat of this hearth, this hearth.
5
We bask in this summer of Kona, of Kona;
Calm mantles the whispering sea, the whispering sea.
Lo, the hook of the fisherman great, oh so great!
The line hums as it runs from the gourd, from the gourd.
Regard the cloud-omens over the sea, the sea.
10
Well skilled in his craft is Mali'o, Mali'o.
How grateful now were a draught of water, of water!
Pardon! thou art touched by thrust of my leg, of my leg!
2
Forth and return, forth and return, forth and return!
Now waft the woodland perfumes, the woodland perfumes.
15
The house ere we entered was tenant-free, quite free.
Heart-heavy we turn to the greenwood, the greenwood;
This the place, Heart's desire, you should tarry,
And feel the soft breath of the Unulau, Unulau--
Retirement for you, retirement for me, and for him.
20
We'll give then our heart to this task, this great task,
And build in the wildwood a shrine, ay a shrine.
You go; forget not the toils we have shared, have shared,
Lest your bones lie unblest in the road, in the road.
How wearisome, long, the road 'bout Hawaii, great Hawaii!
25
Love carries me off with a rush, and I cry, I cry,
Alas, I'm devoured by the shark, great shark!
Page 235
XXXV.--THE HULA KILU
The hula kilu was so called from being used in a sport bearing that name which was much patronized by the alii class of the ancient regime. It was a betting game, or, more strictly, forfeits were pledged, the payment of which was met by the performance of a dance, or by the exaction of kisses and embraces. The satisfaction of these forfeits not infrequently called for liberties and concessions that could not be permitted on the spot or in public, but must wait the opportunity of seclusion. There were, no doubt, times when the conduct of the game was carried to such a pitch of license as to offend decency; but as a rule the outward proprieties were seemingly as well regarded as at an old-fashioned husking bee, when the finding of the "red ear" conferred or imposed the privilege or penalty of exacting or granting the blushing tribute of a kiss. Actual improprieties were not witnessed.The game of kilu was played in an open matted space that lay between the two divisions of the audience--the women being on one side and the men on the other. Any chief of recognized rank in the papa alii was permitted to join in the game; and kings and queens were not above participating in the pleasures of this sport. Once admitted to the hall or inclosure, all were peers and stood on an equal footing as to the rules and privileges of the game. King nor queen could plead exemption from the forfeits incurred nor deny to another the full exercise of privileges acquired under the rules.
The players, five or more of each sex, having been selected by the president, La anoano ("quiet day"), sat facing each other in the space between the spectators. In front of each player stood a conical block of heavy wood, broad at the base to keep it upright. The kilu, with which the game was played, was an oval, one-sided dish, made by cutting in two an egg-shaped coconut shell. The object of the player was to throw his kilu so that it should travel with a sliding and at the same time a rotary motion across the matted floor and hit the wooden block which stood before the one of his choice on the side opposite. The men and the women took turns in playing. A successful hit entitled the player to claim a kiss from his opponent, a toll which was exacted at once. Success in winning ten points made one the victor in the game, and, according to some, entitled him to claim the larger forfeit, Page 236 such as was customary in the democratic game of ume. The payment of these extreme forfeits was delayed till a convenient season, or might be commuted---on grounds of policy, or at the request of the loser, if a king or queen--by an equivalent of land or other valuable possession. Still no fault could be found if the winner insisted on the strict payment of the forfeit.
The game of kilu was often got up as a compliment, a supreme expression of hospitality, to distinguished visitors of rank, thus more than making good the polite phrase of the Spanish don, "all that I have is yours."
The fact that the hula kilu was performed by the alii class, who took great pains and by assiduous practice made themselves proficient that they might be ready to exhibit their accomplishment before the public, was a guarantee that this hula, when performed by them, would be of more than usual grace and vivacity. When performed in the halau as a tabu dance, according to some, the olapa alone took part, and the number of dancers, never very large, was at times limited to one performer. Authorities differ as to whether any musical instrument was used as an accompaniment. From an allusion to this dance met with in an old story it is quite certain that the drum was sometimes used as an accompaniment.
Let us picture to ourselves the scene: A shadowy, flower-scented hall; the elite of some Hawaiian court and their guests, gathered, in accord with old-time practice, to contend in a tournament of wit and grace and skill, vying with one another for the prize of beauty. The president has established order in the assembly; the opposing players have taken their stations, each one seated behind his target-block. The tallykeeper of one side now makes the challenge. "This kilu," says he, "is a love token; the forfeit a kiss." An Apollo of the opposite side joyfully takes up the gauge. His tallykeeper introduces him by name. He plumes himself like a wild bird of gay feather, standing forth in the decorous finery of his rank, girded and flowerbedecked after the manner of the halau, eager to win applause for his party not less than to secure for himself the loving reward of victory. In his hand is the instrument of the play, the kilu; the artillery of love, however, with which he is to assail the heart and warm the imagination of the fair woman opposed to him is the song he shoots from his lips.
The story of the two songs next to be presented is one, and will show us a side of Hawaiian life on which we can not afford entirely to close our eyes. During the stay at Lahaina of Kamehameha, called the Great--whom an informant in this matter always calls "the murderer," in protest against the treacherous assassination of Keoua, which took place at Kawaihae in Kamehameha's very presence--a high chiefess of his court named Kalola engaged in a love affair with a young Page 237 man of rank named Ka'i-áma. He was much her junior, but this did not prevent his infatuation. Early one morning she rose, leaving him sound asleep, and took canoe for Molokai to serve as one of the escort to the body of her relative, Keola, on the way to its place of sepulture.
Some woman, appreciating the situation, posted to the house and waked the sleeper with the information. Ka'iáma hastened to the shore, and as he strained his vision to gain sight of the woman of his infatuation the men at the paddles and the bristling throng on the central platform--the pola--of the craft, vanishing in the twilight, made on his imagination the impression of a hazy mountain thicket floating on the waves, but hiding from view some rare flower. He gave vent to his feelings in song:
Mele
Pua ehu kamaléna 452 ka uka o Kapa'a;
Luhi-ehu iho la 453 ka pua i Maile-húna;
Hele a ha ka iwi 454 a ke Koolau,
Ke puá mai i ka maka o ka nahelehele,
5
I hali hoo-muú, 455 hoohalana i Wailua.
Pa kahea a Koolau-wahine,
O Pua-ke'i, e-e-e-e!
He pua laukona 456 ka moe e aloh' aí;
O ia moe la, e kaulele hou 457
10
No ka po i hala aku aku nei.
Hoiho kaua a eloelo, e ka hoa, e,
A hookahi!
[Translation]
Song
Misty and dim, a bush in the wilds of Kapa'a,
The paddlers bend to their work, as the flower-laden
Shrub inclines to the earth in Maile-húna;
They sway like reeds in the breeze to crack their bones
5
Such the sight as I look at this tossing grove,
The rhythmic dip and swing on to Wailua.
My call to the witch shall fly with the breeze,
Shall be heard at Pua-ke'i, e-he, e-he!
The flower-stalk Laukóna beguiles man to love,
10
Can bring back the taste of joys once our own,
Page 238
Make real again the hours that are flown.
Turn hither, mine own, let's drench us with love--
Just for one night!
Footnote 452: (return) Pua ehu Kamaléna (yellow child). This exclamation is descriptive of the man's visual impression on seeing the canoe with its crowd of passengers and paddlers, in the misty light of morning, receding in the distance. The kamaléna is a mountain shrub having a yellow flower.
Footnote 453: (return) Luhi ehu iho la. Refers to the drooping of a shrub under the weight of its leaves and flowers, a figure applied to the bending of the paddlemen to their work.
Footnote 454: (return) Hele a ha ka iwi. An exaggerated figure of speech, referring to the exertions of the men at their paddles (ha, to strain).
Footnote 455: (return) I hali hoomú. This refers in a fine spirit of exaggeration to the regular motions of the paddlers.
Footnote 456: (return) Pua laukona. A kind of sugar-cane which was prescribed and used by the kahunas as an aphrodisiac.
Footnote 457: (return) Kaulele hou. To experience, or to enjoy, again.The unchivalrous indiscretion of the youth in publishing the secret of his amour elicited from Kamehameha only the sarcastic remark, "Couldn't he eat his food and keep his mouth shut?" The lady herself took the same view of his action. There was no evasion in her reply; her only reproach was for his childishness in blabbing.
Mele
Kálakálaíhi, kaha 458 ka La ma ke kua o Lehua;
Lulana iho la ka pihe a ke Akua; 459
Ea mai ka Unulau 460 o Halali'i;
Lawe ke Koolau-wahine 461 i ka hoa la, lilo;
5
Hao ka Mikioi 462 i ke kai o Lehua:
Puwa-i'a na hoa-makani 463 mai lalo, e-e-e, a.
I hoonalonalo i ke aloha, pe'e ma-loko;
Ha'i ka wai-maka hanini;
I ike aku no i ka uwe ana iho;
10
Pelá wale no ka hoa kamalii, e-e, a!
[Translation]
Song
The sun-furrow gleams at the back of Lehua;
The King's had his fill of scandal and chaff;
The wind-god empties his lungs with a laugh;
And the Mikioi tosses the sea at Lehua,
5
As the trade-wind wafts his friend on her way--
A congress of airs that ruffles the bay.
Hide love 'neath a mask--that's all I would ask.
To spill but a tear makes our love-tale appear;
He pours out his woe; I've seen it, I know;
10
That's the way with a boy-friend, heigh-ho!
Footnote 458: (return) The picture of the sun declining, kaha, to the west, its reflected light-track, kala kalaihi, farrowing the ocean with glory, may be taken to be figurative of the loved and beautiful woman, Kalola, speeding on her westward canoe-flight.
Footnote 459: (return) Akua. Literally a god, must stand for the king.
Footnote 460: (return) Unulau. A special name for the trade-wind.
Footnote 461: (return) Koolau-wahine. Likewise another name for the trade-wind, here represented as carrying off the (man's) companion.
Footnote 462: (return) Mikioi. An impetuous, gusty wind is represented as lashing the ocean at Lehua, thus picturing the emotional stir attending Kalola's departure.
Footnote 463: (return) The words Puwa-i'a na hoa makani, which literally mean that the congress of winds, na hoa makani, have stirred up a commotion, even as a school of fish agitate the surface, of the ocean, puwa-i'a, refer to the scandal caused by Ka'i-ama's conduct.The singer restricts her blame to charging her youthful lover with an indiscreet exhibition of childish emotion. The mere display of emotion evinced by the shedding of tears was in itself a laudable action and in good form.
This first reply of the woman to her youthful lover did not by any means exhaust her armament of retaliation. When she next treats of the affair it is with an added touch of sarcasm and yet with a sang-froid that proved it had not unsettled her nerves.
Mele
Ula Kala'e-loa 464 i ka lepo a ka makani;
Hoonu'anu'a na pua i Kalama-ula,
He hoa i ka la'i a ka manu-- 465
Manu ai ia i ka hoa laukona.
5
I keke lau-au'a ia e ka moe;
E kuhi ana ia he kanaka e.
Oau no keia mai luna a lalo;
Huná, ke aloha, pe'e maloko.
Ike 'a i ka uwe ana iho.
10
Pelá ka hoa kamalii--
He uwe wale ke kamalii.
[Translation]
Song
Red glows Kala'e through the wind-blown dust
That defiles the flowers of Lama-ula,
Outraged by the croak of this bird,
That eats of the aphrodisiac cane,
5
And then boasts the privileged bed.
He makes me a creature of outlaw:
True to myself from crown to foot-sole,
My love I've kept sacred, pent up within.
He flouts it as common, weeping it forth--
10
That is the way with a child-friend;
A child just blubbers at nothing.
Footnote 464: (return) Kala'e-loa. The full name of the place on Molokai now known as Kala'e.
Footnote 465: (return) La'i a ka manu. Some claim this to be a proper name, La'i-a-ka-manu, that of a place near Kala'e. However that may be the poet evidently uses the phrase here in its etymological sense.To return to the description of the game, the player, having uttered his vaunt in true knightly fashion, with a dexterous whirl now sends his kilu spinning on its course. If his play is successful and the kilu strikes the target on the other Page 240 side at which he aims, the audience, who have kept silence till now, break forth in applause, and his tally-keeper proclaims his success in boastful fashion:
Oli
A úweuwé ke kó'e a ke kae;
Puehuehu ka la, komo inoino;
Kakía, kahe ka ua ilalo.
[Translation]
Now wriggles the worm to its goal;
A tousling; a hasty encounter;
A grapple; down falls the rain.
Footnote 466: (return) The account above given is largely based on David Malo's description of the game kilu. In his confessedly imperfect list of the hulas he does not mention the hula kilu. This hula was, however, included in the list of hulas announced for performance in the programme of King Kalakaua's coronation ceremonies.Here also is a mele, which tradition reports to have been cantillated by Hiiaka, the sister of Pele, during her famous kilu contest with the Princess Pele-ula, which took place at Kou--the ancient name for Honolulu--on Hiiaka's voyage of return from Kauai to her sister's court at Kilauea. In this affair Lohiau and Wahineoma'o contended on the side of Hiiaka, while Pele-ula was assisted by her husband, Kou, and by other experts. But on this occasion the dice were cogged; the victory was won not by human skill but by the magical power of Hiiaka, who turned Pele-ula's kilu away from the target each time she threw it, but used her gift to compel it to the mark when the kilu was cast by herself.
Mele
Footnote 467: (return) Ka-lalau (in the translation by the omission of the article ka, shortened to Lalau). A deep cliff-bound valley on the windward side of Kauai, accessible only at certain times of the year by boats and by a steep mountain trail at its head.
Footnote 468: (return) Pali ku'i. Ku'i means literally to join together, to splice or piece out. The cliffs tower one above another like the steps of a stairway.
Footnote 469: (return) Haka. A ladder or frame such as was laid across a chasm or set up at an impassable place in a precipitous road. The windward side of Kauai about Kalalau abounded in such places.
Footnote 470: (return) Lae-o-ka-laau. The southwest point of Molokai, on which is a light-house.
Footnote 471: (return) Makua-ole. Literally fatherless, perhaps meaning remarkable, without peer.Page 241
[Translation]
Song
Comrade mine in the robe-stripping gusts of Lalau,
On the up-piled beetling cliffs of Makua,
The ladder... is taken away... it is gone!
Your way is cut off, my man!
5
With you I've backed the uhu of Maka-pu'u,
Tugging them up the steeps of Point-o'-woods,
A cliff that stands fatherless, even as
Sheer stands the pali of Ula-mao--
And thus... you are lost!
Hiiaka held the trick-card and she won; by her miraculous power she kept the game in her own hands and foiled the hopes of the lovers.
Mele
Ula ka lani ia Kanaloa, 472
Ula ma'ema'e ke ahi a ke A'e-loa. 473
Pohina iluna i ke ao makani,
Naue pu no i ka ilikai o Makahana-loa, 474
5
Makemake i ka ua lihau. 475
Aohe hana i koe a Ka-wai-loa; 476
Noho a ka li'u-lá i ke kula.
I kula oe no ka makemake, a hiki iho,
I hoa hula no ka la le'ale'a,
10
I noho pu me ka uahi pohina. 477
Page 242
Akahi no a pumehana ka hale, ua hiki oe:
Ma'ema'e ka luna i Haupu. 480
Upu ka makemake e ike ia Ka-ala.
15
He ala ka makemake e ike ia Lihu'e; 481
Ku'u uka ia noho ia Halemano. 482
Maanei oe, pale oe, pale au,
Hana ne'e ke kikala i ka ha'i keiki.
Hai'na ka manao--noho i Waimea,
20
Hoonu'u pu i ka i'a ku o ka aina. 483
E kala oe a kala au a kala ia Ku, Ahuena. 484
Footnote 472: (return) Kanaloa. One of the four great gods of the Hawaiians, here represented as playing the part of Phoebus Apollo.
Footnote 473: (return) A'e-loa. The name of a wind whose blowing was said to be favorable to the fisherman in this region.
Footnote 474: (return) Makahana-loa, A favorite fishing ground. The word ilikai ("skin of the sea") graphically depicts the calm of the region. In the translation the name aforementioned has been shortened to Kahana.
Footnote 475: (return) Lihau. A gentle rain that was considered favorable to the work of the fisherman.
Footnote 476: (return) Ka-wai-loa. A division of Waialua, here seemingly used to mean the farm.
Footnote 477: (return) Uahi pohina. Literally gray-headed smoke. It is said that when studying together the words of the mele the pupils and the kumu would often gather about a fire, while the teacher recited and expounded the text. There is a possible allusion to this in the mention of the smoke.
Footnote 478: (return) Naulu. A wind.
Footnote 479: (return) Inu-wai. A wind that dried up vegetation, here indicating thirst.
Footnote 480: (return) Haupu. A mountain on Kauai, sometimes visible on Oahu in clear weather. (See note c, p. 229, on Haupu.)
Footnote 481: (return) Lihu'e. A beautiful and romantic region nestled, as the Hawaiians say, "between the thighs of the mountain," Mount Kaala.
Footnote 482: (return) Hale-mano. Literally the multitude of houses; a sylvan region bound to the southwestern flank of the Konahuanui range of mountains, a region of legend and romance, since the coming of the white man given over to the ravage and desolation that follow the free-ranging of cattle and horses, the vaquero, and the abusive use of fire and ax by the woodman.
Footnote 483: (return) I'a ku o ka aina. Fish common to a region; in this place it was probably the kala, which word is found in the next line, though in a different sense. Here the expression is doubtless a euphemism for dalliance.
Footnote 484: (return) Ku, Ahuena. At Waimea, Oahu, stood two rocks on the opposite bluffs that sentineled the bay. These rocks were said to represent respectively the gods Ku and Ahuena, patrons of the local fishermen.
[Translation]
Song
Kanaloa tints heaven with a blush,
'Tis the flame of the A'e, pure red,
And gray the wind-clouds overhead.
We trudge to the waters calm of Kahana--
5
Heaven grant us a favoring shower!
The work is all done on the farm.
We stay till twilight steals o'er the plain,
Then, love-spurred, tramp o'er it again,
Have you as partner in holiday dance--
10
We've moiled as one in the gray smoke;
Cast down by the Naulu, you thirst.
For once the house warms at your coming.
How clear glow the heights of yon Haupu!
I long for the sight of Ka-ala,
15
And sweet is the thought of Lihu'e,
And our mountain retreat, Hale-mano.
Here, fenced from each other by tabu,
Your graces make sport for the crowd.
What then the solution? Let us dwell
20
At Waimea and feast on the fish
That swarm in the neighboring sea,
With freedom to you and freedom to me,
Licensed by Ku and by Ahu-éna.
The scene of this idyl is laid in the district of Waialua, Oahu, but the poet gives his imagination free range regardless of the unities. The chief subjects of interest that serve as a trellis about which the human sentiments entwine concern the duties of the fisherman, who is also a farmer; the school for the hula, in which the hero and the heroine are pupils; and lastly an ideal condition of happiness which the lovers look forward to tinder the benevolent dispensation of the gods Ku and Ahuena.
Among the numerous relatives of Pele was one said to be a sister, who was stationed on a bleak sun-burnt promontory in Koolau, Oahu, where she supported a half-starved existence, striving to hold soul and body together by gathering the herbs of the fields, eked out by unsolicited gifts of food contributed by passing travelers. The pathetic plaint given below is ascribed to this goddess.
Mele
Mao wale i ka lani
Ka leo o ke Akua pololi.
A pololi a moe au
O ku'u la pololi,
5
A ola i kou aloha;
I na'i pu no i ka waimaka e uwe nei.
E uwe kaua, e!
[Translation]
Song
Engulfed ill heaven's abyss
Is the cry of the famished god.
I sank to the ground from faintness,
My day of utter starvation;
5
Was rescued, revived, by your love:
Ours a contest of tears sympathetic--
Let us pour out together our tears.
Page 244
XXXVI.--THE HULA HOO-NA-NÁ
The hula hoo-na-ná--to quiet, amuse--was an informal dance, such as was performed without the usual restrictions of tabu that hedged about the set dances of the halau. The occasion of an outdoor festival, an ahaaina or luau, was made the opportunity for the exhibition of this dance. It seems to have been an expression of pure sportiveness and mirth-making, and was therefore performed without sacrifice or religious ceremony. While the king, chiefs, and aialo--courtiers who ate in the king's presence--are sitting with the guests about the festal board, two or three dancers of graceful carriage make a circuit of the place, ambling, capering, gesturing as they go in time to the words of a gay song.A performance of this sort was witnessed by the author's informant in Honolulu many years ago; the occasion was the giving of a royal luau. There was no musical instrument, the performers were men, and the mele they cantillated went as follows:
Footnote 485: (return) Kepáu. Gum, the bird-lime of the fowler, which was obtained from forest trees, but especially from the ulu, the breadfruit.
Footnote 486: (return) Muli-wa'a (muli, a term applied to a younger brother). The idea involved is that of separation by an interval, as a younger brother is separated from his older brother by an interval. Muliwai is an interval of water, a stream. Wa'a, the last part of the above compound word, literally a canoe, is here used tropically to mean the tables, or the dishes, on which the food was spread, they being long and narrow, in the shape of a canoe. The whole term, consequently, refers to the people and the table about which they are seated.
Footnote 487: (return) Eli-eli. A word that is found in ancient prayers to emphasize the word kapu or the word noa.
Footnote 488: (return) Lilua. To stand erect and act without the restraint usually prescribed in the presence of royalty.Page 245
[Translation]
She is limed, she is limed,
My bird is limed,
With the gum of the forest.
We make a great circuit,
5
Outskirting the feast.
You shall feast on king's bounty:
No fear of the tabu, all's free.
Free! and By whom?
Free by the word of the king.
10
Then a free rein to mirth!
Banish the kill-joy
Who eats the king's dainties!
Feast then till replete
With the good king's meat!
XXXVII.--THE HULA ULILI
The hula ulili, also called by the descriptive name kolili--to wave or flutter, as a pennant--was a hula that was not at all times confined to the tabu restrictions of the halau. Like a truant schoolboy, it delighted to break loose from restraint and join the informal pleasurings of the people. Imagine an assembly of men and women in the picturesque illumination given by flaring kukui torches, the men on one side, the women on the other. Husbands and wives, smothering the jealousy instinctive to the human heart, are there by mutual consent--their daughters they leave at home--each one ready to play his part to the finish, with no thought of future recrimination. It was a game of love-forfeits, on the same lines as kilu and ume.Two men, armed with wands furnished with tufts of gay feathers, pass up and down the files of men and women, waving their decorated staffs, ever and anon indicating with a touch of the wand persons of the opposite sex, who under the rules must pay the forfeit demanded of them. The kissing, of course, goes by favor. The wand-bearers, as they move along, troll an amorous ditty:
Oli
Kii na ka ipo ...
Mahele-liele i ka la o Kona! 489
O Kona, kai a ke Akua. 490
Elua la, huli ka Wai-opua, 491
5
Nete i ke kula,
Leha iluna o Wai-aloha 492
Kani ka aka a ka ua i ka laau,
Hoolaau ana i ke aloha ilaila.
Pili la, a pili i ka'u manu--
10
O pili o ka La-hiki-ola.
Ola ke kini o-lalo.
Hana i ka mea he ipo.
A hui e hui la!
Footnote 489: (return) La o Kona. A day of Kona, i.e., of fine weather.
Footnote 490: (return) Kai a ke Akua. Sea of the gods, because calm.
Footnote 491: (return) Wai-opua. A wind which changed its direction after blowing for a few days from one quarter.
Footnote 492: (return) Wai-aloha. The name of a hill. In the translation the author has followed its meaning ("water of love").
Footnote 493: (return) Koolau-wahine. The name of a refreshing wind, often mentioned in Hawaiian poetry; here used as a symbol of female affection.
Footnote 494: (return) Pua-ke-i. The name of a sharp, bracing wind felt on the windward side of Molokai; used here apparently as a symbol of strong masculine passion.Page 247
[Translation]
Song
A search for a sweetheart...
Sport for a Kona day!
Kona, calm sea of the gods.
Two days the wind surges;
5
Then, magic of cloud!
It veers to the plain,
Drinks up the water of love.
How gleesome the sound
Of rain on the trees,
10
A balm to love's wound!
The wand touches, heart-ease!
It touches my bird--
Touch of life from the sun!
Brings health to the million.
15
Ho, now comes the fun!
A meeting, a union--
The nymph, Koo-lau,
And the hero, Ke-í.
XXXVIII.--THE HULA O-NIU
The so-called hula o-niu is not to be classed with the regular dances of the halau. It was rather a popular sport, in which men and women capered about in an informal dance while the players engaged in a competitive game of top-spinning: The instrument of sport was made from the lower pointed half of an oval coconut shell, or from the corresponding part of a small gourd. The sport was conducted in the presence of a mixed gathering of people amid the enthusiasm and boisterous effervescence which betting always greatly stimulated in Hawaii.The players were divided into two sides of equal number, and each player had before him a plank, slightly hollowed in the center--like the board on which the Hawaiians pounded their poi--to be used as the bed for spinning his top. The naked hand, unaided by whip or string, was used to impart to the rude top a spinning motion and at the same time the necessary projectile force--a balancing of forces that called for nice adjustment, lest the whirling thing reel too far to one side or run wild and fly its smooth bed. Victory was declared and the wager given to the player whose top spun the longest.
The feature that most interests us is the singing, or cantillation, of the oli. In a dance and game of this sort, which the author's informant witnessed at Kahuku, Oahu, in 1844, one contestant on each side, in turn, cantillated an oli during the performance of the game and the dance.
Oli
Ke pohá, nei; u'ína la!
Kani óle-oléi, hau-walaau!
Ke wawa Pu'u-hina-hina; 495
Kani ka aka, he-hene na pali,
5
Na pali o Ka-iwi-ku'i. 496
Hanohano, makana i ka Wai-opua. 497
Malihini ka hale, ua hiki mai;
Kani ka pahu a Lohiau,
A Lohiau-ipo 498 i Haena la.
10
Enaena ke aloha, ke hiki mai;
Page 249
Auau i ka wai a Kanaloa. 499
Nana kaua ia Lima-hull, 500 e.
E huli oe a loaa pono
Ka ia nei o-niu.
Footnote 495: (return) Pu'u-hina-hina. A precipitous place on the coast near Haena.
Footnote 496: (return) Ka-iwi-ku'i. A high cliff against which the waves dash.
Footnote 497: (return) Wai-opua. The name of a pleasant breeze.
Footnote 498: (return) Lohiau-ipo. The epithet ipo, sweetheart, dear one, was often affixed to the name of Lohiau, in token, no doubt, of his being distinguished as the object of Pele's passionate regard.
Footnote 499: (return) Kanaloa. There is a deep basin, of clear water, almost fluorescent in its sparkle, in one of the arched caves of Haena, which is called the water of Kanaloa--the name of the great God. This is a favorite bathing place.
Footnote 500: (return) Lima-huli. The name of a beautiful valley that lies back of Haena.
[Translation]
Song
The rustle and hum of spinning top,
Wild laughter and babel of sound--
Hear the roar of the waves at Pu'u-hina!
Bursts of derision echoed from cliffs,
5
The cliffs of Ka-iwi-ku'i;
And the day is stirred by a breeze.
The house swarms with women and men.
List! the drum-beat of Lohiau,
Lohiau, the lover, prince of Haena--
10
Love glows like an oven at his coming;
Then to bathe in the lake of the God.
Let us look at the vale Lima-huli, look!
Now turn we and study the spinning--
That trick we must catch to be winning.
Page 250
XXXIX.--THE HULA KU'I
The account of the Hawaiian hulas would be incomplete if without mention of the hula ku'i. This was an invention, or introduction, of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Its formal, public, appearance dates from the coronation ceremonies of the late King Kalakaua, 1883, when it filled an important place in the programme. Of the 262 hula performances listed for exhibition, some 30 were of the hula ku'i. This is perhaps the most democratic of the hulas, and from the date' of its introduction it sprang at once into public favor. Not many years ago one could witness its extemporaneous performance by nonprofessionals at many an entertainment and festive gathering. Even the school-children took it up and might frequently be seen innocently footing its measures on the streets. (Pl. XXIV.)The steps and motions of the hula ku'i to the eyes of the author resemble those of some Spanish dances. The rhythm is in common, or double, time. One observes the following motions:
Figure A.--1. A step obliquely forward with the left foot, arms pointing the same way, body inclining to the right. 2. The ball of the left foot (still advanced) gently pressed on the floor; the heel swings back and forth, describing an arc of some 30 or 40 degrees. 8. The left foot is set firmly in the last position, the body inclining to it as the base of support; the right foot is advanced obliquely, and 4, performs the heel-swinging motions above described, arms pointing obliquely to the right.
Figure B.--Hands pressed to the waist, fingers directed forward, thumbs backward, elbows well away from the body; left foot advanced as in figure A, 1, body inclining to the right. 2. The left foot performs the heel-waving motions, as above. 3. Hands in same position, right foot advanced as previously described. 4. The right foot performs the swinging motions previously described--the body inclined to the left.
Figure C.--In this figure, while the hands are pressed as before against the waist, with the elbows thrown well away from the body, the performer sways the pelvis and central axis of the trunk in a circular or elliptical orbit, a movement, which, carried to the extreme, is termed ami.
There are other figures and modifications, which the ingenuity and fancy of performers have introduced into this dance; but this account must suffice.
Given a demand for a pas seul, some pleasing dance combining grace with dexterity, a shake of the foot, a twist of the body, and a wave of the hands, the hula ku'i filled the bill to perfection. The very fact that it belonged by name to the genus hula, giving it, as it were, the smack of forbidden fruit, only added to its attractiveness. It became all the rage among dancing folk, attaining such a vogue as almost to cause a panic among the tribunes and censors of society. Even to one who cares nothing for the hula per se, save as it might be a spectacle out of old Hawaii, or a setting for an old-time song, the innocent grace and Delsartian flexibility of this solo dance, which one can not find in its Keltic or African congeners, associate it in mind with the joy and light-heartedness of man's Arcadian period.
The instruments generally used in the musical accompaniment of the hula ku'i are the guitar, the uku-lele, 501 the taro-patch fiddle,[501] or the mandolin; the piano also lends itself effectively for this purpose; or a combination of these may be used.
The songs that are sung to this dance as a rule belong naturally to later productions of the Hawaiian muse, or to modifications of old poetical compositions. The following mele was originally a namesong (mele-inoa). It was appropriated by the late Princess Kino-iki; and by her it was passed on to Kalani-ana-ole, a fact which should not prejudice our appreciation of its beauty.
Mele
I aloha i ke ko a ka wai,
I ka i mai, e, anu kaua.
Ua anu na pua o ka laina, 502
Ka wanine noho anu o ke kula.
5
A luna au a o Poli-ahu; 503
Ahu wale kai a o Wai-lua.
Lua-ole ka hana a ka makani,
A ke Kiu-ke'e 504 a o na pall,
Pa iho i ke kai a o Puna--
10
Ko Puna mea ma'a mau ia.
Pau ai ko'u lihi hoihoi
I ka wai awili me ke kai.
Ke ono hou nei ku'u pu'u
I ka wai hu'ihu'i o ka uka,
Page 25215
Wai hone i ke kumu o ka pali,
I malu i ka lau kui-kui. 505
Ke kuhi nei au a he pono
Ka ilima lei a ke aloha,
Au i kau nui aku ai,
20
I ka nani oi a oia pua.
Footnote 501: (return) The uku-lele and the taro-patch fiddle are stringed instruments resembling in general appearance the fiddle. They seem to have been introduced into these islands by the Portuguese immigrants who have come in within the last twenty-five years. As with the guitar, the four strings of the uku-lele or the five strings of the taro-patch fiddle are plucked with the finger or thumb.
Footnote 502: (return) Na pua o ka laina. The intent of this expression, which seems to have an erotic meaning, may perhaps be inferred from its literal rendering in the translation. It requires a tropical imagination to follow a Hawaiian poem.
Footnote 503: (return) Poli-ahu. A place or region on Mauna-kea.
Footnote 504: (return) Kiu-ke'e. The name of a wind felt at Nawiliwili, Kauai. The local names for winds differed on the various islands and were multiplied almost without measure: as given in the mythical story of Kama-pua'a, or in the semihistoric tale of Kú-a-Paka'a, they taxed the memories of raconteurs.
Footnote 505: (return) Kui-kui. The older name-form of the tree (Aleurites triloba), popularly known by some as the candle-nut tree, from the fact that its oily nuts were used in making torches. Kukui, or tutui, is the name now applied to the tree, also to a torch or lamp. The Samoan language still retains the archaic name tuitui. This is one of the few instances in which the original etymology of a word is retained in Hawaiian poetry.
[Translation]
Song
How pleasing, when borne by the tide,
One says, you and I are a-cold.
The buds of the center are chilled
Of the woman who shivers on shore.
5
I stood on the height Poli-ahu;
The ocean enrobed Wai-lua.
Ah, strange are the pranks of the wind,
The Kiu-ké'e wind of the pali!
It smites now the ocean at Puna--
10
That's always the fashion at Puna.
Gone, gone is the last of my love,
At this mixture of brine in my drink!
My mouth is a-thirst for a draught
Of the cold mountain-water,
15
That plays at the foot of the cliff,
In the shade of the kui-kui tree.
I thought our love-flower, ilima--
Oft worn as a garland by you--
Still held its color most true.
20
You'd exchange its beauty for rue!
Mele
Kaulana mai nei Pua Lanakila;
Olali oe o ke aupuni hui,
Nana i koké áku ke kahua,
Na ale o ka Pakipika.
5
Lilo i mea ole na enemi;
Puuwai hao-kila, he manao paa;
Na ka nupepa la i hoike mai.
Ua kau Lanakila i ka hanohano,
O ka u'i mapela la o Aina-hau;
10
O ko'u hoa ia la e pili ai--
I hoa kaaua i ka puuwai,
I na kohi kelekele i ka Pu'ukolu.
Ina ilaila Pua Komela,
Ka u'i kaulana o Aina-pua!
15
O ka pua o ka Lehua me ka Ilima
I lei kahiko no ko'u kino,
Ka Palai lau-lii me ka Maile,
Ke ala e hoene i kou poli.
[Translation]
Song
Fame trumpets your conquests each day,
Brave Lily Victoria!
Your scepter finds new hearts to sway,
Subdues the Pacific's wild waves,
5
Your foes are left stranded ashore,
Firm heart as of steel!
Dame Rumor tells us with glee
Your fortunes wax evermore,
Beauty of Aina-hau,
10
Comrade dear to my heart.
And what of the hyacinth maid,
Nymph of the Flowery Land?
I choose the lehua, ilima,
As my wreath and emblem of love,
15
The small-leafed fern and the maile--
What fragrance exhales from thy breast!
As I interpret the story, the lover seems at first to be in a condition of unstable equilibrium, but finally concludes to cleave to the flowers of the soil, the lehua and the ilima (verse 15), the palai and the maile (verse 17), the meaning of which is clear.
Page 254
XL.--THE OLI
The Hawaiian word mele included all forms of poetical composition. The fact that the mele, in whatever form, was intended for cantillation, or some sort of rhythmical utterance addressed to the ear, has given to this word in modern times a special meaning that covers the idea of song or of singing, thus making it overlap ambiguously into the territory that more properly belongs to the word oli. The oli was in strict sense the lyric utterance of the Hawaiians.In its most familiar form the Hawaiians--many of whom possessed the gift of improvisation in a remarkable degree--used the oli not only for the songful expression of joy and affection, but as the vehicle of humorous or sarcastic narrative in the entertainment of their comrades. The traveler, as he trudged along under his swaying burden, or as he rested by the wayside, would solace himself and his companions with a pensive improvisation in the form of an oli. Or, sitting about the camp-fire of an evening, without the consolation of the social pipe or bowl, the people of the olden time would keep warm the fire of good-fellowship and cheer by the sing-song chanting of the oli, in which the extemporaneous bard recounted the events of the day and won the laughter and applause of his audience by witty, ofttimes exaggerated, allusions to many a humorous incident that had marked the journey. If a traveler, not knowing the language of the country, noticed his Hawaiian guide and baggage-carriers indulging in mirth while listening to an oli by one of their number, he would probably be right in suspecting himself to be the innocent butt of their merriment.
The lover poured into the ears of his mistress his gentle fancies: the mother stilled her child with some bizarre allegory as she rocked it in her arms; the bard favored by royalty--the poet laureate--amused the idle moments of his chief with some witty improvisation; the alii himself, gifted with the poetic fire, would air his humor or his didactic comments in rhythmic shape--all in the form of the oli.
The dividing line, then, between the oli and those other weightier forms of the mele, the inoa, the kanikau (threnody), the pule, and that unnamed variety of mele in which the poet dealt with historic or mythologic subjects, is to be found almost wholly in the mood of the singer. In truth, the Hawaiians not unfrequently applied the term pule to compositions which we moderns find it hard to bring within our definitions of prayer. For to our understanding the Hawaiian pule often contains neither petition, nor entreaty, nor aspiration, as we measure such things.
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The oli from, its very name (oli-oli, joyful) conveys the notion of gladness, and therefore of song. It does not often run to such length as the more formal varieties of the mele; it is more likely to be pitched to the key of lyric and unconventional delight, and, as it seems to the writer, more often than other forms attains a gratifying unity by reason of closer adherence to some central thought or mood; albeit, when not so labeled, one might well be at a loss whether in any given case he should term the composition mele or oli.
It may not be entirely without significance that the first and second examples here given come from Kauai, the island which most vividly has retained a memory of the southern lands that were the homes of the people until they came as emigrants to Hawaii.
The story on which this song is founded relates that the comely Pamaho'a was so fond of her husband during his life that at his death she was unwilling to part with his bones. Having cleaned and wrapped them in a bundle, she carried them with her wherever she went. In the indiscretion begotten of her ill-balanced state of mind she committed the mortal offense of entering the royal residence while thus encumbered, where was Kaahumanu, favorite wife of Kamehameha I. The king detailed two constables (ilamuku) to remove the woman and put her to death. When they had reached a safe distance, moved with pity, the men said: "Our orders were to slay; but what hinders you to escape?" The woman took the hint and fled hot-foot.
Oli
Ka wai opua-makani o Wailua, 506
I hulihia e ke kai;
Awahia ka lau hau,
Ai pála-ka-há, ka ai o Maká'u-kiu.
5
He kin ka pua kukui,
He elele hooholo na ke Koolau; 507
Ke kipaku mai la i ka wa'a-- 508
"E holo oe!"
Holo newa ka lau maia me ka pua hau,
10
I pili aloha me ka mokila ula i ka wai;
Maalo pulelo i ka wai o Malu-aka.
He aka kaua makani kaili-hoa;
Kaili ino ka lau Malua-kele,
Lalau, hopu hewa i ka hoa kanáka; 509
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Koe a kau me ka manao iloko.
Ke apo wale la no i ke one,
I ka uwe wale iho no i Mo'o-mo'o-iki, 510 e!
He ike moolelo na ke kuhi wale,
Aole ma ka waha mai o kánaka,
20
Hewa, pono ai la hoi au, e ka hoa;
Nou ka ke aloha,
I lua-ai-ele 511 ai i o, i anei;
Ua kuewa i ke ala me ka wai-maka.
Aohe wa, ua uku i kou hale--
25
Hewa au, e!
Footnote 506: (return) The scene is laid in the region about the Wailua, a river on Kauai. This stream, tossed with waves driven up from the sea, represents figuratively the disturbance of the woman's mind at the coming of the officers.
Footnote 507: (return) Koolau. The name of a wind; stands for the messengers of the king, whose instructions were to expel (kipaku, verse 7) and then to slay.
Footnote 508: (return) Wa'a. Literally canoe; stands for the woman herself.
Footnote 509: (return) Hoa kanáka. Human companion; is an allusion to the bundle of her husband's bones which she carries with her, but which are torn away and lost in the flood.
Footnote 510: (return) Mo'o-mo'o-iki. A land at Wailua, Kauai.
Footnote 511: (return) Lua-ai-ele. To carry about with one a sorrow.
[Translation]
Song
The wind-beaten stream of Wailua
Is tossed into waves from the sea;
Salt-drenched are the leaves of the hau,
The stalks of the taro all rotted--
5
'Twas the crop of Maka'u-kiu,
The flowers of kukui are a telltale,
A messenger sped by the gale
To warn the canoe to depart.
Pray you depart!
10
Hot-foot, she's off with her pack--
A bundle red-stained with the mud--
And ghost-swift she breasts Malu-aka.
Quest follows like smoke--lost is her companion;
Fierce the wind plucks at the leaves,
15
Grabs--by mistake--her burden, the man.
Despairing, she falls to the earth,
And, hugging the hillock of sand,
Sobs out her soul on the beach Mo-mo-iki.
A tale this wrung from my heart,
20
Not told by the tongue of man.
Wrong! yet right, was I, my friend;
My love after all was for you,
While I lived a vagabond life there and here,
Sowing my vagrom tears in all roads--
25
Prompt my payment of debt to your house--
Yes, truly, I'm wrong!
XLI.--THE WATER OF KANE
If one were asked what, to the English-speaking mind, constitutes the most representative romantico-mystical aspiration that has been embodied in song and story, doubtless he would be compelled to answer the legend and myth of the Holy Grail. To the Hawaiian mind the aspiration and conception that most nearly approximates to this is that embodied in the words placed at the head of this chapter. The Water of Kane. One finds suggestions and hints of this conception in many passages of Hawaiian song and story, sometimes a phosphorescent flash, answering to the dip of the poet's blade, sometimes crystallized into a set form; but nowhere else than in the following mele have I found this jewel deliberately wrought into shape, faceted, and fixed in a distinct form of speech.This mele comes from Kauai, the island which more than any other of the Hawaiian group retains a tight hold on the mystical and imaginative features that mark the mythology of Polynesia; the island also which less than any other of the group was dazzled by the glamour of royalty and enslaved by the theory of the divine birth of kings.
He Mele no Kane
He ú-i, he ninau:
He ú-i aku ana au ia oe,
Aia i-héa ka wai a Kane?
Ala i ka hikina a ka La,
5
Puka i Hae-hae; 512
Aia i-laila ka Wai a Kane.
E ú-i aku ana au ia oe,
Aia i-hea ka Wai a Kane?
Aia i Kau-lana-ka-la, 513
10
I ka pae opua i ke kai, 514
Ea mai ana ma Nihoa, 515
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Ma ka mole mai o Lehua;
Aia i-laila ka Wai a Kane.
E ú-i aku ana au ia oe,
15
Aia i-hea ka Wai a Kane?
Aia i ke kua-hiwi, i ke kua-lono,
I ke awáwa, i ke kaha-wai;
Aia i-laila ka Wai a Kane.
E ú-i aku ana au ia oe,
20
Aia i-hea ka Wai a Kane?
Aia i-kai, i ka moana,
I ke Kua-lau, i ke anuenue,
I ka alewa-lewa;
35
Aia i-laila ka Wai a Kane.
E ú-i aku ana au ia oe,
Aia i-hea ka Wai a Kane?
Aia i-luna ka Wai a Kane,
I ke ouli, i ke ao eleele,
40
I ke ao pano-pano,
I ke ao popolo-hua mea a Kane la, e!
Aia i-laila ka Wai a Kane.
E ú-i aku ana au ia oe,
Aia i-hea ka Wai a Kane?
45
Aia i-lalo, i ka honua, i ka Wai hu,
I ka wai kau a Kane me Kanaloa-- 518
He wai-puna, he wai e inu,
He wai e mana, he wai e ola.
E ola no, e-a!
Footnote 512: (return) Hae-hae. Heaven's eastern gate; the portal in the solid walls that supported the heavenly dome, through which the sun entered in the morning.
Footnote 513: (return) Kau-lana-ka-la. When the setting sun, perhaps by an optical illusion drawn out into a boatlike form, appeared to be floating on the surface of the ocean, the Hawaiians named the phenomenon Kau-lana-ka-la--the floating of the sun. Their fondness for personification showed itself in the final conversion of this phrase into something like a proper name, which they applied to the locality of the phenomenon.
Footnote 514: (return) Pae opua i ke kai. Another instance of name-giving, applied to the bright clouds that seem to rest on the horizon, especially to the west.
Footnote 515: (return) Nihoa (Bird island). This small rock to the northwest of Kauai, though far below the horizon, is here spoken of as if it were in sight.
Footnote 516: (return) Punohu A red luminous cloud, or a halo, regarded as an omen portending some sacred and important event.
Footnote 517: (return) Ua-koko. Literally bloody rain, a term applied to a rainbow when lying near the ground, or to a freshet-stream swollen with the red muddy water from the wash of the hillsides. These were important omens, claimed as marking the birth of tabu chiefs.
Footnote 518: (return) Wai kau a Kane me Kanaloa. Once when Kane and Kanaloa were journeying together Kanaloa complained of thirst. Kane thrust his staff into the pali near at hand, and out flowed a stream of pure water that has continued to the present day. The place is at Keanae, Maui.
[Translation]
The Water of Kane
A query, a question,
I put to you:
Where is the water of Kane?
At the Eastern Gate
5
Where the Sun comes in at Hae-hae;
There is the water of Kane.
A question I ask of you:
Where is the water of Kane?
Out there with the floating Sun,
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Where cloud-forms rest on Ocean's breast,
Uplifting their forms at Nihoa,
This side the base of Lehua;
There is the water of Kane.
One question I put to you:
15
Where is the water of Kane?
Yonder on mountain peak,
On the ridges steep,
In the valleys deep,
Where the rivers sweep;
20
There is the water of Kane.
This question I ask of you:
Where, pray, is the water of Kane?
Yonder, at sea, on the ocean,
In the driving rain,
25
In the heavenly bow,
In the piled-up mist-wraith,
In the blood-red rainfall,
In the ghost-pale cloud-form;
There is the water of Kane.
30
One question I put to you:
Where, where is the water of Kane?
Up on high is the water of Kane,
In the heavenly blue,
In the black piled cloud,
35
In the black-black cloud,
In the black-mottled sacred cloud of the gods;
There is the water of Kane.
One question I ask of you:
Where flows the water of Kane?
40
Deep in the ground, in the gushing spring,
In the ducts of Kane and Loa,
A well-spring of water, to quaff,
A water of magic power--
The water of life!
45
Life! O give us this life!
XLII.--GENERAL REVIEW
In this preliminary excursion into the wilderness of Hawaiian literature we have covered but a small part of the field; we have reached no definite boundaries; followed no stream to its fountain head; gained no high point of vantage, from which to survey the whole. It was indeed outside the purpose of this book to make a delimitation of the whole field of Hawaiian literature and to mark out its relations to the formulated thoughts of the world.Certain provisional conclusions, however, are clearly indicated: that this unwritten speech-literature is but a peninsula, a semidetached, outlying division of the Polynesian, with which it has much in common, the whole running back through the same lines of ancestry to the people of Asia. There still lurk in the subliminal consciousness of the race, as it were, vague memories of things that long ago passed from sight and knowledge. Such, for instance, was the mo'o; a word that to the Hawaiian meant a nondescript reptile, which his imagination vaguely pictured, sometimes as a dragonlike monster belching fire like a chimera of mythology, or swimming the ocean like a sea-serpent, or multiplied into a manifold pestilential swarm infesting the wilderness, conceived of as gifted with superhuman powers and always as the malignant foe of mankind, Now the only Hawaiian representatives of the reptilian class were two species of harmless lizards, so that it is not conceivable that the Hawaiian notion of a mo'o was derived from objects present in his island home. The word mo'o may have been a coinage of the Hawaiian speechcenter, but the thing it stood for must have been an actual existence, like the python and cobra of India, or the pterodactyl of a past geologic period. May we not think of it as an ancestral memory, an impress, of Asiatic sights and experiences?
In this connection, it will not, perhaps, lead us too far afield, to remark that in the Hawaiian speech we find the chisel-marks of Hindu and of Aryan scoring deep-graven. For instance, the Hawaiian, word pali, cliff or precipice, is the very word that Young-husband--following, no doubt, the native speech of the region, the Pamirs--applies to the mountain-walls that buttress off Tibet and the central plateaus of Asia from northern India. Again the Hawaiian word mele, which we have used so often in these chapters as to make it seem almost like a household word, corresponds in form, in sound, and in meaning to the Greek. [Greek: melos: Page 261 ta melê], lyric poetry (Liddell and Scott). Again, take the Hawaiian word i'a, fish--Maori, ika; Malay, ikan; Java, iwa; Bouton, ikani (Edward Tregear: The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary). Do not these words form a chain that links the Hawaiian form to the [Greek: ichthus] of classic Greece? The subject is fascinating, but it would soon lead us astray. These examples must suffice.
If we can not give a full account of the tangled woodland of Hawaiian literature, it is something to be able to report on its fruits and the manner of men and beasts that dwelt therein. Are its fruits good for food, or does the land we have explored bring forth only poisonous reptiles and the deadly upas? Is it a land in which the very principles of art and of human nature are turned upside down? Its language the babble of Bander-log?
This excursion into the jungle of Hawaiian literature should at least impress us with the oneness of humanity; that its roots and springs of action, and ours, draw their sustenance from one and the same primeval mold; that, however far back one may travel, he will never come to a point where he can say this is "common or unclean;" so that he may without defilement "kill and eat" of what the jungle provides. The wonder is that they in Hawaii of the centuries past, shut off by vast spaces of sea and land from our world, yet accomplished so much.
Test the ancient Hawaiians by our own weights and measures. The result will not be to their discredit. In practical science, in domestic arts, in religion, in morals, in the raw material of literature, even in the finished article--though, unwritten--the showing would not be such as to give the superior race cause for self-gratulation.
Another lesson--a corollary to the above--is the debt of recognition we owe to the virtues and essential qualities of untutored human nature itself. Imagine a portion of our own race cut off from the thought-currents of the great world and stranded on the island-specks of the great ocean, as the Polynesians have been for a period of centuries that would count back to the times of William the Conqueror or Charlemagne, with only such outfit of the world's goods as might survive a 3,000-mile voyage in frail canoes, reenforced by such flotsam of the world's metallic stores as the tides of ocean might chance to bring them--and, with such limited capital to start with in life, what, should we judge, would have been the outcome of the experiment in religion, in morals, in art, in mechanics, in civilization, or in the production of materials for literature, as compared with what the white man found in Hawaii at its discovery in the last quarter of the eighteenth century?
It were well to come to the study of primitive and savage people, of nature-folk, with a mind purged of the thanks-to-the-goodness-and-the-grace spirit.
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It will not do for us to brush aside contemptuously the notions held by the Hawaiians in religion, cosmogony, and mythology as mere heathen superstitions. If they were heathen, there was nothing else for them to be. But even the heathen can claim the right to be judged by their deeds, not by their creeds. Measured by this standard, the average heathen would not make a bad showing in comparison with the average denizen of Christian lands. As to beliefs, how much more defensible were the superstitions of our own race two or three centuries ago, or of to-day, than those of the Hawaiians? How much less absurd and illogical were our notions of cosmogony, of natural history; how much less beneficent, humane, lovable the theology of the pagan Hawaiians than of our Christian ancestors a few centuries ago if looked at from an ethical or practical point of view. At the worst, the Hawaiian sacrificed the enemy he took in battle on the altar of his gods; the Christian put to death with exquisite torture those who disagreed with him in points of doctrine. And when it comes to morals, have not the heathen time and again demonstrated their ability to give lessons in self-restraint to their Christian invaders?
It is a matter of no small importance in the rating of a people to take account of their disposition toward nature. If there has been a failure to appreciate truly the mental attitude of the "savage," and especially of the Polynesian savage, the Hawaiian, toward the book of truth that was open to him in nature, it is always in order to correct it. That such a mistake has been made needs no further proof than the perusal of the following passage in a book entitled "History of the Sandwich Islands:"
To the heathen the book of nature is a sealed book. Where the word of God is not, the works of God fail either to excite admiration or to impart instruction. The Sandwich Islands present some of the sublimest scenery on earth, but to an ignorant native--to the great mass of the people in entire heathenism--it has no meaning. As one crested billow after another of the heaving ocean rolls in and dashes upon the unyielding rocks of an iron-bound coast, which seems to say, "Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther," the low-minded heathen is merely thinking of the shellfish on the shore. As he looks up to the everlasting mountains, girt with clouds and capped with snow, he betrays no emotion. As he climbs a towering cliff, looks down a yawning precipice, or abroad upon a forest of deep ravines, immense rocks, and spiral mountains thrown together in the utmost wildness and confusion by the might of God's volcanoes, he is only thinking of some roots in the wilderness that may be good for food.There is hardly a poem in this volume that does not show the utter falsity of this view. The writer of the words quoted above, now in his grave for more than sixty years, was a man for whose purity and moral character one must entertain the highest esteem. He enjoyed the very best opportunity to study the minds of the "heathen" about him, to discern their Page 263 thoughts, to learn at first hand their emotions toward the natural world, whether of admiration, awe, reverence, or whether their attitude was that of blank indifference and absorption in selfish things. But he utterly failed to penetrate the mystery, the "truth and poetry," of the Hawaiian mind and heart. Was it because he was tied to a false theology and a false theory of human nature? We are not called upon to answer this question. Let others say what was wrong in his standpoint. The object of this book is not controversial; but when a palpable injustice has been done, and is persisted in by people of the purest motives, as to the thoughts, emotions, and mental operations of the "savage," and as to the finer workings within that constitute the furniture and sanctuary of heart and soul, it is imperative to correct so grave a mistake; and we may be sure that he whose words have just been quoted, were he living today, would acknowledge his error.
Though it is not the purpose of these pages to set forth in order a treatise on the human nature of the "savage," or to make unneeded apology for the primitive and uncultured races of mankind in general, or for the Hawaiian in particular, yet it is no small satisfaction to be able to set in array evidence from the life and thoughts of the savages themselves that shall at least have a modifying influence upon our views on these points.
The poetry of ancient Hawaii evinces a deep and genuine love of nature, and a minute, affectionate, and untiring observation of her moods, which it would be hard to find surpassed in any literature. Her poets never tired of depicting nature; sometimes, indeed, their art seems heaven-born. The mystery, beauty, and magnificence of the island world appealed profoundly to their souls; in them the ancient Hawaiian found the image of man the embodiment of Deity; and their myriad moods and phases were for him an inexhaustible spring of joy, refreshment, and delight.
GLOSSARY
The study of Hawaiian pronunciation is mainly a study of vowel sounds and of accent. Each written vowel represents at least two related sounds.A (ah) has the Italian sound found in father, as in ha-le or in La-ka; also a short sound like that of a in liable, as in ke-a-ke-a, to contradict, or in a-ha, an assembly.
E (a) has the sound of long a in fate, or of e in prey, without
the i-glide that follows, as in the first syllable of Pé-le, or of mé-a, a thing; also the short sound of e in net, as in é-ha, hurt, or in péa, a sail.
I (ee) has the long sound of i in pique, or in police, as in i-li, skin, or in hí-la-hí-la, shame; also the short sound of i in hill, as in lí-hi, border, and in í-ki, small.
O (oh) has the long sound of o in note or in old, without the u-glide, as in ló-a, long, or as in the first syllable of Ló-no; also a short sound, which approximates to that sometimes erroneously given to the vowel in coat, as in pó-po, rotten, or as in ló-ko, a lake.
U (oo) has the long sound of u in rule, as in hú-la, to dance; and a short sound approximating to that of u in full, as in mú-ku, cut off.
Every Hawaiian syllable ends in a vowel. No attempt has been made to indicate these differences of vowel sound. The only diacritical marks here employed are the acute accent for stressed syllables and the apostrophe between two vowels to indicate the glottic closure or interruption of sound (improperly sometimes called a guttural) that prevents the two from coalescing.
In the seven diphthongs ae, ai, ao, au, ei, ia, and ua a delicate ear will not fail to detect a coalescence of at least two sounds, thus proving them not to be mere digraphs.
In animated description or pathetic narrative, or in the effort to convey the idea of length, or height, or depth, or immensity, the Hawaiian had a way of prolonging the vowel sounds of a word, as if by so doing he could intimate the amplitude of his thought.
The letter w (way) represents two sounds, corresponding to our w and our v. At the beginning of a word it has the sound of w (way), retaining this even when the word has become compounded. This is illustrated in Wái-a-lú-a (geographical name), and wá-ha mouth. In the middle of a word, or after the first syllable, it almost always has the sound of v (vay), as in hé-wa (wrong), and in E-wá (geographical name). In há-wa-wá (awkward), the compound word ha-wái (water-pipe), and several others the w takes the way sound.
The great majority of Hawaiian words are accented on the penult, and in simple words of four or more syllables there is, as a rule, an accent on the fourth and on the sixth syllables, counting back from the final syllable, as in lá-na-kí-la (victorious) and as in hó-o-kó-lo-kó-lo (to try at law).
Aha, (á-ha)--a braided cord of sinet; an assembly; a prayer or religious service (note a, p. 20).
Ahaaina (á-ha-ái-na)--a feast.
Ai (ai, as in aisle)--vegetable food; to eat; an event in a game or contest (p. 93).
Ai-á-lo (to eat in the presence of)--the persons privileged to eat at an alii's table.
Aiha'a (ai-ha'a):--a strained, bombastic, guttural tone of voice in reciting a mele, in contrast to the style termed ko'i-honua (pp. 49, 90).
Ailolo (ai-ló-lo=to eat brains)--a critical, ceremonial sacrifice, the conditions of which must be met before a novitiate can be admitted as a practitioner of the hula as well as of other skilled professions (pp. 15, 31, 34).
Aina (aí-na)--the land; a meal (of food).
Alii (a-li'i)--a chief; a person of rank; a king.
Aloha (a-ló-ha)--goodwill; affection; love; a word of salutation.
Ami (á-mi)--to bend; a bodily motion used in the hula (note, p. 202).
Anuenue (a-nú-e-nú-e)--a rainbow; a waterfall in Hilo (p. 61, verse 13).
Ao (á-o)--dawn; daytime; the world; a cloud (p. 196, verse 7).
Aumakua (aú-ma-kú-a)--an ancestral god (p. 23).
Awa (á-va)--bitter; sour; the soporific root of the Piper methysticum (p. 130).
Ekaha (e-káha)--the nidus fern, by the Hawaiians sometimes called ka hoe a Mawi, Mawi's paddle, from the shape of its leaves (p. 19).
Haena (Ha-é-na)--a village on the windward coast of Kauai, the home of Lohiau, for whom Pele conceived a passion in her dreams (p. 186).
Hala (há-la)--a sin; a variety of the "screw-pine" (Pandanus odoratissimus, Hillebrand). Its drupe was used in decoration, its leaves were braided into mats, hats, bags, etc.
Halapepe (há-la-pé-pe)--a tree used in decorating the kuahu (Dracæna aurea, Hillebrand) (p. 24).
Halau (ha-láu--made of leaves)--a canoe-shed; a hall consecrated to the hula; a sort of school of manual arts or the art of combat (p. 14).
Hale (há-le)--a house.
Hanai-kuahu (ha-nái-ku-á-hu--altarfeeder)--the daily renewal of the offerings laid on the kuahu; the officer who performed this work (p. 29).
Hanohano (há-no-há-no)--having dignity and wealth.
Hau (how)--a tree whose light, tough wood, strong fibrous bark, and mucilaginous flowers have many uses (Hibiscus tiliaceus).
Haumea (Hau-mé-a)--a mythological character, the same as Papa (note c, p. 126).
Heiau (hei-aú)--a temple.
Hiiaka, (Hi'i-á-ka)--the youngest sister of Pele (p. 186).
Hilo (Hí-lo)--to twist as in making string; the first day in the month when the new moon appears; a town and district in Hawaii (pp. 60, 61).
Holoku (hó-lo-kú)--a loose gown resembling a "Mother Hubbard," much worn by the women of Hawaii.
Hoonoa (ho'o-nó-a)--to remove a tabu; to make ceremonially free (p. 126).
Hooulu (ho'o-ú-lu)--to cause to grow; to inspire. (Verse 3, Pule Kuahu, p. 20, and verse 1, Pule Kuahu, p. 21.)
Hoopaa (ho'o-pá'a)--the members of a hula company who, as instrumentalists, remained stationary, not moving in the dance (p. 28).
Huikala (hú-i-ká-la)--to cleanse ceremonially; to pardon (p. 15).
Hula, (hú-la), or int. húlahúla--to dance, to make sport, to the accompaniment of music and song.
I'a (i'a)--fish; a general term for animal food or whatever relish serves for the time in its place.
Ieie (í-e-í-e)--a tall woody climber found in the wild woods, much used in decoration (Freycinetia arnotti, p. 19).
Ilamuka (í-la-mú-ku)--a constable.
Ilima (i-lí-ma)--a woody shrub (Sida fallax, Hillebrand) whose chrome-yellow flowers were much used in making wreaths (p. 56).
Ilio (i-lí-o)--a dog; a variety of hula (p. 223).
Imu (í-mu), sometimes umu (ú-mu)--a native oven, made by lining a hole in the ground and arching it over with stones (verse 3, Oli Paú, p. 51).
Inoa (i-nó-a)--a name. (See Mele inoa.)
Ipo (í-po)--a lover; a sweetheart.
Ipoipo (í-po-í-po), hoipo (ho-í-po)', or hoipoipo (ho-í-po-í-po)--to make love; to play the lover; sexual dalliance.
Ipu (í-pu)--a general name for the Cucurbitaceæ, and the dishes made from them, as well as dishes of coconut shell, wood, and stone; the drumlike musical instrument made from joining two calabashes (p. 73).
Iwa (í-wa, pr. í-va)--the number nine; a large black sea-bird, probably a gull (p. 76).
Kahiki (Ka-hí-ki)--Tahiti; any foreign country (p. 17).
Kahiko (ka-hí-ko)--ancient; to array; to adorn.
Kahuna (ka-hú-na)--a priest; a skilled craftsman. Every sort of kahuna was at bottom and in some regard a priest, his special department being indicated by a qualifying word, as kahuna anaana, sorcerer, kahuna kalai wa'a, canoe-maker.
Kai (pr. kye)--the ocean; salty. I-kai, to the ocean; ma-kai, at the ocean.
Kakaolelo (ka-ká-o-lé-lo)--one skilled in language; a rhetorician; a councilor (p. 98).
Kamapua'a (Ká-ma-pu-a'a)--literally the hog-child; the mythological swine-god, whose story is connected with that of Pele (p. 231).
Kanaka, (ka-ná-ka)--a man; a commoner as opposed to the alii. Kanaka (ká-na-ka), men in general; the human race. (Notice the different accents.)
Kanaenae (ká-nae-naé)--a propitiatory sacrifice; an intercession; a part of a prayer (pp. 16, 20).
Kanaloa (Ká-na-ló-a)--one of the four major gods, represented as of a dark complexion, and of a malignant disposition (p. 24).
Kane (Ká-ne)--male; a husband; one of the four major gods, represented as being a tall blond and of a benevolent disposition (p. 24).
Kapa (ká-pa)--the paper-cloth of the Polynesians, made from the fibrous bark of many plants by pounding with wooden beaters while kept moist.
Kapo (Ká-po)--a goddess and patron of the hula, sister of the poison-god, Kalai-pahoa, and said to be mother of Laka (pp. 25, 45).
Kapu (ká-pu).---a tabu; a religious prohibition (pp. 30, 57).
Kau (Ka-u)--"the milk;" a district on the island of Hawaii.
Kawele (ka-wé-le)--a manner of cantillating in a distinct and natural tone of voice; about the same as ko'i-honua (p. 58).
Kihei (ki-héi)--a robe of kapa worn after the fashion of the Roman toga.
Kii (ki'i)--to fetch, to go after a thing; an image, a picture, a marionette; a Tariety of the hula (p. 91).
Kilauea (Ki-lau-é-a)--the great active volcano of Hawaii.
Kini (kí-ni)--the number 40,000; a countless number. Kini Akua, a host of active, often mischievous, "little" folk in human form that peopled the deep woods. They resembled our elves and brownies, and were esteemed as having godlike powers (p. 21, note; p. 24).
Kilu (kí-lu)--a dish made by cutting off obliquely the top of a coconut or small gourd, which was used as a sort of top in the game and dance called kilu. (Hula kilu, p. 235.)
Ko--sugar-cane; performed, accomplished. With the causative prefix ho'o, as in ho'oko (ho'o-kó), to accomplish, to carry to success (p. 30 ).
Ko'i (kó'i)--an ax, an adz; originally a stone implement. (See mele beginning Ko'i maka nui, p. 228.)
Ko'i honua (ko'i ho-nú-a)--a compound of the causative ko, i, to utter, and honua, the earth; to recite or cantillate in a quiet distinct tone, in distinction from the stilted bombastic manner termed ai-ha'a (p. 58).
Kokua-kumu, (ko-kú-a-kú-mu)--the assistant or deputy who took charge of the halau in the absence of the kumu-hula, (p. 29).
Kolea (ko-lé-a)--the plover; the name of a hula (p. 219).
Kolohe (ko-ló-he)--mischievous; restless; lawless (note d, p. 194).
Kona, (Kóna)--a southerly wind or storm; a district on the leeward side of many of the islands.
Koolau (Ko'o-láu)--leaf-compeller; the windward side of an island; the name of a wind. (A Koolau wau, ike i ka ua, verse 1, p. 59.)
Ku--to stand; to rise up; to fit; a division of land; one of the four major gods who had many functions, such as Ku-pulupulu, Ku-mokuhalii, Ku-kaili-moku, etc. (Mele, Ku e, nana e! p. 223.)
Kuahu (ku-á-hu)--an altar; a rustic stand constructed in the halau in honor of the hula gods (p. 15).
Kuhai-moana (Ku-hái-mo-á-na)--a shark-god (pp. 76, 77).
Ku'i (ku'i)--to smite; to beat; the name of a hula (p. 250).
Kukui (ku-kú-i)--a tree (Aleurites moluccana) from the nuts of which were made torches; a torch. (Mahana lua na kukui a Lanikaula, p. 130, note c.)
Kumu-hula (kú-mu húla)--a teacher and leader of the hula.
Kupee (ku-pe'e)--a bracelet; an anklet (Mele Kupe'e, p. 49.)
Kupua (ku-pú-a)--a superhuman being; a wonder-worker; a wizard.
Ku-pulupulu (Kú-pú-lu-pú-lú)--Ku the hairy; one of the forms of god Ku, propitiated by canoe-makers and hula folk (p. 24).
Laa (Lá'a)--consecrated; holy; devoted.
Laa-mai-Kahiki--A prince who flourished some six or seven centuries ago and voyaged to Kahiki and back. He was an ardent patron of the hula (p. 103).
Lama (lá-ma)--a torch; a beautiful tree (Maba sandwicensis, Hillebrand) having fine-grained whitish wood that was much used for sacred purposes (p. 23).
Lanai (la-nái)--a shed or veranda; an open part of a house covered only by a roof.
Lanai (La-na'i)--the small island lying southwest of Maui.
Lani (lá-ni)--the sky; the heaven or the heavens; a prince or king; heaven-born (pp. 81, 82).
Lehua, (le-hú-a)--a forest tree (Metrosideros polymorpha) whose beautiful scarlet or salmon-colored flowers were much used in decoration (Pule Hoo-noa, p. 126).
Lei (lei: both vowels are sounded, the i slightly)--a wreath of flowers, of leaves, feathers, beads, or shells (p. 56).
Liloa (Li-ló-a)--an ancient king of Hawaii, the father of Umi (p. 131).
Lohiau (Ló-hi-áu)--the prince of Haena, with whom Pele became enamored in her dreams (p. 186).
Lolo (ló-lo)--the brain (p. 34).
Lono (Ló-no)--one of the four major gods of Hawaii (p. 24).
Luau (lu-aú)--greens made by cooking young taro leaves; in modern times a term applied to a Hawaiian feast.
Mahele (ma-hé-le)--to divide; a division of a mele; a canto; a part of a song-service (p. 58).
Mahiole (má-hi-ó-le)--a helmet or war-cap, a style of hair-cutting in imitation of the same (p. 91).
Mahuna (ma-hú-na)--a small particle; a fine scale; a variety of delicate kapa; the desquamation of the skin resulting from habitual awa-drinking.
Makalii (Má-ka-li'i)--small eyes; small, fine; the Pleiades (p. 216 and note on p. 218).
Malo (má-lo)--a loin-cloth worn especially by men. (Verses 3, 4, 5, 6 of mele on p. 36).
Mano (ma-nó)--a shark; a variety of hula (p. 221).
Mauna (máu-na)--a mountain. A word possibly of Spanish origin.
Mele (mé-le)--a poem; a song; to chant; to sing.
Mele inoa--a name-song; a eulogy (pp. 27, 37).
Mele kahea (ka-héa = to call)--a password by which one gained admission to the halau (pp. 38, 41).
Moo (mó'o)--a reptile; a dragon; a mythologic monster (p. 260).
Muumuu (mu'u-mu'u)--an under garment worn by women; a shift; a chemise; a person maimed of hand or foot; the name of a hula (p. 212).
Naulu (náu-lu)--name of the seabreeze at Waimea, Kauai. Ua naulu = a heavy local rain (pp. 110, 112).
Noa (nó-a)--ceremonially free; unrestrained by tabu (p. 126).
Noni (no-ni)--a dye-plant (Morinda citrifolia) whose fruit was sometimes eaten.
Nuuanu (Nu'u-á-nu) a valley back of Honolulu that leads to the "Pali."
Ohe (ó-he)--bamboo; a flute; a variety of the hula (pp. 135, 145).
Ohelo (o-hé-lo)--an edible berry that grows at high altitudes; to reach out; to stretch; a variety of the hula (p. 233).
Ohia (o-hi'a)--a name in some places applied to the lehua (q. v.), more generally the name of a fruit tree, the "mountain apple" (Eugenia malaccensis).
Olapa (o-lá-pa)--those members of a hula company who moved in the dance, as distinguished from the hoopaa, q. v., who sat and cantillated or played on some instrument (p. 28).
Oli (ó-li)--a song; a lyric; to sing or chant (p. 254).
Olioli--Joyful.
Olohe (o-ló-he)--an expert in the hula; one who has passed the ailolo test and has also had much experience (p. 32).
Oo (o-ó)--a spade; an agricultural implement, patterned after the whale spade (p. 85); a blackbird, one of those that furnished the golden-yellow feathers for the ahuula, or feather cloak.
Paepae (pae-páe)--a prop; a support; the assistant to the po'o-pua'a (p. 29).
Pahu (pá-hu)--a box; a drum; a landmark; to thrust, said of a spear (pp. 103, 138).
Pale (pá-le)--a division; a canto of a mele; a division of the song service in a hula performance (pp. 58, 89).
Pali (pá-li)--a precipice; a mountain wall cut up with steep ravines. (Mele on pp. 51-53, verses 4, 5, 8, 16, 17, 27, 49.)
Papa (pá-pa)--a board; the plane of the earth's surface; a mythological character, the wife of Wakea.
Pa-u (pa-ú)--a skirt; a garment worn by women reaching from the waist to about the knees (p. 50). The dress of the hula performer (p. 49), Oli Pa-ú (p. 51).
Pele (Pé-le)--the goddess of the volcano and of volcanoes generally, who held court at the crater of Kilauea, on Hawaii; a variety of the hula (p. 186).
Pikai (pi-kái)--to asperse with seawater mixed, perhaps, with turmeric, etc., as in ceremonial cleansing (p. 31).
Poo-puaa (po'o-pu-a'a)--Boar's head; the one selected by the pupils in a school of the hula to be their agent and mouthpiece (p. 29).
Pua'a (pu-a'a)--a pig; the name of a hula (p. 228).
Puka (pú-ka)--a hole, a doorway, to pass through.
Pule (pú-le)--a prayer; an incantation; to pray.
Pulou (pu-lo'u)--to muffle; to cover the head and face (p. 31).
Puniu (pu-ní-u)--a coconut shell; a small drum made from the coconut shell (p. 141); a derisive epithet for the human headpiece.
Ti, or ki--a plant (Dracæna terminalis) that has large smooth green leaves used for wrapping food and in decoration. Its fleshy root becomes syrupy when cooked (p. 44).
Uka (ú-ka)--landward or mountainward.
Uku-lele (ú-ku-lé-le)--a flea; a sort of guitar introduced by the Portuguese.
Uniki (u-ní-ki)--the début or the first public performance of a hula actor. (Verse 21 of mele on p. 17.)
Waa (wá'a)--a canoe.
Wahine (wa-hí-ne)--a female; a woman; a wife.
Wai--water.
Waialeale (Wai-á-le-á-le)--billowy water; the central mountain on the island of Kauai (p. 106).
INDEX
[NOTE.--All Hawaiian words, as such (except catch words), are italicized.]
AALA KUPUKUPU: mele kupe'e 49A EULOGY for the princess: song for the hula ku'i Molokai 209
A HAMAKUA AU: mele for the hula kaekeeke 122
A HILO au, e: mele for the hula pa'i-umauma 203
AIA I Wai-pi'o Paka'alana: old mele set to music VIII 162
AI-HA'A, a style of recitation 58
AILOLO OFFERING, at graduation from the school of the halau 32
A KAUAI, a ke olewa iluna: mele for the hula Pele 189
A KE KUAHIWI: a kanaenae to Laka 16
A KOA'E-KEA: mele for the hula ala'a-papa 67
A KOOLAU WAU: mele for the hula ala'a-papa 59
A LALO maua o Waipi'o: mele for the hula íliíli 120
ALAS, alas, maimed are my hands! lament of Mana-mana-ia-kaluea 212
ALAS, I am seized by the shark: song for the hula manó 222
ALAS, there's no stay to the smoke! song for the hula Pele 195
ALOHA na hale o makou: mele komo, welcome to the halau 39
ALOHA wale oe: song with music IX 164
ALTAR-PRAYER--
at ailolo inspection: Laka sits in her shady grove 34
at ailolo service: O goddess Laka! 34
in prose speech: E ola ia'u, i ka malihini 46
Invoke we now the four thousand 22
Thou art Laka 42
to Kane and Kapo: Now Kane, approach 45
to Laka: Here am I, O Laka from the mountains 20
to Laka: This my wish 43
to Laka: This spoil and rape of the wildwood 19
A MACKEREL SKY, time for foul weather: song for the hula ala'a-papa 70
AMI, not a motion of lewd intent 210
AMUSEMENTS in Hawaii communal 13
ANKLET SONG: Fragrant the grasses 49
AOLE AU E HELE ka li'u-la o Maná: mele for the hula pa-ipu 79
AOLE E MAO ka ohu: mele for the hula Pele 195
AOLE I MANAO IA: mele for the hula úli-ulí 108
A PILI, a pili: mele for the hula hoonaná 244
A PIT LIES (far) to the East: song for the hula pa-ipu 86
A PLOVER at the full of the sea: song for the hula kolea 220
A PUA ka wiliwili: a bit of folk-lore (note) 221
A PUNA AU: mele for the hula pahu 104
A SEARCH for a sweetheart: song for the hula ulili 247
ASPERSION in ceremonial purification 15
ASSONANCE by word-repetition 227
A STORM from the sea: song for the hula pa-ipu 78
AT HILO I rendezvoused with the lehua: song for the hula pa'i-umauma 203
ATTITUDE of the Hawaiian toward--
AT WAILUA stands the main house-post: song for the hula Pele 192
AUHEA wale oe, e ka Makani Inu-wai? mele for the hula úli-ulí 110
AUWE, auwe, mo' ku'u lima! lament of Mana-mana-ia-kaluea 212
AUWE, pau au i ka manó nui, e! mele for the hula manó 221
A ÚWEUWÉ ke ko'e a ke kae: mele oli in the game of kilu 240
AWA DEBAUCH of Kane 131
AWILIWILI i ka hale o ka lauwili, e: a proverbial saying (note) 53
AX OF BROADEST EDGE I'm hight: song for the hula pua'a 230
BAMBOO RATTLE, the puili 144
BEDECK now the board for the feast: song-prayer for the hula Pele 200
BEGOTTEN were the gods of graded rank: song of cosmology (note) 196
BEHOLD KAUNÁ, that sprite of windy Ka-ú: song for the hula Pele 193
BIG WITH CHILD is the princess Ku: song for the hula pa-ipu 81
BIT OF FOLK-LORE: A pua ka wiliwili (note) 221
When flowers the wiliwili (note) 221
BLOOM OF LEHUA on altar piled: prayer to remove tabu at intermission 127
BLOW, BLOW, thou wind of Hilo! old sea song (note) 65
BURST OF SMOKE from the pit: song for the hula pa-ipu 89
CADENCE IN MUSIC 140
CALABASH HULAS 102
CALL TO THE MAN to come in: song of welcome to the halau 41
CASTANETS 147
CEREMONIAL CLEANSING in the halau 30
CIPHER SPEECH 97
CLOTHING OR COVERING, illustrated by gesture 178
COCONUT DRUM, puniu 141
COME NOW, MANONO: song for the hula pa'i-umauma 204
COME UP to the wildwood, come: song for the hula ohe 136
COMRADE MINE in the robe-stripping gusts of Lalau: song for the hula kilu 241
CONVENTIONAL GESTURES 180, 182
COSTUME of the hula dancer 49
COURT OF THE ALII the recruiting ground for hula performers 27
CULTS of the hula folk--were there two? 47
DANCE, a premeditated affair in Hawaii 13
DAVID MALO, hulas mentioned by 107
DEATH, represented by gesture 178
DÉBUT of a hula performer 35
DÉBUT-SONG of a hula performer: Ka nalu nui, a ku ka nalu mai Kona 35
DECORATIONS of the kuahu--the choice limited 19
DISMISSING PRAYER at intermission: Doomed sacrifice I 129
DISPENSATION granted to pupils before graduation from the halau 33
DIVISIONS of mele recitation in the hula 58
DOOMED SACRIFICE I: dismissing prayer at intermission 129
DRESSING SONG of hula girls: Ku ka punohu ula 55
DRUM--
DRUM HULA, the 103
E ALA, e Kahiki-ku: mele for the hula Pele 196
E HEA i ke kanáka e komo maloko (mele komo): welcome to the halau 41
E HOOPONO ka hele: mele apropos of Nihi-aumoe 94
E HOOULU ana i Kini o ke Akua: altar-prayer 21
EIA KE KUKO, ka li'a: altar-prayer, to Laka 43
EI'AU, e Laka mai uka: altar-prayer 20
E IHO ana oluna: oracular utterance of Kapihe 99
E KAUKAU i hale manu, e: mele for the hula ki'i 99
E LAKA, E! mele kuahu at aiolo service 34
E LE'E KAUKAU: mele for the hula ki'i 98
ELEELE KAUKAU: mele for the hula ki'i 97
ELLIS, REV. WILLIAM--
ELOCUTION and rhythmic accent in Hawaiian song 158
E MANONO la, ea: mele for the hula pa'i-umauma 204
ENGULFED in heaven's abyss: song for the hula kilu 243
E OE MAUNA i ka ohu: mele for the hula Pele 194
E OLA IA'U, i ka malihini: altar-prayer, in prose speech 46
E PI' I ka nahele: mele for the hula ohe 135
E P'I ka-wai ka nahele: mele for the hula niau-kani 133
EPITHALAMIUM, mele for the hula ki'i: O Wanahili ka po loa ia Manu'a 100
E ULU, e ulu: altar-prayer to the Kini Akua 46
EWA'S LAGOON is red with dirt: song for the hula pa-ipu 84
E WEWEHI, ke, ke! mele for the hula ki'i 94
FABLE, Hawaiian love of 111
FACIAL EXPRESSION 179
FAME TRUMPETS your conquests each day: song for the hula ku'i 253
FEET AND LEGS in gesture 181
FISH-TREE, Maka-léi (note) 17
FLOWERS acceptable for decoration 19
FLUCTUATING UTTERANCE in song, i'i 158
FOLK-LORE, application of the term 114
FOREIGN INFLUENCE on Hawaiian music 138, 163
FRAGRANT THE GRASSES of high Kane-hoa: anklet song 49
FROM KAHIKI came the woman, Pele: song for the hula Pele 188
FROM MOUNTAIN RETREAT---
GAME OF KILU 235
GAME OF NA-Ú (note) 118
GENERAL REVIEW 260
GESTURE--
GLOSSARY 266
GLOWING is Kahiki, oh! song for the hula pa-ipu 75
GOD--
GODS, attitude of the Hawaiian toward the 225
GODS of the hula 23
GOURD DRUM, ipu-hula 142
GOURD-RATTLE, úli-ulí 144
GRADUATION from the halau--
HAKI pu o ka nahelehele: altar-prayer to Laka 18
HAKU'I ka uahi o ka lua: mele for the hula pa-ipu 88
HALAU--
HALE-MA'UMA'U (note) 229
HALL for the hula. See Halau.
HANALEI is a hall for the dance in the pouring rain: a song 155
HANAU ke apapa nu'u: song of cosmology (note) 186
HAUNT of white tropic bird: song for the hula ala'a-papa 67
HAWAIIAN HARP, the ukeké 147
HAWAIIAN love of fable 111
HAWAIIAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 138
HAWAIIAN MUSIC displaced by foreign 138
HAWAIIAN SLANG 68
HAWAIIAN SONG--
HAWAIIAN SPEECH, music affected by peculiarities of 139
HAWAII PONOI (national hymn) with music XIV 172
HAWAII'S VERY OWN: translation of national hymn 175
HE ALA kai olohia: mele for the hula ku'i Molokai 207
HEAVEN MAGIC fetch a Hilo pour: song for the hula ala'a-papa 66
HE INOA no ka Lani: mele for the hula ku'i Molokai 208
HE INOA no Kamehameha: song set to music VIII 162
HE LUA i ka hikina: mele for the hula pa-ipu 85
HERE AM I, O Laka from the mountains: altar-prayer to Laka 20
HE UA LA, he ua: mele for the hula kolani 216
HE Ú-I, he ninau: mele for Kane 257
HIIAKA--
HIKI MAI, hiki mai ka La, e! mele for the hula puili 114
HI'U-O-LANI, kii ka ua o Hilo: mele for the hula ala'a-papa 65
HOAEÀE EXPLAINED 163
HOE PUNA i ka wa'a pololo a ka ino: mele for the hula ala'a-papa 70
HOINAINAU mea ipo: mele for the hula ala'a-papa 71
HOLE WAIMEA i ka ihe a ka makani: mele for the hula ala'a-papa 68
HO! MOUNTAIN of vapor puffs: song for the hula Pele 194
HOOLEHELEHE-KI'I 91
HOOPA'A, a division of the hula performers 28, 57
HOOPONO OE, he aina kai Waialua i ka hau: mele for hula ala'a-papa 60
HOW PLEASED is the girl maimed of hand and foot: song of Hiiaka 212
HOW PLEASING, when borne by the tide: song for the hula ku'i 252
HUAHUA'I: song with music X: He aloha wau ia oe 166
HULA--
HULA ALA'A-PAPA, THE--
HULA ÍLI-ÍLI, THE 120
HULA ILIO, THE 223
HULA KAEKEEKE, THE 122
HULA KA-LAAU 116
HULA KIELEI, THE 210
HULA KI'I, THE 91
HULA KILU, THE 235
HULA KOLANI, THE 216
HULA KOLEA, THE 219
HULA KOLILI, THE 246
HULA KU'I MOLOKAI, THE 207
HULA KU'I, THE 250
HULA KUÓLO, THE 73
HULA MANÓ, THE 221
HULA MU'UMU'U, THE 212
HULA NIAU-KANI, THE 132
HULA OHELO, THE 233
HULA OHE, THE 135
HULA O-NIU, THE 248
HULA PA-HUA, THE 183
HULA PAHU, THE 103
HULA PA-IPU, THE 73
HULA PA'I-UMAUMA, THE 202
HULA PALÁNI, THE (note) 202
HULA PELE, THE 186
HULA PERFORMANCE, influenced by instrument of accompaniment 113
HULA PERFORMERS--
HULA PUA'A, THE 228
HULA PUILI, THE 113
HULAS--
HULA ULILI, THE 246
HULA ÚLI-ULÍ, THE 107
"HURA KA RAAU," description of, by Rev. William Ellis 116
I ALOHA i ke ko a ka wai: mele for the hula ku'i 251
I AM SMITTEN with spear of Kane: song for the hula pa-hua 184
IDYL, typical Hawaiian 217217
I'I--
I KAMA'AMA'A la i ka pualei: mele pule for the hula Pele 199
IKE IA KAUKINI: mele to Kaukini (note) 51
IKE IA KAUNÁ-WAHINE, Makani Ka-u: mele for the hula Pele 193
ILIÍLI, castanets 147
ILL OMEN, words of, in mele inoa 37
IN PUNA WAS I: song for the hula pahu 105
INTERMISSION OF HULA 126
IN THE UPLANDS, the darting flame-bird of La'a: password to the halau 41
INVITATION to come in, by gesture 179
INVOKE WE NOW the Four Thousand: altar-prayer 22
IN WAIPI'O stands Paka'alana: name-song of Kamehameha 163
IPU HULA, gourd drum 58, 142
treatment of, in hula pa-ipu and in hula ala'a-papa 73
IT HAS COME, it has come: song for the hula puili 114
IT WAS IN HAMAKUA: song for the hula kaekeeke 123
I WILL NOT CHASE the mirage of Maná: song for the hula pa-ipu, 80
KAEKEEKE, musical bamboo pipe, 143
KAHEA i ka mele, 58
KAHIKI-NUI, auwahi ka makani: mele for the hula kaekeeke, 124
KAHIKI-NUI, land of wind-driven smoke: song for the hula kaekeeke, 125
KAHIPA, na waiu olewa: mele for the hula pa'i-umauma, 205
KAHULI AKU, kahuli mai: mele apropos of the tree-shell, 121
KAKUA PA-Ú, ahu na kiképa: tiring song, 51
KALAKALAIHI, kaha ka La ma ke kua o Lehua: mele for the hula kilu, 238
KALAKAUA, a great name: song for the hula ka-laau, 117
KALALAU, pali eku i ka makani: mele for the hula ki'i, 101
KA-LIU-WA'A (note), 230
KAMA-PUA'A, his relations with--
KA MAWAE: song and music XI, 167
KAMEHAMEHA II, song composed by, 69
KA-MOHO-ALII (note), 229
KANAENAE TO LAKA: A ke kuahiwi, i ke kualono, 16
KANALOA. See Gods of the hula.
KANALOA TINTS HEAVEN with a blush: song for the hula kilu, 242
KA NALU NUI, a ku ka nalu mai Kona: name-song to Naihe, 35
KANE, HIKI A'E, he maláma ia luna: altar-prayer to Kane and Kapo, 44
KANE is DRUNKEN with awa: song for interlude, 130
KANE'S AWA DEBAUCH, 131
KANE. See Gods of the hula.
KAPO--
KAUAI, characteristics of its hula, 119
KAUHUA KU, ka Lani, iloli ka moku: mele for the hula pa-ipu, 80
KAU KA HA-É-A, kau o ka hana wa ele: mele for the hula ala'a-papa, 69
KA UKA HOLO-KIA ahi-manu o La'a: password to the halau, 41
KAULANA mai nei Pua Lanakila: mele for the hula ku'i, 252
KAULA WEARS the ocean as a wreath: wreath-song, 56
KAULA WREATHES her brow with the ocean: song of Mana-mana-ia-kaluea, 213
KAU LILUA i ke anu Wai-aleale: mele for the hula pahu, 105
KAUÓ PU KA IWA kala-pahe'e: mele for the hula pa-ipu, 76
KA WAI opua-makani o Wailua: an oli, 255
KAWELO, a sorcerer who turned shark (note), 79
KEAAU is a long strip of wild wood: song for the hula ala'a-papa, 62
KEAAU SHELTERS, Waiakea lies in the calm: song for the hula ala'a-papa, 61
KE AMO la ke ko'i ke Akua la i uka: mele for the hula Pele, 190
KEAWE--
KE LEI MAI la o Kaula i ke kai, e-e!--
KE POHÁ NEI; u'ína la: mele for the hula o-niu248
KI'I-KI'I 91
KI'I NA KA IPO: mele for the hula ulili 246
KILELEI, THE HULA 210
KILU, a game and a hula 235
KILU-CONTEST of Hiiaka with Pele-ula 240
KING, CAPT. JAMES, on the music and dancing of the Hawaiians 149
KING'S WASH-TUBS 116
KINI AKUA, THE 24, 46
KO'I-HONUA, a style of recitation 58, 89
KO'I MAKA NUI: mele oli for the hula pua'a 228
KOLEA KAI PIHA: mele for the hula kolea 219
KONA KAI OPUA, i kala i ka la'i: mele for the hula ka-laau 117
KUAHU-SERVICE, not a rigid liturgy 21
KUAHU, THE 15, 32
KU AKU LA KEAAÚ, lele ka makani mawaho: mele for the hula pa-ipu 77
KUA LOLOA Keaáu i ka nahele: mele for the hula ala'a-papa62
KU, A MARIONETTE 91
KU E, NANÁ E! mele for the hula ilio 223
KU I WAILUA ka pou hale: mele for the hula Pale 191
KU KA MAKAIA a ka huaka'i moe ípo: dismissing prayer at intermission 129
KU KA PUNOHU ula i ka moana: girl's dressing song 55
KUKULU O KAHIKI (note) 17
KUMU-HULA, a position open to all 15
KUMUKAHI, myth (note) 197
KUNIHI KA MAUNA i ka la'i, e: mele kahea, password to the halau 10
KU OE KO'U WAHI ohelo nei la, auwe, auwe! mele for the hula ohelo 233
KU PILIKI'I Hanalei lehua, la: mele for the hula kielei 210
KU-PULUPULU. See Gods of the hula.
KU. See Gods of the hula.
KU'U HOA MAI ka makani kuehu kapa o Kalalau: mele for the hula kilu 240
LA'A MAI-KAHIKI--
LAAU, a xylophone 144
LAKA--
LAMENT OF MANA-MANA-IA-KALUEA--
LAU LEHUA punoni ula ke kai o Kona: mele for the hula pa-ipu 75
LEAF OF LEHUA and noni-tint, the Kona sea: song for the hula pa-ipu 76
LE'A WALE hoi ka wahine lima-lima ole, wawae ole: mele of Hiiaka 212
LEHUA ILUNA: tabu-lifting prayer at intermission 126
LELE MAHU'I-LANI a luna: a tiring song 56
LET'S WORSHIP NOW the bird-cage: song for the hula ki'i 99
LIFT MAHU'I-LANI on high: tiring song 56
LIKE NO A LIKE: song with music XII 168
LIMA-LOA, god of mirage (note) 79
LITERALISM IN TRANSLATION versus fidelity 88
LITURGY OF KUAHU not rigid 21
LI'ULI'U ALOHA ia'u mele kahea: password to the halau 39
LONG, LONG have I tarried with love: password to the halau 39
LONO, cult of 18
See Gods of the hula.
LOOK NOW, WAIALUA, land clothed with ocean-mist: song for the hula ala'a-papa 60
LOOK TO YOUR WAYS in upland Puna: song apropos of Nihi-aumoe 94
LO, PELE'S THE GOD of my choice: song prayer for the hula Pele 199
LO, THE RAIN, the rain: song for the hula kolani 217
LOVE FAIN COMPELS to greet thee: song, "Cold breast," with music IX 165
LOVE IS AT PLAY in the grove: song for the hula ala'a-papa 74
LOVE TOUSLED WAIMEA with shafts of the wind: song for the hula ala'a-papa 69
LYRIC OR OLI: The wind-beaten stream of Wailua 256
LYRIC UTTERANCE 254-256
MAHELE OR PALE, divisions of a song 58
MAI KAHIKI ka wahine, o Pele: mele for the hula Pele 187
MAILE-LAU-LI'I 91
MAILE-PAKAHA 91
MAKA-KU 91
MAKA-LÉI, a mythical fish-tree (note) 177
MAKALI'I, the Pleiades (note) 17
MALUA, fetch water of love: song for the hula puili 115
MALUA, ki'i wai ke aloha: mele for the hula puili 114
MAO WALE i ka lani: mele for the hula kilu 243
MARIONETTE HULA 91
MASKS NOT USED in the halau 179
MAULI-OLA, god of health (note) 198
MELES--
apropos of--
Kahuli, the tree-shell: Kahuli aku, kahuli mai 121
Keawe: O Keawe ula-i-ka-lani (note) 74
Nihi-aumoe: E hoopono ka hele i ka uha o Puna 94
at début of hula performer: Ka nalu nui, a ku ka nalu mai Kona 35
for interlude: Ua ona o Kane i ka awa 130
for Kane: He ú-i, he nináu 257
for the--
hula ala'a-papa--
A Koa'e-kea, i Pueo-hulu-nui 67
A Koolau wau, ike i ka ua 59
Hi'u-o-lani, ki'i ka ua o Hilo 65
Hoe Puna i ka wa'a polólo 70
Ho-ina-inau mea ipo i ka nahele 71
Hole Waimea i ka ihe a ka makani 68
Hoopono oe, he aina kai Waialua i ka hau 60
Kau ka ha-é-a, kau o ka hana wa ele 69
Kua loloa Keaau i ka nahele 62
Noluna ka Hale-kai, no ka ma'a-lewa 63
Pakú Kea-au, lulu Wai-akea60
hula hoonaná: A pili, a pili 244
hula íliíli: A lalo maua o Waipi'o 120
hula ilio: Ku e, naná e! 223
hula kaekeeke--
A Hamakua au 122
Kahiki-nui, auwahi ka makani 124
hula ka-laau--
Kona kai opua i kala i ka la'i 117
O Kalakaua, he inoa 117
hula kielei Ku piliki'i Hanalei-lehua, la 210
hula ki'i--
E kaukau i hale manu, e! 99
E le'e kaukau 98
Eleele kaukau 97
E Wewehi, ke, ke! 94
Kalalau, pali eku i ka makani 101
Pikáka e, ka luna ke, ke! 96
hula kilu--
Kálakálaíhi, kaha ka La ma ke kua o Lehua 238
Ku'u hoa mai ka makani kuehu-kapa o Kalalau 240
Mao wale i ka lani 243
Pua ehu kamaléna ka uka o Kapa'a 237
Ula Kala'e-loa i ka lepo a ka makani 239
Ula ka lani ia Kanaloa 241
hula kolani: He wa la, he ua 216
hula kolea: Kolea kai piha 219
hula ku'i--
I aloha i ke ko a ka wai 251
Kaulana mai nei Pua Lanakila 252
hula ku'i Molokai--
He ala kai olohia 207
He inoa no ka Lani 208
hula manó: Auwe! pau au i ka monó nui, e! 221
hula mu'umu'u: Pi'i ana a-ama 213
hula niau-kani: E pi'i ka wai ka nahele 133
hula ohe: E pi' i ka nahele 135
hula ohelo: Ku oe ko'u wahi ohelo nei la, auwe, auwe! 233
hula o-niu: Ke pohá nei, u'ína la! 248
hula pahu--
A Puna au, i Kuki'i au, i Ha'eha'e 104
Kau lilua i ke anu Wai-aleale 105
O Hilo oe, muliwai a ka ua i ka lani 104
hula pa-hua: Pa au i ka ihe a Kane 183
hula pa-ipu--
Aole au e hele ka li'u-la o Maná 79
Haku'i ka uahi o ka lua 88
He lua i lea hikina 85
Kauhua Ku, ka Lani, iloli ka moku 80
Kauo pu ka iwa kala-pahe'e 76
Ku aku la Kea-aú, lele ka makani mawaho 77
Lau lehua punoni ula ke kai o Kona 75
O Ewa, aina kai ula i ka lepo 84
Ooe no paha ia, e ka lau o ke aloha 82
Wela Kahiki, e! 73
hula pa'i-umauma--
A Hilo au, e, hoolulu ka lehua 203
E Manono la, ea 204
Kahipa, na waiu olewa 205
hula Pele--
A Kauai, a ke olewa iluna 189
Aole e mao ka ohu 195
E ala, e Kahiki-ku 196
E oe mauna i ka ohu 194
I kama'ama'a la i ka pua-lei 199
Ike ia Kauná-wahine, Makani Ka-ú 193
Ke amo la ke Akua la i-uka 190
Ku i Wailua ka pou hale 191
Mai Kahiki ka Wahine, o Pele 187
Nou paha e, ka inoa 200
O Pele la ko'u akua 198
hula puili--
Hiki mai, hiki mai ka La, e! 114
Malua, ki'i wai ke aloha 114
hula ulili: Ki'i na ka ipo 246
hula úli-ulí--
Aole i mana'o ia 108
Auhea wale oe, e ka Makani Inu-wai? 110
inoa--
composition and criticism of 27
must contain no words of ill omen 37
their authors called "the king's wash-tubs" 116
to Naihe: Ka nalu nui, a ku ka nalu mai Kona 35
in the hula, starting of 58
kahea, password to the halau--
Ka uka holo-kia ahi-manu o La'a 41
Kunihi ka mauna i ka la'i, e 40
Li'u-li'u aloha ia'u 39
komo, welcome to the halau--
Aloha na hale o makou i makamaka ole 39
E hea i ke kanaka e komo maloko 41
kuahu, altar-prayer--
E, Laka, e! 34
Noho ana Laka i ka ulu wehiwehi 33
kupe'e, anklet song: Aala kupukupu ka uka o Kanehoa 49
of Hiiaka: Le'a wale hoi ka wahine limalima ole, wawae ole 212
of Mana-mana-ia-kaluea: Ke lei mai la o Kaula i ke kai e-e! 212
oli--
for the hula pua'a: Ko'i maka nui 228
in the game of kilu: A uweuwe ke ko'e a ke kae 240
set to music--
XI: A e ho'i ke aloha i ka mawae 167
VIII: Aia i Waipi'o Paka'alana 162
IX: Aloha wale oe 164
VII: Halau Hanalei i ka nini a la úa 156
XIV: Hawaii ponoi 172
X: He aloha wau ia oe 166
XIII: O ka ponaha iho a ke ao 169
XII: Ua líke no a líke 168
to Kaukini: Ike ia Kaukini, he lawaia manu (note) 51
METHINKS IT IS YOU, leaf plucked from Love's tree: song for hula pa-ipu 83
MIMETIC GESTURE 178
MISTAKEN VIEWS about the Hawaiians 262
MISTY AND DIM, a bush in the wilds of Kapa'a: song for hula kilu 237
MOTION, illustrated by gesture 178
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 140
MUSICAL SELECTIONS--
I: range of the nose-flute 146
II: from the nose-flute 146
III: the ukeké as played by Keaonaloa 149
IV: song from the hula pa'i-umauma 153
V: song from the hula pa-ipu 153
VI: song from the hula Pele 154
VII: oli and mele from the hula ala'a-papa 156
VIII: He inoa no Kamehameha 162
IX: song, Poli anuanu: Aloha wale oo 164
X: song, Hua-hua'i 166
XI: song, Ka Mawae 167
XII: song, Líke no Líke 168
XIII: song, Pili-aoao 169
XIV: Hawaiian National Hymn, Hawaii Ponoi 172
MUSIC OF THE HAWAIIANS 138-140
MYTH ABOUT KUMU-KAHI (note) 197
MYTHICAL SHARK, Papi'o (note) 206
NAME-SONG OF KAMEHAMEHA: In Waipio stands Pa ka'alana 163
of Naihe: The huge roller, roller that surges from Kona 36
NATIONAL HYMN of Hawaii-- NA-Ú, a game (note) 118
NIAU-KANI, a musical instrument 132
NIHEU, mythological character (note) 194
NIHI-AUMOE 91
NOHO ANA LAKA i ka ulu wehiwehi: altar-prayer 33
NOLUNA ka hale kai, e ka ma'alewa--
NOSE-FLUTE 135, 145
NOU PAHA E, ka inoa: mele for the hula Pele 200
Now FOR THE DANCE, dance in accord: song for the hula ki'i 98
NOW, KANE, APPROACH, illumine the altar: altar-prayer to Kane and Kapo 45
NOW WRIGGLES THE WORM to its goal: song in the game of kilu 240
OBSTACLE, AN, illustrated by gesture 177
O EWA, aina kai ula i ka lepo: mele for the hula pa-ipu 84
O GODDESS LAKA! altar-prayer 34
OHE HANO-IHU, the nose-flute 135, 145, 146
O HILO OE, Hilo, muliwai a ka wa i ka lani: mele for the hula pahu 104
OH WEWEHI, la, la! song for the hula ki'i 95
OH WILDWOOD BOUQUET, Oh Laka--
O KALAKAUA, he inoa: mele for the hula ka-laau 117
O KA PONAHA iho a ke ao: song with music XIII 169
O KEAWE-ULA-I-KA-LANI: old mele apropos of Keawe (note) 74
O LAKA OE: altar-prayer to Laka 42
OLAPA, a division of hula performers 28, 57
OLD SEA SONG--
OLD SONG: Keawe, the red blush of dawn (note) 74
OLELO HUNÁ, secret talk 97
OLI AND MELE---
OLI LEI: Ke lei mai la o Kaula i ke kai, e! 56
OLI PA-Ú: Kakua pa-ú, ahu na kikepa 51
OLI, THE 254-256
illustration of: Ka wai opua-makani o Wailua 255
OLOPANA, a famous king (note) 74
O MY LOVE goes out to thee: song with music X 167
ONE-BREATH PERFORMANCE 139
OOE NO PAHA IA, e ka lau o ke aloha: mele for the hula pa-ipu 82
O PELE la ko'u akua: mele for the hula Pele 168
ORACULAR UTTERANCE of Kapihe: E iho ana oluna 99
ORGANIZATION of a hula company 29
ORTHOGRAPHY of the Hawaiian language--influence of Rev. W. Ellis (note) 72
OUTSPREADS NOW THE DAWN: song with music XIII 170
O WANAHILI ka po loa ia Manu'a: mele for the hula ki'i 100
PA AU I KA ihe a Kane: mele for the hula pa-hua 183
PAHU, the drum 140
PAKÚ KEAAU, lulu Waiakea: mele for the hula pa-hua 60
PA MAI, pa mai: old sea song (note) 65
PAPI'O, mythical shark (note) 206
PART-SINGING in Hawaii--
PASSWORD TO THE HALAU--
PA-Ú SONG: Gird on the pa-ú, garment tucked in one side 54
PA-Ú, the hula skirt 49
PECULIARITIES of Hawaiian speech, music affected by 139
PELE--
PERILOUS, STEEP, is the climb to Hanalei woods: song for the hula kielei 211
PHRASING in music 140
PHYSIQUE of hula performers 57
PI'I ANA A-ÁMA: mele for the hula mu'umu'u 213
PIKÁKA, E, ka luna, ke, ke: mele foe the hula ki'i 96
PILLARS of heaven's dome, Kukulu o Kahiki (note) 17
PITCHING THE TUNE 158
PLAIN, A, illustrated by gesture 178
PLEIADES, THE, Makali'i (note) 17
POETRY of ancient Hawaii 161, 263
POINT TO A DARK ONE: song for the hula ki'i 97
POLI ANUANU, song with music IX: Aloha wale oe 164
PRAYER OF ADULATION to Laka: In the forests, on the ridges 18
PRAYER OE DISMISSAL at intermission: Ku ka makaia a ka huaka'i moe ipo 129
PRECIOUS THE GIFT of heart's-ease: song for the hula ku'i Molokai 208
PROVERBIAL SAYING: Unstable the house 53
PU-Á, a whistle 146
PUA EHU KAMALENA ka uka o Kapa'a: mele for the hula kilu 237
PUAPUA-KEA 91
PUILI, a bamboo rattle 144
PU-LA-Í, a musical instrument 147
PULE HOONOA--
E hooulu ana i Kini o ke Akua 21
Ei' au, e Laka mai uka 20
in prose speech: E ola ia'u, i ka malihini 46
to Kane and Kapo: Kane hiki a'e, he maláma ia luna 44
to Laka: Eia ke kuko, ka li'a 43
to Laka: Haki pu a ka nahelehele 18
to Laka: O Laka oe 42
to the Kini Akua: E ulu, e ulu, Kini o ke Akua! 46
PUNCH-AND-JUDY SHOW and the hula ki'i 91
PU-NIU, coconut drum 141
PUPILS OF THE HALAU--dispensation before graduation 33
POPU-A-LENALENA, a famous dog 131
PUPU WE'UWE'U E, Laka e! pule hoonoa--
PURIFICATION of the hula company 15
of the site for the halau 14
RANGE of the nose-flute 146
RECITATION in the hula, style of 58
RED GLOWS KALA'E through the wind-blown dust: song for the hula kilu 239
REED-INSTRUMENT, the niau-kani 147
RELATION of Hawaiian poetry and music 161
RELIGION in Hawaii somber 13
RESPONSIVE CHANTING in the hula ka-laau 116
RETURN, O LOVE, to the refuge: song with music XI 168
RHYTHM in Hawaiian music 160, 171
RULES AND PENALTIES controlling a hula company 29
RULES OF CONDUCT during the building of a halau 15
SHARK-GOD, Kawelo, a sorcerer (note) 79
SHE IS LIMED, she is limed: song for the hula hoonaná 245
SINGING IN ANCIENT TIMES--testimony of Capt. James King 149
SKIRT for the hula, the pa-ú 49
SLANG among the Hawaiians 98
SONG, Hawaiian attitude toward 159
See also Hawaiian song.
apropos of Nihi-aumoe: Look to your ways in upland Puna 94
at the first hula 8
composed by Kamehameha II 69
divisions of 58
epithalamium, for the hula ki'i:
Wanahili bides the whole night with Manu'a 101
for interlude: Kane is drunken with awa 130
for the--
hula ala'a-papa--
A mackerel sky, time for foul weather 70
From mountain retreat and root-woven ladder 64
Haunt of white tropic-bird 67
Heaven-magic fetch a Hilo pour 66
Keaau is a long strip of wildwood 62
Keaau shelters, Waiakea lies in the calm 61
Look now, Waialua, land clothed with ocean mist 60
Love is at play in the grove 71
Love tousled Waimea with shafts of the wind 69
Puna plies paddle night-long in the storm 70
'Twas in Koolau I met with the rain 59
hula hoonaná: She is limed, she is limed 245
hula íliíli: We twain were lodged in Waipi'o 120
hula ilio: Look forth, god Ku, look forth! 225
hula kaekeeke: It was in Hamakua 123
Kahiki-nui, land of wind-driven smoke 125
hula ka-laau: Kalakaua, a great name 117
The cloud-piles o'er Kona's sea 118
hula kielei: Perilous, steep is the climb to Hanalei woods 211
hula ki'i--
Let's worship now the bird-cage 99
Now for the dance 98
Oh Wewehi, la, la! 95
Point to a dark one 97
The mountain walls of Kalalau 102
The roof is a-dry, la, la! 96
hula kilu--
Comrade mine in the robe-stripping gusts of Lalau 241
Engulfed in heaven's abyss 243
Kanaloa tints heaven with a blush 242
Misty and dim, a bush in the wilds of Kapa'a 237
Red glows Kala'e through the wind-blown dust 239
The sun-furrow gleams at the back of Lehua 238
hula kolani: Lo, the rain, the rain! 217
hula kolea: A plover at the full of the sea 220
hula ku'i--
Fame trumpets your conquests each day 253
How pleasing, when borne by the tide 252
hula ku'i Molokai--
A eulogy for the princess 209
Precious the gift of heart's ease! 208
hula manó: Alas, I am seized by the shark, great shark! 222
hula mu'umu'u: Black crabs are climbing 214
hula niau-kani: Up to the streams in the wildwood 133
hula ohe: Gome up to the wildwood, come 136
hula ohelo: Touched, thou art touched by my gesture 234
hula o-niu: The rustle and hum of spinning top 249
hula pahu--
In Puna was I, in Kiki'i, in Ha'e-ha'e 105
performers 103
Thou art Hilo, Hilo, flood-gate of heaven 104
Wai-aleale stands haughty and cold 106
hula pa-hua: I am smitten with spear of Kane 184
hula pa-ipu--
A burst of smoke from the pit lifts to the skies 89
A pit lies (far) to the east 86
A storm from the sea strikes Ke-au 78
Big with child is the Princess Ku 81
Ewa's lagoon is fed with dirt 84
Glowing is Kahiki, oh! 75
I will not chase the mirage of Maná 80
Leaf of lehua and noni-tint 76
Methinks it is you, leaf plucked from love's tree 83
The iwa flies heavy to nest in the brush 76
hula pa'i-umauma--
At Hilo I rendezvoused with the lehua 203
Come now, Manono 204
'Tis Kahipa, with pendulous breasts 206
hula Pele--
Alas, there's no stay to the smoke 195
At Wailua stands the main house-post 192
Bedeck now the board for the feast 200
Behold Kauná, that sprite of windy Ka-ú 193
From Kahiki came the woman, Pele 188
Ho! mountain of vapor puffs! 194
Lo, Pele's the god of my choice 198
They bear the god's ax up the mountain 191
To Kauai, lifted in ether 189
With music VI 154
Yours, doubtless, this name 201
hula pua'a: Ax of broadest edge I'm hight 230
hula puili--
It has come, it has come 114
Malua, fetch water of love 115
hula ulili: A search for a sweetheart 247
hula úli-ulí--
I spurn the thought with disdain 109
Whence art thou, thirsty Wind? 111
from the hula pa'i-umauma--music IV 153
in the game of kilu: Now wriggles the worm to its goal 240
of cosmology--
Begotten were the gods of graded rank (note) 196
Hanau ke apapa nu'u (note) 196
of Hiiaka: How pleased is the girl maimed of hand and foot 212
of Mana-mana-ia-kaluea: Kaúla wreathes her brow with the ocean 213
of the tree-shell: Trill afar, trill a-near 121
of welcome to the halau: What love to our cottage homes! 40
The Water of Kane: This question, this query 258
with music--
VII: Hanalei is a hall for the dance in the pouring rain 155
XIV: Hawaii's very own 175
VIII: In Waipi'o stands Paka'a-lana 163
IX: Love fain compels to greet thee 165
X: O my love goes out to thee 167
XIII: Outspreads now the dawn 170
XI: Return, O love, to the refuge 168
XII: When the rain drums loud on the leaf 169
STEEP STANDS THE MOUNTAIN in calm: password to the halau 40
STRESS-ACCENT and rhythmic accent 158
SUPPORT AND ORGANIZATION of the hula 26
TABU, as a power in controlling a hula company 30
TABU-REMOVING PRAYER at intermission: Oh wildwood bouquet, O Laka! 128
TEMPO in Hawaiian song 160
THE CLOUD-PILES o'er Kona's sea whet my joy: song for the hula kalaau 118
THE HUGE ROLLER, roller that surges from Kona: name-song to Naihe 36
THE IWA FLIES HEAVY to nest in the brush: song for the hula pa-ipu 76
THE MOUNTAIN WALLS of Kalalau: song for the hula ki'i 102
THE RAINBOW stands red o'er the ocean: tiring song 55
THE ROOF is a-dry, la, la! song for the hula ki'i 96
THE RUSTLE AND HUM of spinning top: song for the hula o-niu 249
THE SUN-FURROW gleams at the hack of Lehua: song for the hula kilu 238
THE WIND-BEATEN STREAM of Wailua: an oli or lyric 256
THEY BEAR THE GOD'S AX up the mountain: song for the hula Pele 191
THIS MY WISH, my burning desire: altar-prayer to Laka 43
THIS QUESTION, this query: song, The Water of Kane 258
THIS SPOIL AND RAPE of the wildwood: altar-prayer to Laka 19
THOU ART HILO, Hilo, flood-gate of heaven: song for the hula pahu 104
THOU ART LAKA: altar-prayer to Laka 42
THY BLESSING, O LAKA: altar-prayer in prose speech 47
TIRING SONG--
'TIS KAHIPA, with pendulous breasts: song for the hula pa'i-umauma 206
TO KAUAI, lifted in ether: song for the hula Pele 189
TONE-INTERVALS in Hawaiian song 158
TOUCHED, thou art touched by my gesture: song for the hula ohelo 234
TRANSLATION, literalism in, versus fidelity 88
TRILL A-FAR, trill a-near: song of the tree-shell 121
'TWAS IN KOOLAU I met with the rain: song for the hula ala'a-papa 59
UA ONA O KANE i ka awa: mele for interlude 130
UKEKÉ, a Hawaiian harp 147
music of 149
ULA KALA'E-LOA i ka lepo a ka makani: mele for the hula kilu 239
ULA KA LANI ia Kanaloa: mele for the hula kilu 241
ÚLI-ULÍ, a musical instrument 107, 144
UNION OR SIMILARITY, illustrated by gesture 178
VOCAL EXECUTION of Hawaiian music 139
VOWEL-REPETITION in the i'i 159
WAI-ALEALE stands haughty and cold: song for the hula pahu 106
WANAHILI bides the whole night with Manu'a: (epithalamium) song for the hula ki'i 101
WATER OF KANE, THE: a song of Kane 257
WELA KAHIKI, E! mele for the hula pa-ipu 73
WELCOME TO THE HALAU: Call, to the man to come in 41
WE TWAIN were lodged in Waipi'o: song for the hula íliíli 120
WHAT LOVE to our cottage homes! song of welcome to the halau 40
WHENCE ART THOU, thirsty Wind? song for the hula úli-ulí 111
WHEN FLOWERS THE WILIWILI: a bit of folk-lore (note) 221
WHEN THE RAIN DRUMS loud on the leaf: song with music XII 169
WORD-REPETITION in poetry 54
for assonance 227
contrasted with worship in the heiau 15
WREATH-SONG: Kaula wears the ocean as a wreath 56
XYLOPHONE, the laau 144
YOURS, DOUBTLESS, this name: song for the hula Pele 201
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