Skip to main content

Full text of "Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: The Sacred Songs of the Hula"

See other formats 


This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 
to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 
publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 

We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 



at |http : //books . google . com/ 




This book is 

FRAGILE. 

Please handle with care 

and do not photocopy. 

Duplicate pages 

can be obtained from 

the microfilm version 

available here atTozzen 

Thanks for your 

help in preserving 

Harvard's library collections. 





m 



\M'' . FROM THE LIBRARY OF, 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 




BULLETIN 38 PLATE 1 




^3^^l^3^l 


■ 






^^^^^^H 






^^H 


w^Si 


Hilft#^^^H^ -m 


l^^l 


IQ^^H! 


H^jl^ 


Ww ^^^k 




r'lJiBp 


w^^^^^^k 


^H 


MwHiiii 


^^^^^^^1 


^^^^^^^^^^■R(f%p 


l^WTO^^ 


*! \a ^ m^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 1 


V '^ \v^?wB 


I^H 






^1 




^P^-" '^^^^^^^H 


^^1 


^^^^^^^^E^wAiB^^^I 


ijQjj^^l 


^1 



FEMALE DANCING IN HULA COSTUME 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 









UNWRITTEF LITERATURE 
OF HAWAII 

THE SACRED SONGS OF THE HULA 



COLLECTED AND TRANSLATED, WITH 
NOTES AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE HULA 



By NATHANIEL B. EMERSON, A. M., M. D. 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFi;CE 

^ 1909 



RCCEIVED I c / 
TOzzcRumAnv 

KMOOVMUiOHi 






PEEFATOET I^OTE 

Previous to the year 1906 the researches of the Bureau were 
restricted to the American Indians, but by act of Congress approved 
June 30 of that year the scope of its operations was extended to 
include the natives of the Hawaiian islands. Funds were not specific- 
ally provided, however, for prosecuting investigations among these 
people, and in the absence of an appropriation for this purpose it was 
considered inadvisable to restrict the systematic investigations among 
the Indian tribes in order that the new field might be entered. 
Fortunately the publication of valuable data pertaining to Hawaii 
is already provided for, and the present memoir by Doctor Emerson 
is the first of the Bureau's Hawaiian series. It is expected that this 
Bulletin will be followed shortly by one comprising an extended list 
of works relating to Hawaii, compiled by Prof. H. M. Ballou and 
Dr. Cyrus Thomas. 

W. H. Holmes, 

Chief. 
3 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction ! 7 

I. Thehula 11 

II. The halau; the kuahu — their decoration and consecration 14 

III. The gods of thehula 23 

IV. Support and organization of the hula 26 

V. Ceremonies of graduation; d^but of a hula dancer 31 

•VI. The password — ^the song of admission 38 

VII. Worship at the altar of the halau 42 

VIII. Costume of the hula dancer 49 

IX. Thehula ald'a-papa 57 

X. The hula pa-ipu, or kuolo 73 

XL The hula ki'i 91 

XII. Thehula pahu 103 

XIII. The hula liliulf 107 

XIV. The hula puili 113 

XV. The hula ka-laau 116 

XVI. The hula ili-ili 120 

XVII. The hula kaekeeke 122 

XVIII. An intermission 126 

XIX. The hula niau-kani 132 

XX. Thehulaohe 135 

XXI. The music and musical instruments of the Hawaiians 138 

XXII. Gesture. 176 

XXIII. The hula pa-hua ". 183 

XXIV. The hula Pele 186 

XXV. The hula pa'i-umauma 202 

XXVI. The hula ku4 Molokai 207 

XXVII. The hula kielei •. 210 

XXVIII. The hula mii'u-mii^u 212 

XXIX. Thehula kolani 216 

XXX. Thehulakolea 219 

XXXI. The hula man6 221 

XXXII. The hula ilio 223 

XXXIII. The hula pua'a 228 

XXXIV. The hula ohelo 233 

XXXV. Thehula kilu ^ 235 

XXXVI. The hula hoonand 244 

XXXVII. The hula ulili 246 

XXXVIII. The hula o-niu 248 

XXXIX. The hula ku4 250 

XL. Theoli 254 

XU. The water of Kane 257 

XUL General review 260 

Glossary 265 

Index 271 

5 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Plate I. Female dancing in hula costume Frontispiece 

II. ie-fe (Freycinetia arnotti) leaves and fruit 19 

III. Hdla-p^pe (Dracaena aurea) . ^ 24 

IV. Maile ( Alyxia myrtillifolia) wreath 32 

V. Ti (Dracaena terminalis) 44 

VI. Ilima (Sida fallax), lei and flowers , 56 

VII. Ipu hula, gourd drum 73 

VIII. Marionettes (Maile-pakaha, Nihi-au-moe) 91 

IX. Marionette (Maka-ku) , . 93 

X. Pahu hula, hula drum. 103 

XI. trii-ull, agourd rattle 107 

XII. Hawaiian tree-shells ( Achatinella * * *) 120 

XIII. Lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) flowers and leaves 126 

XIV. Hawaiian trumpet, pu (Cassis madagascarensis) 131 

XV. Woman playing on the 'nose-flute (ohe-hano-ihu ) 135 

XVI. Pu-niu, a drum 142 

XVII. Hawaiian musician playing on the uku-lele 164 

XVIII. Hala fruit bunch and drupe with a "lei'* 170 

XIX. Pu (Triton tritonis) 172 

XX. Phyllodia and true leaves of the koa (Acacia koa) 181 

XXI. Pala-palai ferns 194 

XXII. Awa-puhi, a Hawaiian ginger 210 

XXIII. Hinanohala 235 

XXIV. Lady dancing the hula ku'i 250 

Figure 1. Pufli, bamboo rattle 113 

2. Ka, drumstick for pu-niu '.... 142 

3. Ohe-hano-ihu, nose-flute 145 

MUSICAL PIECES 

I. Range of the nose-flute — Eisner 146 

II. Music from the nose-flute — Eisner 146 

III. The ukekS (as played by Keaonaloa) — Eisner 149 

IV. Song from the hula pa'i-umauma— Berger 153 

V. Song from the hula pa-ipu — Berger 153 

VI. Song for the hula Pele — Berger 154 

VII. Oli and mele from the hula ala'a-papa — Yarndley 156 

VIII. He Inoa no Kamehameha — Byington 162 

IX. Song, Poll Armanu — Yarndley 164 

X. Song, Hua-huaH — Yarndley 166 

XI. Song, Ka Mawae — Berger 167 

XII. Song, Like no a Like — Berger 168 

XIII. Song, Pili Aoao— Berger 169 

XIV. Hawaii Ponoi— Berger 172 

6 



INTRODUCTION 

This book is for the greater part a collection of Hawaiian songs and 
poetic pieces that have done service from time immemorial as the 
stock supply of the hula. The descriptive portions have been added, 
not because the poetical parts could not stand by themselves, but to 
furnish the proper setting and to answer the questions of those who 
want to know. 

Now, the hula stood for very much to the ancient Hawaiian ; it 
was to him in place of our concert-hall and lecture-room, our opera 
and theater, and thus became one of his chief means of social enjoy- 
ment. Besides this, it kept the communal imagination in living 
touch with the nation's legendary past. The hula had songs proper 
to itself, but it found a mine of inexhaustible wealth in the epics 
and wonder-myths that celebrated the doings of the volcano goddess 
Pele and her compeers. Thus in the cantillations of the old-time 
hula we find a ready-made anthology that includes every species of 
composition in the whole range of Hawaiian poetry. This epic ** of 
Pele was chiefly a more or less detached series of poems forming a 
story addressed not to the closet-reader, but to the eye and ear and 
heart of the assembled chiefs and people; and it was sung. The 
Hawaiian song, its note of joy par excellence, was the oli; but it must 
be noted that in every species of Hawaiian poetry, mele — whether 
epic or eulogy or prayer, sounding through them all we shall find the 
lyric note. 

The most telling record of a people's intimate life is the record 
which it unconsciously makes in its songs. This record which the 
Hawaiian people have left of themselves is full and specific. When, 
therefore, we ask what emotions stirred the heart of the old-time 
Hawaiian as he approached the great themes of life and death, of 
ambition and jealousy, of sexual passion, of romantic love, of conjugal 
love, and parental love, what his attitude toward nature and tho 
dread forces of earthquake and storm, and the mysteries of spirit and 
the hereafter, we shall find our answer in the songs and prayers and 
recitations of the hula. 

The hula, it is true, has been unfortunate in the mode and manner 
of its introduction to us moderns. An institution of divine, that is, 
religious, origin, the hula in modem times has wandered so far and 
fallen so low that foreign and critical esteem has come to associate it 

'It might be termed a handful of lyrics strung on an epic thread. 



8 INTRODUCTION 

with the riotous and passionate ebullitions of Polynesian kings and 
the amorous posturing of their voluptuaries. We must make a just 
distinction, however, between the gestures and bodily contortions pre- 
sented by the men and women, the actors in the hula, and their 
uttered words. " The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the 
hands of Esau.'^ In truth, the actors in the hula no longer suit 
the action to the word. The utterance harks back to the golden age; 
the gesture is trumped up by the passion of the hour, or dictated 
by the master of the hula, to whom the real meaning of the old bards 
is ofttimes a sealed casket. 

Whatever indelicacy attaches in modem times to some of the ges- 
tures and contortions of the hula dancers, the old-time hula songs 
^n large measure were untainted with grossness. If there ever were 
a Polynesian Arcadia, and if it were possible for true reports of the 
doings and sayings of the Polynesians to reach us from that happy 
land — reports of their joys and sorrows, their love-makings and their 
jealousies, their family spats and reconciliations, their worship of 
beauty and of the gods and goddesses who walked in the garden of 
beauty — we may say, I think, that such a report would be in substan- 
tial agreement with the report that is here offered ; but, if one's vir- 
tue will not endure the love-making of Arcadia, let him banish the 
myth from his imagination and hie to a convent or a nunnery. 

If this book does nothing more than prove that savages are only 
children of a younger growth than ourselves, that what we find them 
to have been we ourselves — in our ancestors — once were, the labor of 
making it will have been not in vain. 

For an account of the first hula we may look to the story of Pele. 
On one occasion that goddess begged her sisters to dance and sing 
before her, but they all excused themselves, saying they did not know 
the art. At that moment in came little Hiiaka, the youngest and the 
favorite. Unknown to her sisters, the little maiden had practised the 
dance under the tuition of her friend, the beautiful but ill-fated 
Hopoe. When banteringly invited to dance, to the surprise of all, 
Hiiaka modestly complied. The wave-beaten sand-beach was her 
floor, the open air her hall. Feet and hands and swaying form kept 
time to her improvisation : 

Look, Puna is a-dance in the wind ; 

Tlie palm groves of Kea-au shaken. 

Haena and the woman Hopoe dance and sing 

On the beach Nana-huki, 

A dance of purest delight, 

Down by the sea Nana-huki. 

The nature of this work has made it necessary to use occasional 
Hawaiian words in the technical parts. At their first introduction 



INTRODUCTION 9 

it has seemed fitting that they should be distinguished by italics; 
but, once given the entree, it is assumed that, as a rule, they will be 
granted the rights of free speech without further* explanation. 

A glossary, which explains all the Hawaiian words used in the 
prose text, is appended. Let no one imagine, however, that by the 
use of this little crutch alone he will be enabled to walk or stumble 
through the foreign ways of the simplest Hawaiian mele. Notes, 
often copious, have been appended to many of the mele, designed 
to exhaust neither the subject nor the reader, but to answer some 
of the questions of the intelligent thinker. 

Thanks, many thanks, are due, first, to those native Hawaiians who 
have so far broken with the old superstitious tradition of concealment 
as to unearth so much of the unwritten literary wealth stored in 
Hawaiian memories; second, to those who have kindly contributed 
criticism, suggestion, material at the different stages of this book's 
progress; and, lastly, to those dear friends of the author's youth — 
living or dead — whose kindness has made it possible to send out this 
fledgling to the world. The author feels under special obligations to 
Dr. Titus Munson Coan, of New York, for a painstaking revision of 
the manuscript. 

Honolulu, Hawau. 



Ul^WEITTEI^ LITERATURE OF HAWAII 
By Nathaniel B. Emerson 



I.— THE HULA 

One turns from the study of old genealogies, myths, and traditions 
of the Hawaiians with a hungry despair at finding in them means 
so small for picturing the people themselves, their human interests 
and passions; but when it comes to the hula and the whole train of 
feelings and sentiments that made their entrances and exits in the 
lialau (the hall of the hula) one perceives that in this he has found 
the door to the heart of the people. So intimate and of so simple 
confidence are the revelations the people make of themselves in their 
songs and prattlings that when one undertakes to report what he has 
heard and to translate into the terms of modern speech what he has 
received in confidence, as it were, he almost blushes, as if he had been 
guilty of spying on Adam and Eve in their nuptial bower. Alas, if 
one could but muffle his speech with the unconscious lisp of infancy, 
or veil and tone his picture to correspond to the perspective of an- 
tiquity, he might feel at least that, like Watteau, he had dealt worth- 
ily, if not truly, with that ideal age which we ever think of as the 
world's garden period. 

The Hawaiians, it is true, were many removes from being primi- 
tives ; their dreams, however, harked back to a period that was close 
to the world's infancy. Their remote ancestry was, perhaps, akin to 
ours — Aryan, at least Asiatic — but the orbit of their evolution seems 
to have led them away from the strenuous discipline that has whipped 
the Anglo-Saxon branch into fighting shape with fortune. 

If one comes to the study of the hula and its songs in the spirit 
of a censorious moralist he will find nothing for him; if as a pure 
ethnologist, he will take pleasure in pointing out the physical re- 
semblances of the Hawaiian dance to the languorous grace, of the 
Nautch girls, of the geisha, and other oriental dancers. But if he 
comes as a student and lover of human nature, back of the sensuous 
posturings, in the emotional language of the songs he will find him- 
self entering the playground of the human race. 

The hula was a religious service, in which poetry, music, panto- 
mime, and the dance lent themselves, under the forms of dramatic 

11 



12 BUKEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

art, to the refreshment of men's minds. Its view of life was idyllic, 
and it gave itself to the celebration of those mythical times when 
gods and goddesses moved on the earth as men and women and when 
men and women were as gods. As to subject-matter, its warp was 
spun largely from the bowels of the old-time mythology into cords 
through which the race maintained vital connection with its mys- 
terious past. Interwoven with these, forming the woof, were threads 
of a thousand hues and of many fabrics, representing the imagina- 
tions of the poet, the speculations of the philosopher, the aspirations 
of many a thirsty soul, as well as the ravings and flame-colored 
pictures of the sensualist, the mutterings and incantations of the 
kahuna^ the mysteries and paraphernalia of Polynesian mythology, 
the annals of the nation's history — ^the material, in fact, which in 
another nation and under different circumstances would have gone 
to the making of its poetry, its drama, its opera, its literature. 

The people were superstitiously religious; one finds their drama 
saturated with religious feeling, hedged about with tabu, loaded 
down with prayer and sacrifice. They were poetical; nature was 
full of voices for their ears; their thoughts came to them as im- 
ages; nature was to them an allegory; all this found expression in 
their dramatic art. They were musical ; their drama must needs be 
cast in forms to suit their ideas of rhythm, of melody, and of pdetic 
harmony. They were, moreover, the children of passion, sensuous, 
worshipful of whatever lends itself to pleasure. How, then, could 
the dramatic efforts of this primitive people, still in the bonds of 
animalism, escape the note of passion? The songs and other poetic 
pieces which have come down to us from the remotest antiquity are 
generally inspired with a purer sentiment and a loftier purpose than 
the modem ; and it may be said of them all that when they do step 
into the mud it is not to tarry and wallow in it ; it is rather with the 
unconscious naivete of a child thinking no evil. 

On the principle of " the terminal conversion of opposites," which 
the author once heard an old philosopher expound, the most ad- 
vanced modern is better able to hark back to the sweetness and 
light and music of the primeval world than the veriest wigwam- 
dweller that ever chipped an arrowhead. It is not so much what the 
primitive man can give us as what we can find in him that is worth 
our while. The light that a Goethe, a Thoreau, or a Kipling can pro- 
ject into Arcadia is mirrored in his own nature. 

If one mistakes not the temper and mind of this generation, we 
are living in an age that is not content to let perish one seed of 
thought or one single phase of life that can be rescued from the 
drift of time. We mourn the extinction of the buffalo of the plains 
and of the birds of the islands, rightly thinking that life is somewhat 



■BfTOSON] UNWMTTEN LITEBATUBE OF HAWAH 18 

less rich and full without them. What of the people of the plains and 
of the islands of the sea? Is their contribution so nothingless that 
one can affirm that the orbit of man's mind is complete without it? 

Comparison is unavoidable between the place held by the dance 
in ancient Hawaii and that occupied by the dance in our modern 
society. The ancient Hawaiians did not personally and informally 
indulge in the dance for their own amusement, as does pleasure- 
loving society at the present time. Like the Shah of Persia, but for 
very different reasons, Hawaiians of the old time left it to be done 
for them by a body of trained and paid performers. This was not 
because the art and practice of the hula were held in disrepute — 
quite the reverse — ^but because the hula was an accomplishment re- 
quiring special education and arduous training in both song and 
dance, and more especially because it was a religious matter, to 
be guarded against profanation by the observance of tabus and the 
performance of priestly rites. 

This fact, which we find paralleled in every form of communal 
amusement, sport, and entertainment in ancient Hawaii, sheds a 
strong light on the genius of the Hawaiian. We are wont to think of 
the old-time Hawaiians as light-hearted children of nature, given 
to spontaneous outbursts of song and dance as the mood seized 
them ; quite as the rustics of " merrie England " joined hands and 
tripped " the light fantastic toe " in the joyous month of May or 
shouted the harvest home at a later season. The genius of the Ha- 
waiian was different. With him the dance was an affair of premedi- 
tation, an organized effort, guarded by the traditions of a somber 
religion. And this characteristic, with qualifications, will be found 
to belong to popular Hawaiian sport and amusement of every vari- 
ety. Exception must be made, of course, of the unorganized sports 
of childhood. One is almost inclined to generalize and to say that 
those children of nature, as we are wont to call them, in this regard 
were less free and spontaneous than the more advanced race to which 
we are proud to belong. But if the approaches to the temple of 
Terpsichore with them were more guarded, we may confidently 
assert that their enjoyment therein was deeper and more abandoned. 



II.— THE HALAU; THE KUAHU— THEIR DECORATION 
AND CONSECRATION 

The Halau 

In building a halau, or hall, in which to perform the hula a 
Hawaiian of the old, old time was making a temple for his god. In 
later and degenerate ages almost any structure would serve the pur- 
pose ; it might be a flimsy shed or an extemporaneous lanai such as is 
used to shelter that al fresco entertainment, the luau. But in the old 
times of strict tabu and rigorous etiquette, when the chief had but to 
lift his hand and the entire population of a district ransacked plain, 
valley, and mountain to collect the poles, beams, thatch, and cord- 
stuff ; when the workers were so numerous that the structure grew and 
took shape in a day, we may well believe that ambitious and punc- 
tilious patrons of the hula, such as La'a, Liloa, or Lono-i-ka-makahiki, 
did not allow the divine art of Laka to house in a barn. 

The choice of a site was a matter of prime importance. A formi- 
dable code enunciated the principles governing the selection. But — ' 
a matter of great solicitude — there were omens to be heeded, snares 
and pitfalls devised by the superstitious mind for its own entangle- 
ment. The untimely sneeze, the ophthalmic eye, the hunched back 
were omens to be shunned. 

Within historic times, since the abrogation of the tabu system and 
the loosening of the old polytheistic ideas, there has been in the hula 
a lowering of former standards, in some respects a degeneration. 
The old gods, however, were not entirely dethroned ; the people of the 
hula still continued to maintain the form of divine service and still 
appealed to them for good luck; but the soul of worship had 
exhaled; the main study now was to make of the hula a pecuniary 
success. 

In an important sense the old way was in sympathy with the 
thought, "Except God be with the workmen, they labor in vain that 
build the house." The means for gaining divine favor and averting 
the frown of the gods were those practised by all religionists in the 
infantile state of the human mind — ^the observance of fasts and tabus, 
the offering of special prayers and sacrifices. The ceremonial purifi- 
cation of the site, or of the building if it had been used for profane 
purposes, was accomplished by aspersions with sea water mixed with 
turmeric or red earth. 

14 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 15 

When one considers the tenacious hold which all rites and cere- 
monies growing out of what we are accustomed to call superstitions 
had on the mind of the primitive Hawaiian, it puzzles one to account 
for the entire dropping out from modem memory of the prayers 
which were recited during the erection of a hall for the shelter of an 
institution so festive and so popular as the hula, while the prayers 
and gloomy ritual of the temple service have survived. The explana- 
tion may be found, perhaps, in the fact that the priests of the temple 
held position by the sovereign's appointment; they formed a hier- 
archy by themselves, whereas the position of the kumu-hula^ who was 
also a priest, was open to anyone who fitted himself for it by training 
and study and by passing successfully the ai-lolo ** ordeal. After that 
he had the right to approach the altar of the hula god with the pre- 
scribed offerings and to present the prayers and petitions of the com- 
pany to Laka or Kapo. 

In pleasing contrast to the worship of the heiau^ the service of the 
hula was not marred by the presence of groaning victims and bloody 
sacrifices. Instead we find the offerings to have been mostly rustic 
tokens, things entirely consistent with light-heartedness, joy, and ec- 
stasy of devotion, as if to celebrate the fact that heaven had come 
down to earth and Pan, with all the nymphs, was dancing. 

During the time the halau was building the tabus and rules that 
regulated conduct were enforced with the utmost strictness. The 
members of the company were required to maintain the greatest pro- 
priety of demeanor, to suppress all rudeness of speech and manner, 
to abstain from all carnal indulgence, to deny themselves specified 
articles of food, and above all to avoid contact with a corpse. If any- 
one, even by accident, suffered such defilement, before being received 
again into fellowship or permitted to enter the halau and take part 
in the exercises he must have ceremonial cleansing (huikala). The 
kumu offered up prayers, sprinkled the offender with salt water and 
turmeric, commanded him to bathe in the ocean, and he was clean. 
If the breach of discipline was gross and willful, an act of outrageous 
violence or the neglect of tabu, the offender could be restored only 
after penitence and confession. 

The Kuahu 

In every halau stood the kuahu^ or altar, as the visible temporary 
abode of the deity, whose presence was at once the inspiration of the 
performance and the luck-bringer of the enterprise — a rustic frame 
embowered in greenery. The gathering of the green leaves and other 
sweet finery of nature for its construction and decoration was a mat- 
ter of so great importance that it could not be intrusted to any chance 

•Ai-lolo. See pp. 32, 34, 36. 



16 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 88 

assemblage of wild youth who might see fit to take the work in hand. 
There were formalities that must be observed, songs to be chanted, 
prayers to be recited. It was necessary to bear in mind that when 
one deflowered the woods of their fronds of ie-ie and fern or tore 
the trailing lengths of maile — albeit in honor of Laka herself — ^the 
body of the goddess was being despoiled, and the despoiling must be 
done with all tactful grace and etiquette. 

It must not be gathered from this that the occasion ^as made sol- 
emn and oppressive with weight of ceremony, as when a temple was 
erected or as when a tabu chief walked abroad, and all men lay with 
their mouths in the dust. On the contrary, it was a time of joy and 
decorous exultation, a time when in prayer-songs and ascriptions of 
praise the poet ransacked all nature for figures and allusions to be 
used in caressing the deity. 

The following adulatory prayer (kdnaende) in adoration of 
Laka was recited while gathering the woodland decorations for the 
altar. It is worthy of preservation for its intrinsic beauty, for the 
spirit of trustfulness it breathes. We remark the petitions it utters 
for the growth of tree and shrub, as if Laka had been the alma mater 
under whose influence all nature budded and rejoiced. 

It would seem as if the physical ecstasy of the dance and the sen- 
suous joy of all nature's finery had breathed their spirit into the as- 
piration and that the beauty of leaf and flower, all of them familiar 
forms of the god's metamorphosis — accessible to their touch and for 
the regalement of their senses — ^had brought such nearness and dear- 
ness of affection between goddess and worshiper that all fear wa? 
removed. 

He kdnaende no Laka 

A ke kua-hiwi, 1 ke kua-lono, 
Ku ana o Laka i ka mauna; 
Noho ana o Laka i ke po*o o ka ohu. 

Laka kumu hula, 

5 Nana i a'e ka wao-kele,<» 

Kabi, kahi i moU'a i ka pua*a, 

1 ke po'o pua'a, 

He pua'a hiwa na Kane.^ 

• Wao-Mle. That portion of the mountain forest where grew the monarch trees was 
called wao-kele or wao-maukele. 

^Na Kane. Why was the offering, the black roast porkling, said to be for Kane, who 
was not a special patron, au-makHa, of the hula? The only answer the author has been 
able to obtain from any Hawaiian is that, though Kane was not a god of the hula, he was 
a near relative. On reflection, the author can see a propriety in devoting the reeking 
flesh of the swine to god Kane, while to the sylvan deity, Laka, goddess of the peaceful 
huia, ^ere devoted the rustic offerings that were the embodiment of her charms. Her 
image, or token — an uncarved block of wood — was set up in a prominent part of the 
kuahu, and at the close of a performance the wreaths that had been worn by the actors 
were draped about the image. Thus viewed, there is a delicate propriety and significance 
in such disposal of the pig. 



BMSBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAH 17 

He kane na Laka, 
10 Na ka wahine i oni a kelakela i ka lani : 

I kupu ke a'a i ke kumu, 

I lau a puka ka mu'o, 

Ka liko, ka ao i-luna. 

Kupu ka lala, hua ma ka Hikina ; 
15 Kupu ka laau diia a Maka-li'i,« 

Maka-lei,^ laau kaulana mai ka Po mai.^ 
Mai ka Po mai ka oiaio— 

1 ho-i'o i-luna, 1 o*o i-luna. 

He luna au e ki*i mai nei ia oe, e Laka, 
20 B lio*l ke ko-kua * pa-<i ; 

He la uniki ^ no kaua ; 

Ha-ike-ike ^ o ke Akua ; 

Hoike ka mana o ka Wahine, 

O Laka, kaikuahine, 
25 Wahine a Lono i ka ou-alii.^ 

E Lono, e hu' ^ ia mai ka lani me ka honua. 

Nou okoa Kukulu o Kahiki.* 

Me ke ano-ai i aloha, e ! 

B Ola, e! 

'^Maka-lVi (Small eyes). The Pleiades; also the period of six months, Including the 
rainy season, that began some time in October or November and was reckoned from the 
date wheit the Pleiades appeared In the East at sunset. Maka-Wi was also the name 
of a month, by some reckoned as the first month of the year. 

^ Maka-Ui. The name of a famous mythological tree which had the power of attracting 
fish. It did not poison, but only bewitched or fascinated them. There were two trees 
bearing this name, one a male, the other a female, which both grew at a place In HIlo 
called PAlI-ulI. One of these, the female, was, according to tradition, carried from Its 
root home to the fish ponds In Kallua, Oahu, for the purpose of attracting fish to the 
neighboring waters. The enterprise was eminently successful. 

" Po. Literally night; the period In cosmogony when darkness and chaos reigned, be- 
fore the affairs on earth had become settled under the rule of the gods. Here the word 
is used to indicate a period of remote mythologic antiquity. The use of the word Po 
in the following verse reminds one of the French adage, "La nult porte consell." 

^ KokHa. Another form for Icakua, to gird on the pa-H, (See Pa-a song, pp. 51-53.) 

« Uniki. A word not given in the dictionary. The debut of an actor at the hula, after 
passing the ai-lolo test and graduating from the school of the halau, a critical event. 

f Ha-ike-ike. Equivalent to po-ike-ike, an exhibition, to exhibit. 

9 Ou-alii. The Hawalians seem to have lost the meaning of this word. The author 
has been at some pains to work it out somewhat conjecturally. 

^E Lono, e hu* ia mai, etc. The unelided form of the word hu' would be hui. The 
final { is dropped before the similar vowel of ia. 

* KukUlu Kahiki. The pillars of Kahiki. The ancient Hawalians supposed the 
starry heavens to be a solid dome supported by a wall or vertical construction — kukulu — 
set up along the horizon. That section of the wall that stood over against Kahiki they 
termed Kukulu o Kahiki. Our geographical name Tahiti is of course from Kahiki, 
though it does not apply to the same region. After the close of what has been termed 
" the period of intercourse," which came probably during the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries, and during which the ancient Hawalians voyaged to and fro between Hawaii 
and the lands of the South, geographical Ideas became hazy and the term Kahiki came 
to be applied to any foreign country. 

/ Ano-Ai. An old form of salutation, answering In general to the more modern word 
aloha, much used at the present time. Ano-ai seems to have had a shade of meaning 
more nearly answering to our word ** welcome." This is the first instance the author has 
met with of its use In poetry. 

25352— BuU. 3S— 09 2 



18 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 88 

[Translation] 
A Prayer of Adulation to Laka 

In the forests, on the ridges 

Of the mountains stands Laka; 

Dwelling in the source of the mists. 

Laka, mistress of the hula, 
5 Has climbed the wooded haunts of the gods, 

Altars hallowed by the sacrificial swine, 

The head of the boar, the black boar of Kane. 

A partner he with Laka; 

Woman, she by strife gained rank in heaven. 
10 That the root may grow from the stem. 

That the young shoot may put forth and leaf, 

Pushing up the fresh enfolded bud. 

The scion-thrust bud and fruit toward the East, 

Like the tree that bewitches the winter fish, 
15 Maka-lei, tree famed from the age of night. 

Truth is the counsel of night — 

May it fruit and ripen above. 

A messenger I bring you, O Laka, 

To the girding of pati. 
20 An opening festa this for thee and me; 
/ To show the might of the god. 

The power of the goddess, 

Of Laka, the sister. 

To Lono a wife in the heavenly courts. 
25 O Lono, join heaven and earth ! 

Thine alone are the pillars of Kahiki. 

Warm greeting, beloved one. 

We hail thee! 

The cult of god Lono was milder, more humane, than that of Kane 
and the other major gods. No human sacrifices were offered on his 
altars. The statement in verse 26 accords with the general belief of 
the Hawaiians that Lono dwelt in foreign parts, Kukulu o Kahiki^ 
and that he would some time come to them from across the waters. 
When Captain Cook arrived in his ships, the Hawaiians worshiped 
him as the god Lono. 

The following song-prayer also is one that was used at the gather- 
ing of the greenery in the mountains and during the building of the 
altar in the halau. When recited in the halau all the pupils took 
part, and the chorus was a response in which the whole assembly in 
the halau were expected to join : 

Pule Kuahu no Laka 

Haki pu o ka nahelehele, 
Haki hana maile o ka wao, 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE II 




fE-lE (FREYCINETIA ARNOTTI) LEAVES AND FRUIT 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 19 

Hooulu <» lei ou, o Laka, e ! 
O Hiiaka * ke kaula nana e hooulu na ma'i, 
5 A aeae a ulu ^ a noho i kou kuahu, 
Eia ka pule la, he pule ola, 
He noi ola nou, e-e ! 

Chorus: 
E ola la ma kou, aohe hala ! 

[Trknslation] 
Altar-Prayer to Laka 

This spoil and rape of the wildwood, 
This plucking of wilderness maile — 
Collect of garlands, Laka, for you. 
Hiiaka, the prophet, heals our diseases. 
5 Enter, possess, inspire your altar; 
Heed our prayer, 'tis for life; 
Our petition to you is for life. 

Chorus : 
Give us life, save from transgression! 

The wildwoods of Hawaii furnished in great abundance and 
variety small poles for the framework of the kuahu, the altar, the 
holy place of the halau, and sweet-scented leaves and flowers suitable 
for its decoration. A spirit of fitness, however, limited choice among 
these to certain species that were deemed acceptable to the goddess 
because they were reckoned as among her favorite forms of metamor- 
phosis. To go outside this ordained and traditional range would 
have been an offense, a sacrilege. This critical spirit would have 
looked with the greatest disfavor on the practice that in modern 
times has crept in, of bedecking the dancers with garlands of roses, 
pinks, jessamine, and other nonindigenous flowers, as being utterly 
repugnant to the traditional spirit of the hula. 

Among decorations approved and most highly esteemed stood pre- 
eminent the fragrant maile (pi. iv) and the star-like fronds and ruddy 
drupe of the ie-4e (pi. ii) and its kindred, the hdla-pepe (pi. in) ; the 
scarlet pompons of the lehua (pi. xiii) and ohVa^ with the fruit of 
the latter (the mountain-apple) ; many varieties of fern, including 
that splendid parasite, the "bird's nest fern" (ekdha), hailed by 

<* HoO'Ulu. This word has a considerable range of meaning, well illustrated in this mele. 
In its simplest form, ulu, It means to grow, to become strong. Joined with th^ causative 
hoo, as here, it takes on the spiritual meaning of causing to prosper, of inspiring. The 
word *' collect," used in the translation, has been chosen to express the double sense of 
gathering the garlands and of devoting them to the goddess as a religious offering. In 
the fourth verse this word, hooulu^ is used in the sense of to heal. Compare note o. 

* Hiiaka. The youngest sister of Pele, often spoken of as Hiiaka-i-ka-poH'O-Pele, Hiiaka- 
of-the-bosom-of-Pele. Why she should be spoken of as capable of healing diseases is not 
at all clear. 

« Ulu. Here we have the word ulu In its simple, uncombined form, meaning to enter 
into and inspire. 



20 BUBEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

the Hawaiians as Mawi's paddle ; to which must be added the com- 
moner leaves and lemon-colored flowers of the native hibiscus, the 
hau^ the breadfruit, the native banana and the dracsena (^^), plate v; 
and lastly, richest of all, in the color that became Hawaii's favorite, 
the royal yellow ilima (pi. vi), a flower familiar to the eyes of the 
tourist to Honolulu. 

While deft hands are building and ^weaving the light framework 
of the kuahu, binding its parts with strong vines and decorating it 
with nature's sumptuous embroidery, the humu^ or teacher, under 
the inspiration of the deity, for whose residence he has prepared 
himself by long vigil and fasting with fleshly abstinence, having 
spent the previous night alone in the halau, is chanting or cantillating 
his adulatory prayers, kanaenae — songs of praise they seem to be — 
to the glorification of the gods and goddesses who are invited to 
bless the occasion with their presence and inspiration, but especially 
of that one, Laka, whose bodily presence is symbolized by a rude 
block of wood arrayed in yellow tapa that is set up on the altar itself. 
Thus does the kumu sing: 

Pule Kuahu 
Ei* au. e Laka mal uka, 
E Laka mai kai; 
O hoonlu 

O ka llio« nana e hae, 
5 O ka ipaile hibi 1 ka wao, 
O ka lau-ki ^ lei o ke akua, 
O na ku'i hauoU 
O Ha*i-ka-manawa.^ 
O Laka oe, 
10 O ke &kua i ke kuahu nei, la ; 

E ho'i, ho'i mai a noho i kou kuahu ! 

[Translation! 

Altar-Prayer (to Laka) 

Here am I, oh Laka from the mountains, 

Oh Laka from the shore; 

Protect us 

Against the dog that barks; 

« JUo nana e hae. The barking of a dog, the crowing of a cock, the grunting of a pig, 
the hooting of an owl, or any 4uch sound occurring at the time of a religious solemnity, 
aha, broke the spell of the Incantation and vitiated the ceremony. Such an untimely 
accident was as much deprecated as were the Turk, the Comet, and the Devil by pious 
Christian souls during the Middle Ages. 

^Lau-ki. The leaf of the U plant — the same as the kl — (Dracsena terminalls), much 
used as an emblem of divine power, a charm or defense against malign spiritual iqfluences. 
The kahuna often wore about his' neck a fillet of this leaf. The U leaf was a special 
emblem of Ha'1-wahine, or of Li'a-wahine. It was much used as a decoration about the 
halau. 

<^ Ha'irka-manawa. It Is conjectured that this is the same as KaH-wahine. She was a 
mythological character, about whom there is a long and tragic story. 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAH 21 

5 Reside in the wild-twining maile 
And the goddess-enwreathing ti. 
Ah, the joyful pulses 
Of the woman Ha*i-ka-manawa ! 
Thou art Laka, 
10 The god of this altar; 

Return, return, abide in tliy shrine ! 

The prayers which the hula folk of old times chanted while gather- 
ing the material in the woods or while weaving it into shape in the 
halau for the construction of a shrine did not form a rigid liturgy ; 
they formed rather a repertory as elastic as the sighing of the breeze, 
or the songs of the birds whose notes embroidered the pure mountain 
air. There were many altar-prayers, so that if a prayer came to an 
end before the work was done the priest had but to begin the recita- 
tion of another prayer, or, if the spirit of the occasion so moved him, 
he would take up again a prayer already repeated, for until the work 
was entirely accomplished the voice of prayer must continue to be 
heard. 

The pule now to be given seems to be specially suited to that portion 
of the service which took place in the woods at the gathering of the 
poles and greenery. It was designed specially for the placating of 
the little god-folk who from their number were addressed as Kini o 
ke Akuay the multitude of the little gods, and who were the counter- 
parts in old Hawaii of our brownies, elfins, sprites, kobolds, gnomes, 
and other woodland imps. These creatures, though dwarfish and 
insignificant in person, were in such numbers — four thousand, forty 
thousand, four hundred thousand — and were so impatient of any 
invasion of their territory, so jealous of their prerogatives, so spiteful 
and revengeful when injured, that it was policy always to keep on the 
right side of them. 

Pule Kuahu 

E hooulu ana i Kini « o ke Akua, 
Ka lehu o ke Akua, ' 
Ka mano o ke Akua, 
I ka pu-ku*i o ke Akua, 
5 I ka lalani Akua, 
la ulu mai o Kane, 
Ulu o Kanaloa; 
Ulu ka ohia, lau ka ie-ie; 
Ulu ke Akua, noho i ke kahua, 
10 A a'ea'e, a ulu, a noho kou kuahu. 
Eia ka pule la, he pule ola. 

Chorus: 
E ola ana oe! 

• Kini ke Akua, See note d, p. 24. 



22 BUBEAU OF AMEKICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

[Translation] 

Altar-Prayer 

Invoke we now the four thousand. 
The myriads four of the nimble, 
The four hundred thousand elves, 
The countless host of sprites, 
5 Rank upon rank of woodland gods. 
Pray, Kane, also inspire us; 
Kanaloa, too, join the assembly. 
Now grows the ohVa^ now leafs ie-ie; 
God enters, resides in the place; 
10 He mounts, inspires, abides in the shrine. 
This is our prayer, our plea this for life ! 

Chorus: 
Life shall be thine ! 

From one point of view these pule are not to be regarded as prayers 
in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather as song-offerings, verbal 
bouquets, affectionate sacrifices to the gods. 



III.— THE GODS OF THE HULA 

Of what nature were the gods of the old times, and how did the 
ancient Hawaiians conceive of them ? As of beings having the form, 
the powers, and the passions of humanity, yet standing above and 
somewhat apart from men. One sees, as through a mist, darkly, a 
figure, standing, moving ; in shape a plant, a tree or vine-clad stump, 
a bird, a taloned monster, a rock carved by the fire-queen, a human 
form, a puff of vapor — and now it has given place to vacancy. It 
was a goddess, perhaps of the hula. In the solitude of the wilder- 
ness one meets a youthful being of pleasing address, of godlike wit, 
of elusive beauty ; the charm of her countenance unspoken authority, 
her gesture command. She seems one with nature, yet commanding 
it. Food placed before her remains untasted ; the oven, imu^^ in which 
the fascinated host has heaped his abundance, preparing for a feast, 
when opened is found empty ; the guest of an hour has disappeared. 
Again it was a goddess, perhaps of the hula. Or, again, a traveler 
meets a creature of divine beauty, all smiles and loveliness. The in- 
fatuated mortal, smitten with hopeless passion, offers blandishments ; 
he finds himself by the roadside embracing a rock. It was a goddess 
of the hula. 

The gods, great and small, superior and inferior, whom the devo- 
tees and practitioners of the hula worshiped and sought to placate 
were many ; but the goddess Laka was the one to whom they offered 
special prayers and sacrifices and to whom they looked as the patron, 
the au-mahua^ of that institution. It was for her benefit and in her 
honor that the kuahu was set up, and the wealth of flower and leaf 
used in its decoration was emblematic of her beauty and glory, a 
pledge of her bodily presence, the very forms that she, a sylvan 
deity, was wont to assume when she pleased to manifest herself. 

As an additional crutch to the imagination and to emphasize the 
fact of her real presence on the altar which she had been invoked to 
occupy as her abode, she was symbolized by an uncarved block of 
wood from the sacred lama^ tree. This was wrapped in a robe of 
choice yellow tapa, scented with turmeric, and set conspicuously upon 
the altar. 

' Imu, The Hawaiian oven, which was a hole in the ground lined and arched over 
with stones. 

^ Au-makua. An ancestral god. 

*> Lama, A beautiful tree having firm, fine-grained, white wood ; used in making sacred 
inclosures and for other tabu purposes. 

23 



24 BTJBEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Laka was invoked as the god of the maile, the ie-ie, and other wild- 
wood growths before mentioned (pi. n). She was hailed as the 
" sister, wife, of god Lono," as " the one who by striving attained 
favor with the gods of the upper ether ;" as " the kumu « hula " — ^head 
teacher of the Terpsichorean art ; " the fount of joy ;" " the prophet 
who brings health to the sick;" " the one whose presence gives life." 
In one of the prayers to Laka she is besought to come and take pos- 
session of the worshiper, to dwell in him as in a temple, to inspire 
him in all his parts and faculties — ^voice, hands, feet, the whole body. 

Laka seems to have been a friend, but not a relative, of the numer- 
ous Pele family. So far as the author has observed, the fiery goddess 
is never invited to grace the altar with her presence, nor is her name 
so much as mentioned in any prayer met with. 

To compare the gods of the Hawaiian pantheon with those of 
classic Greece, the sphere occupied by Laka corresponds most nearly 
to that filled by Terpsichore and Euterpe, the muses, respectively, of 
dance and of song. Lono, in one song spoken of as the husband of 
Laka, had features in common with Apollo. 

. That other gods, Kane, Ku, Kanaloa,^ with Lono, Ku-pulupulu,^ 
and the whole swarm of godlings that peopled the wildwood, were 
also invited to favor the performances with their presence can be 
satisfactorily explained on the ground, first, that all the gods were in 
a sense members of one family, related to each other by intermarriage, 
if not by the ties of kinship ; and, second, by the patent fact of that 
great underlying cause of bitterness and strife among immortals as 
well as mortals, jealousy. It would have been an eruptive occasion 
of heart-burning and scandal if by any mischance a privileged one 
should have had occasion to feel slighted; and id have failed in 
courtesy to that countless host of wilderness imps and godlings, the 
Kini Ahua^^ mischievous and irreverent as the monkeys of India, 
would indeed have been to tempt a disaster. 

While it is true that the testimony of the various kumu-hula^ 
teachers of the hula, and devotees of the art of the hula, so far as the 
author has talked with them, has been overwhelmingly to the effect 
that Laka was the one and only divine patron of the art known to 
them, there has been a small number equally ready to assert that there 
were those who observed the cult of the goddess Kapo and worshiped 

'^ Kumu-hula. The teacher, a leader and priest of the hula. The modern school-mas- 
ter is called kumu-kula. 

^Kanaloa. Kane, Ku, Kanaloa, and Lono were the major gods of the Hawaiian pan- 
theon. 

" Ku-pulupulu. A god of the canoe-makers. 

*Kini Akua. A general expression — often used together with the ones that follow — 
meaning the countless swarms of brownies, elfs, kobolds, sprites, and other godlings 
(mischievous imps) that peopled the wilderness. Kini means literally 40,000, lehu 
400,000, and mano 4,000. See the Pule Kuahu — altar-prayer — on page 21. The Ha- 
waiians, curiously enough, did not put the words mano, kini, and lehu in the order of 
their numerical value. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE III 




HALA-P^PE (DRAC/tNA AUREA) 



BMHBSON] UNWRITTEN LITEBATUBE OF HAWAH 25 

her as the patron of the hula. The positive testimony of these wit- 
nesses must be reckoned as of more weight than the negative testi- 
mony of a much larger number, who either have not seen or will not 
look at the other side of the shield. At any rate, among the prayers 
before the kuahu, of which there are others yet to be presented, will be 
found several addressed to Kapo as the divine patron of the hula. 

Kapo was sister of Pele and the daughter of Haumea.® Among 
other roles played by her, like Laka she was at times a sylvan deity, 
and it was in the garb of woodland representations that she was 
worshiped by hula folk. Her forms of activity, corresponding to 
her different metamorphoses, were numerous, in one of which she was 
at times "employed by the kahuna^ as a messenger in their black 
arts, and she is claimed by many as an aumfmhua^'^ ^ said to be the 
sister of Kalai-pahoa, the poison god. 

Unfortunately Kapo had an evil name on account of a propensity 
which led her at times to commit actions that seem worthy only of a 
demon of lewdness. This was, however, only the hysteria of a 
moment, not the settled habit of her life. On one notable occasion, 
by diverting the attention of the bestial pig-god Kama-pua'a, and by 
vividly presenting to him a temptation well adapted to his gross 
nature, she succeeded in enticing him away at a critical moment, and 
thus rescued her sister Pele at a time when the latter's life was 
imperiled by an unclean and violent assault from the swine-god. 

Like Catherine of Russia, who in one mood was the patron of liter- 
ature and of the arts and sciences and in another mood a very satyr, 
so the Hawaiian goddess Kapo seems to have lived a double life 
whose aims were at cross purposes with one another — now an angel 
of grace and beauty, now a demon of darkness and lust. 

Do we not find in this the counterpart of nature's twofold aspect, 
who presents herself to dependent humanity at one time as an alma 
mater, the food-giver, a divinity of joy and comfort, at another time 
as the demon of the storm and earthquake, a plowshare of fiery 
destruction ? 

The name of Hiiaka, the sister of Pele, is one often mentioned in 
the prayers of the hula. 

« Haumea. The ancient goddess, or ancestor, the sixth in line of descent from Wakea. 

^ Kahuna. A sorcerer ; with a qualifying adjective It meant a skilled craftsman ; Kahuna- 
kalai-wa'a was a canoe-huilder ; kahuna lapaau was a medicine-man, a doctor, etc. 

e The Lesser Gods of Hawaii, a paper by Joseph S. Emerson, read before the Hawaiian 
Historical Society, April 7, 1892. 



IV.— SUPPORT AND ORGANIZATION OF THE HULA 

In ancient times the hula to a large extent was a creature of royal 
support, and for good reason. The actors in this institution were not 
producers of life's necessaries. To the alii belonged the land and the 
sea and all the useful products thereof. Even the jetsam whale-tooth 
and wreckage scraps of iron that ocean cast up on the shore were 
claimed by the lord of the land. Everything was the king's. Thus 
it followed of necessity that the support of the hula must in the end 
rest upon the alii. As in ancient Rome it was a senator or general, 
enriched by the spoil of a province, who promoted the sports of the 
arena, so in ancient Hawaii it was the chief or headman of the district 
who took the initiative in the promotion of the people's communistic 
sports and of the hula. 

We must not imagine that the hula was a thing only of kings' 
courts and chiefish residences. It had another and democratic side. 
The passion for the hula was broadspread. If other agencies failed 
to meet the demand, there was nothing to prevent a company of 
enthusiasts from joining themselves together in the pleasures and, 
it might be, the profits of the hula. Their spokesman — designated as 
the po^O'puda^ from the fact that a pig, or a boar's head, was required 
of him as an offering at the kuahu — ^was authorized to secure the 
services of some expert to be their kumu. But with the hula all roads 
lead to the king's court. 

Let us imagine a scene at the king's residence. The alii, rousing 
from his sloth and rubbing his eyes, rheumy with debauch and awa^ 
overhears remark on the doings of a new company of hula dancers 
who have come into the neighborhood. He summons his chief 
steward. 

" What is this new thing of which they babble?" he demands. 

" It is nothing, son of heaven," answers the kneeling steward. 

" They spoke of a hula. Tell me, what is it?" 

"Ah, thou heaven-bom (lani), it was but a trifle — a new company, 
young graduates of the halau, have set themselves up as great ones ; 
mere rustics; they have no proper acquaintance with the traditions 
of the art as taught by the bards of * * * your majesty's father. 
They mouth and twist the old songs all awry, thou son of heaven." 

" Enough. I will hear them to-morrow. Send a messenger for 
this new kumu. Fill again my bowl with awa." 
26 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 27 

Thus it comes about that the new hula company gains audience at 
court and walks the road that, perchance, leads to fortune. Success 
to the men and women of the hula means not merely applause, in 
return for the incense of flattery ; it means also a shower of substantial 
favors — food, garments, the smile of royalty, perhaps land — ^things 
that make life a festival. If welcome grows cold and it becomes evi- 
dent that the harvest has been reaped, they move on to fresh woods 
and pastures new. 

To return from this apparent digression, it was at the king's court — 
if we may extend the courtesy of this phrase to a group of thatched 
houses — that were gathered the bards and those skilled in song, those 
in whose memories were stored the mythologies, traditions, geneal- 
ogies, proverbial wisdom, and poetry that, warmed by emotion, was 
the stuff from which was spun the songs of the hula. As fire is pro- 
duced by friction, so it was often by the congress of wits rather than 
by the flashing of genius that the songs of the hula were evolved. 

The composition and criticism of a poetical passage were a matter 
of high importance, often requiring many suggestions and much 
consultation. If the poem was to be a mele-inoa^ a name-song to 
eulogize some royal or princely scion, it must contain no word of 
ill-omen. The fate-compelling power of such a word, once shot from 
the mouth, was beyond recall. Like the incantation of the sorcerer, 
the kahuna dnaandj it meant death to the eulogized one. If not, it 
recoiled on the life of the singer. 

The verbal form once settled, it remained only to stereotype it on 
the memories of the men and women who constituted the literary 
court or conclave. Think not that only thus were poems produced 
in ancient Hawaii. The great majority of songs were probably the 
fruit of solitary inspiration, in which the bard poured out his heart 
like a song-bird, or uttered his lone vision as a seer. The method of 
poem production in conclave may be termed the official method. It 
was often done at the command of an alii. So much for the fabri- 
cation, the weaving, of a song. 

If the composition was intended as a eulogy, it was cantillated cere- 
moniously before the one it honored; if in anticipation of a prince 
yet unborn, it was daily recited before the mother until the hour of her 
delivery ; and this cantillation published it abroad. If the song was 
for production in the hula, it lay warm in the mind of the kumu, 
the master and teacher of the hula, until such time as he had organ- 
ized his company. 

The court of the alii was a vortex that drew in not only the bards 
and men of lore, but the gay and fashionable rout of pleasure-seekers, 
the young men and women of shapely form and gracious presence, 
the sons and daughters of the king's henchmen and favorites ; among 



28 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

them, perhaps, the offspring of the king's morganatic alliances and 
amours — the flower and pick of Hawaii's youth. From these the 
kumu selected those most fitted by beauty and grace of form, as well 
as quickness of wit and liveliness of imagination, to take part in 
the hula. 

The performers in the hula were divided into two classes, the 
olapa — agile ones — and the ho^o-paa — steadfast ones. The role of 
olapa, as was fitting, was assigned to the young men and young 
women who could best illustrate in their persons the grace and beauty 
of the human form. It was theirs, sometimes while singing, to move 
and pose and gesture in the dance; sometimes also to punctuate their 
song and action with the lighter instruments of music. The role of 
ho'o-paa, on the other hand, was given to men and women of greater 
experience and of more maturity. They handled the heavier instru- 
ments and played their parts mostly while sitting or kneeling, mark- 
ing the time with their instrumentation. They also lent their voices 
to swell the chorus or utter the refrain of certain songs, sometimes 
taking the lead in the song or bearing its whole burden, while the 
light-footed olapa gave themselves entirely to the dance. The part 
of the ho'o-paa was indeed the heavier, the more exacting duty. 

Such was the personnel of a hula troupe when first gathered by 
the hula-master for training and drill in the halau, now become a 
school for the hula. Among the pupils the kumu was sure to find 
some old hands at the business, whose presence, like that of veterans 
in a squad of recruits, was a leaven to inspire the whole company 
with due respect for the spirit and traditions of the historic institu- 
tion and to breed in the members the patience necessary to bring them 
to the highest proficiency. 

The instruction of the kumu, as we are informed, took a wide 
range. It dealt in elaborate detail on such matters as accent, in- 
flection, and all that concerns utterance and vocalization. It natu- 
rally paid great attention to gesture and pose, attitude and bodily 
action. That it included comment on the meaning that lay back of 
the words may be gravely doubted. The average hula dancer of 
modern times shows great ignorance of the mele he recites, and this 
is true even of the kumu-hula. His work too often is largely per- 
functory, a matter of sound and form, without appeal to the intel- 
lect. 

It would not be legitimate, however, to conclude from this that 
ignorance of the meaning was the rule in old times; those were the 
days when the nation's traditional songs, myths, and lore formed the 
equipment of every alert and receptive mind, chief or commoner. 
There was no printed page to while away the hours of idleness. 
The library was stored in one's memory. The language of the mele, 
which now has become antiquated, then was familiar speech. For a 



BMBB80N] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAH 29 

kumu-hula to have given instruction in the meaning of a song would 
have been a superfluity, as if one at the present day were to inform 
a group of well-educated actors and actresses who was Pompey or 
Julius Csesar. 

'^Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trip- 
pingly on the tongue." Hamlet's words to the players were, it may 
be supposed, the substance of the kumu's instructions to the pupils 
in his halau. 

The organization of a hula company was largely democratic. The 
kumu — in modem sense, the teacher — was the leader and conductor, 
responsible for the training and discipline of the company. He was 
the business manager of the enterprise ; the priest, kahuna^ the leader 
in the religious exercises, the one who interpreted the will of heaven, 
especially of the gods whose favor determined success. He might 
be called to his position by the choice of the company, appointed by 
the command of the alii who promoted the enterprise, or self -elected 
in case the enterprise was his own. He had under him a kokua kum% 
a deputy, who took charge during his absence. 

The po^O'puaa was an officer chosen by the pupils to be their spe- 
cial agent and mouthpiece. He saw to the execution of the kumu's 
judgments iand commands, collected the fines, and exacted the penal- 
ties imposed by the kumu. It fell to him to convey to the altar the 
presents of garlands, awa, and the like that were contributed to the 
halau. 

The paepae^ also chosen by the pupils, subject to confirmation by 
the kumu, acted as an assistant of the po'o-puaa. During the con- 
struction of the kuahu the po'o-puaa stood to the right, the paepae 
at his left. They were in a general sense guardians of the kuahu. 

The ho^O'ulu was the guard stationed at the door. He sprinkled 
with sea-water mixed with turmeric everyone who entered the halau. 
He also acted as sergeant-at-arms to keep order and remove anyone 
who made a disturbance. It was his duty each day to place a fresh 
bowl of awa on the altar of the goddess {hanai kuahu) ^ literally to 
feed the altar. 

In addition to these officials, a hula company naturally required 
the services of a miscellaneous retinue of stewards, cooks, fishermen, 
hewers of wood, and drawers of water. 

Rules of Conduct and Tabus 

Without a body of rules, a strict penal code, and a firm hand to 
hold in check the hot bloods of both sexes, it would have been impos- 
sible to keep order and to accomplish the business purpose' of the or- 
ganization. The explosive force of passion would have made the 
gathering a signal for the breaking loose of pandemonium. That it 
did not always so result is a compliment alike to the self-restraint of 



80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

the people and to the sway that artistic ideals held over their minds, 
but, above all, to a peculiar system of discipline wisely adapted to the 
necessities of human nature. It does not seem likely that a Thespian 
band of our own race would have held their passions under equal 
check if surrounded by the same temptations and given the same op- 
portunities as these Polynesians. It may well be doubted if the bare 
authority of the kumu would have sufficed to maintain discipline and 
to keep order, had it not been reenforced by the dread powers of the 
spirit world in the shape of the tabii. 

The awful grasp of this law, this repressive force, the tabu, held 
fast the student from the moment of his entrance into the halau. It 
denied this pleasure, shut off that innocent indulgence, curtailed 
liberty in this direction and in that. The tabu waved before his 
imagination like a flaming sword, barring approach to the Eden of 
his strongest propensity. 

The rules and discipline of the halau, the school for the hula, from 
our point of view, were a mixture of shrewd common sense and whim- 
sical superstition. Under the head of tabus certain articles of food 
were denied; for instance, the sugar-cane — ko — was forbidden. The 
reason assigned was that if one indulged in it his work as a practi- 
tioner would amount to nothing; in the language of the kumu, aohe 
e ko ana kana man hana^ his work will be a failure. The argument 
turned on the double meaning of the word ko^ the first meaning being 
sugar cane, the second, accomplishment. The Hawaiians were much 
impressed by such whimsical nominalisms. Yet there is a backing of 
good sense to the rule. Anyone who has chewed the sweet stalk can 
testify that for some time thereafter his voice is rough, ill-fitted for 
singing or elocution. 

The strictest propriety and decorum were exacted of the pupils; 
there must be no license whatever. Even married people during the 
weeks preceding graduation must observe abstinence toward their 
partners. The whole power of one's being must be devoted to the 
pursuit of art. 

The rules demanded also the most punctilious personal cleanliness. 
Above all things, one must avoid contact with a corpse. Such defile- 
ment barred one from entrance to the halau until ceremonial cleansing 
had been performed. The offender must bathe in the ocean; the 
kumu then aspersed him with holy water, uttered a prayer, ordered a 
penalty, an offering to the kuahu, and declared the offender clean. 
This done, he was again received into fellowship at the halau. 

The ordinary penalty for a breach of ceremony or an offense 
against sexual morality was the offering of a baked porkling with 
awa. Since the introduction of money the penalty has generally 
been reckoned on a commercial basis; a money fine is imposed. The 
offering of pork and awa is retained as a concession to tradition. 



v.— CEKEMONIES OF GRADUATION; DfiBUT OF A HULA 

DANCER 

Ceremonies of Graduation 

The ai'lolo rite and ceremony marked the consunmiation of a 
pupil's readiness for graduation from the school of the halau and his 
formal entrance into the guild of hula dancers. As the time drew 
near, the kumu tightened the reins of discipline, and for a few days 
before that event no pupil might leave the halau save for the most 
stringent necessity, and then only with the head muffled (pulo^u) to 
avoid recognition, and he might engage in no conversation whatever 
outside the halau. 

The night preceding the day of ai-lolo was devoted to special serv- 
ices of dance and song. Some time after midnight the whole company 
went forth to plunge into the ocean, thus to purge themselves of any 
lurking ceremonial impurity. The progress to the ocean and the 
return they made in complete nudity. " Nakedness is the garb of the 
gods." On their way to and from the bath they must not look back, 
they must not turn to the right hand or to the left. 

The kumu, as the priest, remained at the halau, and as the proces- 
sion returned from the ocean he met it at the door and sprinkled each 
one (pikai) with holy water. Then came another period of dance 
and song; and then, having cantillated a pule hoonoa^ to lift the 
tabu, the kumu went forth to his own ceremonial cleansing bath in the 
sea. During his absence his deputy, the kokua kumu^ took charge of 
the halau. When the kumu reached the door on his return, he made 
himself known by reciting a mele wehe puka^ the conventional pass- 
word. 

Still another exercise of song and dance, and the wearied pupils 
are glad to seek repose. Some will not even remove the short dancing 
skirts that are girded about them, so eager are they to snatch an hour 
of rest ; and some lie down with bracelets and anklets yet unclasped. 

At daybreak the kumu rouses the company with the tap of the 
drum. After ablutions, before partaking of their simple breakfast, 
the company stand before the altar and recite a tabu-removing prayer, 
accompanying the cantillation with a rhythmic tapping of feet and 
clapping of hands: 

Pule Hoonoa 

Pupu we*uwe'u e, Laka e! 
O kona we'uwe'u ke ku uei. 

31 



32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL.8S 

Kaumaha a'e la la Laka. 
O Laka ke akua pule Ikalka. 
5 Ua ku ka malle a Laka a Imua ; 
Ua lu ka hua « o ka malle. 
Noa, noa la'u, la Kahaula — 
Papalua noa. 
Noa, a ua noa. 
10 Eli-ell kapu ! eli-eli noa ! 
Kapu oukou, ke akua! 
Noa makou, ke kanaka'. 

[Translation] 

Tahu-Ufting Prayer 

Oh wildwood bouquet, oh Laka ! 
Hers are the growths that stand here. 
Suppliants we to Laka. 
The prayer to Laka has power; 
5 The malle of Laka stands to the fore. 
The malle vine casts now its seeds. 
Freedom, there's freedom to me, Kahaula — 
A freedom twofold. 
10 Freedom, aye freedom ! 

A tabu profound, a freedom complete. 
Ye gods are still tabu ; 
We mortals are free. 

At the much-needed repast to which the company now sit down 
there may be present a gathering of friends and relatives and of 
hula experts, called olohe. Soon the porkling chosen to be the 
ai'lolo offering is brought in — a black suckling without spot or 
blemish. The kumu holds it down while all the pupils gather and lay 
their hands upon his hands; and he expounds to them the signifi- 
cance of the ceremony. If they consecrate themselves to the work 
in hand in sincerity and with true hearts, memory will be strong 
and the training, the knowledge, and the songs that have been in- 
trusted to the memory will stay. If they are heedless, regardless of 
their vows, the songs they have learned will fly away. 

The ceremony is long and impressive ; many songs are used. Some- 
times, it was claimed, the prayers of the kumu at this laying on of 
hands availed to cause the death of the little animal. On the com- 
pletion of the ceremony the offering is taken out and made ready 
for the oven. 

One of the first duties of the day is the dismantling of the old 
kuahu, the shrine, and the construction of another from new mate- 
rials as a residence for the goddess. While night yet shadows the 
earth the attendants and friends of the^pupils have gone up into the 

« Lu ka hua. Casts now Its seeds The maile vine (pi. iv), one of the goddess'^ emblems, 
casts Its seeds, meaning that the goddess gives the pupils skill and inspires them. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE IV 




MAILE (ALYXIA MYRTILLIFOLIA) WREATH 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OP HAWAU 33 

mountains to collect the material for the new shrine. The rustic 
artists, while engaged in this loving work of building and weaving 
the new kuahu, cheer and inspire one another with joyful songs 
vociferous with the praise of Laka. The halau also they decorate 
afresh, strewing the floor with clean rushes, until the whole place 
enthralls the senses like a bright and fragrant temple. 

The kumu now grants special dispensation to the pupils to go 
forth that, they may make good the results of the neglect of the 
person incident to long confinement in the halau. For days, for 
weeks, perhaps for months, they have not had full opportunity to 
trim hair, nails, or beard, to anoint and groom themselves. They use 
this short absence from the hall also to supply themselves with 
wreaths of fragrant maile, crocus-yellow ilima, scarlet-flaming lehua, 
fern, and what not. 

At the appointed hour the pupils, wreathed and attired like 
nymphs and dryads, assemble in the halau, sweet with woodsy per- 
fumes. At the door they receive aspersion with consecrated water. 

The ai-lolo offering, cooked to a turn — no part raw, no part 
cracked or scorched — ^is brought in from the imu^ its bearer sprinkled 
by the guard at the entrance. The kumu, having inspected the roast 
offering and having declared it ceremonially perfect, gives the sig- 
nal, and the company break forth in songs of joy and of adulation 
to goddess Laka : 

Mele Kuuhu 

Noho ana Laka i ka ulu wehi-wehi, 
Ku ana iluna i Mo'o-helaia,« 
Ohia-Ku ^ iluna o Mauna-loa.<^ 
Aloha mai Kaulana-ula <* ia'u. 
5 Eia ka ula la, he ula leo,c 

He uku, he modal, lie kanaenae. 
He alana na'u ia oe. 
E Laka e, e maliu mai; 
E maliu mai oe, i pono au, 
10 A pono au, a pono kaua. 

'^ Mo'o-helaia. A female deity, a kupua, who at death became one of the divinities, 
au-makua, of the hula. Her name was conferred on the place claimed as her residence, 
on Mauna-loa, island of Molokai. 

^Ohia-Ku, Full name ohia-ku-makua ; a variety of the ohia, or lehua (pi. xiii), whose 
wood was used in making temple gods. A rough stem of this tree stood on each side 
near the hala-pepe. (See pi. iii, also pp. 19-20.) 

" Mauna-loa. Said to be the mountain of that name on Molokai, not that on Hawaii. 

^ Kaulana-ula. Full form Kaulana-a-ula ; the name of a deity belonging to the order, 
papa, of the hula. Its meaning is explained in the expression ula leo, in the next line. 

« Ula leo. A singing or trilling sound, a tinnitus aurium, a sign that the deity Kaulana- 
ula was making some communication to the one who heard it. 



" By the pricking of my thumbs 
Something wicked this way comes." 



25352— Bull. 38—09- 



34 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

[Translation] 

Altar-Prayer 

Laka sits in her shady grove, 
Stands on her terrace, at Mo'o-helaia; 
Like the tree of God Ku on Mauna-loa. 
Eaulana-ula trills in my ear; 
5 A whispered suggestion to me, 
Lo, an offering, a payment, 
A eulogy give I to thee. 
O Laka, incline to me! 
Have compassion, let it be well — 
10 Well with me, well with us both. 

There is no stint of prayer-song. While the offering rests on the 
kuahu, the joyful service continues: 

Mele Kuahu 

E Laka, e ! 

Pupu we'uwe'u e, Laka e! 
E Laka i ka leo; 
E laka i ka*loaa; 
5 E Laka i ka waiwai; 

E Laka i na mea a pau! 

[Translation] 

Altar-Prayer 

O goddess Laka ! 
O wildwood bouquet, O Laka ! 
O Laka, queen of the voice! 
O Laka, giver of gifts ! 
5 O Laka, giver of bounty ! 

O Laka, giver of all things! 

At the conclusion of this loving service of worship and song each 
member of the troupe removes from his head and neck the wreaths 
that had bedecked him, and with them crowns the image of the god- 
dess until her altar is heaped with the offerings. 

Now comes the pith of the ceremony: the novitiates sit down to 
the feast of ai-lolo, theirs the place of honor, at the head of the table, 
next the kuahu. The hd^o-fd^a^ acting as carver, selects the typical 
parts — snout, ear-tips, tail, feet, portions of the vital organs, espe- 
cially the brain (lolo). This last it is which gives name to the cere- 
mony. He sets an equal portion before each novitiate. Each one 
must eat all that is set be:fore him. It is a mystical rite, a sacrament ; 
as he eats he consciously partakes of the virtue of the goddess that is 
transmitted to himself. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 35 

Meantime the olohe and friends of the novitiates, inspired with the 
proper enthusiasm o:^ the occasion, lift their voices in joyful cantilla- 
tions in honor of the goddess, accompanied with the clapping of 
hands. 

The ceremony now reaches a new stage. The kumu lifts the tabu 
by uttering a prayer — always a song — and declares the place and the 
feast free, and the whole assembly sit down to enjoy the bounty that 
is spread up and down the halau. On this occasion men and women 
may eat in common. The only articles excluded from this feast are 
luau — a food much like spinach, made by cooking the young and deli- 
cate taro leaf — and the drupe of the hala^ the pandanus (pi. xviii). 

The company sit down to eat and to drink ; presently they rise to 
dance and sing. The kumu leads in a tabu-lifting, free4om-giving 
song and the ceremony of ai-lolo is over. The pupils have been grad- 
uated from the school of the halau; they are now members of the 
great guild of hula dancers. The time has come for them to make 
their bow to the waiting public outside, to bid for the favor of the 
world. This is to be their " little go ;" they will spread their wings 
for a greater flight on the morrow. 

The kumu with his big drum, and the musicians, the ho'o-pa'a, 
pass through the door and take their places outside in the lanai, 
where sit the waiting multitude. At the tap of the drum the group 
of waiting olapa plume themselves like fine birds eager to show their 
feathers ; and, as they pass out the halau door and present themselves 
to the breathless audience, into every pose and motion of their glid- 
ing, swaying figures they pour a full tide of emotion in studied and 
unstudied effort to captivate the public. 

Debut of a Hula Dancer 

The occasion is that of a lifetime; it is their uniki^ their debut. 
The song chosen must rise to the dignity of the occasion. Let us 
listen to the song that enthralls the audience seated in the rush- 
strown lanai, that we may judge of its worthiness. 

He Mele-Inoa (no Naihe)<» 

Ka nalu nui, a ku ka nalu mal Kona, 

Ka malo a ka mahiehie,^ 

Ka onaulu-loa,<' a lele ka'u malo. 



« Naihe. A man of strong character, but not a high chief. He was born in Kona and 
resided at Napoopoo. His mother was Ululani, his father Keawe-a-heulu, who was a 
celebrated general and strategist under Kamehameha I. 

^ Mahiehie. A term conferring dignity and distinction. 

« Onaulu-loa. A roller of great length and endurance, one that reaches -the shore, in 
contrast to a kakala. 



36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

O kakai <* malo hoaka,^ 
5 O ka malo kai»^ malo o ke alii. 
E ku, e hume a paa i ka malo. 

E ka'ika*i<^ ka la i ka papa o Halep6;« 
A pae o Halep6 i ka nalu. 
Ho-e*e 1 ka nalu mai Kahiki;^ 
10 He nalu Wakea,^ nalu ho'ohua.* 

Haki opu*u * ka nalu, haki kua-pfi.^ 

Ea mai ka makakai* he'e-nalu, 
Kai he'e kakala ^ o ka moku, 
Kal-kd, o ka nalu nui, 
15 Ka hu'a o ka nalu o Hiki-au.*» 
Kai he'e-nalu i ke awakea. 

Ku ka puna, ke ko'a i-uka. 
Ka makaM o ka nalu o Kuhihewa.** 
Ua o ia,® noM ka papa! 
20 Nohfi, Maui, nauweuwe, 
Nauweuwe, nakelekele. 

Nakele ka ill o ka i he'e-kai. 
Lalilali ole ka ill o ke akamai; 
Kahilihili ke kai a ka he'e-nalu. 
25 Ike'a ka nalu nui o Puna, o Hilo. 



[Translation] 
A Name-Song, a Eulogy (for Naihe) 

The huge roller, roller that surges from Kona, 
Makes loin-cloth fit for a lord; 
Far-reaching swell, my malo streams in the wind ; 
Shape the crescent malo to tlje loins — 
5 The loin-cloth the sea, cloth for king's girding. 
Stand, gird fast the loin-cloth ! 

» Kakai: An archaic word meaning forty. 

^ Hoaka. A crescent; the name of the second day of the month. The allusion is to 
the curve (downward) of a large number (kakai) of malo when hung on a line, the 
usual way of keeping such articles. 

" Malo kai. The ocean is sometimes poetically termed the malo or pa-u of the naked 
swimmer, or bather. It covers his nakedness. 

'' Ka'ikaH. To lead or to carry ; a tropical use of the word. The sun is described as 
leading the board. 

« Hale-p6. In the opinion of the author it is the name of the board. A skilled Ha- 
waiian says it is the name given the surf of a place at Napoopoo, in Kona, Hawaii. The 
action is not located there, but in Puna, it seems to the author. 

f Kahiki. Tahiti, or any foreign country ; a term of grandiloquence. 

f> Wakea. A mythical name, coming early in Hawaiian genealogies ; here used in ex- 
aggeration to show the age of the roller. 

* Ho^ohua. Applied to a roller, one that rolls on and swells higher. 

* Opu'u. Said of a roller that completes its run to shore. 

i Kua-pd. Said of a roller as above that dies at the shore. 

^ Maka-kai. The springing-up of the surf after an interval of quiet. 

' Kakdla. Rough, heaped up, one wave overriding another, a chop sea. 

♦» Hiki-atl. Said to be the name of a temple. 

»» Kuhihewa. Full name Ka-kuhi-hetca, a distinguished king of Oahu. 

<' Q iQr. Meaning that the board dug its nose into the reef or sand. 



EMEBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 37 

Let the sun guide the board Halep6, 
Till Halep6 lifts on the swell. 
It mounts the swell that rolls from Kahiki, 
10 From Wakea's age onroUing. 

The roller plumes and ruffles its crest. 

Here comes the champion surf-man, 
While wave-ridden wave beats the island, 
A fringe of mountain-high waves. 
15 Spume lashes the Hiki-au altar — 
A surf this to ride at noontide. 

The coral, homed coral, it sweeps far ashore. 
We gaze at the surf of Ka-kuhi-hewa. 
The surf -board snags, is shivered; 
20 Maui splits with a crash, 

Trembles, dissolves into slime. 

Glossy the skin of the surf-man; 
Undrenched the skin of the expert; 
Wave-feathers fan the wave-rider. 
25 You've seen the grand surf of Puna, of Hilo. 
******* 
This spirited song, while not a full description of a surf-riding 
scene, gives a vivid picture of that noble *sport. The last nine verses 
have been omitted, as they add neither to the action nor to the in- 
terest. 

It seems surprising that the accident spoken of in line 19 should 
be mentioned ; for it is in glaring opposition to the canons that were 
usually observed in the composition of a mele-inoa. In the construc- 
tion of a eulogy the Hawaiians were not only punctiliously careful 
to avoid mention of anything susceptible of sinister interpretation, 
but they were superstitiously sensitive to any such unintentional hap- 
pening. As already mentioned (p. 27), they believed that the fate- 
compelling power of a word of ill-omen was inevitable. If it did 
not result in the death of the one eulogized, retributive justice turned 
the evil influence back on him who uttered it. 



VI.— THE PASSWORD— THE SONG OF ADMISSION 

There prevailed among the practitioners of the hula from one end 
of the group to the other a mutual understanding, amounting almost 
to a sort of freemasonry, which gave to any member of the guild 
the right of free entrance at all times to the hall, or halau, where a 
performance was under way. Admission was conditioned, however, 
on the utterance of a password at the door. A snatch of song, an oli, 
denominated mele kahea^ or inele wehe puka^ was chanted, which, on 
being recognized by those within, was answered in the same language 
of hyperbole, and the door was opened. 

The verbal accuracy of any mele kahea that may be adduced is at 
the. present day one of the vexed questions among hula authorities, 
each hula-master being inclined to maintain that the version given 
by another is incorrect. This remark applies, though in smaller 
measure, to the whole body of mele, pule, and oli that makes up the 
songs and liturgy of the hula as well as to the traditions that guided 
the maestro, or kumu-hula, in the training of his company. The 
reasons for these differences of opinion and of text, now that there is 
to be a written text, are explained by the following facts : The dev- 
otees and practitioners of the hula were divided into groups that 
were separated from one another by wide intervals of sea and land. 
They belonged quite likely to more than one cult, for indeed there 
were many gods and au-makua to whom they sacrificed and offered 
prayers. The passwords adopted by one generation or by the group 
of practitioners on one island might suffer verbal changes in trans- 
mission to a later generation or to a remote island. 

Again, it should be remembered that the entire body of material 
forming the repertory of the hula — pule, mele, and oli — was in- 
trusted to the keeping of the memory, without the aid of letters 
or, so far as known, of any mnemonic device ; and the human mind, 
even under the most athletic discipline, is at best an imperfect con- 
servator of literary form. The result was what might be expected : 
as the imagination and emotions of the minstrel warmed under the 
inspiration of his trust, glosses and amendments crept in. These, 
however, caused but slight variations in the text. The substance 
remains substantially the same. 

After carefully weighing the matter, the author can not avoid the 
conclusion that jealousy had much to do with the slight differences 
now manifest, that on© version is as authoritative as another, and 



EMBfisoNj tJKWRITTEK LlTERATtJBE 0^ HAWAII- S9 

that it would be well for each kumu-hula to have kept in mind the 
wise adage that shines among the sayings of his nation : Ao/ie pau 
lea ike i kau halau « — " Think not that all of wisdom resides in your 
halau." ^ 

Mele Kahea 

Lf u-li'u aloha la*u, 
Ka uka o Koliol&-lele, 
Ka nahele mauka o Ka-papala ^ la. 
Komo, e komo aku hoi au maloko. 
5 Mai lio*oliewaliewa mai oe ia'u; oau no la, 
Ke ka-nae-nae a ka mea hele, 

He leo, e-e, 
A lie leo wale no, e-e! 
Ela ka pu'u nul owaho nei la, 
10 He ua, he Ino, he anu, he ko*e-ko'e. 
E ku'u aloha, e, 
Maloko aku au. 

[Translation] 

Password 

Long, long have I tarried with love 
In the uplands of Kohol^-lele, 
The wildwood above Ka-papala. 
To enter, permit me to enter, I pray; 
5 Refuse me not recognition ; I am he, 
A traveler offering mead of praise, 

Just a voice. 
Only a human voice. 
Oh; what I suffer out here, 
10 Rain, storm, cold, and wet. 
O sweetheart of mine. 
Let me come in to you. 

Hear now the answer chanted by voices from within : 

Mele Komo 

Aloha na hale o makou i maka-maka ole, 
Ke alanui hele mauka o Pu'u-kahea la, e-e! 

Ka-he-a ! 
E Kahea aku ka pono e komo mai oe iloko nei. 
Eia ka pu*u nul o waho nei, he anu. 

a Sophocles {Antigone^ 705) had said the same thing: fiii wv fv ^0oi fiowov iv o-avry' <p6p€i, wo- 917$ 
<rv, KovSkv aWOf tovt* bpO&i €x«t»'—" Don't get this idea fixed in your head, that what you say, and 
nothing else, is right." 

^ Halau. As previously explained, In this connection halau has a meaning similar to 
our word " school," or " academy,'* a place where some art was taught, as wrestling, box- 
ing, or the hula. 

<' Ka-papala, A verdant region on the southeastern flank of Mauna-Loa. 



40 BUREAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

[Translation] 

Song of Welcome 

What love to our cottage-homes, now vacant. 
As one climbs the mount of Entreaty! 

We call, 
We voice the welcome. Invite you to enter. 
The hill of Affliction out there is the cold. 

Another fragment that was sometunes used as a password is the fol- 
lowing bit of song taken from the story of Hiiaka, sister of Pele. 
She is journeying with the beautiful Hopoe to fetch prince Lohiau 
to the court of Pele. They have come by a steep and narrow path to 
the brink of the Wai-lua river, Kauai, at this point spanned by a 
single plank. But the bridge is gone, removed by an ill-tempered 
naiad (witch) said to have come from Kahiki, whose name, Wai-lua, 
is the same as that of the stream. Hiiaka calls out, demanding that 
the plank be restored to its place. Wai-lua does not recognize the 
deity in Hiiaka and, sullen, makes no response. At this the goddess 
puts forth her strength, and Wai-lua, stripped of her power and re- 
duced to her true station, that of a mo^o^ a reptile, seeks refuge in the 
caverns beneath the river. Hiiaka betters the condition of the cross- 
ing by sowing it with stepping stones. The stones remain in evidence 
to this day. 

Mele Kahea 

Kunihi ka mauna i ka la'i e, 
O Wai-ale-ale ^ la i Wai-lua, 
Huki a'e la i ka lani 
Ka papa au-wai o ka Wai-kini; 
5 Alai la a'e la e Nou-nou, 
Nalo ka Ipu-ha'a, 
Ka laula mauka o Kapa'a, e ! 
Mai pa'a i ka leo ! 
He ole ka hea mai, e ! 

[Translation! 
Password — Song 

Steep stands the mountain in calm, 
Profile of Wai-ale-ale at Wai-lua. 
Gone the stream-spanning plank of Wai-kini, 
Filched away by Nou-nou; 
5 Shut off the view of the hill Ipu-ha'a, 
And the upland expanse of Ka-pa'a. 
Give voice and make answer. 
Dead silence — no voice in reply. 

In later, in historic times, this visitor, whom we have kept long 
waiting at the door, might have voiced his appeal in the passionate 
words of this comparatively modern song: 

^Wai-ale-ale (Leaping- water). The central mountain-mass of Kauai. 



EMEBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 41 

Mele Kahea^ 

Ka uka holo-kia ahi-manu o La'a,^ 
I po-ele i ka uahi, noe ka nahele, 
Nohe-nohea i ka makani luhau-pua. 
He pua oni ke kanaka — 
5 He mea laha ole ia oe. 
Mai kaua e hea nel ; 
E hea i ke kanaka e komo maloko, 
E hanai ai a hewa ^ ka wa'ha. 
Eia no ka uku la, o ka wa'a.<^ 

[Translation] 

Password — Song 

In the uplands, the darting flame-bird of La'a, 
While smoke and mist blur the woodland, 
Is keen for the breath of frost-bitten flowers. 

A fickle flower is man — 
5 A trick this not native to you. 

Come thou with her who is calling to thee; 
A call to the man to come in 
And eat till the mouth is awry. 

Lo, this the reward — the canoe. 

The answer to this appeal for admission was in these words : 

Mele Komo 

E hea i ke kanaka e komo maloko, 
E hanai ai a hewa waha ; 
Eia no ka uku la, o ka leo, 
A he leo wale no, e ! 

[Translation] 

Welcoming-Song 

Call to the man to come in. 
And eat till the mouth is estopt ; 
And this the reward, the voice, 
Simply the voice. 

The cantillation of the mele komo^ in answer to the visitor's peti- 
tion, meant not only the opening to him of the halau door, but also 
his welcome to the life of the halau as a heart-guest of honor, trebly 
welcome as the bringer of fresh tidings from the outside world. 

«»This utterance of passion is said to have been the composition of the Princess Ka- 
mamalu, as an address to Prince William Lunalilo, to whom she was at one time affi- 
anced and would have married, but that King Lihohho (Kamehameha IV) would not 
allow the marriage. . Thereby hangs a tragedy. 

^La'a. The region in Hawaii now known as Ola'a was originally called La'a. The 
particle o has become fused with the word. 

"Hewa ka waha. This expression, here tortured into "(till) the mouth awry," is 
difficult of translation. A skilled Hawaiian scholar suggests it may mean to change one 
from an enemy to a friend by stopping his mouth with food. 

<* Wa'a. Literally a canoe. This Is a euphemism for the human body, a gift often too 
freely granted. It will be noted that in the answering mele komo, the song of admis- 
sion, the reward promised is more modestly measured — " Simply the voice." 



VII.— WORSHIP AT THE ALTAR OF THE HALAU 

The first duty of a visitor on being admitted to the halau while 
the tabu was on — that is, during the conduct of a regular hula — ^was 
to do reverence at the kuahu. The obligations of religion took 
precedence of all social etiquette. He reverently approaches the altar, 
to which all eyes are turned, and with outstretched hands pours out 
a supplication that breathes the aroma of ancient prayer : 

Pule Kuahu (no Laka) 

O Laka oe, 

O ke akua i ke a'a-lii *» niii. 

E Laka mai uka ! 

E Laka mai kai! 
5 O hoo-ulu ^ o Lono, 

O ka ilio nana e haehae ke aha, 

O ka ie-ie ku i ka wao, 

O ka maile hihi 1 ka nahele, 

O ka lau ki-ele^ ula o ke akua, 
10 O na ku'i ^ o Hauoli, 

O Ha'i-ka-malama,« 

Wahine o Kina'u/ 

Kapo ula o o Klna'u. 

O Laka oe,. 
15 O ke akua i ke kuahu nei la, e! 

E ho'i, e ho*l a noho 1 kdu kuahu. 

Hoo-ulu ia ! 

[Translation] 

Altar-Prayer (to Laka) 

Thou art Laka, 
God of the deep-rooted a'a-lii. 
O Laka from the mountains, 
O I^ka from the ocean! 

'^A'a-lii. A deep-rooted tree, sacred to Laka or to Kapo. 

^Hoo-ulu. Literally to make grow; secondarily, to inspire, to prosper, to bring good 
luck. This is the meaning most in mind in modern times, since the hula has become 
a commercial venture. 

'^ Ki-€l€. A flowering plant native to the Hawaiian woods, also cultivated, sacred to 
Laka, and perhaps to Kapo. The leaves are said to be pointed and curved like the 
beak of the bird i-iwi, and the flower has the gorgeous yellow-red color of that bird. 

<* It has been proposed to amend this verse by substituting akua for kuH, thus making 
the idea the gods of the hula. 

« Ha'i-ka-malama. An epithet applied to Laka. 

f Kina'u. Said to mean Hiiaka, the sister of Pelo. 

'Kapo ula. Red, ula, was the favorite color of Kapo. The kahuna anaana, high 
priests of sorcery, of the black art, and of murder, to whom Kapo was at times pro- 
curess, made themselves known as such by the display of a red flag and the wearing of 
a red malo. 

42 



EMEBSoul UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 43 

5 Let Lono bless the service, 

Shutting the mouth of the dog, 

That breaks the charm with his barking. 

Bring the i-o that grows in the wilds, 

The maile that twines in the thicket, 
10 Red-beaked kiele, leaf of the goddess, 

The joyous pulse of the dance 

In honor of Ha'i-ka-malama, 

Friend of Kina'u, 

Red-robed friend of Kina'u. 
15 Thou art Laka, 

God of this altar here. 

Return, return and reside at your altar ! 

Bring it good luck! 

A single prayer may not suffice as the offering at Laka's altar. 
His repertory is full; the visitor begins anew, this time on a different 
tack: 

Pule Kuahu (no Laka) 

Eia ke kuko, ka li'a; 

I ka manawa he hiamoe ko'u, 

Hoala ana oe, 

Ooe o Halau-lani, 
5 O Hoa-lani, 

O Puoho-lani, 
Me he manu e hea ana i ka maha lehua 
Ku moho kiekie la i-uka. 
I-uka ho'i an me Laka 
10 A Lea,** a Wahie-loa,** i ka nahelehele ; 
He hoa kaana ia no'u. 
No kela kuahiwi, kualono hoi. 

E Laka, e Laka, e! 
E maliu mai ! 
15 A maliu mai oe pono au, 
A a'e mai oe pono au ! 

[Translation! 
Altar-Prayer (to I^ka) 

This my wish, my burning desire. 
That in the season of slumber 
Thy spirit my soul may inspire. 

Altar-dweller, 
5 Heaven-guest, 

Soul-awakener, 
Bird from covert calling. 
Where forest champions stand. 

There roamed I too with Laka, 

• Lea. The same as Lala, or probably Haumca. 

^ Wahie loa. This must be a mistake. Laka the son of Wahle-Ioa was a great voyager. 
His canoe (kau-meli-m) was built for him by the gods. In It he sailed to the South to 
rescue his father's bones from the witch who had murdered him. This Laka had his 
home at Kipahulu, Maui, and is not to be confounded with Laka, goddess of the hula. 



44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

10 Of Lea and Loa a wilderness-child; 

On ridge, in forest boon companion she 

To the heart that throbbed in me. 
O Laka, O Laka, 

Hark to my call ! 
15 You approach, it is well; 

You possess me, I am blest I 

In the translation of this pule the author has found it necessary to 
depart from the verse arrangement that obtains in the Hawaiian text. 

The religious services of the halau, though inspired by one motive, 
were not tied to a single ritual or to one set of prayers. Prayer 
marked the beginning and the ending of every play — that is, of every 
dance — and of every important event in the programme of the halau; 
but there were many prayers from which the priest might select. 
After the prayer specially addressed to Laka the visitor might use a 
petition of more general scope. Such is the one now to be given : 

He Pule Kuahu (ia Kane ame Kapo) ; a he Pule Hoolei 

Kane, hiki a'e, he maldma ^ ia luna ; 
Ha'aha'a, he malfi,ma ia lalo; 
Oni-oni,^ he mfi,lama ia ka'u; 
He wahine ^ lei, mfi,lama ia Kapo ; 
5 E Kapo nui, hala-hala ''a i'a ; 
E Kapo nui, hala-hala ^ a mea, 
Ka alihi^ luna, ka alihi lalo; 
B ka poha-kti.i' 

Noho ana Kapo i ka ulu wehi-wehi; 
10 Ku ana i Moo-helaia,* 

Ka ohi'a-Ku iluna o Mauna-loa. 
Aloha mai Kaulana-a-ula * ia'u ; 
Eia ka ula la, he ula leo,^ 
He uku, he mohai, he alana, 

« Maldma. Accented on the penult, as here, the word means to enlighten or a light (same 
in second verse). In the third and fourth verses the accent is changed to the first syl- 
lable, and the word here means to preserve, to foster. These words furnish an example 
of poetical word-repetition. 

*» Onioni. To squirm, to dodge, to move. The meaning here seems to be to move with 
delight. 

o Wahine lei. A reference to Laka, the child of Kapo, who was symbolized by a block 
of wood on the altar. (See p. 23.) 

^Hala-hala a i'a. Said to be a certain kind of fish that was ornamented about Its tail- 
end with a band of bright color ; therefore an object of admiration and desire. 

« Hala-hala a mea. The ending mea is perhaps taken from the last half of the proper 
name Hau-mea who was Kapo's mother. It belongs to the land, in contrast to the sea, 
and seems to be intended to Intensify and extend the meaning of the term previously used. 
The passage is difficult. Expert Hawaiians profess their inability to fathom its meaning. 

t Alihi luna. The line or " stretching cord," that runs the length of a net at its top, the 
a. lalo being the corresponding line at the bottom of the net. The exact significance of 
this language complimentary to Kapo can not be phrased compactly. 

ff Poha-ku. The line that runs up and down at the end of a long net, by which it may 
be anchored. 

'^ Moo-helaia. See note o, p. 33. 

* Kaulana-a-ula. See note d, p. 33. 

i Ula leo. See note e, p. 33. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE V 




Tl (DRAC/CNA TERMINAUS) 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 45 

15 He kanaenae na'u ia oe, e Kapo ku-lani. 

E moe hauna-ike, e hea au, e o mai oe. 

Aia la na lehua o Kaana,^ 

Ke kui ia mai la e na wahine a lawa 

I lei no Kapo— 
20 O Kapo, alii nui no ia moku, 

KiVki'e, ha'a-ha'a; 

Ka la o ka ike e ike aku ai : 

He ike kumu, he ike lono, 

He ike pu-awa ^ hiwa, 
25 He ike a ke Akua, e ! 

E Kapo, ho'i! 

E ho'i a noho i kou kuahu. 

Ho'ulu ia ! 

Eia ka wai,*' la, 
30 He wai e ola. 

E ola nou, e! 

Verses 9 to 15, inclusive, are almost identical in form with the first 
seven verses in the Mele Kuahu addressed to Laka, given on page 33. 

[Translation] 

An Altar-Prayer (to Kane and Kapo) ; also a Oarland-Prayer, used while deco- 
rating the altar 

Now, Kane, approach, illumine the altar; 

Stoop, and enlighten mortals below ; 

Rejoice in the gifts I have brought. 

Wreathed goddess fostered by Kapo — 
5 Hail Kapo, of beauty resplendent ! 

Great Kapo, of sea and land, 

The topmost stay of the net, 

Its lower stay and anchoring line. 

Kapo sits in her darksome covert; 
10 On the terrace, at Mo'o-he-laia, 

Stands the god-tree of Ku, on Mauna-loa. 

God Kaulana-ula twigs now mine ear, 

His whispered suggestion to me is 

This payment, sacrifice, offering, 
15 Tribute of praise to thee, O Kapo divine. 

Inspiring spirit in sleep, answer my call. 

Behold, of lehua bloom of Kaana 

The women are stringing enough 

To enwreath goddess Kapo; 
20 Kapo, great queen of that island. 

Of the high and the low. 

The day of revealing shall see what it sees : 

^ Kaana. A place on Mauna-loa, Molokal, where the lehua greatly flourished. The body 
of Kapo, it is said, now lies there in appearance a rock. The same claim is made for a 
rock at Wailua, Hana, Maui. 

* Pu-awa hitca (hiwa, black). A kind of strong awa. The gentle exhilaration, as well as 
the deep sleep, of awa were benefits ascribed to the gods. Awa was an essential to most 
complete sacrifices. 

« Wai. Literally water, refers to the bowl of awa, replenished each day, which set on 
the altar of the goddess. 



46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

A seeing of facts, a sifting of rumors, 

An insight won by the black sacred awa, 
25 A vision lilce that of a god ! 

O Kapo, return! 

Return and abide in your altar! 

Malce it fruitful ! 

Lo, here is the water, 
30 The water of life ! 

Hail, now, to thee! 

The little god- folk, whom the ancients called Kini Akua — ^myriads 
of gods — and who made the wildwoods and wilderness their play- 
ground, must also be placated. They were a lawless set of imps ; the 
elfins, brownies, and kobolds of our fairy world were not " up to 
them " in wanton deviltry. If there is t,o be any luck in the house, 
it can only be when they are dissuaded from outbreaking mischief. 

The pule next given is a polite invitation to these little brown 
men of the woods to honor the occasion with their presence and to 
bring good luck at their coming. It is such a prayer as the visitor 
might choose to repeat at this time, or it might be used on other 
occasions, as at the consecration of the kuahu : 

He Pule Kuahu (no Kini Akua) 

E ulu, e ulu, Kini o ke Akua ! 
Ulu Kane me Kanaloa ! 
Ulu Ohi'a-lau-koa, me ka le-ie! 
A*e mat a noho i kou kuahu ! 
5 Eia ka wai la, he wal e ola. 
E ola no, e-e ! 

[Translation! 

An Altar-Prayer (to the Kini Akua) 

Gather, oh gather, ye hosts of godlings ! 
Come Kane with Kanaloa ! 
Come leafy Ohi'a and I-e ! 
Possess me and dwell in your altar ! 
5 Here's water, water of life ! 
Life, give us life ! 

The visitor, having satisfied his sense of what the occasion de- 
mands, changes his tone from that of cantillation to ordinary speech, 
and concludes his worship with a petition conceived in the spirit 
of the following prayer : 

E ola ia'u, i ka malihini ; a pela hoi na kamaaina, ke kumu, na haumana, ia 
oe, e Laka. B Laka ia Pohaku i ka wawae. B Laka i ke kupe'e. E Laka ia 
Luukia i ka pa-u; e Laka i ke kuhi; e Laka i ka leo; e Laka i ka lei. E 
Laka i ke ku ana imua o ke anaina. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 47 

[Translation] 

Thy blessing, O Lal^a, on me the stranger, and on the residents, teacher and 
pupils. O Laka, give grace to the feet of Pohaku; and to her bracelets and 
anklets; comeliness to the figure and skirt of Luulda. To (each one) give 
gesture and voice. O L^ka, make beautiful the lei ; inspire the dancers when 
they stand before the assembly. 

At the close of this service of song and prayer the visitor will 
turn from the kuahu -and exchange salutations and greetings with 
his friends in the halau. 

The song-prayer " Now, Kane, approach, illumine the altar " 
(p. 45) calls for remark. It brings up again the question, previously 
discussed, whether there were not two distinct cults of worshipers, 
the one devoted to Laka, the other to Kapo. The following facts 
will throw light on the question. On either side of the approach to 
the altar stood, sentinel-like, a tall stem of hala-pepe, a graceful, 
slender column, its head of green sword-leaves and scarlet drupes 
making a beautiful picture. (See p. 24.) These are said to have 
been the special emblems of the goddess Kapo. 

The following account of a conversation the author had with an 
old woman, whose youthful days were spent as a hula dancer, will 
also help to disentangle the subject and explain the relation of Kapo 
to the hula: 

" Will you not recite again the prayer you just now uttered, and 
slowly, that it may be written down ? " the author asked of her. 
" Many prayers for the kuahu have been collected, but this one differs 
from them all." 

" We Hawaiians," she answered, " have been taught that these 
matters are sacred (kapu) and must not be bandied about from mouth 
to mouth." 

"Aye, but the time of the tabus has passed. Then, too, in a sense 
having been initiated into hula matters, there can be no impropriety 
in my dealing with them in a kindly spirit." 

" No harm, of course, will come to you, a haole (foreigner). The 
question is how it will affect us." 

" Tell me, were there two different classes of worshipers, one 
class devoted to the worship of Laka and another class devoted to 
the worship of Kapo ? " 

" No," she answered, " Kapo and Laka were one in spirit, though 
their names were two." 

" Haumea was the mother of Kapo. Who was her father ? " 

" Yes, Haumea was the mother, and Kua-ha-ilo ^ was the father." 

"How about Laka?" 

'^Kua-ha-ilo. A god of the kahuna anaana; meaning literally to breed maggots in the 
back. 



48 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

" Laka was the daughter of Kapo. Yet as a patron of the hula 
Laka stands first ; she was worshiped at an earlier date than Kapo ; 
but they are really one." 

Further questioning brought out the explanation that Laka was 
not begotten in ordinary generation; she was a sort of emanation 
from Kapo. It was as if the goddess should sneeze and a deity 
should issue with the breath from her nostrils; or should wink, and 
thereby beget spiritual offspring from the eye, or as if a spirit should 
issue forth at some movement of the ear or mouth. 

When the old woman's scruples had been laid to rest, she repeated 
slowly for the author's benefit the pule given on pages 45 and 46, 
" Now, Kane, approach," * * * of which the first eight lines and 
much of the last part, to him, were new. 



VIII.— COSTUME OF THE HULA DANCER 

The costume of the hula dancer was much the same for both sexes, 
its chief article a simple short skirt about the waist, the pa-i3. (PI. i.) 

When the time has come for a dance, the halau becomes one com- 
mon dressing room. At a signal from the kumu the work begins. 
The putting on of each article of costume is accompanied by a special 
song. 

First come the Jcu-pe^e^ anklets of whale teeth, bone, shell-work, 
dog-teeth, fiber-stuffs, and what not. While all stoop in unison they 
chant the song of the anklet : 

Mele Ku-pe^e 

Aala kupukupu ^ ka uka o Kane-hoa.* 
E ho-a ! ^ 

Hoa na lima o ka makani, he Wai-kaloa.* 
He Wai-kaloa ka makani anu Liliue. 
5 Alina ^ lehua i kau ka opua — 
Ku'u pua, 

Ku'u pua i'ini e ku-i a lei. 
Ina ia oe ke lei 'a mai la. 

[Translation] 

Anklet-Song 

Fragrant the grasses of high Kane-hoa. 
Bind on the anklets, bind ! 
Bind with finger deft as the wind 
That cools the air of this bower. 
5 Lehua bloom pales at my flower, 
O sweetheart of mine, 
Bud that I'd pluck and wear in my wreath, 
If thou wert but a flower ! 

The short skirt, pa-u^ was the most important piece of attire worn 
by the Hawaiian female. As an article of daily wear it represented 
many stages of evolution beyond the primitive fig-leaf, being fabri- 
cated from a great variety of materials furnished by the garden of 

^Kupukupu. Said to be a fragrant grass. 

^Kane-hoa. Said to be a hill at Kaupo, Maui. Another person says It Is a hill at 
Lihue, on Oahu. The same name Is often repeated. 

" H6-a. To bind. An Instance of word-repetition, common in Hawaiian poetry. 

* Wai-kaloa. A cool wind that blows at LIhue, Kauai. 

'Alina. A scar, or other mark of disfigurement, a moral blemish. In ancient times 
lovers inflicted injuries on themselves to prove devotion. 

25352— BuH. 3&-09 1 49 



50 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

nature. In its simplest terms the pa-ti was a mere fringe of vegetable 
fibers. When placed as the shield of modesty about the loins of a 
woman of rank, or when used as the full-dress costume of a dancing 
girl on a ceremonious occasion, it took on more elaborate forms, and 
was frequently of tafa^ a fabric the finest specimens of which would 
not have shamed the wardrobe of an empress. 

In the costuming of the hula girl the same variety obtained as in 
the dress of a woman of rank. Sometimes her pa-u would be only a 
close-set fringe of ribbons stripped from the bark of the hibiscus 
{hau)j the ti leaf or banana fiber, or a fine rush, strung upon a thong 
to encircle the waist. In its most elaborate and formal style the pa-ii 
consisted of a strip of fine tapa several yards long and of width to 
reach nearly to the knees. It was often delicately tinted or printed, 
as to its outer part, with stamped figures. The part of the tapa skirt 
thus printed, like the outer, decorative one in a set of tapa bed-sheets, 
was termed the kilohana. 

The pa-u worn by the danseuse, when of tapa, was often of such 
volume as to balloon like the skirt of a coryphee. To put it on was 
quite an art, and on that account, if not on the score of modesty, a 
portion of the halau was screened off and devoted to the use of the 
females as a dressing room, being known as the umi-lau-koa^ and to 
this place they repaired as soon as the kumu gave the signal for 
dressing. 

The hula pa-u of the women was worn in addition to that of daily 
life; the hula pa-u of the men, a less pretentious affair, was worn 
outside the malo, and in addition to it. 

The method of girding on the pa-u was peculiar. Beginning at 
the right hip — some say the left — a free end was allowed to hang 
quite to the knee; then, passing across the back, rounding the left 
hip, and returning by way of the abdomen to the starting point, 
another circuit of the waist was accomplished; and, a reverse being 
made, the garment was secured by passing the bight of the tapa be- 
neath the hanging folds of the pa-ii from below upward until it 
slightly protruded above the border of the garment at the waist. 
This second end was thus brought to hang down the hip alongside of 
the first free end ; an arrangement that produced a most decorative 
effect. 

The Hawaiians, in their fondness for giving personal names to 
inanimate objects, named the two free ends (apua) of the pa-ti re- 
spectively Ku-kdpu-ula-ka-ldni and Lele-a-mahuH, 

According to another method, which was simpler and more com- 
monly employed, the piece was folded sidewise and, being gathered 
into pleats, a cord was inserted the length of the fold. The cord 
was passed about the waist, knotted at the hip, and thus held the 
garment secure. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 51 

While the gh^ls are making their simple toilet and donning their 
unique, but scanty, costume, the kumu, aided by others, soothes the 
impatience of the audience and stimulates their imagination by can- 
tillating a mele that sets forth in grandiloquent imagery the praise 
of the pa-ti. 

OH Pa-H 

Kakua pa-ti, ahu na kikepa ! ^ 
I ka pa-ti noenoe i hooluu'a, 
I hookakua ia a paa Uuna o ka imu.^ 
Ku ka hu'a ^ o ka pali o ka wai kapu, 
5 He kuina<* pa-ti paU« no Kupe-hau, 
I holo a paa ia, paa e Hono-kane/ 

Maiama o lilo i ka pa-ti. 
Holo iho la ke k\B. ka Manti ^ i na pali ; 
Pali ku kahak6 haka a-1, 
10 I ke keikl pa-ti pali a Kau-kini,* 
I hoonu'anu'a iluna o ka Auwana.* 

« Kikepa. The bias, the one-sided slant given the pa-(i by tucking it in at one side, as 
previously described. 

* Imu. An oven ; an allusion to the heat and passion of the part covered by the pa-ti. 

* Hu'a. Foam ; figurative of the fringe at the border of the pa-ti. 

<* Kuina. A term applied to the five sheets that were stitched together (kui) to make 
a set of bed-clothes. Five turns also, It Is said, complete a pa-ti. 

« Pali no Kupe-hau. Throughout the poem the pa-fl is compared to a pali, a mountain 
wall. Kupe-hau is a precipitous part of Wai-pi'o valley. 

f'Hono-kane. A valley near Wai-pi'o. Here it is personified and said to do the work 
on the pa-ti. 

' Manu. A proper name given to this pa-ti. 

* Kau-kini. The name of a hill back of Lahaina-luna, the traditional residence of a 
kahuna named Lua-hoo-moe, whose two sons were celebrated for their manly beauty. 
Ole-pau, the king of the Island Maui, ordered his retainer, Lua-hoo-moe, to fetch for his 
eating some young u-a'u, a sea-bird that nests and rears Its young in the mountains. 
These young birds are esteemed a delicacy. The kahuna, who was a bird-hunter, truth- 
fully told the king that It was not the season for the young birds ; the parent birds were 
haunting the ocean. At this some of the king's boon companions, moved by ill-will, 
charged the king's mountain retainer with suppressing the truth, and in proof they 
brought some tough old birds caught at sea and had them served for the king's table. 
Thereupon the king, not discovering the fraud, ordered that Lua-hoo-moe should be put 
to death by fire. The following verses were communicated to the author as apropos of 
Kau-kinI, evidently the name of a man : 

Ike ia Kau-kini. he lawaia manu. 

He upena ku'u i ka noe I Poha-kahl, 

Ua hoopulu ia I ka ohu ka kikepa ; 

Ke na'I la I ka luna a Kea-auwana ; * 

Ka uahi i ke ka-peku e hei ai ka manu o Pu-o-alii. 

O ke alii wale no ka'u i makemake 

Ali'a la, ha'o, e ! 

[Translation] 
Behold Kau-kini, a fisher of birds ; 
Net spread in the mist of Poha-kahi, 
That is soaked by the sidling fog. 
It strives on the crest of Koa-auwana. 
Smoke traps the birds of Pu-o-alll. 
It's only the king that I wish : 
But stay now — I doubt. 

* Auwana. Said to be an eminence on the flank of Ilaleakala, back of Ulupalakua. 



52 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Akahi ke ana, ka luhi i ka pa-ti : 
Ka ho-oio i ke kapa-wai, 
I na kikepa wai o Apua,« 
15 I hopu 'a i ka ua noe holo poo-poo, 
Me he pa-ti elehiwa wale i na pali. 

Ohiohi ka pali, kl ka liko o ka lama, 
Mama ula ^ la ka malua ula, 
I hopu a omau ia e ka malno. 
20 I ^^ ka malo o Umi ku hund mai. 
Ike'a ai na maawe wai olon4,<* 
E makili ia nei i Waihilau.^ 
Holo ke olon^, paa ke kapa. 

Hu'a lepo ole ka pa-ti; 
25 Nani ka o-iwi ma ka maka kilo-haua/ 
Makalii ka ohe,^ paa ke kapa. 

Opua ke ahi i na pall, 
I hookau kalena ia e ka makani, 
I kaomi pohaku ia i Wai-manu, 
30 I na aid * ki-61a-61a. 
I na aid, i aid lele 
la Kane-poha-ka'a.* 

Paa ia* Wai-manu,^ o-oki Wai-pi'o ; 
Lalau o Ha'i i ka ohe, 
35 la Koa'e-kea,*^ 

I kauhihi ia ia ohe laulii, ia ohe. 
Oki'a a moku, mo' ke kihi,^ 

** Apua. A place on Hawaii, on Maul, on Oahu, on Kauai, and on Molokai. 

^ Mama ula ia ka malua ula. The malua-ula was a variety of tapa that was stained with 
hili kukui (the root -bark of the kukul tree). The ripe kukul nut was chewed into a paste 
and mingled with this stain. Mama ula refers to this chewing. The malua ula is men- 
tioned as a foil to the pa-ti, being a cheap tapa. 

"/.A contracted form of ti or ki, the plant or, as in this case, the leaf of the ti, the 
Dracaena (pi. v). IJloa, the father of Umi, used it to cover himself after his amour 
with the mother of Umi, having given his malo in pledge to the woman. Umi may have 
used this same leaf as a substitute for the malo while in the wilderness of Laupahoehoe, 
hiding away from his brother. King Hakau. 

«* Olond. A strong vegetable fiber sometimes . added to tapa to give it strength. TJhe" 
fibers of olona in the fabric of the pa-ti are compared to the runnels and brooklets of 
Waihilau. 

« Wai-hilau. Name applied to the water that drips in a cave in Puna. It is also the 
name of a stream in Wai-pi'o valley, Hawaii. 

1 Kilo-hana. The name given the outside, ornamented, sheet of a set (kuina) of five 
tapas used as bed-clothing. It was also applied to that part of a pa-fi which was deco- 
rated with figures. The word comes from kilohi, to examine critically, and hana, to 
work, and therefore means an ornamental work. 

ff Ohe. Bamboo. In this case the stamp, made from bamboo, used to print the tapa. 

*AW. The hard, dark basalt of which the Hawaiian koH, adz, is made; any pebble, 
or small water-worn stone, such as would be used to hold in place the pa-ti while spread 
out to dry. 

* Kane-poha-ka'a. Kane-the-hail-sender. The great god Kane was also conceived of as 
Kane-hekili, the thunderer; Kane-lulu-honua, the earthquake-sender, etc. 

i Wai-manu and Wai-pi'o are neighboring valleys. 

^ Ko-a'e-kea. A land in Wai-pi'o valley. 

' Mo' ke kihi. Mo' is a contracted form of moku. 



EMEBSON] UNWKITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 58 

Mo' ke kihl, ka maMma ka Hoaka,^ 
I apahu ia a poe, 
40 O awili * o Malu-6. 

He pola ia no ka pa-ti; 
E hii ana e Ka-holo-kua-iwa, 
Ke amo la e Pa-wili-wili 
I ka pa-ti poo kau-poku — ^ 
45 Kau poku a hana ke ao, 
Kau iluna o Hala'a-wili, 
I owili hana haawe. 

Ku-ka'a, olo-ka'a wahie; 
Ka'a ka opeope, ula ka pali;<* 
50 Uwd kamalii, hookani ka pihe, 

Hookani ka a'o,^ a hana pilo ka leo, 
I ka mahalo i ka pa-ti, 
I ka pa-ti wai-lehua a Hfi-lawe f ilnna, 
Pi'o anuenue a ka na e ua nei. 

This is a typical Hawaiian poem of the better sort, keyed in a 
highly imaginative strain. The multitude of specific allusions to 
topographical names make it difficult to translate it intelligently to 

^Hoaka. The name of the moon in its second day, or of the second day of the Ha- 
waiian month ; a crescent. 

*0 awili Malu-6, The moat direct and evident sense ot the word awili is to wrap. 
It probably means the wrapping of the pa-ti about the loins; or It may mean the mov- 
able, shifty action of the pa-ti caused by the lively actions of the dancer. The expression 
Malu-6 may be taken from the utterance of the king's ilamuku (constable or sheriff) or 
other official, who, in proclaiming a tabu, held an Idol in his arms and at the same time 
called out Kapu, o-ot The meaning Is that the pa-ti, when wrapped about the woman's 
loins, laid a tabu on the woman. The old Hawaiian consulted on the meaning of this 
passage quoted the following, which Illustrates the fondness of his people for endless 
repetitions and play upon words: 

Awillwili 1 ka hale* o ka lauwlll, e. 
He lauwlll ka makanl, he Kaua-ula,t 
I hoapaapa 1 ka hale o ka lauwlll, e: 

[Translation] 

Unstable the house of the shifty man. 

Fickle as the wind Kaua-ula. 

Treachery lurks in the house of Unstable. 

« Kaupoku. A variant of the usual form, which is kaupaku, the ridgepole of a house, 
its apex. The pa-ti when worn takes the shape of a grass house, which has the form of 
a haystack. 

* Ula ka pali. Red shows the pall, 1. e., the side hill. This is a euphemism for some 
accident by which the pa-ti has been displaced, and an exposure of the person has 
taken place, as a result of which the boys scream and even the sea-bird, the a'o, shrieks 
Itself hoarse. 

« A'o. A sea-bird, whose raucous voice is heard in the air at night at certain seasons. 

f Hi'i-lawe. A celebrated waterfall in Wal-pi'o valley, Hawaii. 

♦Primitive meaning, house; second, the body as the house of the soul. 

t Kaua-ula. A strong wind that shifted from one point to another, and that blew, often 
with great violence, at Lahaina, Maul. The above triplet was often quoted by the chiefs 
of olden time apropos of a person who was fickle in love or residence. As the old book 
has it, " The double-minded man is unstable In all his ways." (O ke kandka lolilua ka 
tnanao lauwili kona mau aoao a pau.) 



54 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

a foreign mind. The poetical units are often so devised that each 
new division takes its clue from the last word of the previous verse, 
on the principle of " follow your loader," a capital feature in 
Hawaiian poetry. 

[Translation] 
Pa-ii Song 

Gird on the pa-<i, garment tucked in one side, 
Skirt lacelike and beauteous in staining, 
That is wrapped and made fast about the oven. 
Bubbly as foam of falling water it stands, 
5 Quintuple skirt, sheer as the cliff Kupe-hau. 
One journeyed to work on it at Honokane. 

Have a care the pa-ti is not filched. 
Scent from the robe Manti climbs the valley walls — 
Abysses profound, heights twisting the neck. 
10 A child is this steep thing of the cliff Kau-kiui, 
A swelling cloud on the peak of Auwana. 

Wondrous the care and toll to make the pa-fi ! 
What haste to finish, when put a-soak 
In the side-glancing stream of Apua ! 
15 Caught by the rain-scud that searches the glen. 
The tinted gown illumines the pali — 

The sheeny steep shot with buds of lama — 
Outshining the comely malua-ula. 
Which one may seize and gird with a strong hand. 
20 Leaf of ti for his malo, Umi ^ stood covered. 

Look at the olonA fibers inwrought, 
Like the trickling brooklets of Wal-hllau. 
The olon^ fibers knit with strength 
This dainty Immaculate web, the pa-ti, 
25 And the filmy weft of the kllo-hana. 

With the small bamboo the tapa Is finished. 

A fire seems to bud on the pall. 
When the tapa Is spread out to dry. 
Pressed down with stones at Wal-manu — 
30 Stones that are shifted about and about, 
Stones that are tossed here and there, 
Like work of the hall-thrower Kane. 

At Wai-manu finished, 'tis cut at Wal-pl'o; 
Ha'l takes the bamboo Ko-a'e-kea ; 

« Umi. It was LUoa, the father of Umi, who covered himself with a ti leaf instead 
of a malo after the amour that resulted in the birth of Umi. His malo he had given 
as a pledge to the woman who became the mother of Umi. 



ftMUftsoNl Vl^WRlTl^EK^ LlTlSRATtTRE OF HAWAlt 55 

35 Deftly wields the knife of small-leafed bamboo; 

A bamboo choice and fit for the work. 

Cut, cut through, cut off the comers; 

Cut round, like crescent moon of Hoaka ; 

Cut in scallops this shift that makes tabu : 
40 A fringe is this for the pa-ti. 

'Tis lifted by Ka-holo-ku-iwa, 

'Tis borne by Pa-will-wili ; 

A pa-ti narrow at top like a house. 

That's hung on the roof-tree till morning, 

45 Hung on the roof-tree Ha-la'a-wili. 

Make a bundle fitting the shoulder; 

Lash it fast, rolled tight like a log. 

The bundle falls, red shows the pali; 

The children shout, they scream in derision. 
50 The a'o bird shrieks itself hoarse 

In wonder at the pa-ti — 

Pa-ti with a sheen like Hi'i-lawe falls. 

Bowed like the rainbow arch 

Of the rain that's now falling. 

The girls of the olapa, their work in the tiring-room completed, lift 
their voices in a spirited song, and with a lively motion pass out into 
the hall to bloom before the waiting assembly in the halau in all the 
glory of their natural charms and adornments : 

on 

Ku ka punohu ula i ka moana ; 
Hele ke ehu-kai, uhi i ka aina ; 
Olapa ka uila, noho i Kahiki. 
Uina, nakolo, 
5 Uw^ ka pihe, 

Lau* kanaka ka hula. 
E Laka, e ! 

[Translation! 
Tiring Song 

The rainbow stands red o'er the ocean ; 
Mist crawls from the sea and covers the land ; 
Far as Kahiki flashes the lightning; 
A reverberant roar, 
5 A shout of applause 

From the four hundred. 
I appeal to thee, Laka ! 

'^ Lau (archaic). Four hundred. 



56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

The answering song, led by the kumu, is in the same flamboyant 
strain : 

OH 

Lele Mahu'ilani ® a luna, 
Lewa ia Kauna-lewa ! * 

[Translation] 
Song 

Lift Mahu'ilani on high, 

Thy palms Kauna-lewa a-waving! 

After the ceremony of the pa-ti came that of the lei, a wreath to 
crown the head and another for the neck and shoulders. It was not 
the custom, in the old times to overwhelm the body with floral decora- 
tions and to blur the outlines of the figure to the point of disfigure- 
ment ; nor was every flower that blows acceptable as an offering. The 
gods were jealous and nice in their tastes, pleased only with flowers 
indigenous to the soil — ^the ilima (pi. vi), the lehua, the maile, the 
ie-ie, and the like (see pp. 19, 20). The ceremony was quickly ac- 
complished. As the company knotted the garlands about head or 
neck, they sang: 

OU Lei 

Ke lei mai la o Ka-ula i ke kai, 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.c 
No ka lua no i Kilauea. 

[Translation] 

Wreath Song 

Ka-ula wears the ocean as a wreath; 
Nii-hau shines forth in tlie calm. 
After the calm blows the wind Inu-wai; 
Naue's palms then drink in the salt. 
5 From Naue the palm, from Puna the woman — 
Aye, from the pit, Kilauea. 

Tradition tells a pathetic story (p. 212) in narrating an incident 
touching the occasion on which this song first was sung. 

« MahuHlani. A poetical name for the right hand ; this the olapa, the dancing girls, 
lifted in extension as they entered the halau from the dressing room. The left hand 
was termed Kaohi-lani, 

^Kauna-lewa. The name of a celebrated grove of coconuts at Kekaha, Kauai, near the 
residence of the late Mr. Knudsen. 

« Wahine. The woman, Pele. 



IX.— THE HULA ALA'A-PAPA 

Every formal hula was regarded by the people of the olden time as 
a sacred and religious performance (tabu) ; but all hulas were not 
held to be of equal dignity and rank (hanohano). Among those 
deemed to be of the noblest rank and honor was the ala^a-papa. In its 
best days this was a stately and dignified performance, comparable 
to the old-fashioned courtly minuet. 

We shall observe in this hula the division of the performers into 
two sets, the hoopa^a and the olapa. Attention will naturally bestow 
itself first on the olapa, a division of the company made up of splendid 
youthful figures, young men, girls, and women in the prime of life. 
They stand a little apart and in advance of the others, the right hand 
extended, the left resting upon the hip, from which hangs in swelling 
folds the pa-u. The time of their waiting for the signal to begin the 
dance gives the eye opportunity to make deliberate . survey of the 
forms that stand before us. 

The figures of the men are more finely proportioned, more statu- 
esque, more worthy of preservation in marble or bronze than those of 
the women. Only at rare intervals does one find among this branch 
of the Polynesian race a female shape which from crown to sole will 
satisfy the canons of proportion — ^which one carries in the eye. That 
is not to say, however, that the artistic eye will not often meet a shape 
that appeals to the sense of grace and beauty. The springtime of 
Hawaiian womanly beauty hastes away too soon. Would it were 
possible to stay that fleeting period which ushers in full womanhood ! 

One finds himself asking the question to what extent the responsi- 
bility for this overthickness of leg and ankle — exaggerated in ap- 
pearance, no doubt, by the ruffled anklets often worn — ^this pronounced 
tendency to the growth of that degenerate weed, fat, is to be explained 
by the standard of beauty which held sway in Hawaii's courts and 
for many ages acted as a principle of selection in the physical mold- 
ing of the Hawaiian female. 

The prevailing type of physique among the Hawaiians, even more 
marked in the women than in the men, is the short and thick, as op- 
posed to the graceful and slender. One does occasionally find deli- 
cacy of modeling in the young and immature; but with adolescence 
fatness too often comes to blur the outline. 

The hoopa'a, who act as instrumentalists, very naturally maintain 
a position between sitting and kneeling, the better to enable them to 

67 



58 BintEAt; oi^ amehicai^ ETHifoLOOir tBULt.38 

handle that strangely effective drumlike instrument, the ipu^ the one 
musical instrument used as an accompaniment in this hula. The 
ipu is made from the bodies of two large, pear-shaped calabashes 
of unequal sizes, which are joined together at their smaller ends in 
such a manner as to resemble a figure-of-eight. An opening is left 
at the top of the smaller calabash to increase the resonance. In 
moments of calm the musicians allow the body to rest upon the heels ; 
as the action warms they lift themselves to such height as the bended 
knee will permit. 

The ala'a-papa is a hula of comparatively moderate action. While 
the olapa employ hands, feet, and body in gesture and pose to illus- 
trate the meaning and emotion of the song, the musicians mark the 
time by lifting and patting with the right hand the ipu each holds in 
the left hand. If the action of the play runs strong and stirs the 
emotions, each hoopa'a lifts his ipu wildly, fiercely smites it, then 
drops it on the padded rest in such manner as to bring out its deep 
mysterious tone. 

At a signal from the kumu, who sits with the hoopa'a, the poo- 
fucHa^ leader of the olapa, calls the mele (hahea i ka mele) — that is, 
he begins its recitation — in a tone differing but little from that of 
ordinary conversation, a sing-song recitation, a vocalization less 
stilted and less punctilious than that usually employed in the utter- 
ance of the oli or mele. The kumu, the leader of the company, now 
joins in, mouthing his words in full observance of the mele style. His 
manner of cantillation may be either what may be called the low 
relief, termed koH-honua^ or a pompous alto-relievo style, termed 
ai-ha'a. This is the signal for the whole company to chime in, in the 
same style as the kumu. The result, as it seems to the untutored ear, 
is a confusion of sounds like that of the many-tongued roar of the 
ocean. 

The songs cantillated for the hula ala'a-papa were many and of 
great variety. It seems to have been the practice for the kumu to 
arrange a number of mele, or poetical pieces, for presentation in the 
hula in such order as pleased him. These different mele, thus ar- 
ranged, were called pale^ compartments, or mahele^ divisions, as if 
they were integral parts of one whole, while in reality their relation 
to one another was only that of the juxtaposition imposed upon them 
by the kumu. 

The poetical pieces first to be presented were communicated to the 
author as mahele^ divisions — ^hardly cantos — in the sense above de- 
fined. They are, however, distinct poems, though there chances to run 
through them all a somewhat similar motive. The origin of many of 
these is referred to a past so remote that tradition assigns them to 
what the Hawaiians call the wa po^ the night of tradition, or they 
say of them, no he akua mai, they are from the gods. It matters not 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 59 

how faithful has been the eflfort to translate these poems, they will 
not be found easy of comprehension. The local allusions, the point 
of view, the atmosphere that were in the mind of the savage are not 
in our minds to-day, and will not again be in any mind on earth ; they 
defy our best eflForts at reproduction. To conjure up the ghostly 
semblance of these dead impalpable things and make them live again 
is a problem that must be solved by each one with such aid from the 
divining rod of the imagination as the reader can summon to his help. 
Now for the play, the song : 

Mele no ka Hula AWa-papa 

MAHELE-HELE I 

Pauku 1 

A Koolau wall, ike i ka iia, 
E ko-kolo la-lepo ana ka ua, 
E ka'i ku ana, ka'i mai ana ka ua, 
E nu mal ana ka ua i ke kuahiwi, 
5 E po'i ana ka ua me he nalu la. 
E puka, a puka mai ka ua la. 
Waliwali ke one i ka hehi'a e ka ua ; 
Ua holo-wai na kalia-wai; 
Ua ko-k6 wale na pali. 
10 Aia ka wai la i ka ilina,<» he ilio, 
He ilio hae, ke nahu nei e puka. 

[Translation] 

Song for the Hula AWa-papa, 
CANTO I 

Stanza 1 

*Twas in Koolau I met with the rain : 
It comes with lifting and tossing of dust, 
Advancing in columns, dashing along. 
The rain, it sighs in the forest ; 
5 The rain, it beats and whelms, like the surf; 
It smites, it smites now the land. 
Pasty the earth from the stamping rain; 
Full run the streams, a rushing flood; 
The mountain walls leap with the rain. 
10 See the water chafing its bounds like a dog, 
A raging dog, gnawing its way to pass out. 

This song is from the story of Iliiaka on her journey to Kauai to 
bring the handsome prince, Lohiau, to Pele. The region is that on 
the windward, Koolau^ side of Oahu. 



« lUna. A sink, a place where a stream sinks Into the earth or sand. 



60 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Pauku 2 

Hoopono oe, he aina kal Waialua i ka hau; 
Ke olelo<» wale no la 1 ka lani. 
Lohe ka uka o ka pehu 1 Ku-kani-loko.* 
I-loko, i-waho kaua la, e ka hoa, 
5 I kahi e pau ai o ka oni? 

Oni ana 1 ka manawa o ka 111!. 
Pee oe, pee ana iloko o ka bilahila. 
I hilahila wale la no e oe; 
Noil no ka hale,*^ koiuo mai uialoko. 

The lines from the fourth to the ninth in this stanza {pauku) 
represent a dialogue between two lovers. 

[Translation] 

Stanza 2 

Look now, Waialua, land clothed with ocean-mist — 
Its wilderness-cries heaven's ear only hears, 
The wilderness-gods of Ku-kani-loko. 
Within or without shall we stay, friend, 
5 Until we have stilled the motion? 
To toss is a sign of impatience. 
You hide, hiding as if from shame. 
I am bashful because of your presence; 
The house is yours, you've only to enter. 

Pauku 3 
( Ko'i-honua ) 

Pakti Kea-au,<^ lulu Wai-akea ;^ 
Noho i ka la*i loa o Hana-kahi,/ 
O Hilo, i olokea s ia, i au la, e, I kal, 
O Lele-iwi,* o Maka-hana-loa.* 
5 Me he kaele-papa ^ la Hilo, i lalo ka noho. 
Kaele * wale Hilo i ke alai ia e ka ua. 
Oi ka niho o ka ua o Hilo 1 ka lani ; 
Kua-wa'a-wa'a Hilo 1 ell *a e ka wal ; 
Kai-koo, haki na nalu, ka ua o Hilo; 

« Olelo. To speak, to converse ; here used figuratively to mean that the place is lonely, 
has no view of the ocean, looks only to the sky. " Looks that commerce with the sky." 

^Ku-kani-loko. A land in Waialua, Oahu, to which princesses resorted in the olden 
times at the time of childbirth, that their offspring might have the distinction of being 
an alii kapu, a chief with a tabu. 

« Hale. House ; a familiar euphemism of the human body. 

* Kea-au. An ahu-pua'a, small division of land, in Puna adjoining Hilo, represented as 
sheltering Hilo on that side. 

^^Waiakea. A river in Hilo, and the land through which it flows. 

f Hana-kahi. A land on the Hamakua side of Hilo, also a king whose name was a 
synonym for profound peace. 

" Olo-kea. To be invited or pulled many ways at once ; distracted. 
^ Lele-iwi. A cape on the north side of Hilo. 

* Maka-hana-loa. A cape. 

i Kaele-papa. A large, round, hollowed board on which to pound taro in the making of 
poi. The poi-board was usually long and oval. 

^ Kaele. In this connection the meaning is surrounded, encompassed by. 



BMBBSON] UNWBITTEN LITEBATUBE OF HAWAII 61 

10 Ha'i lau-wili mai ka nahele. 

Nanalu, kahe waikahe o Wai-luku ; 

Hohonu Waiau,<» nalo ke poo o ka lae o Moku-pane ;* 

Wai ulaula o Wai-anue-nue ; ^ 

Ka-wowo nul i ka wai o Kolo-pule-pule ;<* 
15 Halulu i ha-ku'i, ku me he uahi la 

Ka pud, o ka wai ua o-aka 1 ka lani. 

Eleele Hilo e, pano e, i ka ua ; 

Okakala ka hulu o Hilo i ke anu ; 

Pili-kau ^ mai Hilo ia ua loa. 
20 Pali-ku laau ka uka o Haili/ 

Ka lae ohi'a e kope-kope, 

Me he aha moa la, ka pale pa laau, 

Ka nahele o Pa-ie-ie,^ 

Ku*u po'e lehua iwaena konu o Mo-kau-lele ;* 
25 Me ka ha'i laau i pu-kaula hala'i i ka ua. 

Ke nana ia la e la'i i Hanakahi. 

Oni aku Hilo, oni ku'u kai lipo-lipo, 

A Lele-iwi, ku'u kai ahu mimiki a ka Malua.* 

Lei kahiko, lei nalu ka poai. 
30 Nana Pu*u-eo,^ e ! makai ka iwi-honua,* e ! 

Puna-hoa la, ino, ku, ku wau a Wai-akea la. 

[Translation] 

Stanza 3 

(With distinct utterance) 

Kea-au shelters, Waiakea lies in the calm, 
The deep peace of King Hana-kahi. 
Hilo, of many diversions, swims in the ocean, 
'Tween Point Lele-iwi and Maka-hana-loa ; 
5 And the village rests in the bowl. 
Its border surrounded with rain — 
Sharp from the sky the tooth of Hilo's rain. 
Trenched is the land, scooped out by the downpour — 
Tossed and like gnawing surf is Hilo's rain — 
10 ' Beach strewn with a tangle of thicket growth ; 
A billowy freshet pours in Wailuku; 
Swoll'n is Wai-au, flooding the point Moku-pane; 
And red leaps the water of Anue-nue. 
A roar to heaven sends up Kolo-pule, 

" Waiau. The name given to the stretch of Wailuku river near its mouth. 

* Moku-pane. The cape between the mouth of the Wailuku river and the town of Hilo. 
« Wai-anue-nue. Rainbow falls and the river that makes the leap. 
^Kolo-pule-pule. Another branch of the Wailuku stream. 

« Pili-kau. To hang low, said of a cloud. 
f Haili. A region in the inland, woody, part of Hilo. 

» Pa-ieie. A well-wooded part of Hilo, once much resorted to by bird-hunters ; a place 
celebrated In Hawaiian song. 

^ Mokau-lele. A wild, woody region In the Interior of Hilo. 

* Malua. Name given to a wind from a northerly or northwesterly direction on several 
of the islands. The full form Is Malua-lua. 

i Pu*u-eo. A village In the Hilo district near Puna. 

* Iwi-honua. Literally a bone of the earth : a projecting rock or a shoal ; if in the 
water, an object to be avoided by the surf-rider. In this connection see note o, p. 36. 



62 BUBEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

15 Shaking like tliunder, mist rising like smoke. 

The rain-cloud unfolds in the heavens; 

Dark grows Hllo, black with the rain. 

The skin of Hilo grows rough from the cold ; 

The storm-cloud hangs low o*er the land. 
20 A rampart stand the woods of Haili; 

Ohi'as thick-set must be brushed aside, 

To tear one's way, like a covey of fowl. 

In the wilds of Pa-i'e-ie — 

T^ehua growths mine — heart of Mokau-lele. 
25 A breaking, a weaving of boughs, to shield from rain ; 

A look enraptured on Hana-kahi, 

Sees Hilo astir, the blue ocean tossing 

Wind-thrown-spray — dear sea — 'gainst Point I^ele-iwi — 

A time-worn foam-wreath to encircle its brow. 
30 Look, Pu'u-eo! guard 'gainst the earth-rib! 

It's Puna-hoa reef; halt! 

At Waiakea halt ! 

Pauku 4 
(Ai-ha'a) 

Kua loloa Kea-au 1 ka nahele; 

Hala kua hulu-hulu Pana-ewa i ka laau; 

Inoino ka maha o ka ohia o La'a. 

Ua ku kepakepa ka maha o ka lehua ; 
5 Ua po-po*o-hina i ka wela a ke Akua. 

Ua u-ahi Puna i ka oloka'a pohaku, 

I ka huna pa'a ia e ka wahine. 

Nanahu ahi ka papa o Olu-ea ; 

Momoku ahi Puna hala i Apua ; 
10 Ulu-fi ka nahele me ka laau. 

Oloka'a kekahi ko'i e Papa-lau-ahi ; 

I eli 'a kahi ko'i e Ku-lili-kaua. 

Kai-ahea a hala i Ka-li'u ; 

A eu e, e ka La, ka malama-lama. 
15 O-na-naka ka piko o Hilo ua me ke one, 

I hull i uka la, i hulihia i kai; 

Ua wa-wahi 'a, ua na-ha-h&, 

Ua he-hele-lei ! 

[Translation] 

Stanza 4 

(Bombastic style) 

Ke'-au is a long strip of wildwood; 
Shag of pandanus mantles Pan'-ewa; 
Scraggy the branching of Laa's ohias; 
The lehua limbs at sixes and sevens — 
5 They are gray from the heat of the goddess. 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITEBATURE OF HAWAII 63 

Puna smokes mid the bowling of rocks — 

Wood and rock the She-god heaps in confusion, 

The plain Oluea 's one bed of live coals ; 

Puna is strewn with fires clean to Apua, 
10 Thickets and tall trees a-blazing. 

Sweep on, oh fire-ax, thy flame-shooting flood! 

Smit by this ax is Ku-lili-kaua. 

It's a flood tide of lava clean to Kali'u, 

And the Sun, the light-giver, is conquered. 
15 The bones of wet Hilo rattle from drought; 

She turns for comfort to mountain, to sea, 

Fissured and broken, resolved into dust. 

This poem is taken from the story of Hiiaka. On her return from 
the journey to fetch Lohiau she found that her sister Pele had treach- 
erously ravaged with fire Puna, the district that contained her own 
dear wpodlands. The description given in the poem is of the result- 
ing desolation. 

Pauku 5 

No-luna ka Hale-kai,<* no ka ma'a-lewa,^ 
Nana ka maka ia Moana-uui-ka-lehua.*' 
Noi au i ke Kai, e mali'o.<^ 
Ina ku a'e la he lehua ^ ilaila ! 
5 Hopoe-lehua ^ kiekie. 

Maka'u ka lehua i ke kanS-ka,^ 

Lilo ilalo e hele ai, e-e, 

A ilalo hoi. 

O Kea-au ^ ili-ili nehe ke kai, 



'^ Hale-kai. A wild mountain glen back of Hanalei valley, Kauai. 

^ Ma'alewa. An aerial root that formed a sort of ladder by which one climbed the 
mountain steeps ; literally a shaking sling. 

« Moana-nui'ka-lehua. A female demigod that came from the South (Ku-kulu-o-Kahiki) 
at about the same mythical period as that of Pele's arrival — if not in her company — and 
who was put in charge of a portion of the channel that lies between Kauai and Oahu. 
This channel was generally termed le-ie-tcaena and le-ie-waho. Here the name Moana- 
nui-ka-lehua seems to be used to indicate the sea as well as the demigoddess, whose do- 
minion it was. Ordinarily she appeared as a powerful fish, but she was capable of as- 
suming the form of a beautiful woman (mermaid?). The title lehua was given her on 
account of her womanly charms. 

«* Mali'o. Apparently another form of the word malino, calm ; at any rate it has the 
same meaning. 

« Lehua. An allusion to the ill-fated young woman Hopoe, who was Hiiaka's intimate 
friend. The allusion is amplified in the next line. 

f Hopoe-lehua. The lehua tree was one of the forms in which Hopoe appeared, and 
after her death, due to the jealous rage of Pele, she was turned into a charred lehua tree 
which stood on the coast subject to the beating of the surf. 

Maka'u ka lehua i ke kanaka. Another version has it Maka'u ke kanaka i ka lehua ; 
Man fears the lehua. The form here used is perhaps an ironical allusion to man's fond- 
ness not only to despoil the tree of its scarlet flowers, but womanhood, the woman It 
represented. 

h Kea-au. Often shortened In pronunciation to Ke-au, a fishing village in Puna near 
Hilo town. It now has a landing place for small vessels. 



64 BUBEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

10 Hoo-lono « ke kai o Puna 

I ka ulu hala la, e-e, 

Kai-ko'o Puna. 

la hooneenee ia pill mal * kaua, e ke hoa. 

Ke waiho e mai la oe ilaila. 
15 Eia ka mea Ino la, he anu, 

A he anu me he mea la iwaho kaua, e ke hoa ; 

Me he wai la ko kaua ill. 

The author of this poem of venerable age is not known. It is 
spoken of as belonging to the wa po^ the twilight of tradition. It is 
represented to be part of a mele taught to Hiiaka by her friend and 
preceptress in the hula, Hopoe. Hopoe is often called Hopoe-wahine^ 
From internal evidence one can see that it can not be in form the same 
as was given to Hiiaka by Hopoe ; it may have been f oimded on the 
poem of Hopoe. If so, it has been modified. 

[Translation] 

Stanza 5 

From mountain retreat and root-woven ladder 

Mine eye looks down on goddess Moana-Lehua ; 

I beg of the Sea, Be thou calm ; 

Would there might stand on thy shore a lehua — 
5 Lehua-tree tall of Ho-poe. 

The lehua is fearful of man ; 

It leaves him to walk on the ground below, 

To walk the ground far below. 

The pebbles at Ke'-au grind in the surf. 
10 The sea at Ke'-au shouts to Puna's palms, 

" Fierce is the sea of Puna." 

Move hither, snug close, companion mine ; 

You lie so aloof over there. 

Oh what a bad fellow is cold! 
15 'Tis as if we were out on the wold ; 

Our bodies so clammy and chill, friend ! 

The last five verses, which sound like a love song, may possibly be 
a modern addition to this old poem. The sentiment they contain is 
comparable to that expressed in the Song of Welcome on page 39 : 

Eia ka pu'u nui o waho nei, he anu. 

The hill of Affliction out there is the cold. 

« Hoolono. To call, to make an uproar, to spread a report. 

^la hoo-'nee-nee ia pili mai. A very peculiar figure of speech. It is as if the poet per- 
sonified the act of two lovers snuggling up close to each other. Compare with this the 
expression No huli mai, used hy another poet in the thirteenth line of the lyric given 
on p. 204. The motive Is the same in each case. 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITEBATURE OF HAWAH 65 

MAHELE-HELE II 

Hru-o-lanI,« kii ka ua o Hilo * I ka lani ; 
Ke hooklikii mal la ke ao o Pua-lani ;^ 
O mahele ana,<^ pulu Hilo i ka ua — 

Hilo Hana-kahi.^' 

5 Ha'i ka nalu, wai kaka lepo o Pii-lani; 
Hal'na ka iwi o Hilo, 

1 ke ku ia e ka wai. 

Oni'o lele a ka ua o Hilo i ka lanl. 

Ke hookiikli mal la ke ao o Pua-lani, 
10 Ke holuholu a'e la e puka, 
Puka e nana ke kiki a ka ua, 
Ka nonoho a ka ua i ka hale o Hilo. 

Like Hilo me Puna ke ku a mauna-ole/ 
He ole ke ku a mauna Hilo me Puna. 
15 He kowa Puna mawaena Hilo me Ka-ti; 
Ke pili wale la i ke kua i mauna -ole ; 
Pili hoohaha i ke kua o Mauna-loa. 

He kuahiwi Ka-ti e pa ka makani. 
Ke alai ia a'e la Ka-ti e ke A'e; ^ 
20 Ka-u ku ke ehu lepo ke A*e; 

Ku ke ebu-lepo mai la Ka-ti i ka makani. 
Makani Kawa hu'a-lepo Ka-ti i ke A'-e. 

« HVu-o-lani. A very blind {)lirase. Ilnwaiians disagree as to its meaning. In the 
author's opinion, it is a word referring to the conjurer's art. 

^ Ua o Hilo. Hilo Is a very rainy country. The name Ililo seems to be used here as 
almost a synonym of violent rain. It calls to mind the use of the word Hilo to signify 
a strong wind : 

Pa mai, pa mal, 
Ka makani a Hilo!* 
Waiho ka ipu iki, 
Homai ka ipu nui ! 

[Translation] 

Blow, blow, thou wind of Hilo! 
Leave the little calabash. 
Bring on the big one ! 

^ Pua-lani. The name of a deity who took the form of the rosy clouds of morning. 

«* Mahele ana. Literally the dividhig ; an allusion to the fact, it is said, that in Hilo 
a rain-cloud, or rain-squall, as it came up would often divide and a part of it turn oflC 
toward Puna at the cape named Lele-iwi, one-half watering. In the direction of the 
present town, the land known as Hana-kahl. 

«" Hana-kahi. Look at npte f, p. 60. 

f Maunaole. According to one authority this should be Mauna-Hilo. Verses 13, 14, 
16. and 17 are difficult of translation. The play on the words ku a, standing at, or 
standing by, and kua, the back ; also on the word kowa, a gulf or strait ; and tlie 
repetition of the word mauna, mountain — all this is carried to such an extent as to be 
quite unintelligible to the Anglo-Saxon mind, though full of significance to a Hawaiian. 

f AV. A strong wind that prevails In Ka-u. The same word also means to step on, 
to climb. This double-meaning gives the poet opportunity for a euphuistic word-play 
that was much enjoyed by the Hawallans. The Hawallans of the present day are not 
quite up to this sort of logomachy. 

♦ Hilo, or Whiro, as In the Maori, was a great navigator. 
25352— Bull. 38—09 5 



66 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Kahiko mau no o Ka-ti i ka makani. 
Makani ka Lae-ka-ilio i Unu-lau, 
25 Kaili-ki*i « a Jsa lua a Kaheahea,* 
I ka ha'a nawali ia ino. 

Ino wa o ka mankani o Kau-n^. 
Nana aku o ka makani malaila ! 

O Hono-malinOj malino i ka la'i o Kona. , 

30 He inoa la ! 

[Translation] 

CANTO II 

Heaven-magic, fetch, a Hilo-pour from heaven ! 
Morn's cloud-buds, look ! they swell in the East 
The rain-cloud parts, Hilo is deluged with rain, 
The Hilo of King Hana-kahi. 

5 Surf breaks, stirs the mire of Pii-lani; 
The bones of Hilo are broken 
By the blows of the rain. 
Ghostly the rain-scud of Hilo in heaven ; 

The cloud-forms of Pua-lani grow and thicken. 
10 The rain-priest bestirs him now to go forth. 

Forth to observe the stab and thrust of the rain. 
The rain that clings to the roof of Hilo. 

Hilo, like Puna, stands mountainless ; 
Aye, mountain-free stand Hilo and Puna. 
15 Puna 's a gulf 'twixt Ka-ti and Hilo ; 

Just leaning her back on Mount Nothing, 
She sleeps at the feet of Mount Loa. 

A mountain-back is Ka-ti which the wind strikes, 
Ka-ti, a land much scourged by the A'e. 
20 A dust-cloud lifts in Ka-ti as one climbs. 
A dust-bloom floats, the lift of the wind: 
'Tis blasts from mountain-walls piles dust, the A'e. 

Ka-ti was always tormented with wind. 
Cape-of-the-Dog feels Unulau's blasts; 
25 They turmoil the cove of Ka-hea-hea, 

Defying all strength with their violence. 

There's a storm when wind blows at Kau-nfi,. 
Just look at the temi>est there raging ! 
Hono-mallno sleeps sheltered by Kona. 
30 A eulogy this of a name. 

" What name?" was asked of the old Hawaiian. 
"A god," said he. 

" How is that ? A mele-inoa celebrates the name and glory of a 
king, not of a god." 

'^ Kaili-ki'i. The promontory that shelters the cove Ka-hewa-hewa. 

^Ka-hea-hea. The name of the cove Ka-hewa-hewa, above mentioned, Is here given in a 
softened form obtained by the elision of the letter w. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OE HAWAII 67 

His answer was, " The gods composed the mele ; men did not com- 
pose it." 

Like an old-time geologist, he solved the puzzle of a novel phe- 
nomenon by ascribing it to God. 

MAHELB III 

(Al-ha'a) 

A Koa*e-kea,« i Pueo-hnlu-nui,« 

Neeu a'e la ka makahiapo o ka pali; 

A a'e, a a'e, a'e ^ la iluna 

Kaholo-kua-iwa, ka pali o Ha*i.<^ 
5 Ha'i a'e la ka pali; 

Ha-nu'u ka pali; 

Hala e Malu-6; 

Hala a'e la Ka-maha-la'a-wili, 

Ke kaupoku hale a ka ua. 
10 Me he mea i uwae'na a'e la ka pali ; 

Me he hale pi'o ka lei na ka manawa o ka pall Halehale-o-ti ; 

Me he aho i hilo *a la ka wai o Wai-hl-lau ; 

Me he uahi pulehu-manu la ke kai o ka auwala hula ana. 

Au ana Maka*u-kiu ^ iloko o ke kai ; 
15 Pohaku lele ^ o Lau-nui, Lau-pahoehoe. 

Ka eku*na a ke kai i ka ala o Ka-wai-kapu — 

Eku ana, me he pua'a la, ka lae Makani-lele, 

Koho-m-lele. 

[Translation] 

CANTO HI 

(Bombastic style) 

Haunt of white tropic-bird and big ruffled owl, 
Up rises the first-born child of the pali. 
He climbs, he climbs, he climbs up aloft, 
Kaholo-ku'-iwa, the pali of Ha'i. 
5 Accomplished now is the steep, 
The ladder-like series of steps. 
Malu-6 is left far below. 



« Koa'e-kea, Pueo hulu-nui. Steep declivities, pali, on tlie side of Waipio valley, Ha- 
waii. Instead of inserting these names, which would be meaningless without an expla- 
nation, the author has given a literal translation of the names themselves, thus getting 
a closer insight into the Hawaiian thought. 

''A'e. The precipices rise one above another like the steps of a stairway, climbing, 
climbing up, though the probable intent of the poet is to represent some one as climbing 
the ascent. 

" HaH. Short for Ha'ina-kolo ; a woman about whom there is a story of tragic adven- 
ture. Through eating when famished of some berries in an unceremonious way she 
became distraught and wandered about for many months until discovered by the per- 
sistent efforts of her husband. The pali which she climbed was named after her. 

* Maka'u-kiu. The name of a famous huge shark that was regarded with reverential 
fear. 

« Pohaku lele. In order to determine whether a shark was present, it was the custom, 
before going into the clear water of some of these coves, to throw rocks Into the water 
in order to disturb the monster and make his presence known. 



68 BUBEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Passed is Ka-maha-la'-wili, 

The very ridge-pole of the rain — 
10 It's as if the peak cut it in twain — 

An arched roof the peak's crest Hale-hale-o-(i. 

A twisted cord hangs the brook Wal-hilau ; 

Like smoke from roasting bird Ocean's wild dance ; 

The shark-god is swimming the sea ; 
15 The rocks leap down at Big-leaf « and Flat-leaf — « 

See the ocean charge 'gainst the cliffs, 

Thrust snout like rooting boar against Windy-cape, 

Against Koholft-lele. 

MAHELE IV 

Hole ^ Waimea i ka ihe a ka makani, 

Hao mai na ale a ke Ki-pu'u-pu'u ;^ 

He laau kala-ihi ia na ke anu, 

I o'o i ka nahele o Mahiki.*' 
5 Ku aku la oe i ka Malanai ^ a ke Ki-puu-puu ; 

Nolu ka maka o ka oha-wai ^ o Uli ; 

Niniau, eha ka pua o Koaie,^ 

Eha i ke anu ka nahele o Wai-ka-^, 

A he aloha, e ! 
10 Aloha Wsii'kSb ia'u me he ipo la; 

Me he ipo la ka maka lena o ke Koo-lau,* 

Ka pua i ka nahele o Mahule-i-a, 

E lei hele i ke alo o Moo-lau.* 

E lau ka huaka'i-hele i ka pali loa ; 
15 Hele hihiu, pili,^ noho i ka nahele. 

O ku'u noho wale iho no i kahua, e-e. 

A he aloha, e-e! 

O kou aloha ka i hiki mai i o'u nei. 

Mahea la ia i nalo iho nei? 

This mele, Hole Waimea, is also sung in connection with the 
hula ipu, 

« Big-leaf. A literal translation of Lau-nui. Laupahoehoe, Flat-leaf. 

^ Hole. To rasp, to handle rudely, to caress passionately. Waimea is a district and 
village on Hawaii. 

•^ Kipu'u-pu'u. A cold wind from Mauna-Kea that blows at Waimea. 

^ Mahiki. A woodland in Waimea, in mythological times haunted by demons and spooks. 

« Mala^nai. The poetical name of a wind, probably the trade wind ; a name much used 
in Hawaiian sentimental poetry. 

f Oha-wai. A water hole that is filled by dripping ; an important source of supply for 
drinking purposes in certain parts of Hawaii. 

"Pua o Koaie. The koaie is a tree that grows in the wilds, the blossom of which is 
extremely fragrant. (Not the same as that subspecies of the koa (Acacia koa) which 
Hillebrand describes and wrongly spells koaia. Here a euphemism for the delicate parts.) 

* Koolau, or, full form, Ko-koo-lau. Described by Doctor Hillebrand as Kokolau, a wrong 
spelling. It has a pretty yellow flower, a yellow eye — maka lena — as the song has it. 
Here used tropically. (This is the plant whose leaf is sometimes used as a substitute 
for tea.) 

» Moolau. An expression used figuratively to mean a woman, more especially her breasts. 
The term huli-lau is also used, in a slang way, to signify the breasts of a woman, the 
primitive meaning being a calabash. 

i Pili. To touch ; touched. This was the word used in the forfeit-paying love game, 
kilu, when the player made a point by hitting the target of his opponent with his kilu. 
(For further description see p. 235.) 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITEBATURE OF HAWAII 69 

The song above given, the translation of which is to follow, belongs 
to historic times, being ascribed to King Liholiho — Kamehameha 
II — ^who died in London July 13, 1824, on his visit to England. It 
attained great vogue and still holds its popularity with the Hawaiians. 
The reader will note the comparative effeminacy and sentimentality 
of the style and the frequent use of euphemisms and double-entendre. 
The double meaning in a Hawaiian mele will not always be evident 
to one whose acquaintance with the language is not intimate. To one 
who comes to it from excursions in Anglo-Saxon poetry, wandering 
through its " meadows trim with daisies pied," the sly intent of the 
Hawaiian, even when pointed out, will, no doubt, seem an inconse- 
quential thing and the demonstratign of it an impertinence, if not a 
fiction to the imagination. Its euphemisms in reality have no baser 
intent than the euphuisms of Lyly, Ben Jonson, or Shakespeare. 

[Translation] 

8ong — Hole Waimea 

PART IV 

Love tousled Waimea with shafts of the wind, 

While Kipuupuu puffed jealous gusts. 

Love is a tree that blights in the cold. 

But thrives in the woods of Mahiki. 
5 Smitten art thou with the blows of love ; 

Luscious the water-drip in the wilds; 

Wearied and bruised is the flower of Koaie; 

Stung by the frost the herbage of Wai-ka-6 : 

And this — it is love. 
10 Wai-ka loves me like a sweetheart. 

Dear as my heart Koolau's yellow eye. 

My flower in the tangled wood, Hule-I-a, 

A travel-wreath to lay on love*s breast, 

A shade to cover my journey's long climb. 
15 Love-touched, distraught, mine a wilderness-home; 

But still do I cherish the old spot. 

For love — it is love. 

Your love visits me even here : 

Where has it been hiding till now? 

Pauku 2 

Kau ka ha-^-a, kau o ka hana wa ele, 
Ke ala-ula ka makani, 
Kulu a e ka ua i kou wahi moe. 
Palepale i na auwai o lalo; 
5 Eli mawaho o ka hale o Koolau, e. 
E lau Koolau, he aina ko'e-ko'e; 
Maka'u i ke anu ka uka o ka Lahuloa. 
Loa ia mea, na'u i walho aku ai. 



70 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

[Translation] 

Stanza 2 

A mackerel sky, time for foul weather; 
The wind raises the dust — 
Thy couch is a-drip with the rain ; 
Open the door, let's trench about the house : 
5 Koolau, land of rain, will shoot green leaves. 
I dread the cold of the uplands. 
An adventure that of long ago. 

The poem above given from beginning to end is figurative, a piece 
of far-fetched, enigmatical symbolism in the lower plane of human 
nature. 

Pauku 3 

Hoe Puna i ka wa'a po-lolo'« a ka ino; 
Ha-uke-uke i ka wa o Koolau : 
Eha e ! eha la ! 

Eha 1 ku'i-ku'l o ka Ulu-mano.^ 
5 Hala *e ka walu-ihe a ke A'e,*' 
Ku iho i ku'i-ku'i a ka Ho-li'o; <* 
Hana ne'e ke kikala o ko Hilo Kini. 
Ho'i lu'u-lu'u i ke one o Hana-kahi,^ 
I ka po-lolo' ua wahine o ka lua : 
10 Mai ka lua no, e! 

[Translation] 

Stanza 3 

Puna plies paddle night-long in the storm ; 
Is set back by a shift in the weather, 
Feels hurt and disgruntled ; 
Dismayed at slap after slap of the squalls ; 
5 Is struck with eight blows of Typhoon ; 

Then smit with the lash of the North wind. 
Sad, he turns back to Hilo's sand-beach : 
He'll shake the town with a scandal — 
The night-long storm with the hag of the pit, 
10 Hag from Gehenna ! 

'^Po-lolo. A secret word, like a cipher, made up for the occasion and compounded of 
two words, po, night, and loloa, long, the final a of loloa heing dropped. This form 
of speech was called kepakepa, and was much used by the Hawailans in old times. 

* Ulu-mano. A violent wind which blows by night only on the western side of Hawaii. 
Kamehameha with a company of men was once wrecked by this wind off Nawawa ; a 
whole Tillage was burned to light them ashore. (Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language, 
by Lorrin Andrews.) 

« Walu-ihe a ke A*e. The A*e is a violent wind that is described as blowing from dif- 
ferent points of the compass in succession ; a circular storm. Walu-ihe — eight spears — 
was a name applied to this same wind during a certain portion of its circuitous range, 
covering at least eight different points, as observed by the Hawailans. It was well 
fitted, therefore, to serve as a figure descriptive of eight different lovers, who follow 
each other in quick succession in the favors of the same wanton. 

<* Ho-Wo. The name of a wind, but of an entirely different character from those above 
mentioned. 

« Hana-kahi. (See note /, p. 60.) 



BMBRSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 71 

This is not a line-for-line translation; that the author found infea- 
sible. Line 8 of the English represents line 7 of the Hawaiian. 
Given more literally, it might be, " He'll sh^ke the buttocks of Hilo's 
forty thousand." 

The metaphor of this song is disjointed, but hot with the primeval 
passions of humanity. 

Pauku 4 

Ho-ina-inau mea ipo i ka nahele; 
Haa-kokoe ana ka maka i ka Moanl, 
I ka ike i na pua i hoomahle 'luna; 
Ua hi-hi-hina wale i ka moe awakea. 
5 Ka ino' ua poina ia Mali'o. 
Ala ka 1 Pua-lei o Ha'o. 
I Puna no ka waihona o ka makani; 
Kaela ka malama ana a ka Pu'u-lena, 
I kahi mea ho-aloha-loha, e! 
10 E aloha, e! 

[Translation] 
Stanza 4 

Love is at play in the grove , 
A jealous swain glares fierce 
At the flowers tying love-knots, 
Lying wilted at noon-title. 
5 So you've forgotten Mali'o, 

Turned to the flower of Puna — 
Puna, the cave of shifty winds. 
Long have I cherished this blossom, 
A treasure hid In my heart ! 
10 Oh, sweetheart! 

The following account is taken from the Polynesian Eesearches of 
the Kev. William Ellis, the well-known English missionary, who 
visited these islands in the years 1822 and 1823, and whose recorded 
observations have been of the highest value in preserving a knowl- 
edge of the institutions of ancient Hawaii : 

In the afternoon, a party of strolling musicians and dancers arrived at 
Kairua. About four o'clock they came, followed by crowds of people, and ar- 
ranged themselves on a fine sandy beach in front of one of the governor's 
houses, where they exhibited a native dance, called hvra araapapa. 

The five musicians first seated themselves in a line on the ground, and spread 
a piece of folded cloth on the sand before them. Their instrument was a 
large calabash, or rather two, one of an oval shape about three feet high, the 
other perfectly round, very neatly fastened to it, having also an aperture 
about three inches in diameter at the top. Each musician held his instrument be- 
fore him with both hands, and produced his music by striking it on the ground, 
where he had laid a piece of cloth, and beating it with his fingers, or the palms 
of his hands. As soon as they began to sound their calabashes, the dancer, a 
young man about the middle stature, advanced through the opening crowd 



72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

His jet-black hair hung in loose and flowing ringlets on his naked shoulders; 
his necklace was made of a vast number of strings of nicely braided human hair, 
tied together behind, while a paraoa (an ornament made of a whale's tooth) 
hung pendent from it on his breast; his wrists were ornamented with brace- 
lets formed of polished tusks of the hog, and his ankles with loose buskins, 
thickly set with dog's teeth, the rattle of which, during the dance, kept time 
with the music of the calabash drum. A beautiful yellow tapa was tastefully 
fastened round his loins, reaching to his knees. He began his dance in front 
of the musicians, and moved forward and backwards, across the area, occa- 
sionally chanting the achievements of former kings of Hawaii. The governor 
sat at the end of the ring, opposite to the musicians, and appeared gratified 
with the performance, which continued until the evening. (Vol. iv, 100-101, 
London, Fisher, Son & Jackson, 1831.)- 

Note by the author. — At the time of Mr. Ellis' visit to Hawaii the orthography of the 
Hawaiian language was still in a formative stage, and it is said that his counsels had 
influence in shaping it. His use of r instead of I In the words hula, alaapapa, and palaoa 
may, therefore, be ascribed to the fact of his previous acquaintance with thfe dialects of 
southern Polynesia, in which the sound of r to a large extent substitutes that of I, and 
to the probability that for that reason his ear was already attuned to the prevailing 
southern fashion, and his Judgment prepossessed in that direction. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHN0LCX3Y 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE VII 




IPU HULA, GOURD DRUM 



X.— THE HULA PA-lPU, OK KU6L0 

The pa-ipu^ called also the kuolo^ was a hula of dignified char- 
acter, in which all the performers maintained the kneeling position 
and accompanied their songs with the solemn tones of the ipu (pi. 
VII ) , with which each one was provided. The proper handling of this 
drumlike instrument in concert with the cantillation of the mele 
made such demands upon the artist, who was both singer and instru- 
mentalist, that only persons of the most approved skill and experi- 
ence were chosen to take part in the performance of this hula. 

The manner of treating the ipu in this hula differed somewhat 
from that employed in the ala'a-papa, being subdued and quiet in 
that, whereas in the pa-ipu it was at times marked with great vigor 
and demonstrativeness, so that in moments of excitement and for the 
expression of passion, fierce joy, or grief the ipu might be lifted on 
high and wildly brandished. It thus made good its title as the most 
important instrument of the Hawaiian orchestra. 

In the pa-lpu, as in the hulas generally, while the actors were 
sometimes grouped according to sex, they were quite as often dis- 
tributed indiscriminately, the place for the leader, the kunju, being 
the center. 

The vigor that marks the literary style of the mele now given 
stamps it as belonging to the archaic period, which closed in the 
early part of the eighteenth century, that century which saw the 
white man make his advent in Hawaii. The poem deals apparently 
with an incident in one of the migrations such as took place during 
the period of intercourse between the North and the South Pacific. 
This was a time of great stir and contention, a time when there was 
much paddling and sailing about and canoe-fleets, often manned by 
warriors, traversed the great ocean in every direction. It was then 
that Hawaii received many colonists from the archipelagoes that lie 
to the southward. 

Mele 

(Ko'i-honua) 

Wela Kahikl, e ! 
Wela Kahiki, e ! 
Wela aku la Kahiki ; 
Ua kaulu-wela ka moku; 

73 



74 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

5 Wela ka ulu o Hawaii ; 

Kakala wela aku la Kahiki ia Olopana,^ 
Ka'u wahi kanaka ; 
O ka hei kapu ^ o Hana-ka-ulani,*' 
Ka hei kapu a ke alii, 
10 Ka hoo-mamao-lani,*' 
Ke kapu o Keawe,^ 
A o Keawe 
Ke alii holo, ho-i'a i kai, e-e! 

* Olopana. A celebrated king of Waipio valley, Hawaii, wlio had to wife the famous 
beauty, Luukia. Owing to misfortune, he sailed away to Kahiki, taking with him his 
wife and his younger brother, Moikelui, who was his puna-7ua^ settling In a land called 
Moa-ulornui-akea. Olopana probably ended his days In his new-found home, but Moi-keha, 
heart-sick at the loss of Luukia's favors, came back to Hawaii and became the progenitor 
of a line of distinguished men, several of whom were famous navigators. Exactly what 
incident In the life of Olopana is alluded to in the sixth and preceding verses, the tradi- 
tions that narrate his adventures do not inform us. 

^ Hei kapu. An oracle ; the place where the high priest kept himself while consulting 
the deities of the fieiau. It was a small house erected on an elevated platform of stones, 
and there he kept himself in seclusion at such times as he sought to be the recipient of 
communications from the gods. 

" Hana-ka-ulani. A name applied to several heiau (temples). The first one so styled, 
according to tradition, was built at Hana, Maui, and another one at Kaluanui, on Oahu, 
near the famous valley of Ka-llu-wa'a. These helau are said to have been built by the 
gods in the misty past soon after landing on these shores. Was It to celebrate their 
escape from perils by sea and enemies on land, or was it in token of thankfulness to 
gods still higher than themselves? 

The author's informant can not tell whether these followed the«fierce, strict cult of 
Kane or the milder cult of Lono. 

* Hoo-mamao-lani. An epithet meaning remote In the heavens, applied to an alii of very 
high rank. 

* Keawe. This is a name that belonged to several kings and a large family of gods — 
papa akua — all of which gods are said to have come from Kahiki and to have dated 
their origi^i from the Wa Po, the twilight of antiquity. Among the demigods that were 
called Keawe may be mentioned: (1) Keawe-huli, a prophet and soothsayer. (2) Keawe- 
kilo-pono, a wise and righteous one, who loved justice. (3) Keawe-hulu-maemae. It was 
his function to maintain purity and cleanliness ; he was a devouring flame that de- 
stroyed rubbish and all foulness. (4) Keawe-ula-o-ka-lani. This was the poetical appel- 
lation given to the delicate flush of early morning. Apropos of this the Hawaiians have 
the following quatrain, which they consider descriptive not only of morning blush, but 
also of the coming in of the reign of the gods : 

O Keawe-ula-i-ka-lani, 

O Keawe-liko-i-ka-lani, 

O Keawe-uina-pohft-i-Kahiki ; 

Hiki mai ana o Lono. 

[Translation] 

Keawe-the-red-blush-of-dawn, 
Keawe-the-bud-in-the-sky, 
Keawe-thunder-burst-at-Kahiki : 
Till Lono comes in to reign. 

(5) Keawe-pa-makani. It was his function to send winds from Kukulu-o-Kahiki, as well 
as from some other points. (6) Keawe-io-io-moa. This god inspected the ocean tides and 
currents, such as Au-miki and Au-kd. (7) Keatce-i-ka-liko. He took charge of flower- 
buds and tender shoots, giving them a chance to develop. (8) Keawe-ulu-pu. It was his 
function to promote the development and fruitage of plants. (9) Keawe-Ju-pua. lie 
caused flowers to shed their petals. (10) Keawe-opala. It was his thankless task to cre- 
ate rubbish and litter by scattering the leaves of the trees. (11) Keatce-hulu, a magician, 
who could blow a feather into the air and see it at once become a bird with power to fly 
away. (12) Keawe-nui-ka-ua-o-Hilo, a sentinel who stood guard by night and by day to 
watch over all creation. (13) Keawe-pulehu. He was a thief and served as cook for the 
gods. There were gods of evil as well as of good in this set. (14) Keawe-oili. He was 



BMBRSON] X7NWBITTEN LITERATURE OP HAWAU 75 

[Translation] 

Song 

(Distinct utterance) 

Glowing is Kahlkl, oh ! 
Glowing Is Kahiki ! 
Lo, Kahlkl Is a-blaze, 
The whole island a-bumlng. 
5 Scorched is thy scion, Hawaii. 

Kahiki shoots flame-tongues at Olopana, 
That hero of yours, and priest 
Of the oracle Hana-ka-ulani, 
The sacred shrine of the king — 
10 He is of the upper heavens. 
The one inspired by Keawe, 
That tabu-famous Keawe, 
The king passion-fond of the sea. 

Mele 
PALE I 

Lau lehua punonl ula ke kal o Kona, 
Ke kal punonl ula 1 oweo la ; 
Wewena ula ke kal la, he kokona ; 
Ula la kinl 1 ka uka o Alaea^ 
5 I hill ahi ula 1 ke kapa a ka wahine, 
I hoeu la e ka ni'a, e ka hana, 
E ka auwal lino mal la a kehau. 
He hau hoomoe ka lau o ka niu, 
Ke oho o ka laau, lauoho loloa. 
10 E 16ha ana i ka la 1 o Kallua la, 1-u-a. 
O ke ku moena ololl a ehu 

ku'u alna kal paeaea. 

Ea, hoea iluna o Mauna Kilohana, 

Na kaha poohiwi man no he inoa. 

15 Ua noa e, ua pil'a kou wahi kapu, e-e! 

1 a*e 'a mal e ha*l. 

gifted with the power to convey and transfer evil, sickness, misfortune, and deatli. (15) 
Keawe-kaili. He was a robber. (16) Keawe-aihue. He was a thief. (17) -Keawe-makilo. 
He was a beggar. He would stand round while others were preparing food, doing honest 
work, and plead with his eyes. In this way he often obtained a dole. (18) Keawe-puni- 
pua'a. He was a glutton, very greedy of pork; he was also called Keawe-ai-pua^a. (19) 
Keawe-inoino. He was a sloven, unclean in all his ways. (20) Keawe-ilio. The only title 
to renown of this superhuman creature was his inordinate fondness for the flesh of the dog. 
So far none of the superhuman beings mentioned seemed fitted to the r61e of the Keawe of 
the text, who was passionately fond of the sea. The author had given up in despair, when 
one day, on repeating his inquiry in another quarter, he was rewarded by learning of — (21) 
Keawe-i-na-kai. He was a resident of the region about the southeastern point of Molokai, 
called Lae-ka-Ilio — Cape of the Dog. He was extravagantly fond of the ocean and allowed 
no weather to interfere with the indulgence of his penchant. An epithet applied to him 
describes his dominating passion : Keawe moe i ke kai o KohakH, Keawe who sleeps in (or 
on) the sea of Kohaktl. It seems probable that this was the Keawe mentioned in the 
twelfth and thirteenth lines of the mele. 

The appellation Keawe seems to have served as a sort of Jack among the demigods of 
the Hawaiian pantheon, on whom was to be laid the burden of a mongrel host of virtues 
and vices that were not assignable to the regular orthodox deities. Somewhat in the same 
way do we use the name Jack as a caption for a miscellaneous lot of functions, as when 
we speak of a ♦* Jack-at-all-trades." 



76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

CTranslation] 

Song 

CANTO I 

Leaf of lehua and nonl-tint, the Kona sea, 

Iridescent saffron and red, 

Changeable watered red, peculiar to Kona; 

Red are the uplands Alaea; 
5 Ah, *tis the flame-red stained robes of women 

Much tossed by caress or desire. 

The weed-tangled water-way shines like a rope of pearls, 

Dew-pearls that droop the coco leaf. 

The hair of the trees, their long locks — 
10 Lo, they wilt in the heat of Kallua the deep. 

A mat spread out narrow and gray, 

A coigne of land by the sea where the fisher drops hook. 

Now looms the mount Kilohana — 

Ah, ye wood-shaded heights, ever-lasting your fame ! 
15 Your tabu is gone ! your holy of holies invaded ! 

Broke down by a stranger! 

The intricately twisted language of this mele is allegorical, a 
rope whose strands are inwrought with passion, envy, detraction, and 
abuse. In translating it one has to choose between the poetic verbal 
garb and the esoteric meaning which the bard made to lurk beneath 
the surface. 

Mele 

PALE II 

Kau6 pu ka iwa kala-pahe'e, 
Ka iwa, ka manu o Kaula i ka makani. 
E ka manu o-ti pani-wai o Lehua, 
O na manu kapu a Kuhal-moana, 
5 Mai hele a luna o Lei-no-ai, 

kolohe, o alai mai ka Unu-lau. 
Puni'a iluna o ka Halau-a-ola; 

A ola aku i ka luna o Maka-iki-olea, 

1 ka lulu, i ka la'i o kai maio, 

10 Ma ka ha'l-w^ i ka mole o Lehua la, I^-hti-a ! 

O na lehua o Alaka'i ka'u aloha, 

O na lehua iluna o Ko'i-alana; 

Ua nonoho hooipo me ke kohe-kohe; 

Ua anu, maeele i ka ua noe. 
15 Ua mai oe; kau a'e ka nana laua nei, e-e, 

Na Uii e o'oni mai nei, e-e ! 

[Translation] 

Song 

CANTO II 

The iwa flies heavy to nest in the brush. 

Its haunt on windy Ke-ula. 

The watch-bird, that fends off the rain from Le-hu-a — 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAW An 77 

Bird sacred to Ku-hai, the shark-god — 
5 Shrieks, "Light not on terrace of Lei-no-ai, 

Lest Unu-lau fiercely assail you." 

Storm sweeps the cliffs of the islet ; 

A covert they seek neath the hills, 

In the sheltered lee of the gale, 
10 The cove at the base of Le-hu-a. 

The shady groves there enchant them, 

The scarlet plumes of lehua. 

Love-dalliance now by the water-reeds, 

Till cooled and appeased by the rain-mist. 
15 Pour on, thou rain, the two heads press the pillow : 

Lo, prince and princess srtir in their sleep! 

The scene of this mele is laid on one of the little bird-islands that 
lie to the northwest of Kauai. The iwa bird, flying heavily to his 
nesting place in the wiry grass {kala-pahee) ^ symbolizes the flight 
of a man in his deep-laden pirogue, abducting the woman of his love. 
The screaming sea-birds that warn him off the island, represented 
as watch-guards of the shark-god Kuhai-moana (whose reef is still 
pointed out), figure the outcries of the parents and friends of the 
abducted woman. 

After the first passionate outburst (Puni^a iluna o ha Halau-a-ola) 
things go more smoothly {ola * * *). The flight to covert from 
the storm, the cove at the base of Le-hu-a, the shady groves, the scar- 
let pompons of the lehua — the tree and the island have the same 
name — all these things are to be interpreted figuratively aS emblems 
of woman's physical charms and the delights of love-dalliance. 

Mele 

PALE III 
(Ai-ha'a) 

Ku aku la Kea-ati, lele ka makani mawaho, 

Ulu-mano, ma ke kaha o Wai-o-lono. 

Ua moani lehua a'e la mauka ; 

Kani lehua Uuna o Kupa-koili, 
5 I ka o ia i ka lau o ka hala, 

Ke poo o ka hala o ke aku'i. 

E ku'i e, e ka uwalo. 

T^li ka mu'o o ka hala, 

A helelei ka pua, a pili ke alauui : 
10 Pu ia Pana-ewa, ona-ona i ke ala, 

I ka nahele makai o Ka-unu-loa la. 

Nani ke kaunu, ke kaunu a ke alii. 

He punl ina'i poi na maua. 

Ua hala ke Kau a me ka Hoilo, 
15 Mailaila mai no ka hana ino. 

Ino mai oe, noho malie aku no hoi au; 

Hopo o' ka inaina, ka wai, e-e ; 

Wiwo au, hopohopo iho nei, e-e I 



78 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

[Translation] 

Song 
CANTO III 

(In turgid style) 

A storm from the sea strikes Ke-au, 

Ulu-mano, sweeping across the barrens; 

It sniffs the fragrance of upland lehua, 

Turns back at Kupa-kolli; 
5 Sawed by the blows of the palm leaves, 

The groves of pandanus in lava shag; 

Their fruit he would string *bout his neck; 

Their fruit he finds wilted and crushed, 

Mere rubbish to litter the road — 
10 Ah, the perfume! Pana-ewa is drunk with the scent; 

The breath of it spreads through the groves. 

Vainly flares the old king's passion, 

Craving a sauce for his meat and mine. 

The summer has flown; winter has come: ^ 

15 Ah, that is the head of our troubles. 

Palsied are you and helpless am I ; 

You shrink from a plunge in the water; 

Alas, poor me! I'm a coward. 

The imagery of this mele sets forth the story of the fierce, but 
fruitless, love-search of a chief, who is figured by the Ulu-mano^ a 
boisterous* wind of Puna, Hawaii. The fragrance of upland lehua 
(moani lehua a^e la mauha^ verse 3) typifies the charms of the woman 
he pursues. The expression kani lehua (verse 4), literally the sudden 
ending of a rain-squall, signifies the man's failure to gain his object. 
The lover seeks to string the golden drupe of the pandanus {hala)^ 
that he may wear them as a wreath about his neck (uwalo) ; he is 
wounded by the teeth of the sword-leaves (o ia i ka lau o ka hala^ 
verse 5). More than this, he meets powerful, concerted resistance (ke 
poo o ka hala o ke aku'i^ verse 6), offered by the jcompact groves of 
pandanus that grow in the rough lava-shag {aku^i)^ typifying, no 
doubt, the resistance made by the friends and retainers of the woman. 
After all, he finds, or declares that he finds, the hala fruit he had 
sought to gather and to wear as a lei about his neck, to be spoiled, 
broken, fit only to litter the road {loli ka mu'o o ka hala^ verse 8; A 
helelei ka jma^ a pili ke alanui^ verse 9). In spite of his repulse and 
his villification of the woman, his passion still feeds on the thought of 
the one he has lost; her charms intoxicate his imagination, even as 
the perfume of the hala bloom bewitches the air of Pana-ewa {Pu ia 
Panaewa^ ona-ona i ke ala^ verse 10). 

It is difficult to interpret verses 12 to 18 in harmony with the story 
as above given. They may be regarded as a commentary on the 



BMBBsoN] UNWBITTEN LITEBATUBE OF HAWAU 79 

passionate episode in the life of the lover, looked at from the stand- 
point of old age, at a time when passion still survives but physical 
strength is in abeyance. 

As the sugar-boiler can not extract from the stalk the last grain 
of sugar, so the author finds it impossible in any translation to ex- 
press the full intent of these Hawaiian mele. 

Mele 

PALE IV 

Aole au e hele ka li'u-lft o Man&, 
la wai oupe-kanaka « o Lima-loa ; ^ 
A e hoopunipunl ia a'e nei ka maUhini; 
A mal punl au : he wal oupe na. 
5 He ala-pahi ka Ifu-lft o Manfi; 

Ke poloai^ la i ke Koolau-wahine.* 

Ua ulu mai ka hoaloha 1 Wailua, 

A ua kino-lau ^ Kawelo ^ mahamaha-i'a,^ 

« Wai oupe-kanaka. Man-fooling water ; the mirage. 

^ Lima-loa. The long-armed, the god of the mirage, who made his appearance at Man&, 
Kauai. 

" Poloai. To converse with, to have dealings with one. 

^ Koolau-wahine. The sea-hreeze at Mana. There is truth as well as poetry In the as- 
sertion made in this verse. The warm moist air, rising from the heated sands of Man&, 
did undoubtedly draw in the cool breeze from the Oceania fruitful dalliance. 

« Kino-lau. Having many (400) bodies, or metamorphoses, said of Kawelo. 

f Kawelo. A sorcerer who lived in the region of Man&. His favorite metamorphosis 
was into the form of a shark. Even when in human form he retained the gills of a flsh 
and had the mouth of a shark at the back of his shoulders, while to the lower part of his 
body were attached the tail and flukes of a shark. To conceal these monstrous append- 
ages he wore over his shoulders a kihei of kapa and allowed himself to be seen only while 
in the sitting posture. He sometimes took the form of a worm, a moth, a caterpillar, or 
a butterfly to escape the hands of his enemies. On land he generally appeared as a 
man squatting, after the manner of a Hawaiian gardener while weeding his garden plot. 

The cultivated lands of Kawelo lay alongside the much-traveled path to the beach 
where the people of the neighborhood resorted to bathe, to fish, and to swim in the 
ocean. He made a practice of saluting the passers-by and of asking them, " Whither are 
you going?" adding the caution, " Look to it that you are not swallowed head and tail 
by the shark ; he has not breakfasted yet " (E akahele oukou o pau po'o, pau hi'u i ka 
mand; aohe i paina i kakahiaka o ka mand). As soon as the traveler had gone on his 
way to the ocean, Kawelo hastened to the sea and there assumed his shark-form. The 
tender flesh of children was his favorite food. The frequent utterance of the same cau- 
tion, joined to the great mortality among the children and youth who resorted to the ocean 
at this place, caused a panic among the residents. The parents consulted a sooth- 
sayer, who surprised them with the information that the guilty one was none other than 
the Innocent-looking farmer, Kawelo. Instructed by the soothsayer, the people made an 
immense net of great strength and having very fine meshes. This they spread in the ocean 
at the bathing place. Kawelo, when caught In the net, struggled fiendishly to break 
away, but in vain. According to directions, they flung the body of the monster Into an 
enormous oven which they had heated to redness, and supplied with fresh fuel for flve 
times ten days — elima dnahulu. At the end of that time there remained only gray ashes. 
The prophet had commanded them that when this had been accomplished they must fill 
the pit of the oven with dry dirt; thus doing, the monster would never come to life. 
They neglected this precaution. A heavy rain flooded the country — the superhuman work 
of the sorcerer — and from the moistened ashes sprang into being a swarm of lesser sharks. 
From them have come the many species of shark that now infest our ocean. 

The house which once was Kawelo's ocean residence is still pointed out, 7 fathoms 
deep, a structure regularly built of rocks. 

9 Mahormaha Va. The gills or fins of a fish such as marked Kawelo. 



80 BUBEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

A ua aona ^ mai nel ho oiwi e. 
10 He mea e wale au e noho aku nei la. 
Noho. 
O ka noho kau a ka mea waiwai; 

kau ka i*a a haawi ia mai. 
Oli-oli au ke loaa la oe. 

15 A pela ke ahi o Ka-maile,^ 

He alualu hewa a*e la ka mallhini, 
Kukuni hewa I ka ill a kau ka uli, e; 
Kau ka uli a ka mea aloha, e. 

[Translation] 

Song 
CANTO LV 

1 will not chase the mirage of Man^, 
That man-fooling mist of god Lima-loa, 
Which still deceives the stranger — 

And came nigh fooling me — the tricksy water! 
5 The mirage of Man& is a fraud; it 

Wantons with the witch Koolau. 

A friend has turned up at Wailua, 

Changeful Kawelo, with gills like a fish, 

Has power to bring luck in any queer shape. 
10 As a stranger now am I living, 

Aye, living. 

You flaunt like a person of wealth, 

Yours the fish, till it comes to my hook. 

I am blest at receiving from you : 
15 Like fire-sticks flung at Ka-maile — 

The visitor vainly chases the brand: 

Fool ! he burns his flesh to gain the red mark, 

A sign for the girl he loves, oho ! 

Mele 

PALE V 

(Ai'ha'a, a he JCo'ihonua paha) 

Kauhua Ku, ka Lani, i-loli ka moku ; 
Hookohi ke kua-koko o ka Lani; 
He kua-koko, pu-koko i ka honua ; 
He kua-koko kapu no ka Lani; 



« Aona. A word of doubtful meaning ; according to one It means lucky. That ex- 
pounder (T P ) says.lt should, or might be, haona; he Instances the phrase 

iwi paoa, in which the word paoa has a similar, but not identical, form and means lucky 
bone. 

^Ka-maile. A place on Kauai where prevailed the custom of throwing firebrands down 
the lofty precipice of Nuololo. This amusement made a fine display at night. As the 
flre-sticks fell they swayed and drifted in the breeze, making it dlflScult for one standing 
below to premise their course through the air and to catch one of them before it struck 
the ground or the water, that being one of the objects of the sport. When a visitor had 
accomplished this feat, he would sometimes mark his flesh with the burning stick that 
he might show the brand to his sweetheart as a token of his fidelity. 



BMEBSON] UNWBITTEN LITEBATUBE OF HAWAU 81 

5 He ko'i ula ana a maku*i i ka ala, 

Hoomau ku-wfi, mahu la, 

Ka maka o ke ahi alii e a nei. 

Ko mai ke kelki koko a ka Lani, 

Ke kelki he nuuhlwa la Hitu-kolo, 
10 O ke kelki hiapo anueuue, lloko o ka manawa, 

O hi ka wal nui o ka nuuhlwa a Ke-opu-o-lani, 

O ua alii lanl alewa-lewa nei, 

E u-lele, e ku nei ma ka lani; 

O ka Lanl o na mu'o-lau o Llliha, 
15 Ka hakina, ka pu'e, ka maka o Kuhl-hewa a Lola — 

Kalola, nana ke keikl laha-laha; 

Ua kela, he kela ka pakela 

O na pahl'a loa o ka pu likollko i ka lanl ' 

O kakoo hulu manu o o-ulu, 
20 O ka hulu o-ku'i lele 1 ka lani, 

O hiapo o ka manu leina a Pokahi, 

O Ka-lani-opu'u hou o ka moku, 

O na kupuna koikoi o Keoua, o ka Lani Kui-apo-lwa. 

[Translation] 

Song ^ 

CANTO y 
(To be recited in bombastic style, or, it may be, distinctly) 

Big with child Is the Princess Ku ; 

The whole island suffers her whimsies ; 

The pangs of labor are on her ; 

Labor that stains the land with blood, 
5 Blood-clots of the heavenly born, 

To preserve and guard the royal line. 

The spark of king-fire now glowing: 

A child is he of heavenly stock. 

Like the darling of Hitu-kolo, 
10 First womb-fruit bom to love's rainbow. 

A bath for this child of heaven's breast. 

This mystical royal offspring. 

Who ranks with the heavenly peers, 

This tender bud of Liliha, 
15 This atom, this parcel, this flame, 

In the line Kuhl-hewa of Lola — 

Ka-lola, who mothered a babe prodigious, 

For glory and splendor renowned, 

A scion most comely from heaven, 
20 The finest down of the new-grown plume. 

From bird whose moult fioats to heaven, 

Prime of the soaring birds of Pokahi, 

The prince, heaven-flower of the island. 

Ancestral sire of Ke-oua, 
25 And of King Kui-apo-lwa. 

25352— Bull. 38—09 6 



82 BUBBAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

The heaping up of adulations, of which this mele is a capital in- 
stance, was not peculiar to Hawaiian poetry. The Roman Senate be- 
stowed divinity on its emperors by vote ; the Hawaiian bard laureate, 
careering on his Pegasus, thought to accomplish the same end by 
piling Ossa on Pelion with high-flown phrases ; and every loyal sub- 
ject added his contribution to the cairn that grew heavenward. 

In Hawaii, as elsewhere, the times of royal debasement, of aristo- 
cratic degeneracy, of doubtful or disrupted succession, have always 
been the times of loudest poetic insistence on birth-rank and the occa- 
sion for the most frenzied utterance of high-sounding titles. This is 
a disease that has grown with the decay of monarchy. 

Applying this criterion to the mele above given, it may be judged 
to be by no means a product wholly of the archaic period. While 
certain parts, say from the first to the tenth verses, inclusive, bear 
the mark of antiquity, the other parts do not ring clear. It seems as 
if some poet of comparatively modern times had revamped an old 
mele to suit his own ends. Of this last part two verses were so glar- 
ingly an interpolation that they were expunged from the text. 

The effort to translate into pure Anglo-Saxon this vehement out- 
pour of high-colored phrases has made heavy demands on the vocabu- 
lary and has strained the idioms of our speech well-nigh to the point 
of protest. 

In lines 1, 2, 4, 8, 14, and 23 the word Lani means a prince or prin- 
cess, a high chief or king, a heavenly one. In lines 12, 13, 18, and 20 
the same word lani means the heavens, a concept in the Hawaiian 
mind that had some far-away approximation to the Olympus of 
classic Greece. 

Mele 

Ooe no paha ia, e ka lau o ke aloha, 

Oia no paha ia ke kau mai nei ka hali'a. 

Ke haU'a-li'a mai nei ka maka, 

Manao hiki mai no paha au anei. 
5 Hiki mai no la ia, na wai e uwe aku? 

Ua pan kau la, kau ike iaia; 

Ka manawa oi' e ai ka manao iloko. 

Ua luu iho nei au i ke kai nui ; 

Nui ka ukiuki, paio o ka naau. 
10 Aohe kanaka eha ole i ke aloha. 

A wahine e oe, kanaka e au ; 

He man alualu ka ha'i e lawe. 

Ike aku i ke kula i'a o Ka-wai-nui. 

Nui ka opala ai o Moku-lana. 
15 Lana ka limu pae hewa o Makau-wahlne. 

O ka wahine no oe, o ke kane no ia. 

Hiki mai no la ia, na wai e uwe aku? 

Hoi mai no la ia, a ia wai e uwe aku? 



EMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 83 

[Translation] 
Song 

Methinks it is you, leaf plucked from Love's tree, 

You mayhap, that stirs my affection. 

There's a tremulous glance of the eye, 

The thought she might chance yet to come: 
5 But who then would greet her with song? 

Your day has flown, your vision of her — 

A time this for gnawing the heart. 

I've plunged just now In deep waters: 

Oh the strife and vexation of soul ! 
10 No mortal goes scathless of love. 

A wife thou estranged, I a husband estranged. 

Mere husks to be cast to the swlne.<» 

Look, the swarming of fish at the weir ! 

Their feeding grounds on the reef 
15 Are waving with mosses abundant. 

Thou art the woman, that one your man — 

At her coming who'll greet her with song? 

Her returning, who shall console? 

This song almost explains itself. It is the soliloquy of a lover 
estranged from his mistrass. Imagination is alive in eye and ear to 
everything that may bring tidings of her, even of her unhoped-for 
return. Sometimes he speaks as if addressing the woman who has 
gone from him, or he addresses himself, or he personifies some one 
who speaks to him, as in the sixth line : " Your day has flown, 

♦ ♦ * ?9 

The memory of past vexation and anguish extorts the philosophic 
remark, " No mortal goes scathless of love." He gives over the 
past, seeks consolation in a new attachment — ^he dives, lu'^u, into the 
great ocean, " deep waters," of love, at least in search of love. The 
old self (selves), the old love, he declares to be only alualu^ empty 
husks. 

He — it is evidently a man — sets forth the wealth of comfort, opu- 
lence, that surrounds him in his new-found peace. The scene, being 
laid in the land Kailua, Oahu — ^the place to which the enchanted 
tree Maka-lei^ was carried long ago, from which time its waters 
abounded in fish — ^fish are naturally the symbol of the opulence that 
now bless his life. But, in spite of the new-found peace and pros- 
perity that attend him, there is a lonely corner in his heart; the 
old question echoes in its vacuum, "Who'll greet her with song? 

* * * who shall console ? " 

« In the original, He mau alualu ka ha'i e lawe, literally " Some skins for another to 
take." 

*'Maka-Ui. (See note b, p. 17.) 



84 BX7EEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Mele 

Ewa, aina kai ula i ka lepo, 

1 ula I ka makani anu Moa'e, 
Ka manu ula i ka lau ka ai, 

I palahe'a ula i ke kai o Kuhi-A. 

5 Mai kuhi mal oukou e, owau ke kalohe; 
Aohe na'u, na lakou no a pau. 
Aohe hewa kekahi keiki a ke kohe. 
El* a'e; oia no paha ia. 
I lono oukou ia wai, e, ua moe? 

10 Oia klni poai o lakou la paha? 

Ike aku ia ka mau'u hina-hina — 
He hina ko'u, he aka mai ko ia la. 
I aka mai oe i kou la manawa le*a; 
A manawa ino, nui mai ka nuku, 

15 Hoomokapu, hoopale mai ka maka, 
Hoolahui wale mai i a'u nei. 
E, oia paha ; ae, oia no paha ia. 

[Translation] 
Song 

Ewa's lagoon is red with dirt — 
Dust blown by the cool Moa'e, 
A plumage red on the taro leaf, 
An ocherous tint in the bay. 

5 Say not in your heart that I am the culprit. 
Not I, but they, are at fault. 
No child of the womb is to blame. 
There goes, likely he is the one. 
Who was it blabbed of the bed defiled? 

10 It must have been one of that band. 

But look at the rank grass beat down — 
For my part, I tripped, the other one smiled. 
You smiled in your hour of pleasure; 
But now, when crossed, how you scold ! 

15 Avoiding the house, averting the eyes — 
You make of me a mere stranger. 
Yes it's probably so, he's the one. 

A poem this full of local color. The plot of the story, as it may be 
interpreted, runs somewhat as follows: While the man of the house, 
presumably, is away, it would seem — ^fishing, perhaps, in the waters 
of Ewa's " shamrock lagoon " — ^the mistress sports with a lover. The 
culprit impudently defends himself with chaff and dust-throwing. 
The hoodlums, one of whom is himself the sinner, have been blab- 
bing, says he. 



EMEnsoN] UNWBITTEK LITEBATURE OF HAWAU 85 

His accuser points to the beaten down hina-hina grass as evidence 
against him. At this the brazen-faced culprit parries the stroke with 
a humorous euphemistic description, in which he plays on the word 
hina, to fall. Such verbal tilting in ancient Hawaii was practically a 
defense against a charge of moral obliquity as decisive and legiti- 
mate as was an appeal to arms in the times of chivalry. He euphe- 
mistically speaks of the beaten herbage as the result of his having 
tripped and fallen, at which, says he, the woman smiled, that is she 
fell in with his proposals. He gives himself away ; but that doesn't 
matter. 

It requires some study to make out who is the speaker in the tit- 
for-tat of the dialogue. 

Mele 

(Ai-ha'a) 

He lua 1 ka Hikina, 
Ua ena e Pele; 
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao, 
Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo; 
5 Kawewe ka o-6 i-lalo 1 akea; 
A ninau o Wakea, 
Owai nei akua e ell nei? 
Owau no, o Pele, 
Nana i ell aku ka lua 1 Niihau a a. 

10 He lua i Niihau, ua ena e Pele. 
« Ke haoloolo e la ke ao, 

Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo; 

Kawewe ka o-6 i-lalo i akea; 

A ninau o Wakea, 
15 Owai nei akua e eli nei? 

Owau no, o Pele, 

Nana i eli aku ka lua i Kauai a a. 

He lua i Kauai ua ena e Pele. 

Ke haoloolo e la ke ao, 
20 Ke lele la i-luna, 1-lalo; 

Kawewe ka o-b i-lalo i akea ; 

Ninau o Wakea, 

Owai nei akua e eli nei? 

Owau no, o Pele, 
25 Nana i eli ka lua i Oahu a a. 

He lua i Oahu, ua ena e Pele. 
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao, 
Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo; 
Kawewe ka o-6 i-lalo i akea; 
30 A ninau o Wakea, 

Owai nei akua e eli nei? 

Owau no, o Pele, 

Nana i eli ka lua i Molokai a a. 



86 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

He lua i Molokai, ua ena e Pele. 
85 Ke haoloolo e la ke ao, 

Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo; 

Kawewe ka o-6 l-lalo, i akea. 

Nlnau o Wakea, 

Owai nei akua e ell nei? 
40 Owau no, o Pele, 

Nana i ell aku ka lua I Lanai a a. 

He lua 1 Lanai, ua ena e Pele. 
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao, 
Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo; 
45 Kawewe ka o-6 i-lalo i akea. 
Ninau o Wakea, 
Owai nei akua e eli nei? 
Owau no, o Pele, 
Nana i eli aku ka lua i Maul a a. 

50 He lua i Maul, ua ena e Pele. 

Ke haoloolo e la ke ao, 

Ke lele la l-luna, i-lalo; 

Kawewe ka o-6 i-lalo, i akea. 

Ninau o Wakea, 
65 Owai, nei akua e ell nei? 

Owau no, o Pele, 

Nana 1 ell aku ka lua i Hu'ehu'e a a. 

He lua i Hu*ehu'e, ua ena e Pele. 
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao, 
60 Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo; 

Kawewe ka o-6 i-lalo, i akea. 
Ell-ell, kau mal ! 

[Translation] 

Song 

(In turgid style) 

A pit lies (far) to the East, 
Pit het by the Fire-queen Pele. 
Heaven's dawn Is lifted askew. 
One edge tilts up, one down, in the sky ; 
5 The thud of the pick is heard In the ground. 
The question is asked by Wakea, 
What god 's this a-dlgglng? 
It Is I, It is Pele, 

Who dug Niihau deep down till it burned, 
10 Dug fire-pit red-heated by Pele. 

Night's curtains are drawn to one side. 
One lifts, one hangs In the tide. 
Crunch of spade resounds in the earth. 
Wakea 'gain urges the query, 
15 What god piles the spade In the ground? 
Quoth Pele, 'tis I: 



EMERSON] XJNWBITTEN LITBKATUEB OF HAWAII 87 

I mined to the fire neath Kauai, 
On Kauai I dug deep a pit, 
A fire-well fiame-fed by Pele. 

20 The heavens are lifted aslant, 

One border moves up and one down: 

There's a stroke of 0-6 'neath the ground. 

Wakea, in earnest, would know, 

What demon's a-grubbing below? 
25 I am the worker, says Pele: 

Oahu I pierced to the quick, 

A crater white-heated by Pele. 

Now mpm lights one edge of the sky ; 

The light streams up, the shadows fall down; 
30 There's a clatter of tools deep down. 

Wakea, in passion, demands. 

What god this who digs *neath the ground? 

It is dame Pele who answers; 

Hers the toil to dig down to fire, 
35 To dig Molokai and reach fire. 

Now morning peeps from the sky 
With one eye open, one shut. 
Hark, ring of the drill *neath the plain ! 
Wakea asks you to. explain, 
40 What imp is a-drilling below? 
It is I, mutters Pele: 
I drilled till fiame shot forth on Lanai, 
A pit candescent by Pele. 

The morning looks forth aslant; 
45 Heaven's curtains roll up and roll down ; 

There's a ring of 0-6 'neath the sod. 

Who, asks Wakea, the god. 

Who is this devil a-digging? 

'Tis I, 'tis Pele, I who 
50 Dug on Maui the pit to the fire: 

Ah, the crater of Maui, 

Red-glowing with Pele's own fire! 

Heaven's painted one side by the dawn. 

Her curtains half open, half drawn; 
55 A rumbling is heard far below. 

Wakea Insists he will know 

The name of the god that tremors the land. 

'Tis I, grumbles Pele, 

I have scooped out the pit Hu'e-hu'e, 
60 A pit that reaches to fire, 

A fire fresh kindled by Pele. 

Now day climbs up to the East; 
Mom folds the curtains of night ; 
The spade of sapper resounds 'neath the plain : 
65 The goddess is at it again ! 



88 BtTREAtJ OF AMEHICAI?^ ETHNOLOGY [bull. 3d 

This mele comes to us stamped with the hall-mark of antiquity. 
It is a poem of mythology, but with what story it connects itself, the 
author knows not. 

The translation here given makes no profession of absolute, verbal 
literalness. One can not transfer a metaphor bodily, head and horns, 
from one speech to another. The European had to invent a new 
name for the boomerang or accept the name by which the Australian 
called it. The Frenchman, struggling with the English language, 
told a lady he was gangrened; he meant he was mortified. The cry 
for literalism is the cry for an impossibility ; to put the chicken back 
into its shell, to return to the bows and arrows of the stone age. 

To make the application to the mele in question : the word Jiu-olO' 
olo^ for example, which is translated in several different ways in the 
poem, is of such generic and comprehensive meaning that one word 
fails to express its meaning. It is, by the way, not a word to be 
found in any dictionary. The author had to grope his way to its 
meaning by following the trail of some Hawaiian pathfinder who, 
after beating about the bush, finally had to acknowledge that the 
path had become so much overgrown since he last went that way 
that he could not find it. 

The Arabs have a hundred or more words meaning sword — dif- 
ferent kinds of swords. To them our word sword is very unspecific. 
Talk to an Arab of a sword — ^you may exhaust the list of special 
forms that our poor vocabulary compasses, straight sword, broad- 
sword, saber, scimitar, yataghan, rapier, and what not, and yet not 
hit the mark of his definition. 

Mele 

Haku'i ka uahi o ka lua, pa i ka lanl ; 

Ha'aha'a Hawaii, moku o Keawe i hanau la. 

Kiekie ke one o Mald,ma ia Lohiau, 

I a*e 'a mai e ke alii o Kahiki, 
5 Nana i hele kai uli, kai ele, 

Kai popolo-hu'a a Kane, 

Ka wa i po'i al ke Kai-a-ka-hina-lil, 
- Kai nu'u, kai lewa. 

Hoopua o Kane i ka la'l; 
10 Pa uli-hiwa mai la ka uka o ke ahi a Laka, 

Oia wahine kihene lehua o HoiK)e, 

Pu'e aku o na hala, 

Ka hala o Panaewa, 

O Panaewa nul, moku lehua; 
15 Ohia kupu ha-o'e-o'e; 

Lehua ula, i will ia e ke ahi. 

A po, e! 

Po Puna, po Hllo! 
Po i ka uahi o ku'u aina. 
20 Ola ia kini! 

Ke a mai la ke ahi! 



bmerson] UNWBITTEN LITERATURE OP HAWAII 89 

[Translation] 
8ong 

A burst of smoke from the pit lifts to the skies; 
Hawaii 's beneath, birth-land of Keawe; 
Malama's beach looms before Lohiau, 
Where landed the chief from Kahiki, 
5 From a voyage on the blue sea, the dark sea, 
The foam-mottled sea of Kane, 

What time curled waves of the king-whelming flood. 
The sea up-swells, invading the land — 

Lo Kane, outstretched at his ease! 
10 Smoke and flame o'ershadow the uplands, 

Ponflagration by Laka, the woman 

Hopoe wreathed with flowers of lehua, 

Stringing the pandanus fruit. 

Screw-palms that clash in Pan'-ewa — 
15 Pan'-ewa, whose groves of lehua 

Are nourished by lava shag, 

Lehua that bourgeons with flame. 

Night, it is night 
O'er Puna and Hilo ! 
20 Night from the smoke of my land ! 
For the people salvation ! 
But the land is on flre! 

The Hawaiian who furnished the meles which, in their translated 
forms, are designated as canto I, canto II, and so on, spoke of them 
as pale; and, following his nomenclature, the term has been retained, 
though more intimate acquaintance with the meles and with the term 
has shown that the nearest English synonym to correspond with pale 
would be the word division. Still, perhaps with a mistaken tender- 
ness for the word, the author has retained the caption Canto, as a 
sort of nodding recognition of the old Hawaiian's term — division of 
a poem. No idea is entertained that the five pale above given were 
composed by the same bard, or that they represent productions from 
the same individual standpoint. They do, however, breathe a spirit 
much in common; so that when the old Hawaiian insisted that they 
are so far related to one another as to form a natural series for reci- 
tation in the hula, being species of the same genus, as it were, he 
was not far from the truth. The man's idea seemed to be that they 
were so closely related that, like beads of harmonious colors and 
shapes, they might be strung on the same thread without producing a 
dissonance. 

Of these five poems, or pale (pah-lay), numbers I, II, and IV 
were uttered in a natural tone of voice, termed kawele, otherwise 
termed koH-honua, The purpose of this style of recitation was to 
adapt the tone to the necessities of the aged when their ears no longer 



90 BXTBEAtJ OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

heard distinctly. It would require an audiphone to illustrate per- 
fectly the difference between this method of pronunciation and the 
ai-ha^a^ which was employed in the recitation of cantos III and V. 
The ai'JicCa was given in a strained and guttural tone. 

The poetical reciter and cantillator, whether in the halau or in the 
king's court, was wont to heighten the oratorical effect of his recita- 
tion by certain crude devices, the most marked of which was that of 
choking the voice down, as it were, into the throat, and there letting 
it strain and growl like a hungry lion. This was the ai-ha'a, whose 
organic function was the expression of the underground passions of 
the soul. 




CO 
LU 

I- 
I- 
LU 

Z 

o 
a: 
< 



XI.— THE HULA KI'I 

I was not a little surprised when I learned that the ancient hula 
repertory of the Hawaiians included a performance with marionettes, 
kiH^ dressed up to represent human beings. But before accepting 
the hula MH as a product indigenous to Hawaii, I asked myself, 
Might not this be a performance in imitation of the Punch-and- Judy 
show familiar to Europe and America? 

After careful study of the question no evidence was found, other 
than what might be inferred from general resemblance, for the theory 
of adoption from a European or American origin. On the contrary, 
the words used as an accompaniment to the play agree with report 
and tradition, and bear convincing evidence in form and matter to a 
Hawaiian antiquity. That is not to say, however, that in the use of 
marionettes the Hawaiians did not hark back to their ancestral homes 
in the southern sea or to a remoter past in Asia. 

The six marionettes, MH (pis. viii and ix), in the writer's possession 
were obtained from a distinguished kumu-hula, who received them by 
inheritance, as it were, from his brother. " He gave them to me," said 
he, " with these words, ' Take care of these things, and when the time 
comes, after my death, that the king wants you to perform before 
him, be ready to fulfill his desire.' " 

It was in the reign of Kamehameha III that they came into the 
hands of the elder brother, who was then and continued to be the 
royal hula-master until his death. These ki'i have therefore figured 
in performances that have been graced by the presence of King 
Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) and his queen, Kalama, and by his 
successors since then down to the times of Kalakaua. At the so- 
called "jubilee," the anniversary of Kalakaua's fiftieth birthday, 
these marionettes were very much in evidence. 

The make-up and style of these ki'i are so similar that a descrip- 
tion of one will serve for all six. This marionette represents the 
figure of a man, and was named Maka-ku (pi. ix). The head is 
carved out of some soft wood — either kukui or wiliwili — which is 
covered, as to the hairy scalp, with a dark woven fabric much like 
broadcloth. It is encircled at the level of the forehead with a broad 
band of gilt braid, as if to ape the style of a soldier. The median 
line from the forehead over the vertex to the back-head is crested 
with the mahiole ridge. This, taken in connection with the encircling 

91 



92 BtJRlAtJ OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

gilt band, gives to the head a warlike appearance, somewhat as if it 
were armed .with the classical helmet, the Hawaiian name for which 
is mahi'Ole. The crest of the ridge and its points of junction with 
the forehead and back-head are decorated with fillets of wool dyed 
of a reddish color, in apparent imitation of the mamo or 0-6^ the 
birds whose feathers were used in decorating helmets, cloaks, and 
other regalia. The features are carved with some attempt at fidelity. 
The eyes are set with mother-of-pearl. 

The figure is of about one-third life size, and was originally 
draped, the author was told, iii a loose robe, holoku^ of tapa cloth 
of the sort known as mahuna^ which is quite thin. This piece of 
tapa is perforated at short intervals with small holes, kikoH, It is 
also stained with the juice from the bark of the root of the kukui 
tree, which imparts a color like that of copper, and makes the Ha- 
waiians class it as paHkukuL A portion of its former, its original, 
apparel has been secured. 

The image is now robed in a holoku of yellow cotton, beneath 
which is an underskirt of striped silk in green and white. The arms 
are loosely jointed to the body. 

The performer in the hula, who stood behind a screen, by insinu- 
ating his hands under the clothing of the marionette, could impart 
to it such movements as were called for by the action of the play, 
while at the same time he repeated the words of his part, words sup- 
posed to be uttered by the marionette. 

The hula ki'i was, perhaps, the nearest approximation made by 
the Hawaiians to a genuine dramatic performance. Its usual instru- 
ment of musical accompaniment was the ipu, previously described. 
This drumlike object was handled by that division of the perform- 
ers called the hoopa'a, who sat in full view of the audience manipu- 
lating the ipu in a quiet, sentimental manner, similar to that em- 
ployed in the hula kuolo. 

As a sample of the stories illustrated in a performance of the 
hula ki'i the following may be adduced, the dramatis personse of 
which are four: 

1. Maka-ku^ a famous warrior, a rude, strong-handed braggart, as 
boastful as Ajax. 

2. Puapua-kea^ a small man, but brave and active. 

3. Maile-lau-lii ( Small-leaf ed-maile), a young woman, who be- 
comes the wife of Maka-ku. 

4. Maile-Pakaha^ the younger sister of Maile-lau-lii, who becomes 
the wife of Puapua-kea. 

Maka-kti, a rude and boastful son of Mars, at heart a bully, if not 
a coward, is represented as ever aching for a fight, in which his 
domineering spirit and rough-and-tumble ways for a time gave him 
the advantage over abler, but more modest, adversaries. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLCXaV 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE IX 




MARIONETTE, MAKA-KU 



EMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 93 

Puapuakea, a man of genuine courage, hearing of the boastful 
achievements of Maka-kii, seeks him out and challenges him. 

At the first contest they fought with javelins, ihe^ each one tak- 
ing his turn according to lot in casting his javelins to the full tale 
of the prescribed number; after which the other contestant did the 
same. Neither was victorious. -u 

Next they fought with slings, each one having the right 4o sling 
forty stones at the other. In this conflict also neither one of them 
got the better of the other. The next trial was with stone-throwing. 
The result was still the same. 

Now it was for them to try the classical Hawaiian game of lua. 
This was a strenuous form of contest that has many features in com- 
mon with the panathlion of the ancient Hellenes, some points in 
common with boxing, and still more, perhaps, partakes of the char- 
acter of the grand art of combat, wrestling. Since becoming ac- 
quainted with the fine Japanese art of jiu-jitsu^ the author recog- 
nizes certain methods that were shared by them both. But to all of 
these it added the wild privileges of choking, bone-breaking, dis- 
locating, eye-gouging, and the infliction of tortures and grips unmen- 
tionable and disreputable. At first the conflict was in suspense, vic- 
tory favoring neither party; but as the contest went on Puapuakea 
showed a slight superiority, and at the finish he had bettered Maka-ku 
by three points, or ai^^ as the Hawaiians uniquely term it. 

The sisters, Maile-lau-lii and Maile-pakaha, who had been inter- 
ested spectators of the contest, conceived a passionate liking for the 
two warriors and laid their plans in concert to capture them for 
themselves. Fortunately their preferences were not in conflict. 
Maile-lau-lii set her affections on Maka-ku, while the younger sister 
devoted herself to Pua-pua-kea. 

The two men had previously allowed their fancies to range abroad 
at pleasure; but from this time they centered their hearts on these 
two Mailes and settled down to regular married life. 

Interest in the actual performance of the hula ki'i was stimulated 
by a resort to byplay and buffoonery. One of the marionettes, for 
instance, points to some one in the audience; whereupon one of the 
hoopaa asks, " What do you want ? " The marionette persists in its 
pointing. At length the interlocutor, as if divining the marionette's 
wish, says: "Ah, you want So-and-so." At this the marionette nods 
assent, and the hoopaa asks again, " Do you wish him to come to 
you?" The marionette expresses its delight and approval by nods 
and gestures, to the immense satisfaction of the audience, who join 
in derisive laughter at the expense of the person held up to ridicule. 

Besides the marionettes already named among the characters found 
in the different hula-plays of the hula ki'i, the author has heard 

«J.i, literally a food, a course. 



94 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

mention of the following marionettes: Ku^ Kini'ki\ HoO'lehelehe- 
MH^ Ki^i'kiH^ and Nihi-aumoe. 

Nihi-aumoe was a man without the incumbrance of a wife, an 
expert in the arts of intrigue and seduction. Nihi-aumoe is a word 
of very suggestive meaning, to walk softly at midnight. In Judge 
Andrews's dictionary are found the following pertinent Hawaiian 
verses apropos of the word nihi: 

E hoopono ka hele i ka uka o Puna ; 
E nihi ka hele, mai hoolawehala, 
Mai noho a ako i ka pna, o hewa, 
O inaioa ke Akua, paa ke alanui, 
Aole ou ala e Iiikl aku ai. 

[Translation] 

Look to your ways in upland Puna ; 
Walk softly, commit no offense; 
Dally not, nor pluck the flower sin ; 
Lest God in anger bar the road, 
And you find no way of escape. 

The marionette Ki'i-ki'i was a strenuous little fellow, an Uamuku, 
a marshal, or constable of the king. It was his duty to carry out 
with unrelenting rigor the commands of the alii, whether they bade 
him take possession of a taro patch, set fire to a house, or to steal 
upon a man at dead of night and dash out his brains while he slept. 

Referring to the illustrations (pi. viii), a judge of human nature 
can almost read the character of the libertine Nihi-aumoe written in 
his features — ^the flattened vertex, indicative of lacking reverence 
and fear, the ruffian strength of the broad face; and if one could 
observe the reverse of the picture he would note the flattened back- 
head, a feature that marks a large number of Hawaiian crania. 

The songs that were cantillated to the hula ki'i express in some 
degree the peculiar libertinism of this hula, which differed from all 
others by many removes. They may be characterized as gossipy, 
sarcastic, ironical, scandal-mongering, dealing in satire, abuse, hit- 
ting right and left at social and personal .vices — a cheese of rank 
flavor that is not to be partaken of too freely. It might be com- 
pared to the vaudeville in opera or to the genre picture in art. 

Mele 

E Wewehi, ke, ke! 
Wewehi oiwi, ke, ke! 
Punana « i ka luna, ke, ke ! 
Hoonoho kai-oa,^ ke, ke! 

" Punana. Literally a nest ; here a raised couch on the pola, which was a sheltered 
platform in the waist of a double canoe, corresponding to our cabin, for the use of chiefs 
and other people of distinction. 

* Kai-oa. The paddle-men ; here a euphemism. 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 95 

5 Oluna ka wa'a,<» ke, ke ! 
O kela wa'a, ke, ke! 
O keia wa'a, ke, ke! 

Ninau o Mawi,^ ke, ke ! 
Nawai ka luau'i?^ ke, ke! 
:i) Na Wewehi-loa,^ ke, ke! 

Ua make Wewehi, ke, ke! 
Ua ku i ka ihe, ke, ke! 
Ma ka puka kahiko,** ke, ke ! 
Ka puka a Mawi, ke, ke! 

15 Ka lepe, ka lepe, la ! 

Ka lepe, ua hina a uwe! 

Ninau ka lepe, la ! 

Mana-mana lii-lii, 

Mana-mana lielieiao, 
20 Ke kumu o ka lepe? 

Ka lepe hiolo, e? 

[Translation] 

Song 

O Wewehi, la, la ! 
Wewehi, peerless form, la, la ! 
Encouched on the pola, la, la! 
Bossing the paddlers, la, la ! 
5 Men of the canoe, la, la! 
Of that canoe, la, la! 

Of this canoe, la, la! 
Mawi inquires, la, la ! 
Who was her grand-sire? la, la! 
10 *Twas Wewehi-loa, la, la! 
Wewehi is dead, la, la ! 
Wounded with spear, la, la ! 
The same old wound, la, la ! 
Wound made by Mawi, la, la ! 

« Wa'a. A euphemism for the human body. 

*• Mawi. The hero of I'olynesian mythology, whose name is usually spelled Maui, like 
the name of the island. Departure from the usual orthography is made in order to 
secure phonetic accuracy. The name of the hero is pronounced Mdh-wee, not Mdw-ee, as 
is the island. Sir George Gray, of New Zealand, following the usual orthography, has 
given a very full and interesting account of him in his Polynesian mythology. 

" Wewehi-loa. Another name for Wahie-loa, who is said to have been the grandfather 
of Wewehi. The word ^uauH in the previous verse, meaning real father, is an archaic 
form. Another form is kua-u'i. 

'^Puka kahiko. A strange story from Hawaiian mythology relates that originally the 
human anatomy was sadly deficient in that the terminal gate of the primw vim was closed. 
Mawi applied his common-sense surgery to the repair of the defect and relieved the situa- 
tion. Ua olelo ia i kinohi ua hana ia kanaka me ka hemahema no ka nele i ka hou puka 
ole ia ka okole, a na Mawi i hoopau i keia pilikia mamuli o kana hana akamai. Ua kapa 
ia keia puka ka puka kahiko. 



96 BUREAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

15 The flag, lo the flag! 

The flag weeps at half-mast! 

The flag, indeed, asks — 

Many, many the flags, 

A scandal for number. 
20 Why are they overturned? 
^ Why their banners cast down? 

The author has met with several variants to this mele, which do 
not greatly change its character. In one of these variants the fol- 
lowing changes are to be noted : 

Line 4. Pikaka* e ka luna, ke, ke! 

Line 5. Ka luna o ka hale, ke, ke ! 

Line 8. Ka puka o ka hale, a ke, ke ! 

Line 9. E noho i anei, a ke, ke ! 

To attempt a translation of these lines which are unadulterated 
slang : 

Line 4. The roof is a-dry, la, la ! 

Line 5. The roof of the house, la, la ! 

Line 8. The door of the house, la, la ! 

Line 9. Turn in this way, la, la ! 

The one who supplied the above lines expressed inability to under- 
stand their meaning, averring that they are "classical Hawaiian," 
meaning, doubtless, that they are archaic slang. As to the ninth 
line,^ the practice of " sitting in the door " seems to have been the 
fashion with such folk as far back as the time of Solomon. 

Let us picture this princess of Maui, this granddaughter of 
Wahieloa, Wewehi, as a Helen, with all of Helen's frailty, a flirt- 
errant, luxurious in life, quickly deserting one lover for the arms of 
another; yet withal of such humanity and kindness of fascination 
that, at her death, or absence, all things mourned her — ^not as Lycidas 
was mourned : 

** With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, 

***** 
And daffodillies fill their cups with tears," 

but in some rude pagan fashion; all of which is wrought out and 
symbolized in the mele with such imagery as is native to the mind of 
the savage. 

The attentive reader will not need be told that, as in many another 
piece out of Hawaii's old-time legends, the path through this song is 
beset with euphuistic stumbling blocks. The purpose of language, 
says Talleyrand, is to conceal thought. The veil in this case is quite 
gauzy. 

The language of the following song for the marionette dance, hula 
ki'i, as in the one previously given, is mostly of that kind which the. 

'Pikaka (full form pikakao). Dried up, juiceless. 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 97 

Hawaiians term olelo kapekepeke^ or olelo hund^ shifty talk, or 
secret talk. We might call it slang, though it is not slang in the 
exact sense in which we use that word, applying it to the improvised 
counters of thought that gain currency in our daily speech until they 
find admission to the forum, the platform, and the dictionary. It is 
rather a cipher-speech, a method of concealing one's meaning from 
all but the initiated, of which the Hawaiian, whether alii or com- 
moner, was very fond. The people of the hula were famous for this 
sort of accomplishment and prided themselves not a little in it as an 
effectual means of giving appropriate flavor and gusto to their per- 
formances. 

Mele 

• 

Ele-ele kau-kau ; « 
Ka hala-le,^ e kau-kau, 
Ka e-ele ihi, 
Ele ihi, ele a, 
5 Ka e-ele ku-pou ; ^ 
Ku-pou. 
Ka hala, e!* 

•[Translation] 

Song 

Point to a dark one, 
Point to a dainty piece, 
A delicate morsel she I 
Veiy choice, very hot ! 
5 She that stoops over — 
Aye stoops! 
Lo, the hala fruit! 

The translation has to be based largely on conjecture. The author 
of this bit of fun-making, which is 'touched in old-time slang, died 
without making known the key to his cipher, and no one whom the 
present writer has met with is able to unravel its full meaning. 

The following mele for the hula ki'i, in language colored by the 
same motive, was furnished by an accomplished practitioner who 
had traveled far and- wide in the practice of her art, having been one 
of a company of hula dancers that attended the Columbian exposi- 
tion in Chicago. It was her good fortune also to reach the antipodes 

'^Kau-kau. Conjectural meaning to point out some one in the audience, as the marion- 
ettes often did. People were thus sometimes inveigled in behind the curtain. 

^Hala-le. Said to mean a sop, with which one took up the juice or gravy of food; a 
choice morsel. 

^Ku-pou. To stoop over, from devotion to one's own pursuits, from modesty, or from 
shame. 

<* The meaning of this line has been matter for much conjecture. The author has finally 
adopted the suggestion embodied in the translation here given, which is a somewhat gross 
reference to the woman's physical charms. 

25352— Bull. 38—09 7 



98 BUREAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

in her travels, and it was at Berlin, she says, that she witnessed for 
the first time the European counterpart of the hula ki'i, the " Punch 
and Judy" show ; 

Mele no ka Hula KVi 

E le'e kau-kau, kala le'e; 
E le'e kau-kau. 
E le'e kau-kau, kala le'e. 
E lepe kau-kau. 
5 E o-ku ana i kal; 
E u-au ai aku; 
E u-au ai aku ; 
E u-au ai aku ! 
• E-he-he, e! 

[Translation] 

Song for the Hula KiH 

Now for the dance, dance in accord; 
Prepare for the dance. 
Now for the dance, dance in time. 
Up, now, with the ^g! 
5 Step out to the right; 
Step out to the left ! 
Ha, ha, ha ! 

This translation is the result of much research, yet its absolute 
accuracy can not be vouched for. The most learned authorities 
{kaka-olelo) in old Hawaiian lore that have been found by the writer 
express themselves as greatly puzzled at the exact meaning of the mele 
just given. Some scholars, no doubt, would dub these nonsense-lines. 
The author can not consent to any such view. The old Hawaiians 
were too much in earnest to permit themselves to juggle with words 
in such fashion. They were fond of mystery and concealment, appre- 
ciated a joke, given to slang, but to string a lot of words together 
without meaning, after the fashion of a college student who delights 
to relieve his mind by shouting " Upidee, upida," was not their way. 
" The people of the hula," said one man, " had ways of fun-making 
peculiar to themselves." 

AVhen the hula-dancer who communicated to the author the above 
song — a very accomplished and intelligent woman — was asked for 
information that would render possible its proper translation, she 
replied that her part was only that of a mouthpiece to repeat the 
words and to make appropriate gestures, he pono hula wale no, 
mere parrot-work. The language, she said, was such " classic " 
Hawaiian as to be beyond her understanding. 



BMEBSON] UNWRITTEN LITEBATURE OF HAWAII 99 

Here, again, is another song in argot, a coin of the same mintage 
as those just given: 

Mele 

E kau-kau i hale manu, e! 
Ike oe i ka lolo huluhulu, e? 
I ka huluhulu a we'uwe'u, e? 
I ka punohu,« e, a ka la e kau nei? 
5 Walea ka manu i ka wai, e! 
I ka wai lohi o ke kini, e! 

[Translation] 

Song 

Let's worship now the bird-cage. 
Seest thou the furzy woodland. 
The shag of herb and forest, 
The low earth-tinting rainbow, 
5 Child of the Sun that swings above? 
O, happy bird, to drink from the pool, 
A bliss free to the million ! 

This is the language of symbolism. When Venus went about to 
ensnare Adonis, among her other wiles she warbled to him of moun- 
tains, dales, and pleasant fountains. 

The mele now presented is of an entirely different character from 
those that have just preceded. It is said to have been the joint com- 
position of the high chief Keiki-o-ewa of Kauai, at one time the 
kahu of Prince Moses, and of Kapihe, a distinguished poet — ^haku- 
mele — and prophet. (To Kapihe is ascribed the prophetic and orac- 
ular utterance, E iho ana o luna, e pii ana o lalo; e hu ana ha paia; 
e moe ana kaula; e kau ana kaxi-huhu — o lani iluna^ o honua Halo — 
" The high shall be brought low, the lowly uplifted ; the defenses shall 
stand; the prophet shall lie low; the mountain walls shall abide — 
heaven above, earth beneath.") 

This next poem may be regarded as an epithalamium, the celebra- 
tion of the mystery and bliss of the wedding night, the hodo ana of a 
high chief and his high-born kapu sister. The murmur of the breeze, 
the fury of the winds, the heat of the sun, the sacrificial ovens, all are 
symbols that set forth the emotions, experiences, and mysteries of the 
night : 

'^ Punohu. A compact mass of clouds, generally lying low in the heavens; a cloud- 
omen ; also a rainbow that lies close to the earth, such as is formed when the sun is 
high in the heavens. 



100 BUBEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Mele 

(Ko^ihonua) 

O Wanahili« ka po loa ia Manu'a,^ 
O ka pu kau kama ^ i Hawaii akea ; 
O ka pu leina** kea a Kiha — 
O Kiha nui a Pii-lani— ^^ 
6 O Kauhi kalana-honu'-a-Kama ;f 

O ka maka iolena ff ke hoohaulani i-6 ! 
O kela kanaka hoali mauna,^ 

Ka Lani ku'i bono i ka moku.* 

1 waibona kapuahi kanaka eM,,^ 
10 Ai' i, Kauai, i Oahu, i Maui, 

I Hawaii kahiko o Keawe enaena,* 
Ke a-fi, mai la me ke o-koko, 
Ke lapa-Iapa la i ka makani, 
Makani kua, lie Naulu.' 
15 Kua ka Waihoa i ka Mikioi, 

* Wanahili. A princess of the mythological period l)elonging to Puna, Hawaii. 
^Manu'a. A king of Hilo, the son of Kane-hili, famous for his skill in spear-throwing, 

waifea-rolling, and all athletic exercises. He was united in marriage, ho-ao, to the lovely 
princess Wanahili. Tradition deals with Manua as a very lovable character. 

" Pu kau kama. The conch (pu) is figured as the herald of fame. Kau is used in the 
sense of to set on high, in contrast with such a word as waiho, to set down. Kama is the 
word of dignity for children. 

* Pu leina. It is asserted on good authority that the triton (pu), when approached in its 
ocean habitat, will often make sudden and extraordinary leaps in an effort to escape. There 
is special reference here to the famous conch known in Hawaiian story as Kiha-pu. It was 
credited with supernatural powers as a kupua. During the reign of Uml, son of Liloa, it 
was stolen from the heiau in Waipio valley and came into the hands of god Kane. In his 
wild awa-drinking revels the god terrified Umi and his people by sounding nightly blasts 
with the conch. The shell was finally restored to King Umi by the superhuman aid of the 
famous dog Puapua-lena-lena. 

*> Kiha-nui a Piilani. Son of Piilanl, a king of Maui. He is credited with the formidable 
engineering work of making a paved road over the mountain palis of Koolau, Maui. 

f Kauhi kalana-honu'-a-Kama. This Kanhi, as his long title indicates, was the son of 
the famous king, Kama-lala-walu, and succeeded his father in the kingship over Maui and, 
probably, Lanai. Kama-lala-walu had a long and prosperous reign, which ended, however, 
in disaster. Acting on the erroneous reports of his son Kauhi, whom he had sent to spy 
out the land, he invaded the kingdom of Lono-i-ka-makahiki on Hawaii, was wounded and 
defeated in battle, taken prisoner, and offered up as a sacrifice on the altar of Lono's god, 
preferring that death, it is said, to the ignominy of release. 

ff I-olena. Roving, shifty, lustful. 

A Kanaka hoali mauna. Man who moved mountains ; an epithet of compliment applied 
perhaps to Kiha, above mentioned, or to the king mentioned in the next verse, Kekaulike. 

* Ku'i hono i ka moku. Who bound together into one (state) the islands Maui, Molokai, 
Lanai, and Kahoolawe. This was, it is said, Kekaulike, the fifth king of Maui after Kama- 
lala-walu. At his death he was succeeded by Kamehameha-nui — to be distinguished from 
the Kamehameha of Hawaii — and he in turn by the famous warrior-king Kahekili, who 
routed the invading army of Kalanlopuu, king of Hawaii, on the sand plains of Wailuku. 

i J waihona kapuahi kanaka ehd. This verse presents grammatical difficulties. The word 
/ implies the imperative, a form of request or demand, though that Is probably not the 
Intent. It seems to be a means, authorized by poetical license, of ascribing honor and tabu- 
glory to the name of the person eulogized, who, the context leads the author to think, was 
Kekaulike. The island names other than that of Maui seem to have been thrown in for 
poetical effect, as that king, in the opinion of the author, had no power over Kauai, Oahu, 
or Hawaii. The purpose may have been to assert that his glory reached to those islands. 

^ Keawe enaena. Keawe, whose tabu was hot as a burning oven. Presumably Keawe, 
the son of Umi, is the one meant. 

* Naulu. The sea-breeze at Waimea, Kauai. 



BMEBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OP HAWAII 101 

Pu-fi ia lalo o Hala-li'i,« 
Me he alii, alii, la no ka hele i Kekaha, 
Ka hookiekie i ka li'u-la,^ 
Ka hele i ke alia-lia la, alia ! 
20 Alia-lia la'a-laau Kekaha. 

Ke kaha o Kala-ihi, Wai-o-lono. 
Ke olo la ke pihe a ka La, e! 
Ke nu la paha i Honua-ula. 

[Translation] 

Song 

(Distinct utterance) 

Wanahili bides the whole night with Manu*a, 

By trumpet hailed through broad Hawaii, 

By the white vaulting conch of Kiha — 

Great Kiha, offspring of Pii-lani, 
5 Father of eight-branched Kama-lala-walu. 

The far-roaming eye now sparkles with joy, 

Whose energy erstwhile shook mountains. 

The king who firm-bound the isles in one state, 

His glory, symboled by four human altars, 
10 Reaches Kauai, Oahu, Maul, 

Hawaii the eld of Keawe, 

Whose tabu, burning with blood-red blaze. 

Shoots flame-tongues that leap with the wind, 

The breeze from the mountain, the Naulu. 
15 Waihoa humps its back, while cold Mikioi 

Blows fierce and swift across Hala-li'i. 

It vaunts like a king at Kekaha, 

Flaunting itself in the sun's heat. 

And lifts itself up in mirage, 
20 Ghost-forms of woods and trees in Kekaha — 

Sweeping o'er waste Kala-ihi, Water-of-Lono ; 

While the sun shoots forth its fierce rays — 

Its heat, perchance, reaches to Honiia-ula. 

The mele next given takes its local color from Kauai and brings 
vividly to mind the experiences of one who has climbed the mountain 
walls, pali, that buffet the winds of its northern coast. 

Mele 
Kalalau, pali eku i ka makani; 
I*u ka Lawa-kua,^ hoi mau i Kolo-kini ; 
Nu a anahulu ka pa ana i-uka — 
Anahulu me na po keu elua. 

'^Hala-lii. A sandy plain on Nilhan, where grows a variety of sugar-cane that lies 
largely covered by the loose soil, ke ko eli o Hala-lU. 

* lA'u-la. The mirage, a common phenomenon on Niihan, and especially at Mana, on 
Kauai. 

*> Lawa-kua. A wind In Kalalau that blows for a time from the mountains and then, 
it is said, veers to the north, so that it comes from the direction of a secondary valley, 
Kolo-kini, a branch of Kalalau. The bard describes it as continuing to blow for twelve 
nights before it shifts, an instance, probably, of poetic license. 



102 BlTBiJAtJ OF AMEBlCAiT ^THNOlOC^Y Ibull. 38 

5 Elua Hono-pu o ia kua kanaka; 
Elua Ko'a-mano ^ me Wai-aloha, 
Ka pali waha iho, waha iho ^ me ke kua ; 
Ke keiki puu iloko o ka pali nui. 
E hii an' ^ e Makua i Kalalau. 

[Translation] 

Song 

The mountain walls of Kalalau 

Buffet the blasts of Lawa-kau, 

That surge a decade of nights and twain ; 

Then, wearied, it veers to the north. 

5 Two giant backs stand the cliffs Hono-pu ; 
The falls Wai-aloha mate with the sea : 
An overhung pali — the climber's back swings in 
Its "mouth — to face it makes one a child — 
Makua, whose arms embrace Kalalau. 

The mind of the ancient bard was so narrowly centered on the small 
plot his imagination cultivated that he disregarded the outside world, 
forgetting that it could not gaze upon the scenes which filled his eyes. 

The valley of Kalalau from its deep recess in the northwestern 
coast of Kauai looks out upon the heaving waters of the Pacific. 
The mountain walls of the valley are abrupt, often overhanging. 
Viewed from the ocean, the cliffs aref piled one upon another like the 
buttresses of a Gothic cathedral. The ocean is often stormy, and 
during several months in the year forbids intercourse with other 
parts of the island, save as the hardy traveler makes his way along 
precipitous mountain trails. 

The hula ala^a-papa^ hula ipu^ hula pa-ipu (or kuolo)^ the hula 
hoo-nand, and the hula kiH were all performed to the accompaniment 
of the ipu or calabash, and, being the only ones that were so accom- 
panied, if the author is correctly informed, they may be classed 
together under one head as the calabash hulas. 

" Ko'a-mano. A part of the ocean into which the stream Wai-aloha falls. 

* Waha iho. With mouth that yawns downward, referring, doubtless, to the overarch- 
ing of the pali, precipice. The same figure is applied to the back {kua) of the traveler 
who climbs it. 

<" Elision of the final a in ana. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE X 




PAHU HULA, HULA DRUM 



XII.— THE HULA PAHU 

The hula "pahu was so named from the pahu^^ or drum, that was 
its chief instrument of musical accompaniment (pi. x). 

It is not often that the story of an institution can be so closely 
fitted to the landmarks of history as in the case of thi& hula ; and this 
comes about through our knowledge of the history of the pahu itself. 
Tradition, direct and reliable, informs us that the credit of intro- 
ducing the big drum belongs to La 'a. This chief flourished between 
five and six centuries ago, and from having spent most of his life 
in the lands to the south, which the ancient Hawaiians called Kahiki, 
was himself generally styled La'a-mai-Kahiki (La'a-from-Kahiki). 
The young man was of a volatile disposition, given to pleasure, and 
it is evident that the big drum he brought with him to Hawaii on 
one of his voyages from Kahiki was in his eyes by no means the 
least important piece of baggage that freighted his canoes. On 
nearing the land he waked the echoes with the stirring tones of his 
drum, which so astonished the people that they followed him from 
point to point along the coast and heaped favors upon him whenever 
he came ashore. 

La'a was an enthusiastic patron of the hula and is said to have 
made a tour of the islands, in which he instructed the natives in new 
forms of this seductive pastime, one of which was the hula ka-eke. 

There is reason to believe, it seems, that the original use of the pahu 
was in connection with the services of the temple, and that its adapta 
tion to the halau was simply a transference from one to another 
religious use. 

The hula pahu was preeminently a performance of formal and 
dignified character, not such as would be extemporized for the 
amusement of an irreverent company. Like all the formal hulas, it 
was tabu, by which the Hawaiians meant that it was a religious 
service, or so- closely associated with the notion of worship as to make 
it an irreverence to trifle with it. For this reason as well as for its 
intrinsic dignity its performance was reserved for the most distin- 
guished guests and the most notable occasions. 

Both classes of actors took part in the performance of the hula 
pahu, the olapa contributing the mele as they stood and went through 
the motions of the dance, while the hoopaa maintained the kneeling 
position ahd operated the big drum with the left hand. While his 
left hand was thus engaged, the musician with a thong held in his 

» Full form, pahu-hula. 

103 



104 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

right hand struck a tiny drum, the pu-niu^ that was conveniently 
strapped to the thigh of the same side. As its name signifies, the 
pu-niu was made from coconut shell, being headed with fish-skin. 

The harmonious and rhythmic timing of these two instruments 
called for strict attention on the part of the performer. The pahu, 
having a tone of lower pitch and greater volume than the other, 
was naturally sounded at longer intervals, while the pu-niu delivered 
ita sharp crisp tones in closer order. 

Mele 
(Ko'i-honua) 

HUo oe, Hilo, muliwai a ka ua i ka lani, 

1 hana ia EUlo, ko-1 ana e ka ua. 
E lial6 ko Hilo ma i-o, i-anel; 
Lenalena Hilo e, panopano i ka ua. 

6 Ua lono Pili-keko o Hilo i ka wai ; 
0-kakala ka hulu o Hilo i ke anu ; 
Ua ku o ka paka a ka ua i ke one ; 
Ua moe oni ole Hilo i-luna ke alo ; 
Ua hana ka uluna lehu o Hana-kahi. 
10 Haule ka onohi Hilo o ka ua i ke one; 
Loku kapa ka hi-liilo kai o Pai-kaka. 
Ha, e! 

2 

A Puna au, 1 Kuki*l au, i Ha'eha'e, 
Ike au i ke a kino-lau lehua. 
He laau malalo o ia pohaku. 
Hanohano Puna e, kehakeha i ka ua, 
5 Kahiko mau no ia no-laila. 
He aina haaheo loa no Puna; 
I haaheo i ka hala me ka lehua ; 
He maikai maluna, he a malalo; 
He kelekele ka papa o Mau-kele. 
10 Kahuli Apua e, kele ana i Mau-kele. 

[Translation] 

Song 

(Bombastic style) 

Thou art Hilo, Hilo, flood-gate of heaven. 
Hilo has power to wring out the rain. 
Let Hilo turn here and turn there; 
Hilo's kept from employ, somber with rain; 
5 Pili-keko roars with full stream; 

The feathers of Hilo bristle with cold. 
And her hail-stones smite on the sand. 
She lies without motion, with upturned face, 
The fire-places pillowed with ashes; 
10 The bullets of rain are slapping the land. 
Pitiless rain turmoiling Pai-kaka. 
So, indeed. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN UTERATURE OF HAWAII 105 



In Puna was I, in Ku-ki*i, in Ha'e-ha'e, 
I saw a wraith of lehua, a burning bush, 
A fire-tree beneath the lava plate. 
Magnificent Puna, fertile from rain, 
5 At all times weaving its mantle. 
Aye Puna's a land of splendor, 
Proudly bedight with palm and lehua ; 
Beauteous above, but horrid below, 
And miry the plain of Mau-kele. 
10 Apua upturned, plod on to Mau-kele. 

Mele 

Kau lilua i ke anu Wai-aleale; 

He maka halalo ka lehua makanoe ; ° 

He lihilihi kuku ia no Aipo,* e ; 

ka hulu a*a ia o Hau-a-iliki ; ^ 

5 Ua pehi 'a c ka ua a 6ha ka nahele, 

Maui ka pua, uwe ^ha i ke anu, 

1 ke kukuna la-wai o Mokihana.** 

Ua hana ia aku ka pono a ua pololei; 
Ua hai 'na ia aku no ia oe; 
10 O ke ola no ia. 

O kia'i loko, kia'i Ka-ula,^ 
Nana 1 ka makani, hoolono ka leo, 
Ka halulu o ka Malua-kele; f 
Kiel, halo i Maka-ike-ole. 

15 Kamau ke ea i ka halau ^ a ola ; 
He kula lima ia no Wawae-noho,* 
Me he puko'a hakahaka la i Waahlla 
Ka momoku a ka unu-lehua o Lehua. 
A lehulehu ka hale pono ka noho ana, 

20 Loaa kou haawina — o ke aloha, 

Ke hauna * mai nei ka puka o ka hale. 
Ea! 



* Lehua makanoe. The lehua trees that grow on the top of Wai-aleale, the mountain 
mass of Kauai, are of peculiar form, low, stunted, and so furzy as to be almost thorny, 
kuku, as mentioned in the next line. 

^ Ai-po. A swamp that occupies the summit basin of the mountain, in and about which 
the thorny lehua trees above mentioned stand as a fringe. 

^ Hau-a-iliki. A word made up of hau, dew or frost, and iliki, to smite. The a is merely 
a connective. 

<< Mokihana. The name of a region on the flank of Wai-aleale, also a plant that grows 
there, whose berry is fragrant and is used in making wreaths. 

* Ka-ula. A small rocky island visible from Kauai. 
t Malua-kele. A wind. 

» Halau. The shed or house which sheltered the canoe, wa*a, which latter, as we have 
seen, was often used figuratively to mean the human body, especially the body of a 
woman. Kamau kc ea i ka halau might be translated *' persistent the breath from her 
body." " There's kames o' hlnny 'tween my luve's lips." 

* Wawae-noho. Literally the foot that abides ; it is the name of a place. Here it is 
to be understood as meaning constancy. It is an instance in which the concrete stands 
for the abstract. 

* Hauna. An odor. In this connection it means the odor that hangs about a human 
habitation. The hidden allusion, it is needless to say, is to sexual attractiveness. 



106 BXmfiAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

I Translation] 
8ong 

Wai-aleale stands haughty and cold, 
Her lehua bloom, fog-soaked, droops pensive; 
The thorn-fringe set about swampy Ai-po is 
A feather that flaunts in spite of the pinching frost 
5 Her herbage is pelted, stung by the rain ; 

Bruised all her petals, and moaning in cold 
Mokihana's sun, his wat*ry beams. 
I have acted in good faith and honor. 
My complaint is only to you — 
10 A matter that touches my life. 

Best watch within and toward Ka-ula ; 
Question each breeze, note every rumor. 
Even the whisper of Malua-kele. 
Search high and search low, unobservant. 

15 There is life in the breath from her body. 
Fond caress by a hand not inconstant. 
Like fissured groves of coral 
Stand the ragged clumps of lehua. 
Many^ the houses, easy the life. 

20 You have your portion — of love; 
Humanity smells at the door. 
Aye, indeed. 

The imagery of this poem is peculiarly obscure and the meaning 
difficult of translation. The allusions are so local and special that 
their meaning does not carry to a distance. 

Wai-aleale is the central mountain mass of Kauai, about 6,000 
feet high. Its summit, a cold, fog-swept wilderness of swamp and 
lake beset with dwarfish growths of lehua, is used as the symbol of a 
woman, impulsively kind, yet in turn passionate and disdainful. The 
physical attributes of the mountain are ascribed to her, its spells of 
frosty coldness, its gloom and distance, its fickleness of weather, the 
repellant hirsuteness of the stunted vegetation that fringes the cen- 
tral swamp — these things are described as symbols of her temper, 
character, and physical make-up. The bloom and herbage of the 
wilderness, much pelted by the storm, are figures to represent her 
physical charms. But spite of all these faults and imperfections, a 
perennial fragrance, as of mokihana, clings to her person, and she is 
the object of devoted love, capable of weaving the spell of fascination 
about her victims. 

This poem furnishes a good example of a peculiarity that often is 
an obstacle to the understanding of Hawaiian poetry. It is the 
breaking up of the composition into a number of parts that have but 
a loose seeming connection the one with the other. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE XI 




ULI-ULI, A GOURD RATTLE 



XIII.— THE HULA tJLI-ULI 

The hula uli-uli was so called from the rattle which was its sole 
instrument of accompaniment. This consisted of a small gOurd 
about the size of a large orange, into the cavity of which were put 
shot-like seeds, like those of the canna; a handle was then attached 
(pi. XI). 

The actors who took part in this hula belonged, it is said, to the 
class termed hoopaa, and went through with the performance while 
kneeling or squatting, as has been described. While cantillating the 
mele they held the rattle, uli-uli^ in the right hand, shaking it 
against the palm of the other hand or the thigh, or making excursions 
in one direction and another. In some performances of this hula 
which the author has witnessed the olapa also took part, in one case 
a woman, who stood and cantillated the song with movement and 
gesture, while the hoopaa devoted themselves exclusively to handling 
the uli-uli rattles. 

The sacrificial offerings that preceded the old-time performances of 
this hula are said to have been awa and a roast porkling, in honor of 
the goddess Laka. 

If the dignity and quality of the meles now used, or reported to 
have been used, in the hula uli-uli are to be taken as any criterion 
of the quality and dignity of this hula, one has to conclude that it 
must be assigned to a rank below that of some others, such, for in- 
stance, as the ala^a-papa^ pa-ipu, Pele^ and others. 

David Malo, the Hawaiian historian, author of Ka Moolelo 
Hawaii^ in the short chapter that he devotes to the hula, mentions 
only ten hulas by name, the ka-laau^ paH-umauma^ pahu^ pahu^a. 
ala'a-papa^ paH-pa\ pa-ipu^ ulili^ kolani^ and the kielei, Vlili is but 
another form of the word uli-uli. Any utterance of Malo is to be 
received seriously; but it seems doubtful if he deliberately selected 
for mention the ten hulas that were really the most important. It 
seems more p^'obable that he set down the first ten that stood forth 
prominent in his memory. It was not Malo's habit, nor part of his 
education, to make an exhaustive list of sports and games, or in fact 
of anything. He spoke of what occurred to him. It must also be 
remembered that, being an ardent convert to Christianity, Malo felt 

• Translated by N. B. Emerson, M. D., under the title " Hawaiian Antiquities," and 
published by the B. P. Bishop Museum. Hawaiian Gazette Company (Limited), Hono- 
lulu, 1903. 

107 



108 BTJBEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

himself conscience-bound to set himself in opposition to the amuse- 
ments, sports, and games of his people, and he was unable, apparently, 
to see in them any good whatsoever. Malo was a man of uncom- 
promising honesty and rigidity of principles. His nature, acting 
under the new influences that surrounded him after the introduction 
of Christianity, made it impossible for him to discriminate calmly 
between the good and the pernicious, between the purely human and 
poetic and the depraved elements in the sports practised by his people 
during their period of heathenism. There was nothing halfway 
about Malo. Having abandoned' a system, his nature compelled him 
to denounce it root and branch. 

The first mele here offered as an accompaniment to this hula can 
boast of no great antiquity ; it belongs to the middle of the nineteenth 
century, and was the product of some gallant at a time when princes 
and princesses abounded in Hawaii : 

Mele 

Aole i manao ia 

Kahi wai a o Alekoki. 

Hookohu ka ua i uka, 

Noho mai la i Nuuanu. 
5 Anu-anu, makehewa au 

Ke kali ana i-laila. 

Ka Ino' paha ua paa 

Kou manao i ane'l, 

Au i hoomalu at. 
10 Hoomalu oe a main; 

Ua malu keia kino 

Mamuli a o kou leo. 

Kau nui aku ka manao 

Kahi wai a o Kapena. 
15 Pani'a paa ia mai 

Na manowai a o uka; 

Ahu wale na ki'owai, 

Na papa-hale o luna. 

Maluna a'e no wau, 
20 Ma ke kuono liilii. 

A waho, a o Mamala, 

Hao mai nei ehu-ehu ; 

Pulu au i ka huna-kai, 

Kal heahea i ka ili. 
25 Hookahi no koa nui, 

Nana e alo ia ino. 

Ino-ino mai nei luna, 

I ka hao a ka makani. 

He makani ahai-lono; 
30 Lohe ka luna i Pelekane. 

ia pouli nui 

Mea ole i ku'u manao* 

1 o, i a-ne'i au, 

Ka piina la o Ma'ema'e, 



EMEBSONl UNWBITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAH 109 

35 E kilohi au o ka nani 

Na pua i Mauna-ala. 

He ala ona-ona kou, 

Ke pili mai i ane'i, 

O a*u lehua ula l-luna, 
40 Ai ono a na mauu. 

[Translation] 

Song 

I spurn the thought with disdain 

Of that pool Alekoki : 

On the upland lingers the rain 

And fondly haunts Nuuanu. 
5 • Sharp was the cold, bootless 

My waiting up there. 

I thought thou wert true, 

Wert loyal to me, 

Whom thou la ids' t under bonds. 
10 Take oath now and keep it; 

This body is sacred to thee, 

Bound by the word of thy mouth. 

My heart leaps up at thought 

Of the pool, pool of Kapena ; 
15 To me it is fenced, shut off, 

The water-heads tightly sealed up. 

The fountains must be a-hoarding. 

For skies are ever down-pouring; 

The while I am lodged up aloft, 
20 Bestowed in the cleft of a rock. 

Now, tossed by sea at Mamala, 

The wind drives wildly the surf; 

I'm soaked with the scud of the ocean. 

My body is rough with the rime. 
25 But one stout hero and soldier, 

With heart to face such a storm. 

Wild scud the clouds. 

Hurled by the tempest, 

A tale-bearing wind, 
30 That gossips afar. 

The darkness and storm 

Are nothing to me. 

This way and that am I turning. 

Climbing the hill Ma*e-ma'e, 
35 To look on thy charms, dear one, 

The fragrant buds of the mountain. 

What perfume breathes from thy body. 

Such time as to thee I come close, 

My scarlet bloom of lehua 
40 Yields nectar sought by the birds. 

This mele is said to have been the production of Prince William 
Lunalilo — afterward king of the Hawaiian islands — and to have been 



110 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

addressed to the Princess Victoria Kamamalu, whom he sought in 
marriage. Both of them inherited high chief rank, and their off- 
spring, according to Hawaiian usage, would have outranked her 
brothers, kings Kamehameha IV and V. Selfish and political con- 
siderations, therefore, forbade the match, and thereby hangs a tale, 
the shadow of which darkens this song. Every lover is one part 
poet; and Lunalilo, even without the love-flame, was more than one 
part poet. 

The poem shows the influence of foreign ways and teachings and 
the pressure of the new environment that had entered Hawaii, in its 
form, in the moderation of its language and imagery, and in the 
coherence of its parts; at the same time the spirit of the song and 
the color of its native imagery mark it as the product of a Polynesian 
mind. 

According to the author's interpretation of the song, Alekoki 
(verse 2), a name applied to a portion of the Nuuanu stream lower 
down than the basin and falls of Kapena {Kahi wai a o Kapena — verse 
14), symbolizes a flame that may once have warmed the singer's im- 
agination, but which he discards in favor of his new love, the pool 
of Kapena. The rain, which prefers to linger in the upland regions 
of Nuuanu (verses 3 and 4) and which often reaches not the lower 
levels, typifies his brooding affection. The cold, the storm, and the 
tempest that rage at Mamala (verse 21) — a name given to the ocean 
just outside Honolulu harbor — and that fill the heavens with driving 
scud (verses 27 and 28) represent the violent opposition in high quar- 
ters to the love-match. The tale-bearing wind, makani ahai-lono 
(verse 29), refers, no doubt, to the storm of scandal. The use of the 
place-names McCemcHe and Mauna-ala seem to indicate Nuuanu as the 
residence of the princess. 

Mele 

PALE I 

Au^ea wale oe, e ka Makani Inu-wai? 
Pa kolonahe i ka ili-kai, 
Hoohui me ka Naulu, 
Na ulu hua i ka ha papa. 
5 An6 au ike i ke ko Hala-li*i, 
I keia wa nana ia Leliua. 

PALE II 

Aia i Waimea kii'u haku-lei; 
Hui pu me ka wai ula ili-alii, 
Mohala ka pua i ke one o Pawehe; 
10 Ka lawe a ke Koolau 

Nolio pu me ka ua punonohu ula i ka nahele, 
Ike i ka wai kea o Makaweli; 



BMBBSON] UNWBITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 111 

Ua noho pu i ka nahele 
Me ka lei hinahina o Maka-li'i. 
15 Liilii ka uka o Koae*a; 
Nana i ka ua lani-pili, 
Ka 0-6, manu le'a 6 ka nahele. 

I Pa-le-ie au, npho pu me ke anu. 
B ha'i a'e oe i ka puana : 
20 Ke kahuna kalai-hoe o Puu-ka-Pele. 

[Translation] 



CANTO I 

Whence art thou, thirsty wind, 
That gently kissest the sea, 
Then, wed to the ocean breeze, 
Playest fan with the bread-fruit tree? 
5 Here sprawl Hala-lii's canes. 

There stands bird-haunted Lehua. 

CANTO II 

My wreath-maker dwells at Waimea. 

Partnered is she to the swirling river; 

They plant with flowers the sandy lea, . 
10 While the bearded surf, tossed by the breeze. 

Vaunts on the hills as the sun-bow, 

Looks on the crystal stream Makaweli, 

And in the wildwood makes her abode 

With Hinahina of silvern wreaths. 
15 Koaea's a speck to the eye, 

Under the low-hanging rain-cloud, 

Woodland home of the plaintive o-6. 

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

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

The Hawaiians dearly loved fable and allegory. Argument or 
truth, dressed out in such fanciful garb, gained double force and ac- 
ceptance. We may not be able to follow a poet in his wanderings; 
his local allusions may obscure to us much of his meaning; the doc- 
trine of his allegory may be to us largely a riddle ; and the connection 
between the body of its thought and illustration and the application, 
or solution, of the poetical conundrum may be past our comprehen- 
sion ; but the play of the poet's fancy, whether childish or mature, is 



112 BUREAU OF%A.MEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

an interesting study, and brings us closer in human sympathy to the 
people who took pleasure in such things. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maka-weli^ Maka4i\ Koae\ and Pa-ie-ie are names of places on 
Kauai. 

PuU'ka-Pele (verse 20) as the name indicates, is a volcanic hill, 
situated near Waimea. 

The key or answer {puana)^ to the allegory given in verse 20, Ke 
kahuna kalai-hoe o Puu-ka-Pele^ the paddle-making kahuna of Pele's 
mount, when declared by the poet (haku-mele), is not very inform- 
ing to the foreign mind; but to the Hawaiian auditor it, no doubt, 
took the place of our haec fahula docet^ and it at least showed that 
the poet was not without an intelligent motive. In the poem in 
point the author acknowledges his inability to make connection be- 
tween it and the body of the song. 

One merit we must concede to Hawaiian poetry, it wastes no time 
in slow approach. The first stroke of- the artist places the au^iitor 
in medias res. 



XIV.— THE HULA PUILI 

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

The performers, all of them hoopaa, were often placed in two rows, 
seated or kneeling and facing one another, thus favoring a responsive 
action in the use of* the puili as well as in the cantillation of the 
song. One division would sometimes shake and brandish their instru- 
ments, while the others remained quiet, or both divisions would per- 




FiG. 1. — Puili, bamboo-rattle. 

form at once, each individual clashing one puili against the other one 
held by himself, or against that of his vis-a-vis; or they might toss 
them back and forth to each other, one bamboo passing another in 
mid air. 

A\Tiile the hula puili is undeniably a performance of classical an- 
tiquity, it is not to be regarded as of great dignity or importance as 
compared with many other hulas. Its character, like that of the 
meles associated with it, is light and trivial. 

The mele next presented is by no means a modern production. It 
seems to be the worlJ of some unknown author, a fragment of folk- 
lore, it might be called by some, that has drifted down to the present 
generation and then been put to service in the hula. If hitherto the 
word folklore has not been used it is not from any prejudice against 
it, but rather from a feeling that there exists an inclination to stretch 
the application of it beyond its true limits and to make it include 
popular songs, stories, myths, and the like, regardless of its fitness of 
application. Some writers, no doubt, would apply this vague term 
to a large part of the poetical pieces which are given in this book. 
25352— Bull. 38—09 8 113 



114 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

On the same principle, why should they not apply the tenn folklore 
to the myths and stories that make up the body of Eoman and Greek 
mythology ? The present author reserves the term folklore for appli- 
cation to those unappropriated scraps of popular song, story, myth, 
and superstition that have drifted down the stream of antiquity and 
that reach us in the scrap-bag of popular memory, often bearing in 
their battered forms the evidence of long use. 

Mele 

Hiki mai, hiki mai ka La, e. 
Aloha wale ka La e kau nei, 
Ala malalo o Ka-wal-hoa, « 
A ka lalo o Kauai, o Lehua. 
5 A Kauai au, ike 1 ka pall; 
A MUo-lil * pale ka pall loloa. 
E kolo ana ka pall o Makua-lkl ; <^ 
Kolo o Pu-a, he kelki, 
He kelkl makua-ole ke uwe nel. 

[Translation] 

Song 

It has come, It has come ; lo the Sun ! 
How I love the Sun that's on high; 
Below It swims Ka-wal-hoa, 
On the slope inclined from Lehua. 
5 On Kauai met I a pall, 

A beetling cliff that bounds Milo-lii, 
And climbing up Makua-lkl, 
Crawling up was Pua, the child, 
An orphan that weeps out its tale. 

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

Mele 

Malua,^ kri wal ke aloha, 
Hoopulu 1 ka llko mamane. 
Uleuleu mai na manu, 
Inu wal lehua o Panaewa,^ 
5 E walea ana 1 ke onaona, 
Ke one wall o Ohele. 

« Katcaihoa. The southern point of Niihau, which is to the west of Kauai, the evident 
standpoint of the poet, and therefore " below " Kauai. 

^Milo-lii. A valley on the northwestern angle of Kauai, a precipitous region, in which 
travel from one point to another by land is almost impossible. 

" Makua-iki. Literally " little father," a name given to an overhanging pall, where was 
provided a hanging ladder to make travel possible. The series of palls in this region 
comes to an end at Milo-lii. 

«'The Malua was a wind, often so dry that it sucked up the moisture from the land 
and destroyed the tender vegetation. 

* Panaewa was a woodland region much talked of in poetry and song. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 115 

Hele mai nei kou aloha 
A lalawe i ko*u nul kino, 
Au i hookohu ai, 
10 E kuko i ka manao. 

Kuhi no paha oe no Hopoe ^ 
Nei lehua au i ka hana ohi ai. 

[Translation] 
Song 

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

Thought you 'twas the tree of Hopoe, 
This tree, whose bloom you would pluck? 

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

^ Hopoe was a beautiful young woman, a friend of Hiiaka, and was persecuted by Pele 
owing to jealousy. One of the forms in which she as a divinity showed herself was as a 
lehua tree in full bloom. 



XV.— THE HULA KA-LAAU 

The hula ha-laau (ka^ to strike; laau^ wood) was named from the 
instruments of wood used in producing the accompaniment, a sort 
of xylophone, in which one piece of resonant wood was struck against 
another. Both divisions of the performers, the hoopaa and the olapa, 
took part and each division was provided with the instruments. The 
cantillation was done sometimes by one division alone, sometimes by 
both divisions in unison, or one division would answer the other, a 
responsive chanting that was termed haawe dku^ haawe mai — ^" to 
give, to return." 

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

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

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

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

The poets who composed the mele for a king liave been spoken of 
as " the king's washtubs." Mele inoa were not crown-jewels to be 
116 



HMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OP HAWAII 117 

passed from one incumbent of the throne to another. The practice 
of appropriating the mele inoa composed in honor of another king 
and of another line was one that grew up with the decadence of honor 
in times of degeneracy. 

Mele 

O Kalakaua, he inoa, 

ka pua mae ole i ka la; 
Ke pua mai la 1 ka mauna, 

1 ke kuahiwl o Mauna-kea ; 
5 Ke a la i Ki-lau-e-a, 

Malamalama i Wahine-kapu, 
I ka luna o Uwe-kahuna, 
I ka pall kapu o Ka-au-e-a. 
B a mai ke alii kia-manu ; 
10 Ua Wahl i ka hulu o ka mamo, 
Ka pua nani o Hawaii; 
O Ka-la-kaua, he inoa! 

[Translation] 

Song 

Ka-la-kaua, a great name, 
A flower not wilted by the sun; 
It blooms on the mountains, 
In the forests of Mauna-kea; 
5 It bums in Ki-lau-e-a, 

Illumines the cliff Wahine-kapu, 
The heights of Uwe-kahuna, 
The sacred pali of Ka-au-e-a. 
Shine forth, king of bird-hunters, 
10 Resplendent in plumage of mamo, 
Bright flower of Hawaii: 
Ka-la-kaua, the illustrious! 

The proper names Wahine-kapu^ Uwe-kahuna^ and Ka-au-e-a in 
the sixth, seventh, and eighth verses are localities, cliffs, bluffs, preci- 
pices, etc., in and about the great caldera of Kilauea, following up 
the mention (in the fifth verse) of that giant among the world's 
active volcanoes. 

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

Mele 

Kona kai opua** i kala i ka la'i; 
Opua hinano ua i ka malie; 
Hiolo na wai naoa a ke kehau, 

« Op«o means a distinct cloud-pile, an omen, a weather-sign. 



118 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Ke' na-ti ^ la na kamalil, 
5 Ke kaohl la 1 ke kukuna o ka la; 
Ku'u la koili i ke kai— 
Pumehana wale la aina ! 
Aloha wale ke klni o Hoolulu, 
Aohe lua la oe ke aloha, 
10 O ku'u puni, o ka me' ow&. 

r Translation] 

Song 

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

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

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

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

About the year 1870 the late Queen Emma made the tour of the 
island of Kauai, and at some places the hula waa performed as a 
recreation in her honor. The hula ka-laau was thus presented; it 
was marked, however, by such peculiarities as to make it hardly 
recognizable as being the same performance as the one elsewhere 
known by that name. As given on Kauai, both the olapa and the 
hoopaa took part, as they do on the other islands, but in the Kauai 

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



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LlTERATUfeB OF HAWAII 119 

pierformance the olapa alone handled the two sticks of the xylophone, 
which ii^ other parts formed the sole instrument of musical accom- 
paniment to this hula. Other striking novelties also were introduced. 
The olapa held between their toes small sticks with which they beat 
upon a resonant beam of wood that lay on the floor, thus producing 
tones of a low pitch. Another departure from the usual style of this 
hula was that the hoopaa, at the same time, devoted themselves 
with the right hand to playing upon the pu-niu, the small drum, 
while with the left they developed the deep bass of the pahu. The 
result of this outre combination must have been truly remarkable. 

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



XVI.— THE HULA ILI-ILI 

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

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

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

Mele 

A lalo maua o Wai-pi'o, 
Ike i ka nani o Hi'i-lawe. 
E la we mai a oki 
I na hala o Naue i ke kai, 
5 I na lehua lu-lu'u pali ; 

Noho ana lohe i ke kani o ka 0-6, 
Hoolono aku i ka leo o ke kahuli. 

[Translation] 

Song 

We twain were lodged in Wai-pi'o, 
Beheld Hi'i-lawe, the grand. 
We brought and cut for our love-wreath 
The rich hala drupe from Naue's strand, 
5 Tufted lehua that waves on the cliff; 
Then sat and gave ear to song of 0-6, 
Or harked the chirp of the tree-shell. 

Wai-pi'o^ the scene of this idyl, is a valley deep and broad which 
the elements have scooped out in the windward exposure of Hawaii, 
and scarce needs mention to Hawaiian tourists. HiH-lawe is one of 
120 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE XII 




PUPU-KANI-OE, POETICALLY STYLED KAHULI 
HAWAIIAN TREE-SHELLS (ACHATINELLA * * *) 



BMEESON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 121 

several high waterfalls that leap from the world of clouds into the 
valley-basin. 

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

Mele 

Kahuli aku, 
Kahuli mai, 
Kahuli lei ula, 
Lei akolea.« 
5 Kolea, kolea,^ 
Kfl ka wai, 
Wai akolea. 

[Translation] 

Song of the Tree-shell 

Trill a-far, 
Trill a-near, 
A dainty song-wreath, 
Wreath akolea. 
5 Kolea, Kolea, 

Fetch me some dew. 
Dew from pink akolea. 

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

"The akolea is a fern (by some classed as a Polypodium) which, according to Doctor 
Ilillebrand (Flora of the Hawaiian Islands), "sustains its extraordinary length by the 
circinnate tips which twine round the branches of neighboring shrubs or trees." 

^ Kolea. The red-breasted plover. 



XVII.— THE HULA KA-:eKE-:eKE 

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

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

On making actual trial of the kaekeeke, in order to prove by expe- 
rience its musical quality and capabilities, the writer's pleasure was 
as great as his surprise when he found it capable of producing mu- 
sical tones of great purity and of the finest quality. Experiment soon 
satisfied him that for the best production of the tone it was neces- 
sary to strike the bamboo cylinder smartly upon some firm, inelastic 
substance, such as a bag of sand. The tone produced was of crys- 
talline purity, and by varying the size and length of the cylinders it 
proved possible to represent a complete musical scale. The instru- 
ment was the germ of the modem organ. 

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

Mele 

A Hamakua au, 
Noho i ka ulu hala. 
Malihini au i ka hiki ana, 
I ka ua pe'epe'e pohaku. 
5 Noho oe a li'u-iru, 
A luli-luli maUe Iho. 
122 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 123 

He keiki akamai ko la pall ; 
Elima no pua i ka lima. 
Kui oe a lawa 
10 I lei no ku'u aloha ; 

Malama malie oe i ka makemake, 
I lei hoobeno no ke, aloha ole. 

Moe oe a ala mai ; 
Nana iho oe i kou pono. 
15 Hai'na ia ka puana : 

Keiki noho pali o Hamakua ; 
A waka-waka, a waka-waka. 

[Translation] 

Song 

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

There's a canny son of the cliff 
That has five buds to bis hand. 
You shall twine me a wreath of due length, 
10 A wreath to encircle my love, 

Whilst you hold desire in strong curb, 
Till love-touch thaws the cold-hearted. 

When you rise from sleep on the mat, 
Look down, see the conquest of love. 
15 The meaning of this short story? 

What child fondly clings to the cliflP? 
Waka-waka, the shell-fish. 

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

He now takes up a parable about some creature, a child of the cliff — 
Hamakua's ocean boundary is mostly a precipitous wall — ^which he 
represents as a hand with five buds, Addressing it as a servant, 
he bids this creature twine a wreath sufficient for his love, kui oe a 



124 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

lawa (verse 9), / lei no hu'u aloha (verse 10). This creature with 
five buds, what is it but the human hand, the errand-carrier of man's 
desire, makemahe (verse 11) ? The ^pali^ by the way, is a figure often 
used by Hawaiian poets to mean the glory and dignity of the human 
body. 

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

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

Mele 

Kahiki-nui, auwalii** ka makani! 

Nana aku au ia Kona, 

Me he kua lei ahi ^ la ka moku ; 

Me he lawa iili e, la, no 
5 Ku'u kai pa-ti hala-ka ^ 

I ka lae o Hana-mal6 ; ^ 

Me he olohe ill polohiwa, 

Ke ku a mauna, 

Ma ka ewa lewa ^ Hawaii. 
10 Me he ihu leiwi la, ka moku, 

Kou mauna, kou palamoa : ^ 

Kau a waha mai Mauna-kea^ 

A me Mauna-loa,^ 

Ke ku a Maile-hah^i.^^ 
15 Uluna mai Mauna Kilohana * 

I ka poohiwi o Hu'e-hu'e.* 

^ AuwaM (a word not found in any dictionary) is said by a scholarly Hawaiian to be 
an archaic form of the word uwahi, or uahi (milk of fire), smoke, Kahiki-nui is a dry 
region and the wind (makani) often fills the air with dust. 

^ Kua lei ahi. No Hawaiian has been found who professes to know the true meaning of 
these words. The translation of them here given is, therefore, purely formal. 

*> Pa-u halakd. An expression sometimes applied to the hand when used as a shield 
to one's modesty; here it is said of the ocean (kai) when one's body is immersed In it. 

^ Hana-mal6. A cape that lies between Kawaihae and Kallua in north Kona. 

« Ewa lewd. In this reading the author has followed the authoritative suggestion of 
a Hawaiian expert, substituting it for that first given by another, which was elewa. The 
latter was without discoverable meaning. Even as now given conjectures as to its 
meaning are at variance. The one followed presents the less difficulty. 

f Palamoa. The name of a virulent kupua that acted as errand-carrier and agent for 
sorcerers (kahuna dnaand) ; also the name of a beautiful grass found on Hawaii that 
has a pretty red seed. Following the line of least resistance, the latter meaning has 
been adopted ; In It is found a generic expression for the leafy covering of the island. 

" Mauna-kea and Mauna-loa. The two well-known mountains of the big island of 
Hawaii. 

^ Maile-hahei. Said to be a hill in Kona. 

* Kilohana and Hu'e-hu'e. The names of two hills in Kona, Hawaii. 



BMBESON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 125 

[Translation] 
Song 

Kahiki-nul, land of wind-driven smoke! 

Mine eyes gaze with longing on Kona; 

A fire-wreath glows aback of the district. 

And a robe of wonderful green 
5 Lies the sea that has aproned my loins 

Off the point of Hana-mal6. 

A dark burnished form is Hawaii, 

To one who stands on the mount — 

A hamper swung down from heaven, 
10 A beautiful carven shape is the island — 

Thy mountains, thy splendor of herbage : 

Mauna-kea and Loa stand (in glory) apart, 

To him who looks from Maile-hah6i; 

And Kilohana pillows for rest 
15 On the shoulder of Hu'e-hu'e. 

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



XVIII.— AN INTERMISSION 

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

Pule Uoo-noa 

Lehua « Mude, 
Lehua i-lalo, 
A wawae, 
A Ka-ulua,* 
5 A o Haumea,*' 

Kou makua-kane,* 
Manu o Kafle ; ^ 
A-koa-koa, 
O Pe-k^u/ 
10 O P6-ka-nanfi,f' 

« Lehua. See plate xiii. 

^ Ka-ulua. The name of the third month of the Hawlian year, corresponding to late 
January or February, a time when in the latitude of Hawaii nature does not refrain from 
leafing and flowering. 

« Haumea. The name applied after her death and apotheosis to Papa, the wife of Wakea, 
and the ancestress of the Hawaiian race. (The Polynesian Race, A. Fornander, i, 205. 
London, 1878.) 

<* It is doubtful to whom the expression " makua-kane " refers, possibly to Wakea, the 
husband of Papa ; and if so, vel-y properly termed father, ancestor, of the people. 

« Manu Kade (Manu-o-Kade it might be written) is said to have been a goddess, 
one of the family of Pele, a sister of the sea nymth Moana-nui-ka-lehua, whose dominion 
was in the waters between Oahu and Kauai. She is said to have had the gift of elo- 
quence. 

f Pe-kdu refers to the ranks and classes of the gods. 

f P6-ka-nand refers to men, their ranks and classes. 

126 




CO 

LJ 

> 
< 



a 

z 
< 

CO 
QC 
UJ 

s 

o 



< 
I 

Q. 

o 

> 
-I 
o 

Q. 
CO 

o 

LJ 

9 

CO 

o 
cc 

I- 

UJ 



< 

D 

I 



BMEKsoN] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 127 

Papa pau. 

Pau a'e iluna; 

O Ku-mauna, 

A me Laka, 
15 A me Ku. 

Ku i ka wao, 

A me Hina, 

Hina mele-lani. 

A ua pau; 
20 Pau kakou; 

A ua noa; 

Noa ke kahua; 

Noa! 

[Translation] 
Power to Remove Tahu 

Bloom of lehua on altar piled, 

Bloom of lehua below, 

Bloom of lehua at altar's base, 

In the month Ka-ulua. 
5 Present here is Haumea, 

And the father of thee. 

And the goddess of eloquent speech; 

Gather, now gather, 

Ye ranks of gods, 
10 And ye ranks of men, 

Complete in array. 

The heavenly service is done. 

Service of Ku of the mount. 

Service of Laka, 
15 And the great god Ku, 

Ku of the wilds. 

And of Hina, 

Hina, the heavenly singer. 

Now it is done, 
20 Our work is done; 

The tabu is lifted. 

Free is the place. 

Tabu-free ! 

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



128 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Pule Hoo-noa no Laka 

Pupu we'u-we'u" e, L&ka e, 
O kona we'u-we'u e ku-wfi. ; ^ 
O Ku-ka-ohia-Laka,<^ e; 
Laua me Ku-pulu-pulu ; <* 
5 Ka Lehua me ke Koa lau-lii; 
O ka Lama me Mokii-halii, 
Kti-i-kti-i « me ka Hala-pepe; 
Lakou me Lau-ka-ie-ie, 
Ka Palaf me Maile-lau-lii. 
10 Noa, noa 1 kou kuahu; 
Noa, noa ia oe, Ld,ka; 
Pa-pS.-ltia noa ! 

[Translation] 

TahU'lifting Prayer (to Laka) 

Oh wildwood bouquet, O Mka ! 
Set her greenwood leaves in order due; 
• And Ku, god of Ohia-La-ka, 
He and Ku, the shaggy, 
5 Lehua with small-leafed Koa, 
And Lama and Moku-hali'i, 
Kti-i-kti-i and Haia-p^-p6; 
And with these leafy I-e-i-e, 
Fern and small-leafed Maile. 
10 Free, the altar is free ! 
Free through you, Laka, 
Doubly free! 

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

'^ Pupu we'u-w&u. A bouquet. The reference is to the wreaths and floral "decorations 
that bedecked the altar, and that were not only offerings to the goddess, but symbols 
of the diverse forms in which she manifested herself. At the conclusion of a perform- 
ance the players laid upon the altar the garlands they themselves had worn. These were 
in addition to those which were placed there before the play began. 

^ Ku-icd. It has cost much time and trouble to dig out the meaning of this word. 
The fundamental notion is that contained in its two parts, ku, to stand, and wa, an 
interval or space, the whole meaning to arrange or set in orderly intervals. 

^ La-kd. A Tahitian name for the tree which in Hawaii Is called lehua, or ohia. 
In verse 3 the Hawaiian name oMa and the Tahitian lakd (accented on the final 
syllable, thus distinguishing it from the name of the goddess Ldka, with which it has 
no discoverable connection) are combined in one form as an appellation of the god 
Ku — ku-ka-ohia-Lakd. This is a notable Instance of the survival of a word as a 
sacred epithet in a liturgy, which otherwise had been lost to the language. 

'^Ku-pulu-pulu. Ku, the fuzzy or shaggy, a deity much worshiped by canoe-makers, 
represented as having the figure of an old man with a long beard. In the sixth verse 
the full form of the god's name here given as Moku-ha-li'i would be Ku-moku-haliH, the 
last part being an epithet applied to Ku working in another capacity. Moku-haliH is the 
one who Ijedecks the island. His special emblem, as here implied, was the lama, a 
beautiful tree, whose wood was formerly used in making certain sacred inclosures. 
From this comes the proper name Palama, one of the districts of Honolulu. 

« Ku-i-kH-i. The same as the tree now called ku-ku-i, the tree whose nuts were used 
as candles and fiambeaus. The Samoan name of the same tree is tu-i-tu-i. 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 129 

Pule Hooku'u 

Ku ka makaia a ka huaka'i moe ipo ; <* 
Ku au, hele; 
Noho pe, aloha ! 

Aloha na hale o makou i makamaka-ole, 
5 Ke alanul hele mauka o Huli-wale,^ la; 
H-u-1-1. 

E hull a*e ana i ka makana, 
I ke alana ole e kanaenae aku ia oe. 
Eia ke kanaenae, o ka leo. 

[Translation] 

Dismissing Prayer 

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

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

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

The author has already hinted at the form and character of the 
entertainments with which hula-folk sometimes beguiled their pro- 
fessional interludes. Fortunately the author is able to illustrate by 
means of a song the very form of entertainment they provided for 
themselves on such an occasion. The following mele, cantillated with 
an accompaniment of expressive gesture, is one that was actually 
given at an awa-drinkingl)out indulged in by hiila-folk. The author 
has an account of its recital at Kahuku, island of Oahu, so late as 
the year 1849, during a circuit of that island made by King Kame- 

"A literal translation of the first line would be as follows: (Here) stands the doomed 
sacrifice for the Journey in search of a bed-lover. 

^ HuU-wale. To turn about, here used as the name of a place, is evidently intended 
figuratively to stand for mental indecision. 

" The braclieted phrase is not in the text of the original. 

25352— Bull. 38—09 ^9 



130 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

hameha III. This mele is reckoned as belonging to the ordinary 
repertory of the hula ; but to which particular form of the dance it 
was devoted has not been learned : 

Mele 

Ua ona o Kane i ka awa ; 

Ua kau ke k^ha « i ka uluna ; 

Ua hi'o-lani * i ka moena. 

Kipti mai la i ke kapa o ka noe. 
5 Noe-noe na hokti o ka lani — 

Imo-imo mai la i ka po a'e-a'e. 

Mahana-lua ^ na kukui a Lanikaula,** 

He kaula no Kane.^ 

Meha na pall o Wai-pi'o 
10 I ke kani man o Kiha-pti; 

A ono ole ka awa a ke alii 

I ke kani man o Kiha-pti; 

Moe ole kona po o ka Hooilo ; 

Uluhua, a uluhua, 
15 I ka mea nana e hull a loaa 

I kela kupua ino i ka pali, 

Olali la, a olali. 

[Translation] 
Song 

Kane is drunken with awa ; 

His head is laid on the pillow ; 

His body stretched on the mat. 

A trumpet sounds through the fog, 
5 Dimmed are the stars in the sky ; 

When the night is clear, how they twinkle ! 

Lani-kaula's torches look double. 

The torches that burn for Kane. 

Ghostly and drear the walls of Waipio 
10 At the endless blasts of Kiha-pti. 

The king's awa fails to console him ; 

'Tis the all-night couching of Kiha-pti. 

Broken his sleep the whole winter; 

Downcast and sad, sad and downcast, 
15 At loss to find a brave hunter 

Shall steal the damned conch from the cliff. 

Look, how it gleams [through the fog] ! 

<» K6ha is an elegant expression for the side of the head. 

^Hi'o-lani, literally to turn the side to heaven, is a classic expression of refinement. 

'^ Mahana-lua, literally to see double, was an accepted test of satisfactory drunkenness. 
It reminds the author of an expression he once heard used by the comedian Clarke in 
the play of Toodles. While in a maudlin state from liquor he spoke of- the lighted candle 
that was in his hand as a " double-barreled candle." 

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

« He kaula no Kane. A literal translation would be, a prophet of Kane. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN 38 PLATE XIV 










^^^r -i^fiii #^ 


jJ^HII 








'^'^'-^^^^'^^^^^^^^H^^^H 




IhSj 



HAWAIIAN TRUMPET, PU (CASSIS MADAGASCARENSIS) 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 131 

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

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

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

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

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

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



XIX.— THE HULA NIAU-KANI 

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

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

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

The author's informant saw the niau-kani dance performed some 
years ago at Moana-lua, near Honolulu, and again on the island of 
Kauai. The dance in each case was the same. The kumu, aided by 
a pupil, stood and played on the niau-kani, straining the cantilla- 
tions through the reed-protected aperture, while the olapa, girls, kept 
time to the music with the movements of their dancing. 
132 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAU 133 

Mele 

E pi'i ka wai ka nahele, 

U'ina, nakolo i na Molo-kama ; « 

Ka ua lele mawaho o Mamala-hoa. 

He manao no ko'u e ike 
5 I na pua ohi'a o Kupa-koili,^ 

I hoa kaunu no Manu'a-kepa ; o 

Ua like laua me Maha-moku. * 

Anapa i ke kai o Mono-lau.® 

Lalau ka lima a noa ia ia la, 
10 I hoa pill no Lani-huli. f 

E hull oe i ku'u makemake, 

A loa'a i Kau-ka-opua. i' 

Elua no pua kau 

A ka manao i makemake ai. 
15 Hoohihi oe a hihi 

I lei kohu no neia kino. 

Ahea oe hiki mai? 

A kau ka La i na pali ; * 

Ka hull a ka makani Wai-a-ma'o/ 
20 Makemake e iki ia ka Hala-mapu-ana, 

Ka wai halana i Wai-p&.^ 

[Translation] 
Song 

Up to the streams in the wildwood. 
Where rush the falls Molo-kama, 
While the rain sweeps past Mala-hoa, 
I had a passion to visit 
5 The forest of bloom at Koili, 

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

'^ Molokama (more often given as 2ia Molo-kama). The name applied to a succession of 
falls made by the stream far up in the mountains. The author has here used a versifier's 
privilege, compressing this long word into somewhat less refractory shape. 

" Kupa-koili. A grove of mountain-apples, ohia ai, that stand on the bank of the stream 
not far from the public road. 

" Manu'a-kepa. A sandy, grass-covered meadow on the opposite side of the river from 
Kupa-koili. 

^ Maha-moku. A sandy beach near the mouth of the river, on the same bank as Manu'a- 
kepa. 

« Mono-lau. That part of the bay into which the river flows, that is used as an 
anchorage for vessels. 

f Lani-huli. The side of the valley Kilauea of Wai-oli toward which the river makes a 
bend before it enters the ocean. 

" Kau-ka-opua. Originally a phrase meaning '* the cloud-omen hangs," has come to be 
used as the proper name of a place. It is an instance of a form of personification often 
employed by the Hawaiians, in which words having a specific meaning — such, for instance, 
as our " jack-in-the-box " — have come to be used as a noun for the sake of the meaning 
wrapped up in the etymology. This figure of speech is, no doubt, common to all lan- 
guages, markedly so in the Hawaiian. It may be further illustrated by the Hebrew 
name Ichabod — *' his glory has departed." 

*A kau ka La, i na pali. When stands the sun o'er the pali, evening or late in the 
afternoon. On this part of Kauai the sun sets behind the mountains. 

* Wai-a-ma'o. The land-breeze, which sometimes springs up at night. 

i Wai-pd. A spot on the bank of the stream where grew a pandanus tree, hala, styled 
Ka-hala-mapu-ana, the hala-breathing-out-its-fragrance. 



134 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

To give love-caress to Manu'a, 

And her neighbor Maha-moku, 

And see the waters flash at Mono-lau ; 

My hand would quiet their rage, 
10 Would sidle and touch Lani-huli. 

Grant me but this one entreaty, 

We'll meet 'neath the omens above. 

Two flowers there are that bloom 

In your garden of being; 
15 Entwine them into a garland, 

Fit emblem and crown of our love. 

And what the hour of your coming? 

When stands the Sun o'er the pali, 

When turns the breeze of the land, 
20 To breathe the perfume of hala, 

While the currents swirl at Wai-pfi.. 

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



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE XV 




WOMAN PLAYING ON THE NOSE-FLUTE (OHE-HANO-IHU) 



XX.— THE HULA OHE 

• 

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

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

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

Mele 
E pr i ka nahele, 
E ike ia Ka-wal-klni,o 
Nana ia Pihana-ka-lani,^ 

" Ka-wai-kini. The name of a rocky bluflf that stands on the side of Mount Wal-ale-ale, 
looking to Wallua. It Is said to divide the flow from the great morass, the natural 
reservoir formed by the hollow at the top of the mountain, turning a part of It In the 
direction of Wal-nlha, a valley not far from Hanalel, which otherwise would, it is said 
by llawallans, go to swell the stream that forms the Wailua river. This rock, in the 
old times, was regarded as a demigod, a kupua, and had a lover who resided in Wal-lua, 
also another who resided in the mountains. The words In the first two or three verses 
may be taken as If they were the utterance of this Wai-lua lover, saying "I will go up 
and see my sweetheart Ka-wal-kini." 

^ Pihana-ka-lani. Literally, the fullness of heaven. This was a forest largely of lehua 
that covered the mountain slope below Ka-wal-klnl. It seems as If the purpose of Its 
mention was to represent the beauties and charms of the human body. In this romantic 
region lived the famous mythological princes — alii kupua the Hawaiians called them — 

135 



136 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

I kela manu hulu ma'e-ma'e,® 
5 Noho pu me Ka-hale-lehua, 

Punahele ia Kaua-kahl-alli.^ 

E Kaili,^ e Kalli, e ! 

E Kaili, lau o ke Hoa, 

E Kaili, lau o ke koa, 
10 Moopuna a Hooipo-i-ka-Malanai,** 

Hiwa-hiwa a ka Lehua-wehe ! ^ 

Aia ka nani i Wai-ehu, 

I ka wai kaili puuwai o ka makemake. 

Makemake au i ke kalukalu o Kewfi,/ 
15 E he'e ana 1 ka nalu o Maka-iwa. 

He iwa-iwa oe na ke aloha, 

I Wai-lua nui hoano. 

Ano-ano ka hale, aohe kanaka, 

Ua la'i oe no ke one o Ali-6. 
20 Aia ka ipo i ka nahele. 

[Translation] 

Song 

Come up to the wildwood, come; 

Let us visit Wai-kini, 

And gaze on Pihana-ka-lani, 

named Kaua-kahi-alii and Aiwohi-kupua, with tbeir princess sister Ka-hale-lehua. The 
second name mentioned was the one who married the famous heroine of the romantic 
story of Laie-i-ka-wai. 

^ Manu hulu ma'ema'e. An allusion to the great number of plumage birds that were 
reputed to be found in this place. 

^ Puna-hele ia Kaua-kahi-alii. The birds of the region are said to have been on very 
intimate and friendly terms with Kaua-kahi-alii. (See note ft, p. 135.) 

« Kaili. The full form is said to be Ka-ili-lau-o-ke-koa — Skin-like-the-leaf-of-the-koa. In 
the text of the mele this name is analyzed into its parts and written as if the phrase 
at the end were an appellative and not an integral part of the name itself. This was a 
mythical character of unusual beauty, a person of superhuman power, kupua, a mistress 
of the art of surf-riding, which passion she indulged in the waters about Wai-lua. 

^ Hooipo-i-ka-Malanai. A mythical princess of Wailua, the grandmother of Kaili. This 
oft-quoted phrase, literally meaning to make love in the (gently-blowing) trade-wind, has 
become almost a stock expression, standing for romantic love, or love-making. 

• Lehua-wehe. The piece of ocean near the mouth of the Wailua river in which Kaili 
indulged her passion for surf-riding. 

f Kalu-kalu o Kewd. Kalu-kalu may mean a species of soft, smooth grass specially 
fitted for sliding upon, which flourished on the inclined plain of Kew&, Kauai. One 
would sit upon a mat, the butt end of a coconut leaf, or a sled, while another dragged 
it along. The Hawaiian name for this sport is pahe'e. Kalu-kalu is also the name ap- 
plied to "a very thin gauze-like kapa." (See Andrews's Hawaiian Dictionary.) If we 
suppose the poet to have clearly intended the first meaning, the figure does not tally with 
the following verse, the fifteenth. Verses 14 and 15 would thus be made to read : 

I desire the kalu-kalu (grass) of Kewft, 
That is riding the surf of Maka-iwa. 

This is an impossible figure and makes no sense. If, on the other hand, we take another 
version and conceive that the bard had in mind the gauze-like robe of kalu-kalu — ^using 
this, of course, as a figure for the person clad in such a robe — the rendering I have 
given, 

I pine for the sylph robed in gauze. 

Who rides the surf Maka-iwa, 

would not only make a possible, but a poetic, picture. Let the critical reader Judge 
which of these two versions hits closer to common sense and probability. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 137 

Its birds of plumage so fine; 
5 Be comrade to Hale-lehua, 

Soul-mate to Kau'kahi-alii. 

O, Kaill, Kaili ! 

Kaili, leaf of the koa, 

Graceful as leaf of the koa, 
10 Granddaughter of goddess, 

Whose name Is the breath of love. 

Darling of blooming Lehua. 

My lady rides with the gray foam. 

On the surge that enthralls the desire. 
15 I pine for the sylph robed in gauze, 

Who rides on the surf Maka-iwa — 

Aye, cynosure thou of all hearts, 

In all of sacred Wailua. 

Forlorn and soul-empty the house; 
20 You pleasure on the beach Ali-6; 

Your love is up here in the wildwood. 

This mele hoipoipo, love-song, like the one previously given, is 
from Kauai. The proper names that abound in it, whether of places, 
of persons, or of winds, seem to have been mostly of Kauaian origin, 
furnished by its topography, its myths and legends. They have, 
however, become the common property of the whole group through 
having been interwoven in the national songs that pass current from 
island to island. 



XXL— THE MUSIC AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF 
THE HAWAIIANS 

A bird is easier captured than the notes of a song. The mele and 
oli of Hawaii's olden time have been preserved for us ; but the music 
to which they were chanted, a less, perdurable essence, has mostly 
exhaled. In the sudden transition from the tabu system to the new 
order of things that came in with the death of Kamehameha in 1819, 
the old fashion of song soon found itself antiquated and outdistanced. 
Its survival, so far as it did survive, was rather as a memorial and 
remembrance of the past than as a register of the living emotions of 
the present. 

The new music, with its pa^ ko^ li — answering to our do, re, mi « — 
was soon in everybody's mouth. From the first it was evidently 
destined to enact a role different from that of the old cantillation ; 
none the less the musical ideas that came in with it, the air of freedom 
from tabu and priestcraft it breathed, and the diatonic scale, the 
highway along which it marched to conquest, soon produced a notice- 
able reaction in all the musical efforts of the people. This new seed, 
when it had become a vigorous plant, began to push aside the old 
indigenous stock, to cover it with new growths, and, incredible as 
it may seem, to inoculate it with its own pollen, thus producing a 
cross which to-day is accepted in certain quarters as the genuine 
article of Hawaiian song. Even now, the people of northwestern 
America are listening with demonstrative interest to songs which 
they suppose to be those of the old hula, but which in reality have no 
more connection with that institution than our negro minstrelsy has 
to do with the dark continent. 

The one regrettable fact, from a historical point of view, is that 
a record was not made of indigenous Hawaiian song before this 
process of substitution and adulteration had begun. It is no easy 
matter now to obtain the data for definite knowledge of the subject. 

While the central purpose of this chapter will be a study of the 
music native to old Hawaii, and especially of that produced in the 
halau, Hawaiian music of later times and of the present day can not 
be entirely neglected ; nor will it be without its value for the indirect 
light it will shed on ancient conditions and on racial characteristics. 
The reaction that has taken place in Hawaii within historic times in 

'The early American missionaries to Hawaii named the musical notes of the scale 
pa, fco, M, ha, nOj la, mi. 

138 



BMBRSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OP HAWAII 139 

response to the stimulus from abroad can not fail to be of interest 
in itself. 

There is a peculiarity of the Hawaiian speech which can not but 
have its effect in determining the lyric tone-quality of Hawaiian 
music; this is the predominance of vowel and labial sounds in the 
language. The phonics of Hawaiian speech, we must remember, 
lack the sounds represented by our alphabetic symbols &, c or «, d^ /, 
9'i h ?9 ^9 ^^d ^ — ^ poverty for which no richness in vowel sounds can 
make amends. The Hawaiian speech, therefore, does not call into full 
play the uppermost vocal cavities to modify and strengthen, or refine, 
the throat and mouth tones of the speaker and to give reach and em- 
phasis to his utterances. When he strove for dramatic and passional 
effect, he did not make his voice resound in the topmost cavities of the 
voice-trumpet, but left it to rumble and mutter low down in the 
throat-pipe, thus producing a feature that colors Hawaiian musical 
recitation. 

This feature, or mannerism, as it might be called, specially marks 
Hawaiian music of the bombastic bravura sort in modern times, im- 
parting to it in its strife for emphasis a sensual barbaric quality. It 
can be described further only as a gurgling throatiness, suggestive at 
times of ventriloquism, as if the singer were gloating over some wild 
physical sensation, glutting his appetite of savagery, the meaning 
of which is almost as foreign to us and as primitive as are the 
mewing of a cat, the gurgling of an infant, and the snarl of a mother- 
tiger. At the very opposite pole of development from this throat- 
talk of the Hawaiian must we reckon the highly-specialized tones 
of the French speech, in which we find the nasal cavities are called 
upon to do their full share in modifying the voice-sounds. 

The vocal execution of Hawaiian music, like the recitation of much 
of their poetiy, showed a surprising mastery of a certain kind of 
technique, the peculiarity of which was a sustained and continuous 
outpouring of the breath to the end of a certain period, when the 
lungs again drank their fill. This seems to have been an inheritance 
from the old religious style of prayer-recitation, which required the 
priest to repeat the whole incantation to its finish with the outpour 
of one lungful of breath. Satisfactory utterance of those old prayer- 
songs of the Aryans, the mantras^ was conditioned likewise on its 
being a one-breath performance. A logical analogy may be seen 
between all this and that unwritten law, or superstition, which made 
it imperative for the heroes and demigods, kupua^ of Hawaii's 
mythologic age to discontinue any unfinished work on the coming of 
daylight.® 

«The author can see no reason for supposing that this prolonged utterance had any- 
thing to do with that Hindoo practice belonging to the yoga, the exercise of which con- 
sists in regulating the breath. I 



140 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

When one listens for the first time to the musical utterance of a 
Hawaiian poem, it may seem only a monotonous onflow of sounds 
faintly punctuated by the primary rhythm that belongs to accent, but 
lacking those milestones of secondary rhythm which set a period to 
such broader divisions as distinguish rhetorical and musical phrasing. 
Further attention will correct this impression and show that the 
Hawaiians paid strict attention not only to the lesser rhythm which 
deals with the time and accent of the syllable, but also to that more 
comprehensive form which puts a limit to the verse. 

With the Hawaiians musical phrasing was arranged to fit the verse 
of the mele, not to express a musical idea. The cadencing of a 
musical phrase in Hawaiian song was marked by a peculiarity all its 
own. It consisted of a prolonged trilling or fluctuating movement 
called ^'^, in which the voice went up and down in a weaving manner, 
touching the main note that formed the framework of the melody, 
then springing away from it for some short interval — a half of a step, 
or even some shorter interval — like an electrified pith-ball, only to 
return and then spring away again and again until the impulse 
ceased. This was more extensively employed in the oli proper, the 
verses of which were longer drawn out, than in the mele such as 
formed the stock pieces of the hula. These latter were generally 
divided into shorter verses. 

Musical Instruments 

The musical instruments of the Hawaiians included many classes, 
and their study can not fail to furnish substantial data for any 
attempt to estimate the musical performances, attainments, and 
genius of the people. 

Of drums, or drum-like instruments of percussion, the Hawaiians 
had four: 

1. The pahu^ or pahu-hula (pi. x), was a section of hollowed log. 
Bread-fruit and coconut were the woods generally used for this pur- 
pose. The tough skin of the shark was the choice for the drumhead, 
which was held in place and kept tense by tightening cords of coconut 
fiber, that passed down the side of the cylinder. 

The workmanship of the pahu, though rude, was of tasteful design. 
So far as the author has studied them, each pahu was constructed with 
a diaphragm placed about two-thirds the distance from the head, 
obtained by leaving in place a cross section of the log, thus making a 
closed chamber of the drum-cavity proper, after the fashion of the 
kettledrum. The lower part of the drum also was hollowed out and 
carved, as will be seen in the illustration. In the carving of all the 
specimens examined the artists have shown a notable fondness for a 
fenestrated design representing a series of arches, after the fashion of 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 141 

a two-storied arcade, the haunch of the superimposed arch resting 
directly on the crown of that below. In one case the lower arcade 
was composed of Eoman, while the upper was of Gothic, arches. The 
grace of the design and the manner of its execution are highly pleas- 
ing, and suggest the inquiry. Whence came the opportunity for this 
intimate study of the arch ? 

The tone of the pahu was produced by striking its head with the 
finger-tips, or with the palm of the hand ; never with a stick, so far 
as the writer has been able to learn. Being both heavy and unwieldly, 
it was allowed to rest upon the ground, and, if used alone, was placed 
to the front of the operator; if sounded in connection with the in- 
strument next to be mentioned, it stood at his left side. 

The pahu, if not the most original, was the most important instru- 
ment used in connection with the hula. The drum, with its deep and 
solemn tones, is an instrument of recognized efficiency in its power 
to stir the heart to more vigorous pulsations, and in all ages it has 
been relied upon as a means of inspiring emotions of mystery, awe, 
terror, sublimity, or martial enthusiasm. 

Tradition of the most direct sort ascribes the introduction of the 
pahu to La'a — generally known as La'a-mai-Kahiki (La'a-from- 
Kahiki) — a prince who flourished about six centuries ago. He was of 
a volatile, adventurous disposition, a navigator of some renown, hav- 
ing made the long voyage between Hawaii and the archipelagoes in 
the southern Pacific — Kahiki — not less than twice in each direction. 
On his second arrival from the South he brought with him the big 
drum, the pahu, which he sounded as he skirted the coast quite out 
to sea, to the wonder and admiration of the natives on the land. La'a, 
being of an artistic temperament and an ardent patron of the hula, 
at once gave the divine art of Laka the benefit of ^his newly im- 
ported instrument. He traveled from place to place, instructing the 
teachers and inspiring them with new ideals. It was he also who 
introduced into the hula the kaekeeke as an instrument of music. 

2. The pu-niu (pi. xvi) was a small drum made from the shell of 
a coconut. The top part, that containing the eyes, was removed, 
and the shell having been smoothed and polished, the opening was 
tightly covered with the skin of some scaleless fish — that of the 
kola ( Acanthurus unicornis) was preferred. A venerable kumu-hula 
states that it was his practice to use only the skin taken from the 
right side of the fish, because he found that it produced a finer quality 
of sound than that of the other side. The Hawaiian mind was very 
insistent on little matters of this sort — ^the mint, anise, and cummin 
of their system. The drumhead was stretched and placed in* position 
while moist and flexible, and was then made fast to a ring-shaped 
cushion — poaha — of fiber or tapa that hugged the base of the shell. 



142 BUBEAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

The Hawaiians sometimes made use of the clear gum of the kukui 
tree to aid in fixing the drumhead in place. 

When in use the pu-niu was lashed to the right thigh for the con- 
venience of the performer, who played upon it with a thong of 
braided fibers held in his right hand (fig. 2), his left thus being free 
to manipulate the big drum that stood on the other side. 

Of three pu-niu in the author's collection, one, when struck, gives 
off the sound of c below the staff; another that of c# below the 
staff, and a third that of S# in the staff. 

While the grand vibrations of the pahu filled the air with their 
solemn tremor, the lighter and sharper tones of the pu-niu gave a 
piquancy to the effect, adding a feature which may be likened to the 
sparkling ripples which the breeze carves in the ocean's swell. 

3. The ipu or ipu-hula (pi. vii), though not strictly a drum, was a 
drumlike instrument. It was made by joining closely together two 
pear-shaped gourds of large size in such fashion as to make a body 
shaped like a figure 8. An opening was made in the upper end of 




Fig. 2. — Ka, drumstick for pu-niu. (PI. xvi.) 

the smaller gourd to give exit to the sound. The cavities of the two 
gourds were thrown into one, thus making a single column of air, 
which, in vibration, gave off a note of clear bass pitch. An ipu of 
large size in the author's collection emits the tone of c in the bass. 
Though of large volume, the tone is of low intensity and has small 
carrying power. 

For ease in handling, the ipu is provided about its waist with a 
loop of cord or tapa, by which device the performer was enabled to 
manipulate this bulky instrument with one hand. The instrument 
was sounded by dropping or striking it with well-adjusted force 
against the padded earth-floor of the Hawaiian house. 

The manner and style of performing on the ipu varied with the 
sentiment of the mele, a light and caressing action when the feeling 
was sentimental or pathetic, wild and emphatic when the subject was 
such as to stir the feelings with enthusiasm and passion. 

Musicians inform us that the drum — exception is made in the case 
of the snare and the kettle drum — is an instrument in which the pitch 
is a matter of comparative indifference, its function being to mark 
the time and emphasize the rhythm. There are other elements, it 




D 
CC 

a 



3 

Z 

I 



EMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 143 

would seem, that must be taken into the account in estimating the value 
of the drum. Attention may be directed first to its tone-character, 
the quality of its note which touches the heart in its own peculiar 
way, moving it to enthusiasm or bringing it within the easy reach 
of awe, fear, and courage. Again, while, except in the orchestra, 
the drum and other instruments of percussion may require no exact 
pitch, still this does not necessarily determine their effectiveness. 
The very depth and gravity of its pitch, made pervasive by its wealth 
of overtones, give to this primitive instrument a weird hold on the 
emotions. 

This combination of qualities we find well illustrated in the pahu 
and the ipu, the tones of which range in the lower registers of the 
human voice. The tone-character of the pu-niu, on the other hand, 
is more subdued, yet lively and cheerful, by reason in part of the 
very sharpness of its pitch, and thus affords an agreeable offset to 
the solemnity of the other two. 

Ethnologically the pahu is of more world-wide interest than any 
other member of its class, being one of many varieties of the kettle- 
drum that are to be found scattered among the tribes of the Pacific, 
all of them, perhaps, harking back to Asiatic forbears, such as the 
tom-tom of the Hindus. 

The sound of the pahu carries one back in imagination to the 
dread sacrificial drum of the Aztec teocallis and the wild kettles of 
the Tartar hordes. The drum has cruel and bloody associations. 
When listening to its tones one can hardly put away a thought of 
the many times they have been used to drown the screams of some 
agonized creature. 

For more purely local interest, inventive originality, and sim- 
plicity, the round-bellied ipu takes the palm, a contrivance of strictly 
Hawaiian, or at least Polynesian, ingenuity. It is an instrument of 
fascinating interest, and when its crisp rind puts forth its volume 
of sound one finds his imagination winging itself back to the mys- 
terious caverns of Hawaiian mythology. 

The gourd, of which the ipu is made, is a clean vegetable product 
of the fields and the garden, the gift of Lono-wahine — ^unrecognized 
daughter of mother Ceres — and is free from all cruel alliances. No 
bleating lamb was sacrificed to furnish parchment for its drumhead. 
Its associations are as innocent as the pipes of Pan. 

4. The ha-eke-eke^ though not drumlike in form, must be classed 
as an instrument of percussion from the manner of eliciting its note. 
It was a simple joint of bamboo, open at one end, the other end 
being left closed with the diaphragm provided by nature. The tone 
is produced by striking the closed end of the cylinder, while held in 
a vertical position, with a sharp blow against some solid, nonresonant 
body, such as the matted earth floor of the old Hawaiian house. In 



144 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

the author's experiments with the kaekeeke an excellent substitute 
was found in a bag filled with sand or earth. 

In choosing bamboo for the kaekeeke it is best to use a variety 
which is thin-walled and long-jointed, like the indigenous Hawaiian 
varieties, in preference to such as come from the Orient, all of which 
are thick- walled and short- jointed, and therefore less resonant than 
the Hawaiian. 

The performer held a joint in each hand, the two being of different 
sizes and lengths, thus producing tones of diverse pitch. By making 
a proper selection of joints it would be possible to obtain a set capa- 
ble of producing a perfect musical scale. The tone of the kaekeeke 
is of the utmost purity and lacks only sustained force and carrying 
power to be capable of the best effects. 

An old Hawaiian once informed the writer that about the year 
1850, in the reign of Kamehameha III, he was present at a hula 
kaekeeke given in the royal palace in Honolulu. The instrumen- 
talists numbered six, each one of whom held, two bamboo joints. 
The old man became enthusiastic as he described the effect produced 
by their performance, declaring it to have been the most charming 
hula he ever witnessed. 

5. The uli'uli (pi. xi) consisted of a small gourd of the size of one's 
two fists, into which were introduced shotlike seeds, such as those of 
the canna. In character it was a rattle, a noise-instrument pure and 
simple, but of a tone by no means disagreeable to the ear, even as 
the note produced by a woodpecker drumming on a log is not without 
its pleasurable effect on the imagination. 

The illustration of the uliuli faithfully pictured by the artist 
reproduces a specimen that retains the original simplicity of the 
instrument before the meretricious taste of modem times tricked 
it out with silks and feathers. (For a further description of this 
instrument, see p. 107.) 

6. The pu'ili was also a variety of the rattle, made by splitting a 
long joint of bamboo for half its length into slivers, every alternate 
sliver being removed to give the remaining ones greater freedom and 
to make their play the one upon the other more lively. The tone is a 
murmurous breezy rustle that resembles the notes of twigs, leaves, 
or reeds struck against one another by the wind — not at all an un- 
worthy imitation of nature-tones familiar to the Hawaiian ear. 

The performers sat in two rows facing each other, a position that 
favored mutual action, in which each row of actors struck their in- 
struments against those of the other side, or tossed them back and 
forth. (For further account of the manner in which the puili was 
used in the hula of the same name, see p. 113.) 

7. The laau was one of the noise-instruments used in the hula. It 
consisted of two sticks of hard resonant wood, the smaller of which 



BMEBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 145 

was struck against the larger, producing a clear xylophonic note. 
While the pitch of this instrument is capable of exact determination, 
it does not seem that there was any attempt made at adjustment. A 
laau in the author's collection, when struck, emits tones the predomi- 
nant one of which is d (below the staff). 

8. The ohe^ or ohe-hano-ihu (fig. 3), is an instrument of undoubted 
antiquity. In every instance that has come under the author's 
observation the material has been, as its lifimQ—ohe — signifies, a 
simple joint of bamboo, with an embouchure placed about half an 
inch from the closed end, thus enabling the player to supply the in- 
strument with air from his right nostril. In every nose-flute ex- 
amined there have been two holes, one 2 or 3 inches away from the 
embouchure, the older about a third of the distance from the open 
end of the flute. . 

The musician with his left hand holds the end of the pipe squarely 
against his lip, so that the right nostril slightly overlaps the edge of 
the embouchure. The breath is projected into the embouchure with 
modulated force. A nose-flute in the author's collection with the 
lower hole open produces the sound of f # ; with both holes unstopped 




Fig. 3. — Ohe-hano-ihu, nose-flute. 

it emits the sound S; and when both holes are stopped it produces 
the sound of ^, a series of notes which are the tonic, mediant, and 
dominant of the chord of F# minor. 

An ohe played by an old Hawaiian named Keaonaloa, an inmate 
of the Lunalilo Home, when both holes were stopped sounded f ; with 
the lower^hole open it sounded S, and when both holes were open it 
sounded C. 

The music made by Keaonaloa with his ohe was curious, but not 
soul-filling. We must i)ear in mind, however, that it was intended 
only as an accompaniment to a poetical recitation. 

Some fifty or sixty years ago it was not uncommon to see bamboo 
flutes of native manufacture in the hands of Hawaiian musicians of 
the younger generation. These instruments were avowedly imitations 
of the D-flute imported from abroad. The idea of using bamboo for 
this purpose must have been suggested by its previous use in the 
nose-flute. 

" The tonal capacity of the Hawaiian nose-flute," says Miss Jennie 
Eisner, " which has nothing harsh and strident about it, embraces 
five tones, f and § in the middle register, and f, g, and i an 
25352— Bun. 38—09 10* 



146 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 38 



octave above. These flutes are not always pitched to the same key, 
varying half a tone or so." On inquiring of the native who kindly 
furnished the following illustrations, he stated that he had bored 
the holes of his ohe without much measurement, trusting to his intu- 
itions and judgment. 

I — Range of the Nose-flute 



m 



The player began with a slow, strongly accented, rhythmical movement, 
which continued to grow more and more intricate. Rhythmical diminution 
continued in a most astounding manner until a frenzied climax was reached; 
in other words, until the player's breath-capacity was exhausted. 

A peculiar effect, as of several instruments being used at the same time, 
was produced by the two lower tonefs being thrown in in wild profusion, often 
apparently simultaneously with one of the upper tones. As the tempo in any 
one of these increased, the rhythm was lost sight of and a peculiar syncopated 
effect resulted.** 

II — Music from the Nose-flute 



L : 



Arranged by Jennie Elsneb 



■i — — i . L. , I — hr=- I J i ^1 — t—Vt^ -i — I — K-irl — — t-r-=- -• — I I — ! I ' 




:^'*f- etc. 



^TS n> 




III. 



|^l^t^gi!££g ... 



9. The pu-d was a whistle-like instrument. It was made from a 
gourd of the size of a lemon, and was pierced with three holes, or 
sometimes only two, one for the nose, by which it was blown, while 

"The writer is indebted to Miss Eisner not only for the above comments but for the 
following score which she has cleverly arranged as a sample of nose-flute music pro- 
duced by Keaonaloa. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 147 

the others were controlled by the fingers. This instrument has been 
compared to the Italian ocarina. 

10. The ili-ili was a noise-instrument pure and simple. It con- 
sisted of two pebbles that were held in the hand and smitten together, 
after the manner of castanets, in time to the music of the voices: (See 
p. 120.) 

11. The niau-kani-^singing splinter — ^was a reed-instrument of a 
rude sort, made by holding a reed of thin bamboo against a slit cut 
out in a larger piece of bamboo. This was applied to the mouth, 
and the voice being projected against it produced an effect similar to 
that of the Jew's harp. (See p. 132.) 

12. Even still more extemporaneous and rustic than any of these 
is a modest contrivance called by the Hawaiians pu-la-i. It is nothing 
more than a ribbon torn from the green leaf of the ti plant, say three- 
quarters of an inch to an inch in width by 5 or 6 inches long, and 
rolled up somewhat after the manner of a lamplighter, so as to form 
a squat cylinder an inch or more in length. This was compressed 
to flatten it. Placed between the lips and blown into with proper 
force, it emits a tone of pure reedlike quality, that varies in pitch, 
according to the size of the whistle, from G in the middle register to 
a shrill piping note more than an octave above. 

The hula girl who showed this simple device offered it in answer 
to reiterated inquiries as to what other instruments, besides those of 
more formal make already described, the Hawaiians were wont to 
use in connection with their informal rustic dances. " This," said 
she, " was sometimes used as an accompaniment to such informal dan- 
cing as was indulged in outside the halau." This little rustic pipe, 
quickly improvised from the leaf that every Hawaiian garden 
supplies, would at once convert any skeptic to a belief in the pipes of 
god Pan. 

13. The ukeke^ the one Hawaiian instrument of its class, is a mere 
strip of wood bent into the shape of a bow that its elastic force may 
keep tense the strings that are stretched upon it. These strings, three 
in number, were originally of sinnet, later after the arrival of the 
white man, of horsehair. At the present time it is the fashion to Use 
the ordinary gut designed for the violin or the taro-patch guitar. 
Every ukeke seen followed closely a conventional pattern, which ar- 
gues for the instrument a historic age sufficient to have gathered about 
itself some degree of traditional reverence. One end of the stick is 
notched or provided with holes to hold the strings, while the other end 
is wrought into a conventional figure resembling the tail of a fish and 
serves as an attachment about which to wind the free ends of the 
strings. 

No ukeke seen by the author was furnished with pins, pegs, or any 
similar device to facilitate tuning. Nevertheless, the musician does 



148 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

tune his ukeke, as the wrker can testify from his own observation. 
This Hawaiian musician was the one whose performances on the 
nose-flute are elsewhere spoken of. When asked to give a sample of 
his playing on the ukeke, he first gave heed to his instrument as if 
testing whether it was in tune. He was evidently dissatisfied and 
pulled at one string as if to loosen it ; then, pressing one end of the 
bow against his lips, he talked to it in a singing tone, at the same 
time plucking the strings with a delicate rib of grass. The effect was 
most pleasing. The open cavity of the mouth, acting as a resonator, 
reen forced the sounds and gave them a volume and dignity that was 
a revelation. The lifeless strings allied themselves to a himian voice 
and became animated by a living souL 

With the assistance of a musical friend it was found that the old 
Hawaiian tuned his strings with approximate correctness to the tonic, 
the third and the fifth. We may surmise that this self -trained musi- 
cian had instinctively followed the principle or rule proposed by 
Aristoxenus, who directed a singer to sing his most convenient note, 
and then, taking this as a starting point, to tune the remainder of his 
strings — ^the Greek kithara, no doubt — in the usual manner from 
this one. 

While the ukeke was used to accompany the mele and the oli, its 
chief employment was in serenading and serving the young folk in 
breathing their extemporized- songs and uttering their love-talk — 
hoipoipo. By using a peculiar lingo or secret talk of their own in- 
vention, two lovers could hold private conversation in public and 
pour their loves and longings into each other's ears without fear of 
detection — a thing most reprehensible in savages. This display of 
ingenuity has been the occasion for outpouring many vials of wrath 
upon the sinful ukeke. 

Experiment with the ukeke impresses one with the wonderful 
change in the tone of the instrument that takes place when its lifeless 
strings are brought into close relation with the cavity of the mouth. 
Let anyone having normal organs of speech contract his lips into the 
shape of an O, mal^e his cheeks tense, and then, with the pulp of his 
finger as a plectrum, slap the center of his cheek and mark the tone 
that is produced. Practice will soon enable him to render a full 
octave w4th fair accuracy and to perform a simple melody that shall 
be recognizable at a short distance. The power and range thus ac- 
quired will, of course, be limited by the skill of the operator. One 
secret of the performance lies in a proper management of the tongue. 
This function of the mouth to serve as a resonant cavity for a musical 
instrument is familiarly illustrated in the jew's-harp. 



EMERSON] 



UNWEITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 



149 



The author is again indebted to Miss Eisner for the following com- 
ments on the ukeke : 

The strings of this ukeli^, the Hawaiian fiddle, are tuned to e, to b and to 3. 
These three strings are struclc nearly simultaneously, but the sound being very 
feeble, it is only the first which, receiving the sharp impact of the blow, gives 
out enough volume to make a decided impression. 

Ill — The Ukeke (as played by Keaonaloa) 

Arranged by Jennie Elsner 




The early visitors to these islands, as a rule, either held the music 
of the savages in contempt or they were unqualified to report on its 
character and to make record of it. 

We know that in ancient times the voices of the men as well as of 
the women were heard at the same time in the songs of the hula. One 
of the first questions that naturally arises is, Did the men and the 
women sing in parts or merely in unison? 

It is highly gratifying to find clear historical testimony on this 
point from a competent authority. The quotation that follows is 
from the pen of Capt. James King, who was with Capt. James Cook 
on the latter's last voyage, in which he discovered the Hawaiian 
islands (January 18, 1778). The words were evidently penned after 
the death of Captain Cook, when the writer of them, it is inferred, 
must have succeeded to the command of the expedition. The fact 
that Captain King weighs his words, as evidenced in the footnote, 
and that he appreciates the bearing and significance of his testimony, 
added to the fact that he was a man of distinguished learning, gives 
unusual weight to his statements. The subject is one of so great in- 
terest and importance, that the whole passage is here quoted.* It 
adds not a little to its value that the writer thereof did not confine 
his remarks to the music, but enters into a general description of the 
hula. The only regret is that he did not go still further into details. 

Their dances liave a much nearer resemblance to those of the New Zealanders 
than of the Otaheitians or Friendly Islanders. They are prefaced with a 
slow, solemn song, in which all the party join, moving their legs, and gently 
striliing their breasts in a manner and with attitudes that are perfectly easy 
and graceful; and so far they are the same with the dances of the Society 
Islands. When this has lasted about ten minutes, both the tune and the motions 
gradually quicken, and end only by their inability to support the fatigue, which 

« Italics used are those of the present author. 



150 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

part of the performance is the exact counterpart of that of the New Zealanders ; 
and (as it is among them) the person who uses the most violent action and 
holds out the longest is applauded as the best dancer. It is to be observed that 
in this dance the women only took part and that the dancing of the men is nearly 
of the same kind with what we saw at the Friendly Islands ; and which may, 
■ perhaps, with more propriety, be called the accompaniment of the songs, with 
corresponding and graceful motions of the whole body. Yet as we were specta- 
tors of boxing exhibitions of the same kind with those we were entertained with 
at the Friendly Islands, it is probable that they had likewise their grand cere- 
monious dances, in which numbers of both sexes assisted. 

Their music is also of a ruder kind, having neither flutes nor reeds, nor instru- 
ments of any other sort, that we saw, except drums of various sizes. But 
their songs, which they sing in parts, and accompany with a gentle motion of 
the arms, in the same manner as the Friendly Islanders, had a very pleasing 
effect. 

To the above Captain King adds this footnote : 

As this circumstance of their singing in parts has been much doubted by per- 
sons eminently skilled in music, and would be exceedingly curious if it was 
clearly ascertained, it is to be lamented that it can not be more positively au- 
thenticated. 

Captain Burney and Captain Phillips of the Marines, who have both a toler- 
able knowledge of music, have given it as their opinion they did sing in parts ; 
that is to say, that they sang together in different notes, which formed a pleasing 
harmony. 

These gentlemen have fully testified that the Friendly Islanders undoubtedly 
studied their performances before they were exhibited in public ; that they had 
an idea of different notes being useful in harmony ; and also that they rehearsed 
their compositions in private and threw out the inferior voices before they 
ventured to appear before those who were supposed to be judges of their skill 
in music. 

In their regular concerts each man had a bamboo <* which was of a different 
length and gave a different tone. These they beat against the ground, and each 
performer, assisted by the note given by this instrument, repeated the same 
note, accompanying it with words, by which means it was rendered sometimes 
short and sometimes long. In this manner they sang in chorus, and not only 
produced octaves to each other, according to their species of voice, but fell on 
concords such as were not disagreeable to the ear. 

Now, to overturn this fact, by the reasoning of persons who did not hear 
these performances, is rather an arduous task. And yet there is great improba- 
bility that any uncivilized people should by accident arrive at this perfection 
in the art of music, which we imagine can only be attained by dint of study 
and knowledge of the system and the theory on which musical composition is 
founded. Such miserable jargon as our country psalm-singers practice, which 
may be justly deemed the lowest class of counterpoint, or singing in several 
parts, can not be acquired in the coarse manner in which it is performed in 
the churches without considerable time and practice. It is, therefore, scarcely 
credible that a people, semibarbarous, should naturally arrive at any perfec- 
tion in that art which it is much doubted whether the Greeks and Romans, with 
all their refinements in music, ever attained, and which the Chinese, who have 
been longer civilized than any people on the globe, have not yet found out. 

« These bamboos were, no doubt, the same as the kaSke^ke, elsewhere described. (See 
p. 122.) 



EMKBSON] UNWEITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 151 

If Captain Bumey (who, by tlie testimony of liis father, perhaps the greatest 
musical theorist of this or any other age, was able to have done it) has written 
down in European notes the concords that these people sung, and if these con- 
cords had been such as European ears could tolerate, there would have been 
no longer doubt of the fact; but, as it is, it would, in my opinion, be a rash 
judgment to venture to afllrm that they did or did not understand counterpoint ; 
and therefore I fear that this curious matter must be considered as still remain- 
ing undecided. (A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, undertaken by the command of 
His Majesty, for making discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. Performed 
under the direction of Captains Cook, Clerke, and Gore, in His Majesty's ships 
the Resolution and Discovery, in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, and 1780, 3 volumes, 
London, 1784, iii, 2d ed., 142, 143, 144.) 

While we can not but regret that Captain King did not go into de- 
tail and inform us specifically what were the concords those old-time 
people " fell on," whether their songs were in the major or minor key, 
and many other points of information, he has, nevertheless, put 
science under obligations to him by his clear and unmistakable testi- 
mony to the fact that they did arrange their music in parts. His 
testimony is decisive : " In this manner they sang in chorus, and not 
only produced octaves to each other, according to their species of 
voice, but fell on concords such as were not disagreeable to the ear." 
Wlien the learned doctor argues that to overturn this fact would be 
an arduous task, we have to agree with him — an arduous task indeed. 
He well knew that one proven fact can overthrow a thousand improb- 
abilities. " What man has done man can do " is a true saying; but it 
does not thence follow that what man has not done man can not do. 

If the contention were that the Hawaiians understood counter- 
point as a science and a theory, the author would unhesitatingly ad- 
mit the improbability with a readiness akin to that with which he 
would admit the improbability that the wild Australian understood 
the theory of the boomerang. But that a musical people, accustomed 
to pitch their voices to the clear and unmistakable notes of bamboo 
pipes cut to various lengths, a people whose posterity one generation 
later appropriated the diatonic scale as their own with the greatest 
avidity and readiness, that this people should recognize the natural 
harmonies of sound, when they had chanced upon them, and should 
imitate them in their songs — ^the improbability of this the author 
fails to see. 

The clear and explicit statement of Captain King leaves little to 
be desired so far as this sort of evidence can go. There are, how- 
ever, other lines of inquiry that must be developed : 

1. The testimony of the Hawaiians themselves on this matter. 
This is vague. No one of whom inquiry has been made is able to 
affirm positively the existence of part-singing in the olden times. 
Most of those with whom the writer has talked are inclined to the 
view that the ancient cantillation was not in any sense part-singing 
as now practised. One must not, however, rely too much on such 



152 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

testimony as this, which at the best is only negative. In many cases 
it is evident the witnesses do not understand the true meaning and 
bearing of the question. The Hawaiians have no word or expression 
synonymous with our expression " musical chord." In all inquiries 
the writer has found it necessary to use periphrasis or to appeal to 
some illustration. The fact must be borne in mind, however, that 
people often do a thing, or possess a thing, for which they have no 
name. 

2. As to the practice among Hawaiians at the present time, no sat- 
isfactory proof has been found of the existence of any case in which 
in the cantillations of their own songs the Hawaiians — ^those unin- 
fluenced by foreign music — have given an illustration of what can 
properly be termed part-singing; nor can anyone be found who can 
testify affirmatively to the same effect. Search for it has thus far 
been as fruitless as pursuit of the will-o'-the-wisp. 

3. The light that is thrown on this question by the study of the 
old Hawaiian musical instruments is singularly inconclusive. If it 
were possible, for instance, to bring together a complete set of 
kaekeeke bamboos which were positively known to have been used 
together at one performance, the argument from the fact of their 
forming a musical harmony, if such were found to be the case — or, 
on the other hand, of their producing only a haphazard series of un- 
related sounds, if such were the fact — ^would bring to the decision 
of the question the overwhelming force of indirect evidence. But 
such an assortment the author has not been able to find. Bamboo is 
a frail and perishable material. Of the two specimens of kaekeeke 
tubes found by him in the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum one was 
cracked and voiceless ; and so the testimony of its surviving partner 
was of no avail. 

The Hawaiians of the present day are so keenly alive to musical 
harmony that it is hardly conceivable that their ancestors two or 
three generations ago perpetrated discords in their music. They 
must either have sung in unison or hit on "concords such as were not 
disagreeable to the ear." If the music heard in the halau to-day in 
any close degree resembles that of ancient times — ^it must be assumed 
that it does — no male voice of ordinary range need have found any 
difficulty in sounding the notes, nor do they scale so low that a female 
voice would not easily reach them. 

Granting, then, as we must, the accuracy of Captain King's state- 
ment, the conclusion to which the author of this paper feels forced 
is that since the time of the learned doctor's visit to these shores, 
more than one hundred and twenty-eight years ago, the art and 
practice of singing or cantillating after the old fashion has declined 
among the Hawaiians. The hula of the old times, in spite of all the 
efforts to maintain it, is becoming more and more difficult of procure- 



EMERSON] 



UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 



153 



ment every day. Almost none of the singing that one hears at the 
so-called hula performances gotten up for the delectation of sight- 
seers is Hawaiian music of the old sort. It belongs rather to the sec- 
ond or third rattoon-crop, which has sprung up under the influence 
of foreign stimuli. Take the pui)lished hula songs, such as ^^Tomi- 
tomi^'^ " Wahine Poufou^'' and a dozen others that might be men- 
tioned, to say nothing about the words — ^the music is no more related 
to the genuine Hawaiian article of the old times than is " ragtime " 
to a Gregorian chant. 

The bare score of a hula song, stripped of all embellishments and 
reduced by the logic of our musical science to the merest skeleton of 
notesj certainly makes a poor showing and gives but a feeble notion of 
the song itself — its rhythm, its multitudinous grace-notes, its weird 
tone-color. The notes given below offer such a skeletal presentation 
of a song which the author heard cantillated by a skilled hula-master. 
They were taken down at the author's request by Capt. H. Berger, 
conductor of the Royal Hawaiian Band : 

IV — Song from the Hula Pa'i-umauma 

Arranged by H. Berger 



i 



n^ 



%- 



The same comment may be made on the specimen next to be given 
as on the previous one: there is an entire omission of the trills and 
flourishes with which the singer garlanded his scaffolding of song, 
and which testified of his adhesion to the fashion of his ancestors, 
the fashion according to which songs have been sung, prayers recited, 
brave deeds celebrated since the time when Kane and Pele and the 
other gods dipped paddle for the first time into Hawaiian waters. 
Unfortunately, in this as in the previous piece and as in the one next 
to be given, the singer escaped the author before he was able to catch 
the words. 

V — Song from the Hula Pa-ipu 

Arranged by H. Berger 
AlUgrp — Al-ha! a 




154 



BUKEAU OF AMEKICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 38 



Here, again, is a piece of song that to the author's ear bears much 
the same resemblance to the original that an oiled ocean in calm 
would bear to the same ocean when stirred by a breeze. The fine 
dimples, which gave the ocean its diamond-flash have been wiped out. 



i 



i-5 



Presto — Ko^ i-honua 



VI — Song for the Hula Pele 

Arranged by H. Beroeb 



^^ 



::t 






9 



m 



-#-T- 



I 



m 



tw^ 



Is it our ear that is at fault ? Is it not rather our science of musical 
notation, in not reproducing the fractions of steps, the enharmonics 
that are native to the note-carving ear of the Chinaman, and that 
are perhaps essential to the perfect scoring of an oli or mele as sung 
by a Hawaiian? 

None of the illustrations thus far given have caught that fluctu- 
ating trilling movement of the voice which most musicians inter- 
viewed on the subject declare to be impossible of representation, while 
some flout the assertion that it represents a change of pitch. One is 
reminded by this of a remark made by Pietro Mascagni : « 

The feeUng that a people displays in its character, its habits, its nature, 
and thus creates an overprivileged type of music, may be apprehended by a 
foreign spirit which has become accustomed to the usages and expressions 
common from that particular people. But popular music, [beingl void of any 
scientific basis, will always remain incomprehensible to the foreigner who seeks 
to study it technically. 

When we consider that the Chinese find pleasure in musical per- 
formances on instruments that divide the scale into intervals less 
than half a step, and that the Arabian musical scale included quarter- 
steps, we shall be obliged to admit that this statement of Mascagni 
is not merely a fling at our musical science. 

Here are introduced the words and notes of a musical recitation 
done after the manner of the hula by a Hawaiian professional and 
his wife. Acquaintance with the Hawaiian language and a feeling 
for the allusions connoted in the text of the song would, of course, 
be a great aid in enabling one to enter into the spirit of the per- 
formance. As these adjuncts will be available to only a very few 



« The Evolution of Music from the Italian Standpoint, in the Century Library o| Muslc» 
XVI, 521. 



EMERSON] TJNWKITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 156 

of those who will read these words, in the beginning are given the 
words of the oli with which he prefaced the song, with a translation 
of the same, and then the mele which formed the bulk of the song, 
also with a translation, together with such notes and comments as 
are necessary to bring one into intellectual and sympathetic relation 
with the performance, so far as that is possible under the circum- 
stances. It is especially necessary to familiarize the imagination 
with the language, meaning, and atmosphere of a mele, because the 
Hawaiian approached song from the side of the poet and elocution- 
ist. Further discussion of this point must, however, be deferred to 
another division of the subject : 

He Oli 

Halau<» Hanalei i ka nlnl a ka ua; 
Kumano* ke po'o-wai a ka liko;'' 
NaM ka opi-wai ^ a Wai-aloha ; 
O* ke kahi koe a liiki i Wai-oU.« 
Ua ike 'a. 

[Translation] 

4- Song 

Hanalei is a hall for the dance in the pouring rain ; 
The stream-head is turned from its bed of fresh green; 
Broken the dam that pent the water of love — 
Naught now to hinder its rush to the vale of delight. 
You've seen it. 

The mele to which the above oli was a prelude is as follows : 

Mele 

Noluna ka hale kai, e ka ma'a-lewa, 
Nana ka maka ia Moana-nui-ka-Lehtia. 
Noi au i ke kai e mali'o. 
Ane ku a'e la he lehtia ilaila — 
5 Hopoe Lehtia ki'eki'e. 

Maka'u ka Lehtia i ke kanA^ka, 
Lilo ilalo e hele ai, ilalo, e. 
Keaau iliili nehe; olelo ke kai o Puna 
I ka ulu hala la, e, kaiko'o Puna. 
10 la hoone'ene'e ia pili mai kaua, 

* Halau. The rainy valley of Hanalei, on Kauai, is here compared to a halau, a 
dance-hall, apparently because the rain-columns seem to draw together and Inclose the 
valley within walls, while the dark foreshortened vault of heaven covers it as with a roof. 

^ Kumano. A water-source, or, as here, perhaps, a sort of dam or loose stone wall 
that was run out Into a stream for the purpose of diverting a portion of it into a new 
channel. 

« Liko. A bud ; fresh verdure ; a word much used in modern Hawaiian poetry. 

^ Opiwai. A watershed. In Hawaii a knife-edged ridge as narrow as the back of a 
horse will often decide the course of a stream, turning its direction from one to the 
other side of the island. 

• Waioli iwai, water; oli, joyful). The name given to a part of the valley of Hanalei, 
also the name of a river. 



156 



15 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 

E ke iioa, ke wailio e mai la oe; 

Eia ka mea ino, he anu, a 

Aohe anu e! 

Me he mea la iwaho kaua, e ke hoa. 

Me he wai la ko kaua ill, e. 



[BULL. 38 



VII— Oli and Mele from the Hula Ala'a-papa 

OH — A prelvde 



Arranged hj Mrs. Yarndley 



£E3 



It 



UNZI^I 



1= 



±itb^ 



jdit 



iiizttcrztJtiJtzitt:^ 



# I g^" 



Ha - /du 114 - ua - /ei i 



iii 'Hi a ka « - a; A'u - mk - no (/) ke 




E^^ i^EEB ^ 



^ 



o- M-4i a- (a-a) ka //- ko; Na Ai ka 6 - pi - wax o H'di - a - /^ -ha (^). 




C? ke >t4- he k6- e a A/ - ki i JTa/ - 6- It. Ua i - ke 
Mde no ka JTvIa Ala^a-papa 



a. (e). 



iE 



P 



ntzczztt^ 



^'-^—Ih nt 



I^ 



fe 



No - lu - na ka h4 - le A4/, e ka wa' - a - le - wa, Na - uii ^a mi - ka 

(Ainilcvp.^ 



hzjg^zz rgHTy z: ^ ^ — diJ^^nMziifzzjaiiz^ 



JtH^IZZtt^ 



-z5--^ — - — wx: 

ia Mo - <i - na - nu - i - ^a - Le - hu - a. ^<$ - i a» ( ke kai (/a) e nm - 



^li 



tremolo.. 



tremolo.^ 



£j^ 



2z: 



ii'-(.i 



i) - o. 

( Xew breath. ) 






ZSt 



la he le - hu - a i 



14- i 



Iffil 



jOlL 



X 



I2fc 



i) - la, 



Ho - /<$ - e Le - A« - a- 




i^zizj^izjir^ \-sH-^ ^K! — g^ 



/^, 



/^C- 



e-). JCe-Si-au / - li - I • 



ne - l«c; o - (o) - le - lo, ke - 



m 



iili2^ 



- ( ^ ) k4i o - (o ; Pu - na I ka « - lu 



li4 



/-, 



e ^T ^^^O. 



EMERSON] 



UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 



157 



i 



[ 4 times r. ) 



ii^r 



kai - ko' - o Tu 



3^ 



-C^—^- 



^ S 

( u - u ) - na, (f 



=i!ZZ^ 



e }, la h6' - o - ve' 



':X=--^ 



i^ 






1 i - li mai ka - ua, (la - a), i? ke bo 



ifcit: 



¥ ¥ ¥ 



lulw la 6 - e; A - ia 



^ # ' # 



( ^ ) ka me • 



no, he tf - nu. 



Eil^li^ 



■f s I zz: 



2^ 






' a^^^ a) - ««, e (-o - 



e - e.) ! 




Me he «r^-a /a i - w4 - Atf kit - « a, e ke A<5 - a, Me he w4 - i la >t<; k4 - 




i- (« - » 



/-)-li. 



[Translation] 



Bong froiti the Hula Ala'apapa 



10 



15 



From mountain-retreat and root-woven ladder 

Mine eye loolis down on goddess Moana-Lehtia. 

Then I pray to the Sea, be thou calm; 

Would there might stand on thy shore a lehtia- 

Lehtia tree tall of Hopoe. 

The Lehtia is fearful of man, 

Leaves him to walk on the ground below, 

To walk on the' ground far below. 

The pebbles at Keaau grind in the surf; 

The sea at Keaau shouts to Puna's palms, 

"Fierce is the sea of Puna." 

Move hither, snug close, companion mine; 

You lie so aloof over there. 

Oh what a bad fellow is Cold ! 

Not cold, do you. say? 

It's as if we were out in the wold, 

Our bodies so clammy and chill, friend. 



Explanatory Remarks 



The acute or stress accent is placed over syllables that take the ac- 
cent in ordinary speech. 
A word or syllable italicized indicates drum-down-beat. 



158 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

It^ will be noticed that the stress-accent and the rhythmic accent, 
marked by the down-beat, very frequently do not coincide. The time 
marked by the drum-down-beat was strictly accurate throughout. 

The tune was often pitched on some other key than that in which 
it is here recorded. This fact was noted when, from time to time, 
it was found necessary to have the singer repeat certain passages. 

The number of measures devoted to the i'i, or fluctuation, which is 
indicated by the wavering line^^^^^-^^-^ , varied from time to time, 
even when the singer repeated the same passage. (See remarks on 
the ^'^, p. 140.) 

Eedundancies of speech (interpolations) which are in disagreement 
with the present writer's text (pp. 155-156) are inclosed in brackets. 
It will be seen that in the fifth verse he gives the version Maka\i ke 
kariaka i ka lehua instead of the one given by the author, which is 
Maka^u ka Lehua i ke kanaka. Each version has its advocates, and 
good arguments are made in favor of each. 

On reaching the end of a measure that coincided with the close of 
a rhetorical phrase the singer, Kualii, made haste to snatch, as it 
were, at the first word or syllable of the succeeding phrase. This is 
indicated by the word " anticipating," or " anticipatory " — ^written 
anticip. — ^placed over the syllable or word thus snatched. 

It was somewhat puzzling to determine whether the tones which 
this man sang were related to each other as five and three of the major 
key, or as three and one of the minor key. Continued and strained 
attention finally made it seem evident that it was the major key which 
he intended, i. e., it was f and d in the key of B';?, rather than f and d 
in the key of D minor. 

Elocution and Kiiythmic Accent in Hawaiian Song 

In their ordinary speech the Hawaiians were good elocutionists — 
none better. Did they adhere to this same system of accentuation in 
their poetry, or did they punctuate their phrases and words according 
to the notions of the song-maker and the conceived exigencies of 
poetical composition ? After hearing and studying this recitation of 
Kualii the author is compelled to say that he does depart in a great 
measure from the accent of common speech and charge his words 
with intonations and stresses peculiar to the mele. What artificial 
influence has come in to produce this result? Is it from some de- 
mand of poetic or of musical rhythm? Which? It was observed 
that he substituted the soft sound of t for the stronger sound of k^ 
" because," as he explained, " the sound of the t is lighter." Thus he 
said te fanata instead of ke kanaka^ the man. The Hawaiian ear 
has always a delicate feeling for tone-color. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 159 

In all our discussions and conclusions we must bear in mind that 
the Hawaiian did not approach song merely for its own sake; the 
song did not sing of itself. First in order came the poem, then the 
rhythm of song keeping time to the rhythm of the poetry. The Ha- 
waiian sang not from a mere bubbling up of indefinable emotion, but 
because he had something to say for which he could find no other 
adequate form of expression. The Hawaiian boy, as he walks the 
woods, never whistles to keep his courage up. When he paces the 
dim aisles of Kaliuwa'a, he sets up an altar and heaps on it a sacrifice 
of fruit and flowers and green leaves, but he keeps as silent as a 
mouse. 

During his performance Kualii cantillated his song while han- 
dling a round wooden tray in place of a drum; his wife meanwhile 
performed the dance. This she did very gracefully and in perfect 
time. In marking the accent the left foot was, if anything, the 
favorite, yet each foot in general took two measures ; that is, the left 
marked the down-beat in measures 1 and 2, 5 and 6, and so on, 
while the right, in turn, marked the rhythmic accent that comes with 
the down-beat in measures 3 and 4, 7 and 8, and so on. During the 
four steps taken by the left foot, covering the time of two measures, 
the body was gracefully poised on the other foot. Then a shift was 
made, the position was reversed, and during two measures the em- 
phasis came on the right foot. 

The motions of the hands, arms, and of the whole body, including 
the pelvis — which has its own peculiar orbital and sidelong swing — 
were in perfect sympathy one part with another. The movements 
were so fascinating that one was at first almost hypnotized and dis- 
qualified for criticism and analytic judgment. Not to derogate 
from the propriety and modesty of the woman's motions, under the 
influence of her Delsartian grace one gained new appreciation of 
" the charm of woven paces and of waving hands." 

Throughout the whole performance of Kualii and his wife Abi- 
gaila it was noticed that, while he was the reciter, she took the part 
of the olapa (see p. 28) and performed the dance; but to this role she 
added that of prompter, repeating to him in advance the words of 
the next verse, which he then took up. Her verbal memory, it was 
evident, was superior to his. 

Experience with Kualii and his partner, as well as with others, 
emphasizes the fact that one of the great difficulties encountered in 
the attempt to write out the slender thread of music (leo) of a Ha- 
waiian mele and fit to it the words as uttered by the singer arises 
from the constant interweaving of meaningless vowel sounds. This, 
which the Hawaiians call ^V, is a phenomenon comparable to the 
weaving of a vine about a framework, or to the pen-flourishes that 



160 BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

illuminate old German text. It consists of the repetition of a vowel 
sound — ^generally i {=ee) or e (=a, as in fate), or a rapid interchange 
of these two. To the ear of the author the pitch varies through an 
interval somewhat less than a half -step. Exactly what is the inter- 
val he can not say. The musicians to whom appeal for aid in de- 
termining this point has been made have either dismissed it for the 
most part as a matter of little or no consequence or have claimed the 
seeming variation in pitch was due simply to a changeful stress of 
voice or of accent. But the author can not admit that the report of 
his senses is here mistaken. 

A further embarrassment comes from the fact that this tone- 
embroidery found in the i'i is not a fixed quantity. It varies seem- 
ingly with the mood of the singer, so that not unfrequently, when one 
asks for the repetition of a phrase, it will, quite likely, be given with 
a somewhat different wording, calling for a readjustment of the 
rhythm on the part of the musician who i^ recording the score. But 
it must be acknowledged that the singer sticks to his rhythm, which, 
so far as observed, is in common time. 

In justice to the Hawaiian singer who performs the accommodating 
task just mentioned it must be said that, under the circumstances in 
which he is placed, it is no wonder that at times he departs from 
the prearranged formula of song. His is the difficult task of pitch- 
ing his voice and maintaining the same rhythm and tempo unaided 
by instrumental accompaniment or the stimulating movements of 
the dance. Let any stage-singer make the attempt to perform an 
aria, or even a simple recitative, off the stage, and without the sup- 
port — real or imaginary — afforded by the wonted orchestral accom- 
paniment as well as the customary stage-surroundings, and he will 
be apt to find himself embarrassed. The very fact of being com- 
pelled to repeat is of itself alone enough to disconcert almost anyone. 
The men and women who to-day attempt the forlorn task of repro- 
ducing for us a hula mele or an oli imder what are to them entirely 
unsympathetic and novel surroundings are, as a rule, past the prime 
of life, and not unfrequently acknowledge themselves to be failing 
in memory. 

After making all of these allowances we must, it would seem, make 
still another allowance, which regards the intrinsic nature and pur- 
pose of Hawaiian song. It was not intended, nor was it possible 
under the circumstances of the case, that a Hawaiian song should be 
sung to an unvarying tempo or to the same key; and even in the 
words or sounds that make up its f ringework a certain range of indi- 
vidual choice was allowed or even expected of the singer. This privi- 
lege of exercising individuality might even extend to the solid frame- 
work of the mele or oli and not merely to the filigree, the i'i, that 
enwreathed it. 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 161 

It would follow from this, if the author is correct, that the musical 
critic of to-day must be content to generalize somewhat and must 
not be put out if the key is changed on repetition and if tempo and 
rhythm depart at times from their standard gait. It is questionable 
if even the experts in the palmy days of the hula attained such a 
degree of skill as to be faultless and logical in these matters. 

It has been said that modern music has molded and developed it- 
self under the influence of three causes, (1) a comprehension of the 
nature of music itself, (2) a feeling or inspiration, and (3) the in- 
fluence of poetry. Guided by this generalization, it may be said that 
Hawaiian poetry was the nurse and pedagogue of that stammering 
infant, Hawaiian music ; that the words of the mele came before its 
rhythmic utterance in song; and that the first singers were the priests 
and the eulogists. Hawaiian poetry is far ahead of Hawaiian song 
in the power to move the feelings. A few words suffice the poet with 
' which to set the picture before one's eyes, and one picture quickly 
follows another; whereas the musical attachment remains weak and 
colorless, reminding one of the nursery pictures, in which a few skele- 
.tal lines represent the human frame. 

Let us now for refreshment and in continued pursuit of our subject 
listen to a song in the language and spirit of old-time Hawaii, com- 
posed, however, in the middle of the nineteenth century. It is given 
as arranged by Miss Lillian Byington, who took it down as she heard 
it sung by an old Hawaiian woman in the train of Queen Liliuoka- 
lani, and as the author has since heard it sung by Miss Byington's 
pupils of the Kamehameha School for Girls. The song has been 
slightly idealized, perhaps, by trimming away some of the super- 
fluous i'i, but not more than is necessary to make it highly acceptable 
to our ears and not so much as to take from it the plaintive bewitch- 
ing tone that pervades the folk-music of Hawaii. The song, the mele, 
is not in itself much — a hint, a sketch, a sweep of the brush, a lilt of 
the imagination, a connotation of multiple images which no jugglery 
of literary art can transfer into any foreign speech. Its charm, like 
that of all folk-songs and of all romance, lies in its mysterious tug 
at the heartstrings. 

25352— Bull. 38—09 ^11 



162 



BUBEAU OP AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 38 



VIII — He Inoa no Kamehameha 



(Old Mele— Kindness of H. R H. Liliuokalani) 

Arranged by Limjan Byinoton 



Hoaecie — Andante 




1. Ai - a i 

2. He a - lo - ha 
8. I ka ai 



^ 



^•^asf 



-•»-#- 



1 o 

hu-a n - - le 
we-lo - we - - e 



Jti 



f-^ 



pae 



1. Pae 

2. Pu - i - II 
S. Ho^ - la • 



ka - pu 
a - na 
ni a i 



ka 
ka 



a. 
lo. 



i 



ht=:j 



^ 



m 



da 



pe' - e 



pa 



Kai-a 



'M— 



Wa 



I 



fSS? 



Ua o - la i ku*a kai, Ke 



^^l^^^f^l^f^. 



o - lo - e - wa, 



e - e - e - e. 



He Inoa no Kamehameha 

Aia i Waipi'o « Paka'alana,* 
Paepae ^ kapu ia o Liloa.*^ 
He aloha ka wahine pi'i ka pali,« 
Puili ana i ka hua ulei, 
I ka ai mo*a 1 ka lau laau/ 
Hoolaau ff mai o ka welowelo. 
Ua pe'e pa Kai-a-ulu o Waimea,* 
Ua ola i ku*u kai,* Keoloewa,^ e. 



« Waipi'o. A deep valley on the windward side of Hawaii. 

* Paka'alana. A temple and the residence of King Liloa in Waipl'o. 

"Paepae. The doorsill (of this temple), always an object of superstitious regard, but 
especially so in the case of this temple. Here it stands for the whole temple. 

<* Liloa. A famous king of Hawaii who had his seat in Waipl'o. 

« Wahine pii ka pali. Haina-kolo, a mythical character, Is probably the one alluded to. 
She married a king of Kukulu o Kahlkl, and, being deserted by him, swam back to Hawaii. 
Arrived at Waipl'o in a famishing state, she climbed the heights and ate of the ulei berries 
without first propitiating the local deity with a sacrifice. As an infliction of the offended 
deity, she became distraught and wandered away into the wilderness. Her husband re- 
pented of his neglect and after long search found her. Under kind treatment she regained 
her reason and the family was happily reunited. 

f Lau laau. Leaves of plants. 

" Hoolaau. The last part of this word, laau, taken in connection with the last word of 
the previous verse, form a capital Instance of word repetition. This was an artifice much 
used In Hawaiian poetry, both as a means of imparting tone-color and for the punning wit 
it was supposed to exhibit. 

* Ua pe'e pa Kai-a-ulu o Waimea. Kai-a-ulu Is a fierce rain-squall such as arises suddenly 
in the uplands of Waimea, Hawaii. The traveler, to protect himself, crouches ipe'e) be- 
hind a hummock of grass, or builds up in all haste a barricade (pa) of light stuff as a 
partial shelter against the oncoming storm. 

* Kai. Taken In connection with Kai-a-ulu In the preceding verse, this Is another In- 
stance of verse repetition. This word, the primary meaning of which is sea, or ocean, is 
used figuratively to represent a source of comfort or life. 

i Keoloewa. The name of one of the old gods belonging to the class called akua noho, a 
class of deities that were sent by the necromancers on errands of demoniacal possession. 



i 



KMBRSON] UNWBITTEN LITEBATURE OF HAWAU 163 

[Translation] 

A 'Name-song of Kamehameha 

In Waipi'o stands Paka'alana, 
The sacred shrine of Liloa. 
Love to the woman climbing the steep, 
Who gathered the ulei berries, 
5 Who ate of the uncooked herbs of the wild. 
Craving the swaying fruit like a hungry child. 
A covert I found from the storm. 
Life in my sea of delight. 

The text of this mele — said to be a name-song of Kamehameha V — 
as first secured had undergone some corruption which obscured the 
meaning. By calling to his aid an old Hawaiian in whose memory 
the song had long been stored the author was able to correct it. 
Hawaiian authorities are at variance as to its meaning. One party 
reads in it an exclusive allusion to characters that have flitted across 
the stage within the memory of people now living, while another, 
taking a more romantic and traditional view, finds in it a reference 
to an old-time myth — ^that of Ke-anini-ula-o-ka-lani — the chief 
character in which was Haina-kolo, (See note e,) After carefully 
considering both sides of the question it seems to the author that, 
while the principle of double allusion, so common in Hawaiian poetry, 
may here prevail, one is justified in giving prominence to the 
historico-mythological interpretation that is inwoven in the poem. 
It is a comforting thought that adhesion to this decision will suffer 
certain unstaged actions of crowned heads to remain in charitable 
oblivion. 

The music of this song is an admirable and faithful interpretation 
of the old Hawaiian manner of cantillation, having received at the 
hands of the foreign musician only so much trimming as was neces- 
sary to idealize it and make it reducible to our system of notation. 

Explanatory Note 

Hoaeae. — ^This term calls for a quiet, sentimental style of recitation, 
in which the fluctuating trill i'i, if it occurs at all, is not made promi- 
nent. It is contrasted with the olioli^ in which the style is warmer 
and the fluctuations of the i'i are carried to the extreme. 

Thus far we have been considering the traditional indigenous music 
of the land. To come now to that which has been and is being pro- 
duced in Hawaii by Hawaiians to-day, under influences from abroad, 
it will not be possible to mistake the presence in it of two strains: 
The foreign, showing its hand in the lopping away of much redun- 
dant foliage, has brought it largely within the compass of scientific 
and technical expression; the native element reveals itself, now in 



164 



BUREAU OF AMERICAJ^ ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 38 



plaintive reminiscence and now in a riotous honhommie^ a rollicking 
love of the sensuous, and in a style of delivery and vocal technique 
which demands a voluptuous throatiness, and which must be heard 
to be appreciated. 

The foreign influence has repressed and well-nigh driven from the 
field the monotonous fluctuations of the i'i, has lifted the starveling 
melodies of Hawaii out of the old ruts and enriched them with new 
notes, thus giving them a spring and elan that appeal alike to the 
cultivated ear and to the popular taste of the day. It has, moreover, 
tapped the springs of folk-song that lay hidden in the Hawaiian na- 
ture. This same influence has also caused to germinate a Hawaiian 
appreciation of harmony and has endowed its music with new chords, 
the tonic and dominant, as well as with those of the subdominant and 
various minor chords. 

The persistence of the Hawaiian quality is, however, most apparent 
in the language and imagery of the song-poetry. This will be seen 
in the text of the various mele and oli now to be given. Every mu- 
sician will also note for himself the peculiar intervals and shadings 
of these melodies as well as the odd effects produced by rhythmic 
syncopation. 

The songs must speak for themselves. The first song to be given, 
though dating from no longer ago than about the sixth decade of the 
last century, has already scattered its wind-borne seed and reproduced 
its kind in many variants, after the manner of other folklore. This 
love-lyric represents a type, very popular in Hawaii, that has con- 
tinued to grow more and more personal and subjective in contrast 
with the objective epic style of the earliest Hawaiian mele. 

IX — Song, Poli Anuanu 

Arranged by Mrs. Yabndijcy 
II AndarUe ewntabile , 



l =M^ 



^ft 



r rr 



r 



-#^ 



A - lo - ha wa 



a - nn - a 






J=* 



■ta •»- 



r-=5= 



i 



Ma - e - • 



^f" 



-^ 



m^ 



^=j^Vi, 



-n- 



DU, 






H 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE XVII 




HAWAIIAN MUSICIAN PLAYING ON THE UKU-LELE 
(By permission of Hubert Voss) 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 165 

Poll Anuanu 

1. Aloha wale oe, 
Poll anuanu; 
M^e^le au 

I ke ^nu, 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 1 pu-kukfi'i, 
I ke anu. e. 

He who would translate this love-lyric for the ear as well as for the 
mind finds himself handicapped by the limitations of our English 
speech — its scant supply of those orotund vowel sounds which flow 
forth with their full freight of breath in such words as a-lo-ha^ po-li^ 
and d-nu-d-nu. These vocables belong to the very genius of the 
Hawaiian tongue. 

[Translation] 

Gold Breast 

1. Love fain compels to greet thee, 
Breast so cold, so cold. 
Chilled, benumbed am 1 

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? 

The song next given, dating from a period only a few years subse- 
quent, is of the same class and general character as Poli Anuanu. 
Both words ^nd music are peculiarly Hawaiian, though one may 
easily detect the foreign influence that presided over the shaping of 
the melody. 



166 



BUBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 38 



X — Song, Hua-hua'i 

Arranged by Mrs. Yarndley 



u. ModercUo 




\^^ 


4n 


r^^"^ 


— >»- 


--JJ— jH 


— K- 


-4= 


-1 


B« 


a- lo - 


1 

ha 


wan ia o - 


-J- 

e 


4 ; ^ * i 

I kaa 


ha . 


na. ha. 


na 


po . 
-*- 


— 8- 

• no; 


-y-.f^l^.^ 


— U-H 


■=rd 




— »— 


_j — ;^_i_ — 


-1^— 


-?— U- 


-V— 








I 



I — I — N-1 — 1 ^ . ra N\ -K- 



->-^ 



■r-^ 



3fc3r 



i«- 



-• • M m -" m Oh 

- ^ S I 4 4 • f* S ^ 



-» — *- 



^IlE 



La* - i ai k^ kan - nu me ia la. Ho - a • pa • a - pa i ke kl 



I I 1 h- 



-^ \f 



Chorus 



fe^ 



-^K-±: 



=K->»-l?1- 



§ 



it4=t 



3ti 



=t8=8: 



u y u "" 

n - he - ne la' - i pi - U ko*o-lu - a, 



^-^ 



r'-" 



Kau - a i ka hu - a - hii - a* - i, 



m 






i=i=iiii 



=t?=&=5^v- 







He aloha wau ia oe, 
I kau hana, hana i)ouo; 
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. 



EMERSON] 



UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 



167 



[Translation] 

Ovthurst 

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. 



The following is given, not for its poetical value and significance, 
but rather as an example of a song which the trained Hawaiian singer 
delights to roll out with an unctuous gusto that bids defiance to all 
description : 

XI — Song, Ka Mawae 



Solo 



By permiasiun of the Hawaiian News Co., of Honolulu 

Arranged by H. Beroer 



■4h-^ 



1. A e lu»' 

2. Hu - li mai 



ko a 
kou 



lo - ha 
a - lo, 



i ka 



niu 

a - iiu 



N- 



:^ 



^^r 



MU 



1. I ke ka 

2. Ua pu - In 

Chorus 



we 

i 



lu 
ka 



ho - lu, 
u - a. 



Pa 

nia • lu 



pi' 
le 



o - hn - li. 
o - lu - ua. 



i 



p= 



!:?=:fc: 



_rti: 



A 6 

Hu - 11 



ho' 
mni 



ke 
kou 



a - lo .- ha 
a . lo 



- a - e, 
a - u, 



!i 



P 



Ik-«- 



f-^ 



m 



I ke 

U a 



2 PILA^lYfo 



ka - we 
pu - lu 



lu - ho 
ka u 



lu Pa - pi' 
a, ma - In - le 



hu 
lu 



li. 
na. 



of an instrumental interlude. 



Note.— The music to which this hula song is set was produced by a member of the Hawaiian 
Solomon A. Hiram, and arranged by Oapt. H. Berger, to whom the author is indebted for permiiuion 



Pila 



Band, Mr. 
to use it. 



Ka Mawae 

A e ho'i ke aloha i ka mawae, 
I ke Kawelu-holu, Papi'ohtili.« 

Hull mai kou alo, ua anu wau, 
Ua pulu i ka ua, malule o-luna. 



'^ 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. 



168 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bdll. 38 



[Translation] 

The Refuge 

Return, O love, to the refuge, 

The wind-tossed covert of Papi'ohtili. 

Face now to my face;. I'm smitten with cold, 
Soaked with the rain and benumbed. 




XII — Like no a Like 

By permisBion of tbe Hawaiian News Go. (Ltd.) 

Arranged by H. Bergeb 
Solo 
K — s 






1. U - a li 

2. Ma - a - Da 



ke no a li - ke, Me ka u - a ka * ni - le - 
i mai ka • ua, He we - li - iia pa'a i ka 





1 tt k ^ 






N 1 k. 




(^ 




f ifyf s \ r s 


1 fv 


1 r * 


■' ' P N h \ 




^--n^ R 1 ^ o 


' r K. 


m _i -^ \ ■ 




\ ^ J J X-*i' ^ 


* J 1 f^ 


• 4 ' ^^ \j 


1 * ^ ^* hV r 




J • # • 


• J 




L S* B* :i 


1 


hu - a, Me he la e i mai a - na, A • ia i - lai - la ke a - 
Pi - ko, A iiau DO M'au i i - Dii ma - i, A lo - a*a i ke a-be-a-he a 

n Chorus 


hh—i: — \ — r|— 




fc. h P 




1 


hi r 1 1* • # 


,1 ^ ^ 


K tf > \^^ 1 




rj \ \ : 


^W i i-T-i=L.^ 


L; — J ^ — f . u &-J 


^^ • # 



lo 
ka 



ha. 
Dia ka dI. 



DO ka*a 



pa ai. 



Ka*a 



m 



^-X- 



-N--f^ 



-# — # ~y 



tt 



t^ 



-m 



5S£EeE 



, - nu, 



hi- ki a - hi • 



ke ka - ni 



ho - ra 



E^ia 



ke 



rj— r 



-7^ 



Like no a Like 

1. 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 \ipu ai, 
Ku'u lei hiki ahiahi, 

ke kani o na manu, 

1 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 1 ke aheahe a ka makani. 
Chorus, 



emkrson] 



UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 



169 



pSoIo 



[Translation] 
ResemMance 

1. When the rain drums loud on the leaf, 
It maltes 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. 

XIII — Song, Pili Aoao 

By permission of the Hawaiian News Co. (Ltd.) 

Arranged by H. Bebger 



-^.(•-■iiip: 



-A-N-t- 



?2= 



=F=fe" 



:^=i: 



2^ 



=ifc? 



3tf- 



-#-^ 



•# ^ 1^ ■■^- 



1. ka p^ - nar ]ia i - ho a ke a - o, Ka pi* - o ma- li - e ma - lu - na, I - ke 

2, A niiiu ka pi- li 'na o-lu po - no, Hull a' - u he -he -no ma - li - e; Ha- uu 



ii 



^ 



I 



:;fci£ 



3!=i 



w 



-A-*- 



2^ 



^ ^ ' J J 



ZMZEZ 



=V— y—V- 



ka ha - na mi - ki - a - la, 
U . li - i na - he - na • he, 



No - we - lo 
No - we - lo 



i ka pi • li a - o - a - o. 
i kapi-li a-o-a-o. 



f Chorus > 



■^^5^^?zifcz^ 



^--N 



^m 



K >s ^^ 



ZMTJr: 



^t=^^- 



i 



Mai - ka' - i ka a - lo - lia a ka i 
> 



^^^qr^' 



po, Ha - na ma- o o - le i ka pu - n • 



^^ 



-PS— N—K- 



K is n 



-# — #- 



r=i: 



t^-i 

ka po - li, No - we - lo 1 ka pi - li ao - ao. 



wai. 



Hou - hou li-i- li - 



KoTB. — The onipoeer of the music and the anthor of the mele was a Hawaiian named John Meha, amember 
of the Ilawaiiau Bund, who diod some ten years ago, at the age of 40 yearH. 

1. O ka ponaha iho a ke ao. 
Ka pipi'o malie uialuna, 
Ike oe i ka liana mikiala, 
Nowelo i ka pili aoao. 

Chorus: 
Maikai ke aloha a ka ipo— 
Hana mao ole i ka puuwai, 
Houhou llllii i ka ix)li— 
Nowelo i ka pili aoao. 

2. A man ka pili'na olu pono; 
Hull a*e, hooheno malie, 
Hanu liilii nahenahe, 
Nowelo i ka pill aoao. 

Chorus, 



170 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

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 Ha- 
waiian Band and set the words to the music given below, which has 
since been arranged by Captain Berger. 

[Translation] 
Side by Side 

1. 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, 

The fragments of Hawaiian music that have drifted down to us 
no doubt remain true to the ancient type, however much they may 
have changed in quality. They show the characteristics that stamp 
all primitive music — plaintiveness to the degree almost of sadness, 
monotony, lack of acquaintance with the full range of intervals that 
make up our diatonic scale, and therefore a measurable absence of that 
ear-charm we call melody. These are among its deficiencies. 

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 compensa- 
tion, 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. 




LiJ 

-J 



I 



co 

Id I 

o < 



z o 

< CO 

D 

51 






EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 171 

Then, of a sudden, it swells upward, as if lifted by some wave of emo- 
tion; and there for a time it travels with the same fluctuating move- 
ment, 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 attrac- 
tiveness 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 be- 
long to that class of people who can not move hand or foot or per- 
form 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 regu- 
lator, 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 cen- 
tered; 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-u, such as is worn 
by hula dancers. He at once caught inspiration, and was thus ena- 
bled to perform the double role of dancer and singer. 

It has been often remarked by musical teachers who have had ex- 
perience 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 inertia of their being demands the spur of ex- 



172 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 38 



citement to keep them up to the mark. While human nature every- 
where 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 
tftftdency is their spirit of communal sympathy. That is but another 
wa,y of saying that they need the stimulus of the crowd, as well as 
o|. 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 hu- 
manity. 

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 Ha- 
waiian national hymn on its poetical side may be called the last ap- 
peal 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. 

XIV— Hawaii Ponoi 



Words by Kiug Kalasaua 
Soprano 



Compoeed by H. Beboee 



Jt 



=3^ 



3Ejl: 



5 



5=±: 



1. Ha - wai 

Alto 

f 



po 



- 1, 



Mo - 1, 



2=± 



Ml 



2. Ha - wai - i 

Tenor 
f 



l»o - no - {, 



'li - i, 



It: 



x: 



=P 



-0-S.. 



3. Ha • wai 

Bass 
f 



a^ 



-#-T #- 



i 



Piano 

4r—l 



-^ 1- 



-e-n 



E^^^^ 



33^^^ 



s 



-«l — *- 



=^=^ 



X 
X 

tlJ 

t; 

s! 
S 

Z 

_l 
-J 
3 
CQ 


* 








>v»"^- *"^.. 










L^^^fe 






"^UK'>^.'. ^ 




^S>J^'^^^"'^ ,, 






>- 

3 

o 




^ 


z 
I 

UJ 

z 
E 

UJ 

< 
ti. 
o 

< 
UJ 

q: 

3 
00 


^ 1^ 





CO 

z 
o 

H 
H 

z 

O 

QC 
H 

D 



EMERSON 1 



UNWKITTEN LITEKATURE. OF HAWAII 



173 



ZI2=^ 



Ka 



I 



:=]= 



=5= 



^ 



k 



m 



po 



^ ~s:? =sl\ 



a^=^ 



-I 



^^^^J 



^ 



-r 



S= 



=fe: 



=a=*= 



i«t: 



=g- 



=f.-^. 



sziz t=:1=-z=1z 



-• # 1^ 

Ma - ku - «i li 



_^_i_ 



Ka 



yt^=^ 



H 



1^ 



!--r|:=|:=p 



^1 



Ma - ku - a la 



Ka - mo - lia 
P. 



m 



\ \ *■ ; 



^_^ 



' • ! * '. f 



^ 



174 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 38 



'U: 




l^fi 



P 



i 



Na 
P 



Me ka 



he. 



^J 



-fzzuzMz 



I 



!^] 



=^ 



Na 



pa 



ka 

_J-_ 



he. 

I 



he. 



m& 



I 






£ 



JL 



te 



Pi 



Tremol Tremol 



=^-=1= 



t?- 



I 



HAWAri PONOJ 

Hawai'i ponol, 
Nana i kou Mol, 
Ka lani Ali'i, 
Ke Ali'i. 

Refrain: 
Makua lani, e, 
Kamehameha, e, 
Na kaua e pale, 
Me ka ihe. 



2. Hawai'i ponol, 
Nana 1 na 'li'i, 
Na pua muli kou, 
Na poki'i. 

Refrain: 

3. Hawai'i ponof 
E ka lahui, e, 

O kau hana nui 
E ui, e. 
Refrain. 



BMBESON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 175 

[Translation] 
Hawaii Ponoi 

1. Hawaii's very own, 

IjOoIc to your sovran Lord, 
Your chief that's heaven-born, 
Who is your Khig. 

Refrain: 
Protector, heaven-sent, 
Kamehameha great. 
To vanquish every foe. 
With conquering spear. 

2. Men of Hawaii's land, 
Ijook to your native chiefs, 
Your sole surviving lords. 
The nation's pride. 

Refrain: 

3. Men of Hawaiian stoclj. 
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 endow- 
ment, 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 attain- 
ments, 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 even from one island to 

176 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 177 

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 unf requently 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 per- 
fection. 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 repre- 
sentative 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. 
25352— Bull. 38—09 12 



178 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

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 mdlo of the man, the pa-u of the woman, and 
the decent Mhei^ a togalike 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 ges- 
ture 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 king 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, which one sees 



EMEKSON] UNWBITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 179 

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-conven- 
tions 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 mo^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 to- 
gether 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 cer- 
tainly 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 win- 
dow 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 ma^, 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 dis- 
tance, the fingers would perhaps more likely be turned upward, thus 
making the signal more distinctly visible and at the same time more 
emphatic. 



180 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

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 reenf orce- 
ment 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 beg- 
gar — 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, some- 
times curving it to right or left, and sometimes stuffing it into the hol- 
low 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 ob- 
served and so far as can be learned, were chiefly of feminine practice. 
The very last gesture — that of the protruded tongue — is not men- 
tioned as one likely to be employed on the stage in the halau, cer- 
tainly 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 some- 
what aloof from, they are still under the dominion of, the same emo- 
tional laws that govern the more central parts. 

Man is all sympathy onfe part with another; 
For head with heart hath joyful amity, 
And both with moon and tides. 

The illustrations brought to illuminate this division of the subject 
will necessarily be of the most general application and will seem to 
belong rather to the domain of oratory than to that of dramatic or 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE XX 




PHYLLODIA AND TRUE LEAVES OF THE KOA (ACACIA KOA) 



BMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 181 

stage expression, by which is meant expression fitted for the purposes 
of the halau. 

To begin with a general proposition, the attitude of the feet and 
legs mustbe sympathetic with that of the other parts of the body. 
When standing squarely on both feet and looking directly forward, 
the action may be called noncommittal, general ; but if the address is 
specialized and directed to a part of the audience, or if attention is 
called to some particular region, the face will naturally turn in that 
direction. To attain this end, while the leg and arm of the corre- 
sponding side will be drawn back, the leg and arm of the opposite 
side will be advanced, thus causing the speaker to face the point of ad- 
dress. If the speaker or the actor addresses himself, then, to persons, 
or to an object, on his right, the left leg will be the one more in ad- 
vance and the left arm will be the one on which the burden of gesture 
will fall, and vice versa. 

It would be a mistake to suppose that every motion or gesture dis- 
played 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 flour- 
ishes and ornaments. With a language so full of seemingly super- 
fluous 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 
accon^lished, 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 diflPerent 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 con- 
ditions. The writer hopes he will not be charged with begging the 
question in suggesting that another element which we must reckon 



182 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

with as influential in fashioning and stereotyping gesture is tradition 
and convention. To illustrate — ^the actor who took the role 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. 



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 plapa and the hoopaa cantillated the mele, while the latter squat- 
ted on the floor. Each one was armed with a sharp stick of wood 
fashioned like a javelin, or a Hawaiian spade, the 0-6; 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 fol- 
lowed by a retreat. While doing this the olapa, who were in two 
divisions, marked the time of the movement by ^linking 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 ihe a Kane ; » 
Nana ka maka ia Koolau ; ^ 
Kau ka opua ^ ma ka moana. 
Lu'u a e-a, lu'u a e-a,** 
5 Hikl i Wai-ko-loa. 
Aole loa ke kula 
I ka pai-lani a Kane.^ 
Ke kane ^ ia no hoi ia 
Ka hula pe-pe'e 

^ Ihe a Kane. The spear of Kane. What else can this be than that old enemy to 
man's peace and comfort, love, passion? 

^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. 

'^ 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. 

«* 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. 

« 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. 

188 



184 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

10 A ka hale ku'i. 

Ku!i oe a lono Kahiki-nui ; 

Hoolel 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. 

ko'u puni no ia o ka ike maka. 
Aohe makamaka o ka hale, ua hele oe ; 
Nawai la au e hookipa 

1 keia mahaoi ana mal nel 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 iwno iho. 
25 Ua pono oe o kaua, ua alu ka moena ; 

Ka hana niau a ka Inu-wai ; 

Mao ole 1 ka nui kino. 

Ku'u kino keia mauna ia ha'i. 

E Ku, e hoolei la ! 
30 A ua noa ! 

[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, 



BMEBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 185 

Appeased not with her whole body. 
My body is pledged to another. 
30 Crown it, Ku, crown it. 
Now the service is free! 

Some parts of this mele, which is a love-song, have defied the 
author's most strenuous efforts to penetrate tl)eir deeper meaning. 
No Hawaiian consulted has made a pretense of understanding it 
wholly. The Philistines of the middle of the nineteenth century, into 
whose hands it fell, have not helped matters by the emendations and 
interpolations with which they slyly interlarded the text, as if to set 
before us in a strong light the stigmata of degeneracy from which 
they were suffering. 

The author has discarded from the text two verses which followed 
verse 28 : 

Hal'na ia mai ka puana : 
Ka wai ana pa i ke kiila. 

r Translation] 

Declare to me now the riddle : 
The waters that flash on the plain. 

The author has refrained from casting out the last two verses, 
though in his judgment £hey are entirely out of place and were not 
in the mele originally. 



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 dis- 
severed 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 ab- 
stract 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 embassador 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 tem- 
per, 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 return- 
ing 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 from Lohiau the kisses and dalliance 

186 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 187 

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 hon- 
oring 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 instru- 
mental 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 on — O Tea mele mua keia o Tea hula Pele 

Mai Kahiki ka wahine, o Pele, 
Mai ka aina i Pola-pola, 
Mai ka piinoliu 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-alil. 
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, 



188 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

15 Noho a'e o Malau. 

Ua ka ia ka liu o ka wa'a. 

la wai ka hope, ka uli o ka wa'a, e ne lioa '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 Huabua'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, 
Cloud blazing in the heavens, 
5 Fiery cloud-pile in Kahiki. 

Eager desire for Hawaii seized the woman, Pele; 
She carved the canoe, Honua-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. 

20 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 ! 

Tradition has it that Pele was expelled from Kahiki by her brothers 
because of insubordination, disobedience, and disrespect to their 
mother, Honva-mea, sacred land. (If Pele in Kahiki conducted her- 
self as she has done in Hawaii, rending and scorching the bosom of 
mother earth — Honua-Mea — it is not to be wondered that her 
brothers were anxious to get rid of her.) She voyaged north. Her 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 189 

first stop was at the little island of Ka-ula, belonging to the Hawaiian 
group. She tunneled into the earth, but the ocean poured in and put 
a stop to her work. She had the same experience on Lehua, on 
Niihau, and on the large island of Kauai. She then moved on to 
Oahu, hoping for better results; but though she tried both sides of 
the island, first mount Ka-ala— the fragrant — and then Konahuanui, 
she still found the conditions unsatisfactory. She passed on to 
Molokai^ thence to Lanai, and to to West Maui, and East Maui, at 
which Imei place she dug the immense pit of Hale-a-ka-la ; but every- 
'where e^ was unsuccessful. Still journeying east and south, she 
crossed -4he wide Ale-nui-haha channel and came to Hawaii, and, 
after eiiploring in all directions, she was satisfied to make her home 
at KilsNiea. Here is (ka piho o ka honua) the navel of the earth. 
Apropos of this effort of Pele to make a fire-pit for herself, see the 
song for the hula kuolo (p. 86), "A pit lies (far) to the east." 

Mele 

A Kauai, a ke olewa ^ iluna, 
Ka pua lana i kai o Wailua ; 
Nana mai Pele ilaila; 
E waiho aku ana o Ahu.^ 
5 Aloha 1 ka wai niu o ka aina ; 
E ala mai ana mokihana, 
Wai auau o Hiiaka. 
Hoo-paapaa Pele ilaila ; 
Aohe Kau ^ e ulu ai. 
10 Keehi aku Pele i ka ale kua-loloa, 

He onohl 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 bums like Pele's eye, 
Or a meteor-flash in the sky. 
Finished the prayer, enter, possess! 

<* 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. 

»0 Ahu. In this instance the article still finds itself disunited from its substantive. 
To-day we have Oahu and Ola^a. 

" Ka/u. The summer ; time of warm weather ; the growing season. 



190 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

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-lau- 
hanahana, the daughters of Lima-loa, the god of the mirage. These 
two women lived at Huleia near the spring. Kamapuaa, the swine- 
god, 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 
Kahikiula (Kama-puaa) moved it over there, and you can't undo his 
action." 

The eye of Pele, lie onohi no Pele (verse 11), is the phosphor- 
escence 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 ail intents and 
purposes a prayer. 

Ewaiho aku ana o Ahu (verse 4). This is an instance of the 
separation of the article o from the substantive Ahi(^ 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-iika; 
Haki nu'a-nu'a mai ka nalu mai Kahiki, 
Po-po'i aku la i ke alo o Kilauea.** 
Kanaka hea i ka lakou piiaa kanu ; 
5 He wahine kui lei lehua i uka o Olaa, 
Ku'u inokii lehua i ke alo o He-eia. 
O Kuku-ena^ wahine, 
Komo i ka lau-ki, 



«Tlie figure in the second and third verses, of waves from Kahiki (nalu mai Kahiki) 
beating against the front of Kilauea {Po-poH aku la i ke alo o Kilauea), seems to picture 
the trampling of the multitude splasliing the mire as if it were, waves of ocean. 

^ Kukuena. There is some uncertainty as to who this character was; probably the 
same as Haumea, the mother of Pele. 



BMBBSON] UNWKITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 191 

A'e-a*e a noho. 
10 Eia makou, kou lau kaula la. 
Eli-eli, kau mal ! 

[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 bordering He-eia. 
And now Kukuena, mother god, 
Covers her loins with a pa-ti of ti leaf; 
She mounts the altar; she sits. 
10 Behold us, your conclave of priests. 
Enter in, possess us ! 

This has the marks of a Hawaiian prayer, and as such it is said to 
have been used in old times by canoe-builders when going up into the 
mountains in search of timber. Or it may have been recited by the 
priests and people who went up to fell the lehua tree from which to 
carve the Makahiki" idol; or, again, may it possibly have been re- 
cited by the company of hula folk who climbed the mountain in 
search of a tree to be set up in the halau as a representation of the 
god whom they wished to honor? This is a question the author 
can not settle. That it was used by hula folk is indisputable, but 
that would not preclude its use for other purposes. 

Mele 

Ku i Wallua ka pou hale,^ 
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. 
Ala i Manft ka oka'i o ka ua o Eleao ; 
Ke holu la ka a'ahu o Ka-ti <^ i ka makani ; 
Ke puhi a'e la ka ale kumupali o Ka-ti, Honuapo; 
10 Ke hakoko ka niu o Paiaha'a 1 ka makani. 
Uki-uki oukou: 
Ke lele la ke kai; 
Lele iao,<* lele! 
O ka makani Koolau-wahine, 

•For an account of the Malcahiki idol see Hawaiian Antiquities, p. 189, by David 
Malo ; translated by N. B. Emerson, A. M., M. D., Honolulu, Hawaiian Gazette Company 

(Limited), 1903. 

^ Pou hale. The main post of a house, which Is here intended, was the pou-hand ; it 
was regarded with a superstitious reverence. 

" A^hu Ka-u. A reference, doubtless, to the long grass that once covered Ka-ti. 

'/-do. A small fish that took short flights in the air. 



192 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

15 O ka Moa'e-ku. 

Lele ua, lele kawa ! * 

Lele aku, lele mai ! 

Lele 0-6,^ 0-6 lele ; <^ 

Lele opuhi,* lele; 
20 Lele o Kaunft,^ kaha oe. 

E Hiiaka e, ku ! 

[Translation] 
8ong 

At Wallua 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. 

Manft sees the rain- whirl of Eleao. 

The robe of Ka-t5 sways in the wind. 

That dashes the waves 'gainst the sea-wall, 
10 . At Honu-apo, windy Ka-ti ; 

The Pai-ha'a palms strive with the gale. 

Such weather is grievous to you : 

The sea-scud is flying. 

Fly little 1-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 ! 

Kaund. opens the dance; you win. 

Rise, Hiiaka, arise! 

The meaning of this mele centers about a phenomenon that is said 
to have been observed at Ka-ipu-ha'a, near Wailua, on Kauai. To 
one standing on a knoll near the two cliffs Ikuwa and Mahoena 
(verse 5) there came, it is said, an echo from the murmur and clamor 
of the ocean and the moan of the wind, a confused mingling of na- 
ture's voices. The listener, however, got no echoing answer to his 
own call. 

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 sud- 
denly from one island to another; in this case, first from Wailua to 

« Lele kawa. To Jump in sport from a height into the water. 

^ Lele 0-6. To leap feet first into the water. 

« 0-6 lele. To dive head first into the water. 

d Lele opuhi. The same as pahi'a, to leap obliquely into the water from a height, bend- 
ing oneself so that the feet come first to the surface. 

« Kaund. A woman of Ka-tl celebrated for her skill in the hula, also the name of a 
cape that reaches out into the stormy ocean. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 193 

Mana on the same island, where he is shown the procession of whirl- 
ing 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 look- 
ing 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 transla- 
tion) describe the spirited scene. 

It is somewhat difficult to determine whether the Kauna mentioned 
in the next poem is the name of the woman or of tlie 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 Kauntt-wahine, Makaiil Ka-(i, 
He iimauma i pa ia e ka Moa'e, 
E ka makani o-maka o Unulau. 
I^au ka wahine kalU-pua o Pala, 
5 Alualu puhala o ka Mllo-ime-kanaka, e-e-e-e! 
He kanaka ke koa no ka ehu abiabi, 
O ia nei ko ka ehu kakahiaka — 
O niaua no, me ka makua o makou. 
Ua ike 'a ! 

[Ti-anslation] 

Song 

Behold KaunA, that sprite of windy Ka-<i, 
Whose bosom is slapi)ed by the Moa'e-k(i, 
And that eye-smiting wind Cnulati — 
Women by hundreds filch the bloom 
5 Of Pala, 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 ! 

This mele, based on a story of amorous rivalry, relates to a contest 
which arose between two young women of rank regarding the favors 
of that famous warrior and general of Kamehameha, Kalaimoku, 
whom the successful intrigante described as ka makua o makou 
(verse 8), our father, i. e., our guardian. The point of view is that 
of the victorious intrigante, and in speaking of her defeated rival she 
uses the ironical language of the sixth verse, He katulka ke koa no ka 
ehu ahiahi^ meaning that her opponent's chance of success faded with 
the evening twilight, whereas her own success was crowned with the 
25352--BU11. 38—09 13 



194 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

glow of morning, O ia nei ko ka ehu kakahiaka (verse 7). The 
epithet kanaka hints ironically tliat her rival is of lower rank than 
herself, though in reality the rank of her rival may have been superior 
to her own. 

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 1 ka ohu, 
KaM ka leo o ka ohi'a ; 
Auwe ! make au i ke ahi a mau 
A ka luahine^ moe nana, 
5 A papa enaena, wai hau, 
A wa*a kau-hf.* 

Haila pepe ^ mua me peiie waena, 
O pepe ka muimui : 
O kiele<^ i na ulu<^ 
10 Ka makaM kai kea 
O Niheu** kolohe; 
Ka makaba kai kcia ! 
Eli-eU, kau mai. 

[Translation] 

Song 

Ho ! mountain of vapor-i)uffs, 
Now groans tlie mountain-apple tree. 
Alas ! I burn in this deatliless 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. 

" I*elc 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. 

^Lava poured out in plates and folds and coils resembles may diverse things, among 
others the canoe, wa'a, here characterized as complete in its appointments and ready for 
launching, kauh(. The words are subtly intended, no doubt, to convey the thought of 
Pele's readiness to launch on the voyage of matrimony. 

« Pepe, a seat ; kiele, to paddle ; and ulu, a shortened form of the old word oulu, mean- 
ing a paddle, are archaisms now obsolete. 

<* yiheu. 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, 
Ilina, who had been kidnaped by a marauding chief and carried from her home in Hilo 
to the bold headland of Haupu, Molokai. Nih^u 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 Nlh^u'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 
Houthern regions of the world. Nih4u 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. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE XXI 




PALA-PALAi FERNS 



EMEKSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 195 

Arid now the i)owerful thrust of the paddle, 
10 Makiug mighty swirl of watry yeast, 
As of Xiheu, the mischief -maker — 
A mighty swirl of the yeasty wave. 
In heaven's name, come aboard! 

After the death of Lohiau, his best friend, Paoa, came before Pele 
determined to invite death by pouring out the vials of his wrath on 
the head of the goddess. The sisters of Pele sought to avert the 
impending tragedy and persuaded him to soften his language and to 
forego mere abuse. Paoa, a consummate actor, by his dancing, which 
has been perpetuated in the hula Pele, and by his skillfully-worded 
prayer-songs, one of which is given above, not only appeased Pele, 
but won her. 

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 suflFerings 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 « 

Aole e mao ka ohu : 
Auwe ! make au i ke ahi a mau 
A ka wahine moe nana, 
A papa ena-ena, 
5 A wa'a kau-hf. 

Ilaila pepe mua me i)epe waena, 
O pepe ka mu'imu'i, 
O lei'na kiele, 
Kau-meli-eli ; ^ 
10 Ka maka kakahi kea 

Niheu- kololie— 

Ka maka kaha-kai kea. 
Eli-eli, kau mai I 

I Translation] 

Song 

Alas, there's no stay to the smoke; 

1 must die mid the quenchless flame — 
Deed of the hag who snores in her sleep, 
Redded on lava plate oven-hot. 

5 Now it takes the shape of canoe; 



«The remarks on pp. 104 and 105 resardlng the mele on p. 104 are mostly applicable 
to this mele. 

^ Kau-ineli-fU. The name of the double canoe which brought a company of the j;ods 
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. 



196 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [utbL. 38 

Seats at the bow and amidships, 
And the steersman sitting astern ; 
Their strolve stirs the ocean to foam — 
The myth-craft, Kau-meli-eli ! 
10 Now look, the white gleam of an eye — 
It is Nih^u, the turbulent one — 
An eye lilce the wliite sandy shore. 
Amen, possess me ! 

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 permissi 
ble for a near relative to touch his feet. AATien 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 Pelc) 

E ala, e Kahilci-l£u ; « 
E ala, e Kahilvi-moe ; <» 
E ala, e ke ai)apa nu'u ; ^ 
E ala, e ke a pa pa lani.^ 
' 5 Eia ka hoala nou, e ka lani ^ la, e-e ! 

E ala oe! 

E ala, ua ao, ua malamalama. 

Aia o Kape'a ma,** la, i-luna ; 

T'a hiki mai ka maka o Unulau;^ 



« Ilawailans 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. Kahikiku 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. 

*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 ihe following lines have been quoted : 

Hanau ke apapa nu'u : 
Hanau ke apapa lani ; 
Hanau Pele, ka hihro na lani 

[Translation] 

Begotten were the gods of graded rank ; 
Begotten were the gods of heavenly rank ; 
Begotten was Pele, quintessence of heaven. 

This same expression was sometimes used to mean an order of chiefs, alii. Apapa hini 
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. 

«• Lani. Originally the heavens, came to mean king, chief, alii. 

** 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. 

« 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 Maul between Lahaina and Maalaea bay ; such a wind squall was called a mumuku. 



E^^E^sox] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 197 

10 Ke hoolale luai la ke kiipa holowa'a o Tlaimehame,'* 
Ka lae nmkani kaohi-wa'a o Papawai,* 
Ka lae inakaiii o Analienahe la, o-e! 
E ala oe I 

E ala, na ao, iia malamalama ; 
Ke o a'e la ke kiikiiiia o ka Jai i ka ill o ke kal ; 
Ke liabai a'e la, e like me Kimnikabi/' 
E hoaikane ana me Makanoni; 
Ka papa o Apna, iia lohi i ka I.a. 
E ala oe I 

20 E ala, iia ao, iia malamalama; 

Ke kau aku la ka T.a i Kawalhoa : 

Ke kolii aku la ka La i ka ill o ke kai ; 

Ke anai mai la ka iwa auai-maka o Lei-uo-ai, 

I ka luna o Maka-iki-olea, 
25 I ka poll wale o I^ehna la. 

E ala oel 



'• Ukumehamc. The name of a deep valley on west Maui in the region above described. 

** Papaicai. The principal capo on wost Maui between Lahaina and Maalaea bay. 

" 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 strength- 
ened 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.* 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 
10 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. 



♦ The Hawaiian alphabet had no letter s. The Hawaiians indicated the plural by 
prefixing the particle na. 



198 BUREAU OF AMERTCAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

[Translation] 

Awake now, Kahiki-ku; 
Awake now, Kahiki-moe: 
Awake, ye g:ods of lower jjrade; 
Awake, ye g:o(ls of heavenly rank. 
5 • A serenade to thee, O kins. 
Awake thee! 

Awake, it is day, it is light; 
The Day-god his arrows Is shooting, 
Unnlau his eye far-flashing, 
10 Canoe-men from Uku-me-hame 

Are astir to weather the windy cai>e. 
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-noui ; 

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 I^inoai is preening 
25 On the cliflP Maka-iki-olea. 

On the breast of naked Lehua. 
Awake thee! awake! 

The following is a prayer said to have been used at the time of awa- 
drinking. When given in the hula, the author is informed, its recita- 
tion was accompanied by the sound of the drum. 

He Pule no PeJc 
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 Maull-ola ; « 



" MauU-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 matiri, corresponding to mnuli, means life, the seat of life. In Samoan 
the word mauli means heart. "Sneeze, living: heart" {Tihe mauri orn). says the Maori 
mother to her Infant when it sneezes. For this bit of Maori lore acltnowledgment is 
dne to Mr. S. Percy Smith, of New Zealand. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 199 

lie awa kapii no iia wahiiie. 
E kapii ! 

Ka'i kapu kou awa, e Pele a Honiia-mea ; 
E kala, e Haiimea wahine, 
10 .0 ka wahine i Kilaiiea, 

Nana i eli a liohonii ka Iiia 
O Man-wahine, o Kupu-ena, 
O na wahine i ka inu-lmna awa. 
E Ola na 'kna umlihini ! " 

PALE II 

15 I kama*a-ma'a la i ka pua-lei; 
E loa ka wai apua, 
Ka pii'na i Ku-ka-la-ula ; ^ 
Hoopuka aku i Puu-lena, 
Aina a ke A kna i nolio ai. 

20 Kanaenae a ke Akua malihini ; « 
O ka'ii wale iho la no la, o ka leo, 
He leo wale no, e-e! 
. E ho-i! 
Eia ka ai ! 

[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. 

" 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 ri'^ater attention to it than 
they of modern times. The reason for this decline of ceremony must be sought for In 
the mental and esthetic malce-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 cus- 
tom. 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 nn artificial growth. 

^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-intoxicatlon. This condition, like that of frenzy, of madness, and 
of idiocy, the Hawaiian regarded as a divine possession. 



200 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [hill. 3S 

10 I*roelaliii it, mother, Haimiea, 

Of the goddess of Kilaiiea; 

She who (lujf the pit world-deei*, 

Aud Maii-wahliie and Kupii-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 ! 

This prayer, though presented in two parts or cantos, is really one, 
its i)urpo5-:e being to offer a welcome, kanaenae^ to the feast and cere- 
mony to the gods who had a right to expect that courtesy. 

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 hai)a-hapai a'e, 
5 A pa i ke kihi 

O Ki-lau-0-a. 

Ilaila ku'u kama, 

O Ku-nui-akea.'* 

Hookomo a'e iloko 
10 A o Hale-ma'u-ma'u ; ^ 

A ma-ti na pu'u 

E ola-oiri nei. 

E kulipe'e nui ai-ahua.*^ 

E Pele, e Pele! 
15 E Pele, e Pele! 

Huai'na ! huai'na ! 

Ku ia ka lani, 

Pne a huila ! 



« Kalakaun, 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 Caesar. 

" Hale-mau-mau. Used figuratively of the mouth, whose hairy frinj<e — 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. 

* E kuli-p&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 fiow, which, when in the form of ad, rolls and tumbles along over 
the surface of the ground in a manner suggestive of the motions and attitude of a 
palsied crone. 



KMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 201 

I Translation] 
8on(/ 

Yours, doubtless, this unme. 

Which i>eoi)le are toasting 

W^ith loudest acclaim. 

Now raise it, aye raise it, 
5 Till it readies the niches 

Of KMau-^-a. 

Enshrined is tliere my kinsman, 

K<i-ntii-alc^a. 

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, 

() Pele, god Pele! 
15 O Pele, god I*ele ! 

Burst forth now ! burst forth ! 

Launch a l>olt from the sky! 

Let thy lightnings fly ! 

When this poem'* first came into the author's hands, though at- 
tracted by its classic form and vigorous style, he could not avoid being 
repelled by an evident grossness. An old Hawaiian, to whom he 
stated his objections, assured him that the mele was innocent of all 
bad intent, and when the offensive word was pointed out he protested 
that it was an interloper. The substitution of the right word showed 
that the man was correct. The offense was at once removed. This 
set the whole poem in a new light and it is presented with satisfaction. 
The mele is properly a name-song, mele-inoa. The poet represents 
some one as lifting a name to his mouth for praise and adulation. 
He tells him to take it to Kilauea — ^that it may reecho, doubtless, from 
the walls of the crater. 



" It Is said to 1)6 the work of a hula-master, now some years dead, by the name of 
Namakeelun. 



XXV.— THE HULA PAl-UMATTMA 

The hula fcCl-ximauma — chest -beating liula — called also hula Pa- 
lani^ 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 b}^ 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 
Avas done with the precision worthy of an acrobat, an accomplish- 
ment attained only after long practice. It was a hula of classic 
celebrity, and was performed without the accompaniment of instru- 
mental music. 

In the mele now to be given the poet calls up a succession of pic- 
tures by imagining himself in one scenic position after another, be- 
ginning at Hilo and passing in order from one island to another — 
omitting, however, Maui — until he finds himself at Kilauea, an his- 
toric 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 cal- 
dera 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 be- 
fore 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. 



° Paldni, French, so called at Moanalna because a woman who was its chief exponent 
was a Catholic, one of the " poe TalAni." Much odium has been laid to the charge of the 
hula on account of the supposed indecency of the motion termed atni. 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. 

202 



fiMEBSON] UNWRtTTEN LITERATURE 01* HAWAII 203 

Mcle 

A Hilo au e, hoolulu ka lehua ; " 
A Wai-luku la, i ka Liia-kanaka ; ^ 
A Lele-iwi ^ la, au i ke kai; 
A Pana-ewa,** i ka ulu-lebua; 
5 A Ha-ili,^ i ke kiila-manu ; 
A Molpgai, i ke ala-kabi, 
Ke kula o Kala'e/ wela i ka la ; 
Mauna-loa^ la, Ka-Iua-ko'i,'* e; 
Na liala o Nihoa,* lie luapima la ; 
10 A Ko'i-ahi ^ au, ka maile lau-lil la ; 
A Makua*' la, i ke oue opio-pio,^ 
E holu ana ke kai o-lalo; 
He wahlue a-po'i-i)o'i *" e uoho ana, 
A Kilauea,** 1 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 o<»ean surges and scours on below. 
Lo, a woman crouched on the shore by the sea, 
In the brick-red bowl, Kilauea's bay. 

" Lehua. A tree that produces the tufted scarlet flower that is sacred to the goddess of 
the hula, Laka. 

'f Luorkandka. 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. 

^^ Lele-iwi. The name of a cape at Hilo, near the mouth of the Wai-luku river — water of 
destruction. 

<* Pana-ewa. A forest region in Ola'a much mentioned in myth and poetry. 

« Haili. A region in Ola'a, a famous resort for bird-catchers. 

f Ka-la'e. A beautiful place in the uplands back of Kaunakakai, on Molokai. 

f/ Mauna-loa. The mountain in the western part of Molokai. 

* Ku-lua-ko'i. A place on this same Mauna-loa where was quarried stone suitable for 
making the Hawaiian ax. 

* Nihoa. A small land near Kalaupapa, Molokai, where was a grove of fine pandanus 
trees. 

i Ko'i-ahi. A small valley in the district of Waianae, Oahu, where was the home of the 
small-leafed maile. 

''Makua. A valley in Waianae. 

' One opio-pio. Sand freshly smoothed by an ocean wave. 

"* ApoH-poH. To crouch for the purpose, perhaps, of screening oneself from view, as one, 
for instance, who is naked and desires to escape observation. 

" Kilauea. There is some doubt whether this is the Kllauea on Kauai or a little place of 
the same name near cape Kaena, the westernmost point of Oahu. 



204 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. fi.S 

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 6i)e-6pe; 
Ka ulu ha la la, e-a, 
5 Ka ululie la, e-a. 
Ka ulnbe la, e-a, 
A biki Pu'u-nanfi,, 
Hali'i pundua 
No liiili mai. 

10 Hull mai o-e la; 

Moe kana ; 

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 lohl 

O Mau-kele. 

A kele, a kole 
25 Kou manao la, e-a; 

A kele, a kele 

Kou manao la, e-a. 

[Translation] 

Song 

Come how, 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, 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 205 

15 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. 

Manono was the name of the brave woman, wife of Ke-kua-o-ka- 
lani, who fell in the battle of Kuamo'o, in Kona, Hawaii, in 1819, 
fighting by the side of her husband. They died in support of the 
cause of law and order, of religion and tabu, the cause of the conserv- 
ative party in Hawaii, as opposed to license and the abolition of 
all restraint. 

The uluhe (verses 5, 6) is the stag-horn fern, which forms a matted 
growth most obstructive to Avoodland travel. 

The burden Manono is asked to bear, what else is it but the burden 
of life, in this case lightened by love? 

AVhether 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,<* na waiu olewa, 
Lele ana, ku ka mahiki akea ; 
Kek6 ka niho o Lani-wal^ine ; ^ 
Opl ke a lalo, ke a luna. 
5 A hoi aku au i Lihue, 
Nana aku ia Ewa ; 
E au ana o Miko-lo-16u,^ 

" 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. 

^ 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. 

«■ Miko-lo-l6u. A famous man-eating shark-god whose home was in the waters of liana, 
Maui. lie visited Oahu and was hospitably received by Ka-ahu-pahau and Ka-hi'u-kfi, 
sharks of the Ewa lagoons, who had a human ancestry and were on friendly terms with 
their kindred. Miko-lo-16u, 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-16u. 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 grt w to be a monster of the same size and pov^er as the one deceased. 
Miko-lo-lOu now gathered his friends and allies from all the waters and made war against 
the Ewa sharks, but was routed. 



206 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

A pabfi ka naau no l*a-i)i'-o.« 

A pa'a ka man6. 
10 Hopu i ka lima. 

Ai pakahi, e, i ka naheie,^ 

Alawa a'e na ulu kaui o I^iwalo. 

E iioho ana Kolea-kani ^ 

Ka pii'na i ka Uwa-lua ; 
15 Oha-ob^ lei 1 ka makani. 

[Translation! 
Song 

'Tis Kabipa, with pendulous breasts; 
How tbey swing to and fro, see-saw ! 
Tbe teetb of Lani-wabine gai)e — 
A truce to upper and lower jaw ! 
5 From IJbue we look upon Ewa ; 

Tbere swam tbe monster, Miko-Io-16u, 
His bowels torn out by Pa-pi'-o. 
Tbe sbark was caugbt in grip of tbe band. 
I^t eacb. one stay bimself witb wild berbs, 
10 And for comfort turn bis bungry eyes 
To tbe rustling trees of I^i-walo. 
Hark ! tbe wbistling-plover—^ber old-time seat, 
As one climbs tbe bill from Ecbo-glen, 
And cools bis brow in tbe breeze. 

The thread of interest that holds together the separate pictures 
composing this mele is slight. It will, perhaps, give to the whole a 
more definite meaning if we recognize that it is made up of snap- 
shots at various objects and localities that presented themselves to 
one passing along the old road from Kahiiku, on Oahu, to the high 
land which gave the tired traveler his first distant view of Honolulu 
before he entered the winding canyon of Moana-lua. 

'^ Pa-pi' -0. A shark of moderate size, but of great activity, that foilght against Mlko-Io- 
16u. It entered his enormous mouth, passed down into his stomach, and there played 
havoc with the monster, eating its way out. 

''Ai pakahi, c, i ka nahelc. 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 
hunger 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 Lei- 
walo. This was a grove in the lower levels of Ewa that still survives. 

'^ 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 Ijenevolently 
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. 



XXVI.— THE HULA KUl MOLOKAI, 

The hula kuH 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, kuH^ to smite, gave the name 
to the performance. The limiting word Molokai was added to dis- 
tinguish it from another still more modern form of dance called 
ku\ which will be' described later. 

AVhile 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,* 
He hiwahiwa iia ka la'i liiiihine. 
He me' aloha na*u ka makani hanai-Ioli,'' 
E iiwe ana i ke kai pale iliahl. 
5 Kauwa ke aloba i ua lehua o Kaana.^ 
Pomaikai au i koii aloha e noho iiei ; 
Ka halukii wale no ia a ka waimaka, 
Me he makamaka puka a la 
Ke aloha i ke kanaka, 
10 E ho-lloli nei i ku'u nui kino. 
Mahea hoi an, a? 
Ma ko oe alo no. 

« Kci olohia. A calm and tranquil sea. This expression lias 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." 

"Makani hanai-loJi. A wind so gentle as not to prevent the b^che de mer (loll), 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. 

*" Kauwd ke aloha i na Ichua 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 num- 
ber of lehua flowers to suffice for a wreath, apd to bind them securely to the fillet that 
made them a garland was a work demanding not only artistic skill but time and patience. 
If a weary traveler, halting at Kaana. employe<l 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." 

207 



208 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

[ Translation 1 

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 wreatlis from Kaana. 
I'm blest in your love that reigns here; 
It siiealvs 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. 

The platitudes of mere seiitimentalism, when put into cohi print, 
are not stimulating to the imagination; moods and states of feeling 
often approaching the morbid, their oral expression needs the reen- 
forcement of voice, tone, countenance, the whole attitude. They are 
for this reason most difficult of translation and when rendered liter- 
ally into a foreign speech often become meaningless. The figures 
employed also, like the watergourds and wine-skins of past genera- 
tions and of other peoples, no longer appeal to us as familiar objects, 
but require an effort of the imagination to make them intelligible and 
vivid to our mental vision. If the translator carries these figures of 
speech over into his new rendering, they will often demand an expla- 
nation on their own account, and will thus fail of their original 
intent; while if he clothes the thought in some new figure he takes 
the risk of failing to do justice to the intimate meaning of the origi- 
nal. The force of these remarks will become apparent from an 
analysis of the prominent figures of speech that occur in the mele. 

Mele 

He inoa no ka T-ani, 
No Nfthi-ena-ena ; 
A ka luna o wahine. 
Ho'i ka ena a ka nmkani; 
5 Xoho ka la'i i ka malino — 
Makani ua ha-ao; 
Ko ke au i hala, ea. 
Punawai o Manfi,^ 
Wai ola na ke kupa 
10 A ka ilio nand,, 

Hae, nanahu i ke kai; 
Ehu kai nflna ka pua, 
Iva pua o ka iliau. 



" Punatrai o Man^. A spring of water at Ilonuapo, Hawaii, which bubbled up at 
such u level that the ocean covered it at high tide. 



EMEBSONJ UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 209 

Ku oliai o Mapei)e," 
15 Ka moena we'u-we*u, 

I iilana ia e ke A*e, 

Ka nakii loloa. 

Hea mai o Kawelo-hea,^ 

Nawai la, e, ke kapuV 
20 No NaUi-^na-^na. 

Ena na pua i ka wai, 

Wai au o Holei. 

[Translation] 

A eulogy for the princess, 

For NAhi-6im-^iia a name I 

Chief among women ! 

She soothes the cold wind with her fianie — 
5 A peace that is mirrored in calm, 

A wind that sheddeth rain; 

A tide that flowed long ago; 

The water-spring of Manfl, 

Life-spring for the people, 
10 A fount where the lapping dog 

Barks at the incoming wave. 

Drifting si)ray on the bloom 

Of the sand-sprawling ili-an 

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 NAhi-Cma-ena ! 
20 The flowers glow in the ix>ol, 

The bathing pool of Holei ! 

This mele inoa — name-song or eulo^ — was composed in celebra- 
tion of the lamented princess, Nahienaena, who, before she was 
misled by evil influences, was a most attractive and promising 
character. She was the daughter of Keopuolani and younger sister 
of Kamehameha HI, and came to her untimely death in 1830. The 
name was compounded from the words n«, the, dhi\ fires, and 
enaena^ hot, a meaning which furnishes the motive to the mele. 

" Ka ohai o Mapcpe. A beautiful flowering shrub, also spoken of as ka ohai o PapVo- 
hull, said to have been brought from Kabiki by Namaka-o-kaha'i. 

" Kawelo-hea. A blowhole or spouting horn, also at Honuapo, through which the ocean 
at certain times sent up a coiumn 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. 

25352— Bull. 38—09 14 



XXVTT.— THE HULA KTELfil 

The hula hi-e-lei^ or M-le-lei^ 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." It was marked by 
strenuous bodily action, gestures w ith feet and hands, and that vigor- 
ous exercise of the pelvis and body termed ami, the chief feature of 
w^hich w^as a rotation of the pelvis in circles and ellipses, which is not 
to be regatded as an effort to portray sexual attitudes. It was a per- 
formance in which the whole company stood and chanted the mele 
without instrumental accompaniment. 

The sacrifice offered at the kuahu in connection with the produc- 
tion 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. Accord- 
ing to some authorities the offerings deemed appropriate for the sac- 
rifice that accompanied each hula varied with the hula, but w^as 
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 over- 
particular and were not only willing to put up with, but were w^ell 
pleased so long as the offering contained, good pork or fish and strong 

awa. 

Mele 

Kii piliki'l Ilanalei-Ieliiia,^ la; 
Kao'o ^" 'lima o ka naele,<' la ; 
Ka Pili-iki i ka Hua-inoa, la; • 
K ka manna o ke a 'a lewalewa ^ la. 
5 A lewa ka lioi)e o ko'n hoa, la, 



" Hawaiian Antiquities, by David Malo ; transiated l).v N. B. Emerson, A. M., M. I). 
Honolulu, the Hawaiian Gazette Company (Limited), 1003. 

^ Hanalei-lehua. A wilderness l)ack of Ilanalei valloy, Kauai, in whicli tho letiua tree- { 
al>ounds. Tlie features of this region .ire as above described. 

*" Kad'o. To bend down the shrubs and tussocks of grass to furnish solid footing in 
(Tossing swampy ground. 

^ Xa^'le. Boggy gi'ound ; a swamp, such as pitted the summit of Kauai's central moun- 
tain mass, Waifilefile. 

« A'a leicaletca. 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. 

210 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE XXII 




AWA^PUHI, A HAWAIIAN GINGER 
(ZJIVQIBER ZERUMQET) 



EMEUSONJ UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 211 

A ko-u ka b<)i)e o ke kolea, la — 

Na ii'i elua." 

Ki-ki'i ka ua i ka naua keia, la.* 

[Translation] 

Song 

Perilous, steep, is the climb to HanaleL 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! 
'Xeath this bank I crouch sheltered from rain. 

At first blush this mele seems to be the account of a perilous climb 
through that wild mountainous region that lies back of Hanalei, 
Kauai, a region of tangled woods, oozy steeps, fathomless bogs, nar- 
row ridges, and overhanging cliflFs that fall away into profound 
abysses, making such an excursion a most precarious adventure. This 
is what appears on the surface. Hawaiian poets, however, did not 
indulge in landscape-painting for its own sake ; as a rule, they had 
some ulterior end in view, and that end was the portrayal of some 
primal human passion, ambition, hate, jealousy, love, especially love. 
Guided by this principle, one asks what uncouth or roimintic love 
adventure this wild mountain climb symbolizes. All the Hawaiians 
whom the author has consulted on this question deny any hidden 
meaning to this mele. 

*» 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." 

^Ki-ki'i ka ua 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 
(he deceiver has stolen his former place. The language of the text seems a narrow foun- 
dation on which to base such an incident. A learned Hawaiian friend, however, finds it 
all implied in thiy passage. 



XXVIII.— THE HULA MtJ'U-MIT'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 Kahaku- 
loa, 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 ecstacy 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 : 

Auwe, a II wo, mo' kn'ii lima ! 
Auw^, anw^, mo' kii'ii lima ! 

[Translation] 

Alas, alas, maimed are my hands! 
Alas, alas, maimed ere my hands ! 

Wahine-oma'o, lacking spiritual sight, saw nothing of this; but 
Hiiaka, in downright pity and goodness of impulse, plucked a hala 
fruit from the string about her neck and threw it so that it fell 
before the poor creature, who eagerly seized it and with the stumps of 
her hands held it up to enjoy its odor. At the sight of the woman's 
pleasure Hiiaka sang: 

Le'a wale hoi ka wahine lima-lima ole, wawae ole, 
i] ha ana i kana i'a, ku'i-ku'i ana i kana opihi, 
Wa'u-wa'ii ana i kana limn, Mana-mana-ia-kalu-^a. 

[Translation] 

How pleased is the girl maimed of hand and foot. 
Groping for fish, iwunding shells of opihi, 
Kneading her moss, Mana-niana-ia-kaUi-ea ! 

The answer of the desolate creature, grateful for Hiiaka's recogni- 
tion and kind attention, was that pretty mele appropriated by hula 
folk as the wreath-song, already given (p. 56), which will bear repe- 
tition : 

Ke lei mai la o Ka-nla i ke kai, e-e! 
• Ke malamalama o Niihau, ua malie. 

A malie, pa ka Inn-wai. 
Ke inn mai la na liala o Naue i ke kai. 
5 No Naue ka hala, no Puna ka wahine, 
No ka lua no i Kilaueu, 
212 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 213 

[Translation] 

Kauln wreathes her hrow with the ocean; 
Niihaii shines forth in the calm. 
After the calm blows the Inii-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. 

The hula mit'^u-mnhi^ literally the dance of the maimecl, has long 
been out of vogue, so that the author has met with but one person, 
and he not a practitioner of the hula, who has witnessed its perform- 
ance. This was in Puna, Hawaii; the performance was by women 
only and was without instrumental accompaniment. The actors were 
seated in a half-reclining position, or kneeling. Their arms, as if in 
imitation of a maimed person, were bent at the elbows and doubled 
up, so that their gestures were made with the upper arms. The 
mele they cantillatod went as follows: 

Pii ana a-Ama," 

A-fi-ma kal nul, 

Kai pua-lena ; 

A-fima, pai-^-a,^ 
5 Naholo i ka laupapa. 

Popo'i, i)opo'i, ix)po'i ! 

Pii mai pipiiM,*^ alealea ; 

Noho i ka malna kai 

0-ri,<^ 0-1 kela. 
10 Ai ka limu akaha-kaha ; ^ 

Ku e, Kahikl, i ke kal nni ! 

I ke kai pualena a Kane! 

A ke Akua o ka Uia, 

ra hiki i kai! 
15 Ai humu-humu, 

E lau, e lau e, 

Ka opihi ^ koele ! 

Pa i uka, pa i kai, 

Kahi a ke Akua i pe*e ai. 



• A-dma. An edible black crab. When the surf is high it climbs' up on the rocks. 

^ Pai-6-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. 

o Pipipi. 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. 

<* 0-u. A variety of eel that lurks in holes ; it is wont to keep its head lifted. The 
o-V (same verse) is an eel that snakes about in the shallow water or on the sand at 
the edge of the water. 

• Akahakaha. A variety of moss. If one ate of this as he gathered it, the ocean at once 
became tempestuous. 

f 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. KoCle was a term applied to the opihi that lives well under water, and there- 
fore are delicate eating, .\nother meaning given to the word koele — opihi koele, line 
17 — is "heaped up." 



214 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

20 IV'e oe a imlo loa ; 

Ua imlo na Pele. 

E hiia'i e, hiia'l e, hua'i, 

O Kii ka uiabii niii akea ! * 

Iho i kai o ka Milo-holu ; ^ 
25 Alia 11 mehana i ka wai o ko 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 T'a iioa no Manamana-la-kalu-('»-a, 

Puili kua, puili alo; 

Holo i kal, holo 1 uka, 

Holo i ka lua o Pele — 

He Akua at pohaku no Puna. 
35 O Pi,<^ o Pa,^ uhlnl mai aha, 

O Pele 1 ka lua. 

A noal 

[Translation! 

Black crabs are climbing, 

Crabs from the ^reat sea, * 

Sea that is darkling. 

Black crabs and gray crabs 
5 Scuttle o'er the reef -pi ate. 

Billows are tumbling and lashing, 

Beating and surging nigh. 

Seashells are crawling up; 

And lurking In holes 
10 Are the eels o-ti and o-f. 

But taste the moss ak&hakdha, 

Kahiki ! how the sea rages I 

The wild sea of Kane! 

The pit-god has come to the ocean, 
15 All consuming, devouring 

By heaps the delicate shellfish ! 

lushing 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 I 

Now down to the grove Milo-holu ; 

Bathe in waters warmed by the goddess. 
25 Behold, they burn, behold, they burn ! 

« 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 ordi- 
nary phrase. 

^ Milo-h6lu. A grove of mllo trees that stood, as some affirm, about that natural basin 
of warm water in Puna, which the Hawaiians called Wai-wrla-wela. 

^ 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. 



EMEiiso.N] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 215 

Tbe Hivs of tlii' pKklcss bum I 

Now for tilt* dance, the dance I 

Brinj; out the dance made public 

By Mfiua-mrina-ia-kdlu-^-a. 
30 Turn about back, turn about face; 

Advance toward the pea ; 

Advance toward the hind. 

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 ! 

The imagery and language of this mele mark the hula to which it 
belonged as a performance of strength. 



XXTX.— THE HULA KOLANI 

For the purpose of this book the rating of any \'ariety 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. Judged 
in 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 — olohe — 
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 instru- 
mental accompaniment. The fact that this hula w^as among the num- 
ber chosen for presentation before the king (Kamehameha III) while 
on a tour of Oahu in the 3^ear 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 w^hen performed for the 
king's entertainment at Waimanalo was the following : 

He na la, lie ua, 

He ua pi'i mai ; 

Xoe-noe ha Ian, • 

Halaii loa o Lono. 
5 O lono oe; 

Pa-S-a na pali 

I ka hana a Ikuwjl — 

Poba ko-ele-ele. 

A Welehu ka mal^ma, 
10 Xolio i Makain : 

Li'i-li'i ka hana. 

Ala a e'^-u. 

He eu ia no ka la hiki. 

Hiki mai ka Lani, 
15 Nauwenwe ka honua, 

Ka hana a ke ola'i nni : 

Moe pono ole ko'n po — 

Na niho ai kalakala, 

Ka hana a ka Niuhi 
20 A man i ke kai loa. 

He loa o ka hiki'na. 

A ua noa, a na noa. 

216 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 217 

[Translation! 

Lo, the rain, the rain ! 

The rain is approaching; 

The dance-hall is murliy, 

The great hall of T-.ono. 
5 Listen ! its mountain walls 

Are stunned with the clatter, 

As when in October, 

Heaven's thunderbolts shatter. 

Then follows Welehu, 
30 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 fo<l I 
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 ! 

If the author of this Hawaiian idyl sought to adapt its descriptive 
imagery to the features of any particular landscape, it would almost 
seem as if he had in view the very region in which Kauikeaouli 
found himself in the year 1847 as he listened to the mele of this 
unknown Hawaiian Theocritus. Under the spell of this poem, one 
is transported to the amphitheater of Mauna-wili, a valley separated 
from Waimanalo only by a rampart of hills. At one's back are the 
abrupt walls of Konahuanui; at the right, and encroaching so as 
almost to shut in the front, stands the knife-edge of Olomana; to 
the left range the furzy hills of Ulamawao; while directly to the 
front, looking north, winds the green valley, whose waters, before 
reaching the ocean, spread out into the fish-ponds and duck swamps 
of Kailua. It would seem as if this must have been the very picture 
the idyllic poet had in mind. This smiling, yet rock-walled, amphi- 
theater was the. vast dance-hall of Lono — Halau loa o Lono (verse 
4) — whose walls were deafened, stiuined {pa-d-a^ verse 6), by the 
tumult and uproar of the multitude that always followed in the 
wake of a king, a multitude whose night-long revels banished sleep : 
Moe pono die ko^u po (verse 17). The poet seems to be thinking of 
this same hungry multitude in verse 18, Na niho ai kalakala^ literally . 
the teeth that tear the food; also when he speaks of the Niuhi (verse 
19), a mythical shark, the glow of whose eyes was said to be visible 
for a great distance in the ocean, A mau i ke kai loa (verse 20). 



218 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 38 

Ikwwd^ Welehn^ Makairi (verses 7, 9, and 10). These were months 
in tlie Hawaiian year corresponding to a part of September, October 
and November, and a part of December. The Hawaiian year began 
when the Pleiades (J/akalPi) rose at sunset (about November 20), 
and was divided into twelve lunar months of twenty-nine or thirty 
days each. The names of the months differed somewhat in the 
different parts of the group. The month Ikuwd is said to have been 
so named from its being the season of thunderstorms. This does not 
of itself settle the time of its occurrence, for the reason that in Hawaii 
the procession of the seasons and the phenomena of weather follow 
no definite order; that is, though electrical storms occur, there is 
no definite season of thunderstorms. 

Maka-UH (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 
sj^ecial religious observances. Allusion is made to this avoidance of 
toil in the words LViliH ka liana (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, lie loa o ka hikVna (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. 



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 koleaJ^ 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 with- 
out stint, arms, heads, and bodies moving in a fashion that seemed to 
imitate in a far-oflF 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 ! ^ 

I alia mai nei? 

Ku-nou <^ mai nei. 

E aha kalioii? 
5 E ai kakou.** 

Nohea ka ai?^ 

No Kahiki mal.^ 

Hiki mai ka Lani,^ 

Olina Hawaii, 
10 Mala'ela'e ke ala, 

Nou, e ka I^ani. 

Puili pu ke aloha, 

Pill me ka'u manu.^ 

Ka piiana a ka moe? 
15 Moe oe a hoolana 



*The plover. 

* Kolea kai piha. The kolea Is a feeder along the shore, his range limited to a narrower 
strip as the tide rises. The snore was one of the methods used by the Hawailans 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. 

<' 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. 

^ E ai kakou. Literally, let us eat. While this figure of speech often has a sensual 
meaning, it does not necessarily Imply grossness. Hawaiian llteralness and narrowness 
of vocabulary Is not to be strained to the overthrow of poetical sentiment. 

"To the question Nohea ka aif, whence the foodV that is, the bird, the poet answers. 
No Kahiki mai, from Kahlkl, 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. Land, liter- 
ally, the heaven-born, with the consummation of the love. Exactly what this connection 
is no one can say. 

f In the expression PiU me ka'u manu the poet returns to his figure of si bird as rep- 
resenting a loved one. 

219 



220 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Ka bali'a i liiki mai ; 
Ooe pii me a'n 
Noho im i ka wai aliali. 
Hai'iia ia ka pauna. 
20 O ka hua o ke kolea, aia i Kahiki.« 
Hiki mai kou aloha, mae'ele an. 

[Translation] 

A plover at the full of the sea — 

What, pray, is it saying to ihe? 

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, 
30 Stumble-blocks cleared from the way — 

Fit rule of the king's highway. 

I^et 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. 

The plover — kolea — is a wayfarer in Hawaii; its nest-home is in 
distant lands, Kahiki. The Hawaiian poet finds in all this some- 
thing that reminds him of the spirit of love. 

'^ 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. 



XXXI.— THE HULA MAN6 

The hula mano, shark-dance, as its name signifies, was a perform- 
ance 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 posi- 
tion, 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 
Dcedalm) in 1792. 

Mele 

Anwe! pan au i ka niauo iiui, e! 
Lala-kea* iiiho pa-kolu. 
l*au ka papa-kii o I^>ijo ^ 
I ka ai ia e ka man6 uui, 
5 () Niuhi niaka ahi, 
Olapa i ke kai Upo. 
Ahu e! au-we! 
A piia ka will-wili, 
A nanahu ka niano,*^ 



" Lala-kca. This proper name, as it seems once to liavo been, has now become rather 
the designation of a whole class of man-eatlngr 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). 

^ Papa-ku Lono. This was one of the underlying strata of the earth that must be 
passed before reaching Milu, the hades of the Hawaiians. The cosmogony of the south- 
ern 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 Uaumia- 
tiketike ; * * * the tenth was Meto, or Ameto, or Aweto, wherein the soul of man 
found utter extinction." (The Maori-I'olynesian Comparative Dictionary, by Edward 
Tregear, F. R. G. S., etc., Wellington, New Zealand, 1891.) 

• <* Verses 8 and 9 are from an old proverb which the Hawaiians put into the following 
quatrain : 

A pua ka wiliwili, 

A nnnahu ka man6 ; 

A pua ka wahine u'i, 

A nanahu ke kanawai. 

[Translation] 
When flowers the wiliwili. 
Then bites the shark ; 
When flowers a young woman. 
Then bites the law. 
The people came to take this old saw seriously and literally, and during the season 
when the wiliwili (lOrythrina 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. 

221 



222 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. :58 

10 Aawe ! pau au i ka uiaiio nui ! 
Kai 11 li, kai ele, 
Kai i»oiK)lohua o Kane. 
A lealea au i ka'u hula, 
l*au au i ka nian6 nui I 

[Translation] 

8ong 

Alas! I am seized by the shark, great shark! 
Lala-kea with triple-banked teeth. 
The stratum of Lono is gone, 
Tom up by the monster shark, 
5 Niuhi with fiei*y eyes, 

That flamed in the deep blue sea. 
Alas! and alas! 
When flowers the wili-will tree. 
That is the time when the shark-god bites. 
30 Alas! I am seized by the huge shark! 
O blue sea, O dark sea. 
Foam-mottled sea of Kane I 
What pleasure I took in my dancing! 
Alas ! now consumed by the monster shark ! 

Wlio would imagine that a Hawaiian would ever picture the god 
of love as a shark? As a bird, yes; but as a shark! What a light 
this fierce idyl casts on the imagination of the people of ancient 
Hawaii ! 



XXXTT.— THE HULA TLlO 

The do^ took his part and played his enthusiastic role in the 
domestic life of every Hawaiian. He did not starve in a fool's para- 
dise, a neglected object of man's superstitious regard, as in Constan- 
tinople: 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 fit- 
ting that the Hawaiian poet should celebrate the dog and his alto- 
gether virtuous and altruistic services to mankind. The hula iVw 
may be considered as part of Hawaii's tribute to man's most faithful 
friend, the dog. 

The hula ilio was a classic performance that demanded of the act- 
ors much physical stir; they shifted their position, now sitting, now 
standing; they moved from place to place; indulged in many ges- 
tures, sometimes as if imitating the motions of the dog. This hula 
has long been out of commission. Like the two animal-hulas pre- 
viously 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 couching disturbed the 
])rayers and rituals of King Liloa and his priests, Kane himself be- 
ing the chief offender by his blowing on the conch-shell Kihapii, 
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.) 

MeJc 

Kn o, nan A e! 
Makole« o Kn ! 
Hoolei ia ka lei,& 
I lei no Puainia-lenalena, 
n He lei hinano no Kaliili,'' 
He wehiwehi no Xiho-kfL^* 



" ilakole. Red-eyed ; ophthalmic. 

^The wreath, lei, is not for the .?od, Init for the dojr Piiapna-lenalena. the one who 
ill the story recovered the stolen conch, Kiha-pu (verse 20), with which god Kane 
made night hideous and disturbed the repose of pious King Liloa {Moe ole ka po o ke aliif 
verse 19). 

'■ KaJiili. Said to be the foster mother of Puapua-lenalena. 

** MJio-kii. Literally an upright tooth, was the name of the hill on which lived the 
old couple who were the foster parents of the dog. 

223 



224 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Iblll.38 

Kaauini ka laui,<' uwe ka liouua; 

A aoa aku oe; 

Lohe o Hiwji-uli,^ 
10 Ka milimili a ka lani. 

Noho opua i ka maldmalama 

Mfilama ia ka iim.^ 

He hano-wai no Kilioe,** 

Wahine noho pali o Haena. 
15 Enaena na ahi o Kilaueij/ 

Ka haku pali o Kaniolioalii/ 

A noho i Walpi'o, 

Ka pali kapu a Kane. 

Moe ole ka po o ke alii, 
20 Ke kani man o Kiha-p(i. 

I'kiuki, uluhua ke alii : 

Hoouna ka elele ; ^ 

Loaa i Kauai o Mftno, 

Kupnen a Wai-uli me Kahili ; 
25 A ao aku oe, aoa,^ aoa a aoa. 

Hana e o Kauji-hoa,' 

Ka niea fii o Hana lei, 

Hu*e'a kaua, moe i ke awakea. 



'^ Kuanini ka lani, etc. Portents by which heaven and earth expressed their ap- 
preciation of the birth of a new prodigy, the dog Puapua-lenalena. 

^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 blaclc lava ; hiwa, black, was 
ji sacred color. The term uH has reference to its verdancy. 

<" Ipu. Wai-uli, the foster father of the dog, while fishing in a mountain broolc, 
brought up a pebble on his hook ; his wife, who was childless and yearned for offspring, 
liept 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. 

*• Kilide. A sorceress who lived at Ha(5na, Kauai, on the steep cliffs that were 
inaccessible to human foot. 

« Ena-ena na ahi o Kilauea. " Hot are the fires of Kilauca." 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. 

f 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. 

' Hoouna ka elele. According to one story Liloa dispatched a messenger to bring 
Puapua-lenalena and his master to Walpi'o to aid him in regaining possession of Kiha-pd. 

* A ao aku oe, aoa ♦ ♦ ♦ . This indicated the dog's assent. Puapua-lenalena under- 
stood 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. 

* 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 Al-kanaka. Kauahoa's answer *to this proposi- 
tion 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. 



DMBRsoN] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 225 

Kapae ke kaua o ka hoahanau ! <» 
30 Hookahi no pua o ka ol ; 

Awili pu me ke kaio*e.^ 

I lei no Puapua-lenalena. 

O ku'u luhi ua hiki iho la, 

Ka nioi o Paka'a-lana.*' 
35 A lana ka manao, hakuko'i 'loko, 

Ka hae man ana a Piiapua-lenalena, 

A hiki i Kumu-kahi,^ 

Kahi au i noho ai, 

A hiki iho la ka elele, 
40 Inu i ka awa kau-laau o Puna.^ 

Aoa, he, he, hene! 

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 dis- 
graceful. 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 crea- 
tions 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 en- 
chantment 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-kti. 

'* 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. 

^Kaio'e. Said to be a choice and beautiful flower found on Kauai. It is not described 
by Hillebrand. 

*> Ka nioi o Paka'a-lana. The doorsill of the temple, hdau, of Paka'a-lana was made 
of the exceedingly hard wood nioi. It was to this temple that Puapua-lenalena brought 
the conch Kiha-pH when he had stolen (recovered) It from god Kane. 

«* Qumukahi. See note o on p. 197. 

• 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. 

25352— Bull. 38—09 15 



226 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

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 
15 Touch not Kamoho-alii's cliff. 

Your travel reaches Waipi'o, 

The sacred cliff of god Kane. 

Sleep fied the bed of the king 

At the din of the conch Kiha-pti. 
20 The king was tormented, depressed; 

His messenger sped on his way; 

Found help from Kauai of M&no — 

The marvelous foster child. 

By Waiuli, Kahuli, upreared; 
26 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! 

The problem to be solved by the translator of this peculiar mele 
is a difficult one. It involves a constant readjustment of the mental 
standpoint to meet the poet's vagrant fancy, which to us seems to oc- 
cupy no consistent point of view. If this difficulty arises from the 
author's own lack of insight, he can at least absolve himself from the 
charge of negligence and lack of effort to discover the standpoint 
that shall give unity to the whole composition ; and can console him- 
self with the reflection that no native Hawaiian scholar with whom 
he has conferred has been able to give a key to the solution of this 
problem. In truth, the native Hawaiian scholars of to-day do not 
appreciate as we do the necessity of holding fast to one viewpoint. 
They seem to be willing to accept with gusto any production of their 
old-time singers, though they may not be able to explain them, and 
though to us, in whose hearts the songs of the masters ever make 
music, they may seem empty riddles. , 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 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 neces- 
sary 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 vari- 
ants, especially where, as in this case, the adventures of the hero oc- 
curred 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 tnast. 
The Masthead watch of a ship was the last 
To see the wild herd careering past. 

Or such a combination as this : 

He was a mere flat. 
Yet flattered the girls. 

Such artificial productions as these give us but a momentary in- 
tellectual entertainment. While the intellectual element in them was 
not lacking with the Hawaiians, the predominant feeling, no doubt, 
was a sensuous delight coming from the repetition of a full-throated 
vowel-combination. 



XXXIII;— THE HULA PUA'A 

The hula jmcCa rounds out th^ 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-hcHa. 

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 con- 
nection 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 : 

on 

Ko'l maka nui,^ 
Ike ia na pae mokii, 
Na moku o Mala-la-wahi,* 
Ka nobo a Ka-maulu-a-niho, 
5 Kupuna o Kama-pua'a. 

^ KoH 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 ot 
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. 

^ MaUtrla-toalu. 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 
icalu (eight) as a reference to Kama-pua'a's ei^ht eyes, 

228 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 229 

Ike ia ka bono a Pii-lani ; « 

Ku ka pa6a 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 — ^ 

Hina ka opua, kau i ke olewa, 

Ke ao pua'a <^ maalo i Haupu. 

Haku'i ku'u manao e hoi <* i Kahiki ; 
15 Pau ole ka'u hoohihi ia Hale-ma'u-ma'u,« 

I ka pali kapu a Ka-moho-alii. f • 

Kela kualiiwi 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.fi' 

Ka hana ia a ke Ko'i maka nui, 
25 Ike ia na pae moku. 

He hiapo^ au na Olopana, 

He hi'i-alo na Ku-ula, 

Ka mea nana na haka-moa; 



'^ PiH'lani. A king of Maui, father-in-law to Uml, the son of Liloa. 

^ Hina. There were several Hinas in Hawaiian mythology and tradition. Olopana, the 
son of Kamaulu-a-niho (Fomander gives this name as Ka-maunu-a-nlho) , 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. 

^ Ao pua'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." 

^ HoH. To return. This argues that, if Kama-pua'a was not originally from Kahiki, 
he had at least visited there. 

* Hale-ma'u-ma'u. This was an ancient lava-cone which until within a few years con- 
tinued to be the most famous fire-lake in the caldera of Kilauea. It was so called, prob- 
ably, 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. 

f Kamoho-aWi. 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 Mawl 
descended into this region and stole away the sun that his mother Hina might have the 
benefit of its heat in drying her tapas. 

« 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. 

^ 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 ofllered up on the 
altar as a sacrifice. 



280 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Nobo i ka uka o Ka-liu-wa'a ; « 
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 KoM maka nui, ike ia na pae opuaa. 

A pepelu, a pepelu, a pepelu 
. Ko ia la huelo ! pill i ka lemu ! 

Hu! hu! hu! hu! , 

Ka-haku-ma'a-lani ^ kou inoa ! 
40 A e o mai oe, e Kane-hoa-lani. 

Ua noa. 

[Translation] 
8ong 

Ax of broadest edge I'm bigbt ; 

Tbe island groups I've visited. 

Islands of Mala-la-walu, 

Seat of Ka-maulu-a-nibo, 
5 Grandam of Kama, tbe swine-god. 

I bave seen Pi'i-lanl's glory, 

Wbose fame spreads over tbe islands. 

Enamored was I of Pele; 

Her beauty holds court at tbe flre-i)it, 
30 Given to ravage tbe plains of Puna. 

Mischievous son of Ku, and of Hina, 

Wbose cloud-bloom bangs in ether, 

Tbe pig-sbai)ed cloud that shadows Ilaupu. 

An impulse comes to return to Kahiki — 
15 Tbe chains of the pit still gall me. 

The tabu cliff of Ka-moho-alii, 

Tbe mount that Is ever ablaze. 

I thought to have domiciled with her; 

Was driven away by mere shame — 
20 The shameful abuse of tbe goddess ! 

Go thou, go I — a truce to the shame. 

It was your manners that shamed me. 

Free to you was tbe house we lived in. 

These were tbe deeds of Broad-edged-Ax, 
25 Who has seen tbe whole group of Islands. 

01opana*s firstborn am I, 

Nursed in the arms of Ku-ula ; 



« 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 fiutings. The Hawaiians call these wa'a from then- 
resemblance to the hollow of a Hawaiian canoe. This feat of the hog-god compelled 
reco^ition 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. 

2» Ka-haku-ma'a-lani. A name evidently applied to Kama-pua'a. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 231 

Hers were the roosts for the gamecocks. 

The wilds of Ka-liu-wa'a my home, 
30 That too my craft back to Kahlki ; 

This my farewell to Hawaii, 

Land of the God's immigration. 

Strangers we came to Hawaii J 

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, uflP! 
40 What! Ka-haku-ma'a-lani your name! 

Answer from heaven, oh Kane! 

My song it is done! 

If one can trust the statement of the Hawaiian who communicated 
the above mele, it represents only a portion of the whole composition, 
the first canto — if we may so term it — ^having dropped into the limbo 
of f orgetf ulness. The author's study of the mele lends no countenance 
to such a view. Like all Hawaiian poetry, this mele wastes no time 
with introductory flourishes ; it plunges at once in medias res. 

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 di^osition 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 un- 
filial 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 tpok 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 fled in terror and discomfiture, not halting until he 



232 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

had put the width of many islands and ocean channels between him- 
self 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 fa- 
miliar 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 for- 
est, 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 ? ^ 

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 graphic- 
ally all these features appeal to the imagination in support of the 
comparison which likens him to a tidal wave. 

« '* The Hawaiian tradition of Pele, tlie dread goddess of tlie 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 princi- 
pal element worthy of adoration." (Abraham Fomander, The Polynesian Itace, pp. 51, 52, 
Trubner & Co., London.) 



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 en- 
ables one to bend into shape a crooked stick. The word kapuahi^ fire- 
place, 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 perform- 
ance, so far as he can learn, on the public stage. 

Mele 



Ku oe ko'u wahi ohelo nel la, auwe, auwel 
Maka'u au i kau mea nut wali-wali, wall-wall ! 
Ke hoolewa nei, a lewa la, a lewa nei ! 
Mlnomino, enaena ka la la kapuahl, kapuahl! 
Nenea 1 ka la'l o Kona, o Kona, a o Kona ! 
Pobu mallno 1 ke kal hawana-wana, hawana-wana ! 
He makau na ka lawaia nui, a nul e, a nui la I 
Ke 0-6 nel ke aho o ka Ipu-holoholona, holoholona ! 

233 



234 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 33 

Nand. i ka opua makai e, makai la! 
10 Maikai ka hana a Mali'o e, a Mali'o la ! 
Kohu pono ka inu ana 1 ka wai, a wai e! 
Auwe, ku oe ko'u wahi olielo nei la, obelo nei la ! 

2 

Ki^ lele, kl-d lele, ki-6 lele, e ! 

Ke mapu mal nei ke ala, ke ala e! 
15 Ua malihini ka hale, ua hiki la, ua hiki e! 

Ho*i paoa i ka uka o Manal-ula, ula la, ula e! 

Maanel oe, e ka makemake e noho malie, ma-li-e ! 

Ka pa kolonahe o ka Unulau mabope, 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 bele oe a manao mat i ka lubi mua, a i-mua ! 

moe hewa na iwi i ke alanui, ala-nui. 
. 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 man6 nui, man nui! 
Au-we ! pau au i ka m&u6 nui, nian6 nui ! 

[Translation] 

Song 

1 

Touched, thou art touched by my gesture, I fe^r, I fear. 

1 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 whisi>ering sea. 
Lo, the book 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. Hearts desire, you should tarry, 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! 

This is not the first time that a Hawaiian poet has figured love by 
the monster shark. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE XXIII 




HINANO HALA 

MALE. FLOWER OF THE PANDAi^US ODQFIATISSIMU3 




XXXV.— THE HULA KH^U 

The hula ktlv 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 unfrequently 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 impro- 
prieties were not witnessed. 

The game of kilu was played in an open matted space that lay be- 
tween 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 ob- 
ject 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, such as was customary in the democratic 

235 



236 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

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 ex- 
pression 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. Authorises differ as to whether any 
musical instrument was used as an accompaniment. From an allu- 
sion 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 flower- 
bedecked 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 en- 
tirely to close our eyes. During the stay at Lahaina of Kame- 
hameha, called the Great — whom an informant in this matter always 
calls "the murderer," in protest against the treacherous assassina- 
tion 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 man of rank named Ka'i-ama. He was 



EMERSON] UNWBITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 287 

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'iama 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 : 

Melc 

Pua ehu kamal^na « ka uka' o Kapa'a ; 
Luhi-ehu Iho la ^ ka pua i Maile-htina ; 
Hele a ha ka iwi ^^ a ke Koolau, 
Ke pua mai 1 ka maka o ka nahelehele, 
5 I hali hoo-muli,<^ hoohalana i Wailua. 
Pa kahea a Koolau-wahine, 
O Pua-ke'i, e-e-e-e! 
He pua laukona ^ ka moe e aloli' ai ; 
O ia moe la, e kaulele hou/ 
10 No ka po 1 hala aku aku nei. 

Hoiho kaua a eloelo, e ka hoa, e, 
A hookahi! 

[Translation] 

/Sfon/7 

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-htina ; 
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 Lauk6na beguiles man to love, 
10 Can bring back the taste of joys once our own, 

"Pmo ehu kamaUna (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 kamal^na is a mountain shrub having a 
yellow flower. 

^ 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 worlj. 

<> Hele a ha ka iwi. An exaggerated figure of speech, referring to the exertions of the 
men at their paddles (ha, to strain). 

<* / hali hoomu. This refers in a fine spirit of exaggeration to the regular motions of 
the paddlers. 

« Pua laukona. A kind of sugar-cane which was prescribed and used by the Icahunas as 
an aphrodisiac. 

f Kaulele hou. To experience, or to enjoy, again. 



288 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Make real again the hours that are flown. 

Turn hither, mine own, let's drench us with love — 

Just for one night ! 

The unchivalrous indiscretion of the youth in publishing the secrei 
of his amour elicited from Kamehameha only the sarcastic remark* 
"• Couldn't he eat his food and keep his mouth shut?" The lady her- 
self took the same view of his action. There was no evasion in her 
reply ; her only reproach was for his childishness in blabbing. 

Mele 

KfilakAlaihi, kaha ^ ka I^a ma ke kua o Lehua ; 
Lulana iho la ka pihe a ke Akua ; ^ 
Ea mai ka Unulau ^ o Halali'i ; 
I^we ke Koolau-wahine <^ i ka hoa la, lilo; 
5 Hao ka Mikioi ^ i ke kai o T^hua : 

Puwa-i'a na hoa-makani f 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 nua iho; 
10 PelA 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 api)ear ; 
He pours out his woe ; I've seen it, I know ; 
10 That's the way with a boy-friend, heigh-ho ! 

The art of translating from the Hawaiian into the English tongiie 
consists largely in a fitting substitution of generic for specific terms. 
The Hawaiian, for instance, had at command scores of specific names 
for the same wind, or for the local modifications that were inflicted 



"The picture of the sun declining, kaha, to the west. Its reflected light-track, kala 
kalaihi, furrowing the ocean with glory, may he taken to be figurative of the loved 
and beautiful woman, Kalola, speeding on her westward canoe-flight. 

''Akua. Literally a god, must stand for the king. 

« Unulau. A special name for the trade-wind. 

^ Koolau-wahine. Likewise another name for the trade-wind, here represented as carry- 
ing off the (man's) companion. 

« Mikioi. An impetuous, gusty wind is represented as lashing the ocean at Lehua, thus 
picturing the emotional stir attending Kalola's departure. 

f 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. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 239 

upon it by the features of the landscape. One might almost say that 
every cape and headland imposed a new nomenclature upon the 
breeze whose direction it influenced. He rarely contented himself 
with using a broad and comprehensive term when he could match 
the situation with a special form. 

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. 

Melc 

Ula Kala'e-loa ^ i ka lepo a ka makani ; 
Hoonu'anu'a na pua i Kalama-ula, 
He hpa i ka la'i a ka manu — ^ 
Manu ai ia 1 ka hoa laukona. 
5 I keke lau-au'a la e ka moe; 
E kuhi ana ia he kanaka e. 
Oau no keia mai Inna a lalo; 
Hund. ke aloha, pe'e maloko. 
Ike *a 1 ka uwe ana Iho. 
10 Peia ka hoa kamalU— 
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. 

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 side at which he aims, the 

" Kala'e-loa. The full name of the place on Molokai now known as Kala'e. 

^ La'i a ka manu. Some claim this to be a proper name, LaH-a-ka-manu, that of a plac; 
near Kala'e. However that may be the poet evidently uses the phrase here In its etymo- 
logical sense. 



240 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

audience, who have kept silence till now, break forth in applause, and 
his tally-keeper proclaims his success in boastful fashion; 

on 

A tiweuw^ ke k6'e a ke kae; 
Puehuehu ka la, komo iuoino; 
Kakfa, kahe ka ua ilalo. 

[Translation] 

Now wriggles the worm to its goal ; 
A tousling; a hasty encounter; 
A grapple; down falls the rain. 

It is now the winner's right to cross over and claim his forfeit. 
The audience deals out applause or derision in unstinted measure ; 
the enthusiasm reaches fever-point when some one makes himself the 
champion of the game by bringing his score up to ten, the limit. The 
play is often kept up till morning, to be resumed the following night.<» 

Here also is a mele, which tradition reports to have been cantil- 
lated 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 aflfair Lohiau and Wahine- 
oma'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 

Ku'u hoa mai ka makani kuehu-kapa o Kalalau,^ 
Mai na pall ku'i * o Makua-iki, 
Ke lawe la i ka haka,** a lllo ! 
A lllo o-e, la ! 
5 Ku'u kane 1 ka uhu ka'i o Maka-pu'u, 
Huki iluna ka Lae-o-ka-laau ; ^ 
Ola pall makua-ole f olaila. 
Ohiohi ku ka pall o Ulamao, e-e ! 
A lllo oe, la ! 

" The account above given is largely based on David Malo's description of the game 
lillu. In his confessedly imperfect list of the hulas he does not mention the hula Icilu. 
This hula was, however, included in the list of hulas announced for performance in the 
programme of King Kalalcaua's coronation ceremonies. 

^ Ka-lalau (in the translation by the omission of the article kOj 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. 

« Pali ku'i. Ku'i means literally to jotn together, to splice or piece out. The cliffs 
tower one above another like the steps of a stairway. 

<* 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. 

« Lae-o-ka-laau. The southwest point of Mololcai, on which is a light-house. 

f Makua-ole. Literally fatherless, perhaps meaning remarkable, without peer. 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 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! 

This is but a fragment of the song which Hiiaka pours out in her 
efforts to calm the fateful storm which she saw piling up along the 
horizon. The situation was tragic. Hiiaka, daring fate, defying the 
dragons and monsters of the primeval world, had made the journey 
to Kauai, had siiatched away from death the life of Lohiau and with 
incredible self-denial was escorting the rare youth to the arms of her 
sister, whose jealousy she knew to be quick as the lightning, her ven- 
geance hot as the breath of the volcano, and now she saw this feather- 
head, with monstrous ingratitude, dallying with fate, calling down 
upon the whole party the doom she alone could appreciate, all for the 
smile of a siren whose charms attracted him for the moment; but, 
worst of all, her heart condemned her as a traitress — ^she loved him. 

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,** 
Ula ma'ema'e ke ahi a ke A'e-loa.*» 
Pohina iluna i ke ao makani, 
Naue pu no i ka ilikai o Makahaua-loa,<' 
5 Makemake i ka ua lihau.<* 

Aohe hana i koe a Ka-wai-loa ; ^ 
Noho a ka li'u-lfi 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.^ 



<» Kanaloa. One of the four great gods of the Hawaiiana, here represented as playing 
the part of Phoebus Apollo. 

^ A*e-loa. The name of a wind whose blowing was said to be favorable to the fisher- 
man in this region. 

'' Makahana-loa. A favorite fishing ground. The word ilikai ("skin of the sea") 
^aphically depicts the calm of the region. In the translation the name aforementioned 
has befen shortened to Kahana. 

<» Lihau. A gentle rain that was considered favorable to the work of the fisherman. 

* Korwai-loa. A division of Waialua, here seemingly used to mean the farm. 

f 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. 

25352--BuU. 38—09 ^16 



242 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Hina oe i ka Naulu,** noho pu me ka Inuwai.* 

Akahl no a pumehana ka hale, ua hiki oe : 

Ma'ema'e ka luna i Haupu.^ 

Upu'ka makemake e ike ia Ka-ala. 
15 He ala ka makemake e ike ia Lihu'e ; ^ 

Ku'u uka ia noho ia Halemano.^ 

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 ainaJ 

E kala oe a kala au a kala ia Ku, Ahuena.^ 

[Translation] 
Song 

Kanaloa tints heaven with a blush, 

'Tls 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 i§ the thought of Lihu'e, 

And our mountain retreat, Hale-mauo. 

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-6na. 

'^ Naulu. A wind. 

^ Inu-wai. A wind that dried up vegetation, here indicating thirst. 

" Haupu. A mountain on Kauai, sometimes visible on Oahu in clear weatlier. ( Sec 
note c, p. 229, on Haupu. 

^ TAhu'e. A beautiful and romantic region nestled, as the Hawalians say, " between 
the thighs of the mountain," Mount Kaala. 

* Hale-inano. Literally the multitude of houses ; a sylvan region bound to the south- 
western flank of the Konahuanul 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. 

f I'a ku 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. . , .. . ; 

9 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. . .. , .. •.; , • 



EMERSON] UNWKITTEN LITEKATURB OF HAWAII 243 

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 under 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 pa- 
thetic 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 

ku'u la pololi, 

5 A ola i kou aloha ; 

1 naM pu no i ka waimaka e uwe nei. 
E uwe kaiia, el 

t Translation! 

Hong 

Engulfed in 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. 

The Hawaiian thought it not undignified to express sympathy 
{aloha-ino) with tears. 



XXXVI.— THE HULA HOO-NA-NA 

The hula hoo-na-nd — 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 out- 
door 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 with- 
out sacrifice or religious ceremony. While thie 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 car- 
riage 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 infor- 
mant 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: 

A pili, a pili, 
A piU ka'u maiiu 
Ke kepau « o ka iilii-laaii. 
Poai a piiui, 
5 Noho ana i muli-wa'a ; * 

Hoomi'ii ka moniona a ke aUi. 
EU-eli <^ ke kapu ; ua noa. 
Noa.ia wai? 
Noa ia ka lani. 
10 Kau lilua,* kaohi ka maku'u 
E ai ana ka ai a ke alii ! 
Hoonu'u, hoonu'u hoonu'u 
I ka i'a a ke alii ! . 



« Kepdu. Gum, the bird-Iirao of the fowler, which was obtained from forest trees, but 
especially from the ulu, the breadfruit. 

"Muli-wa'a (muH, 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. Mulitrai 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. 

" EH-eli. A word that is found In ancient prayers to emphasize the word kapu or 
the word noa. . 

<* Lilua. To stand erect and act without the restraint usually prescribed in the presence 
of royalty. 

244 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAU 245 

[TrAnslatlon] 

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 kolUi — to wave 
or flutter, as a pennant — was a hula that was not at all times con- 
fined to the tabu restrictions of the halau. Like a truant schoolboy, 
it delighted to break loose from restraint and join the informal pleas- 
urings 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, smoth- 
ering 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 recrimina- 
tion. 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 deco- 
rated staffs, ever and anon indicating with a touch of the wand per- 
sons 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: 

on 

Kii na ka ipo * * * 
Mahele-hele i ka la o Kona ! « 
O Kona, kai a ke Akua.^ 
Elua la, hull ka Wai-opiia,^ 
5 Nehe i ke kula, 

Leha iluna o Wai-aloha.* 
Kani ka aka a ka ua i ka laan, 
Hoolaau ana i ke aloha ilaila. 
Pill la, a pili 1 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 ! 
Hui Koolau-wahine ^ o Pua-ke-I ! f 



'^ La Kona. A day of Kona, i. e., of fine weather. 

^ Kai a ke Akua. Sea of the gods, because calm. 

« Wai-opua. A wind which changed its direction after blowing for a few days from one 
quarter. 

^ Wai-aloha. The name of a hill. In the translation the author has followed its mean- 
ing ("water of love"). 

« Koolau-wahine. The name of a refreshing wind, often mentioned in Hawaiian poetry ; 
here used as a symbol of female affection. 

f 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. 

246 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATUItB OF HAWAII 247 

[Translation] 



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-1. 



XXXVIIT.— THE HULA O-NTU 

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 nujnber, 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 arid 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 inform- 
ant 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 poM nei ; u'fna la ! 
Kani 61e-ol6i, hau-walaau! 
Ke wawa Pu'u-hina-hina ; ^ 
Kani ka aka, he-hene na pali, 
5 Na pali o Ka-iwi-ku'i.* 

Hanohano, makana 1 ka Wai-opua.^ 
Malihini ka hale, ua hiki mal; 
Kani ka pahu a Lohiau, 
A Lohiau-ipo<* 1 Haena la. 
10 Enaena ke aloha, ke hiki mai; 

" Pu'u-hina-hina. A precipitous place on' the coast near Haena. 

^ Ka-iwi-ku'i. A high cliff against which the waves dash. 

'' Wai'Opua. The name of a pleasant breeze. 

^ Lohiau-ipo. The epithet. ipo, sweetheart, dear one, was often affixed to the nanae of 
Lohiau, in token, no doubt, of his being distinguished as the object of Pele's passionate 
regard. 

248 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAH 249 

Auau i ka wai a Kanaloa.<» 
Nana kaua ia Lima-huli,^ e. 
E hull oe a loaa pono 
Ea ia nei o-niu. 

[Translation] 

Song 

The rustle and hum of spinning top, 
Wild laughter and babel of sound — 
Hear the roar of the waves at Pu'urhina! 
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 Ix)hiau, 
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-hull, look! 
Now turn we and study the spinning — 
That trick we must catch to be winning. 

This fragment from antiquity, as the local coloring indicates, finds 
its setting at Haena, the home of the famous mythological Prince 
Lohiau, of whom Pele became enamored in her spirit journey. Study 
of the mele suggests the occasion to have been the feast that was given 
in celebration of Lohiau's restoration to life and health through the 
persevering incantations of Hiiaka, Pele's beloved sister. The feast 
was also Lohiau's farewell to his friends at Haena. At its conclusion 
Hiiaka started t\ ith her charge on the journey which ended with the 
tragic death of Lohiau at the brink of the volcano. Pele in her 
jealousy poured out her fire and consumed the man whom she had 
loved. 

« Kannloa. 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. 

^ Lima-huli. The name of a beautiful valley that lies back of Uaena. 



XXXIX.— THE HULA KU'I 

The account of the Hawaiian hulas would be incomplete if without 
mention of the hula kuH. This was an invention, or introduction, 
of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Its formal, public, ap- 
pearance dates from the coronation ceremonies of the late King Kala- 
kaua, 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 perform- 
ance by nonprofessionals at many an entertainment and festive gath- 
ering. Even the school-children took it up and might frequently be 
seen innocently footing its measures on the streets. (PL xxrsr.) 

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. 
3. 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 ad- 
vanced 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 po- 
sition, 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 cir- 
cular 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. 
250 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLCX3Y 



BULLETIN 38 PLATE XXIV 




LADY DANCING THE HULA KUM 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 251 

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 Delsartifin 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 nku-lele^ the taro-patch fiddle," 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 name- 
song (mele-inoa) . It ws^s 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 kaiia. 
ITa anu na pua o ka laina,^ 
Ka wahine noho anu o ke kula. 
5 A luna au a o Poli-ahu ; ^ 
Ahu wale kal a o Wai-lua. 
Lua-ole ka hana a ka makani, 
A ke KlH-ke'e** a o na pali, 
Pa Iho 1 ke kal 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 huMhu'i o ka uka, 



«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. 

* Na pua 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 re- 
quires a tropical Imagination to follow a Hawaiian poem. 

^ Poli-ahu. A place or region on Mauna-kea. 

^Kiu-ke'e. The name of a wind felt at Nawillwlll, 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 Ktl-a-Paka'a, they taxed 
the memories of raconteurs. 



252 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

15 Wai hone i ke kumu o ka pali, 

I malu i ka lau kui-kui.<> 

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 ola pua. 

f Translation] 

8ong 

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-k^'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 I 

My mouth is a-thirst for a draught 

Of the cold mountain- water, 
15 That plays at the foot of the cliflP, 

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 kok6 aku 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, 

ka u'i mapela la o Aina-hau; 
10 O ko'u hoa ia la e pill ai— 

1 hoa kaana 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 a la e hoene i kou poll. 

'^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 Sa- 
moan 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. 



EMBBSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 253 

[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! 

The story that might explain this modern lyric belongs to the gos- 
sip of half a century ago. The action hinges about one who is styled 
Pua Lanakila — literally Flower of Victory. Now there is no flower, 
indigenous or imported, known by this name to the Hawaiians. It is 
an allegorical invention of the poet. A study of the name and of its 
interpretation, Victory, at once suggested to me the probability that 
it was meant for the Princess Victoria Kamamalu. 

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. 



XL.— THE OLI 

The Hawaiian word mele included all forms of poetical composi- 
tion. 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 ambigu- 
ously into the territory that more properly belongs to the word oli. 
The oli was in strict sense the lyric utterance of the Hawaiiai^s. 

In its most familiar form the Hawaiians — ^many of whom pos- 
sessed 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 melfe 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 

254 



i 



BMBB80N] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 255 

Hawaiian pule often contains neither petition, nor entreaty, nor aspi- 
ration, as we measure such things. 

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 unconvention^al 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 emigrapts 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. 

OH 

Ka wai opua-makani o Wailua," 
I huUhia e ke kai ; 
Awahia ka lau hau, 
Ai p&la-ka-M, ka ai o Mak&'u-kiu. 
5 He kiu ka pua kukui, 

He elele hooholo na ke Koolau ; * 
Ke kipaku mai la i ka wa'a — ^ 
** E holo oe ! " 

Holo newa ka lau mala me ka pua hau, 
10 I pill 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, 
I^lau, hopu hewa i ka hoa kanaka ; * 



•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. 

*• Koolau. The name of a wind : stands for the messengers of the king, whose instruc- 
tions were to expel (kipaku, verse 7) and then to slay. 

<" Wa'a. Literally canoe ; stands for the woman herself. 

<* Hoa kandka. Human companion : is an allusion to the bundle of her husband's bonf^s 
which she carries with her, but which are torn away and lost in the flood. 



256 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

15 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,« e ! 

He ike moolelo na ke kuhi wale, 

Aole ma ka waha mai o k&naka. 
20 Hewa, pono ai la hoi au, e ka hoa; 

Nou ka ke aloha, 

I lua-ai-ele * al I o, i anei ; 

Ua kuewa i ke ala me ka wai-maka. 

Aohe wa, ua uku i kou hale — 
25 Hewa au, e! 

[Translation] 
8ong 

The wind-beaten stream of Wallua 

Is tossed into waves from the sea ; 

Salt-drenched are the leaves of the hau. 

The stalks of tlie taro all rotted— 
5 *Twa8 the crop of Maka'u-klu. 

The flowers of kukul 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 i)lucks 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! 

" Mo'o-mo'o-iki. A land nt Wnilua, Kauai. 

^ Lua-ai'€lc. To carry about with one a sorrow. 



XLI.— THE WATER OF KANE 

If one were asked what, to the English-speaking mind, consti- 
tutes 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 chap- 
ter. 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 ti-i, he ninau : 
E ti-i aku ana an ia oe, 
Aia i-Ma ka wai a Kane? 
Aia I ka hikina a ka La, 
5 Puka i Hae-hae;« 

Aia i-laila ka Wai a Kane. 

E t5-i aku' ana an ia oe, 
Aia i-hea ka Wai a Kane? 
Aia i Kau-lana-ka-la,& 
10 I ka pae opua i ke kai,^ 
Ea mai ana ma Nihoa,<^ 

• Hae-hae. Heaven's eastern gate ; the portal In the solid walls that supported the heav- 
enly dome, through which the sun entered In the morning. 

^ Kau-Uina-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 Hawaflans named 
the phenomenon Kau-lana-ka-la — the floating of the sun. Their fondness for personiflca- 
tion showed Itself in the final conversion of this phrase Into something like a proper name, 
which they applied to the locality of the phenomenon. 

« 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. 

^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. 

25352— Bull. 38—09 17 257 



258 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

Ma ka mole mai o Lehua; 
Aia Maila ka Wai a Kane. 

E ti-i aku ana an ia oe, 
15 Aia i-hea ka Wai a Kane? 

Aia i ke kua-hiwi, i ke kua-lono, 
I ke aw^wa, i ke kaha-wai ; 
Aia i-laila ka Wai a Kane. 

E ti-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 punoliu,« i ka ua-koko,* 

I ka alewa-lewa; 
25 Aia i-laila ka Wai a Kane. 

E t5-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, 
30 I ke ao pano-pano, 

I ke ao popolo-hua mea a Kane la, e ! 
Aia i-laila ka Wai a Kane. 

E ti-i aku ana au ia oe, 
Aia i-hea ka Wai a Kane? 
35 Aia i-lalo, i ka honua, i ka Wai hu, 
1 ka wai kau a Kane me Kanaloa — ^ 
He wai-puna, he wai e inu, 
He wai e mana, he wai e ola. 
E ola no, e-a! 

[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 Haehae; 
There is the water of Kane. 

A question I ask of you: 
Where is the water of Kane? 
Out there with the floating Sun, 

« Punoliu. A red luminous cloud, or a halo, regarded as an omen portending some sacred 
and important event. 

* Ua-koko. Literally bloody rain, a term applied to a rainbow when lying near the 
ground, or to a freshet-atream swollen with the red muddy water from the wash of the 
hillsides. These were important omens, claimed as marking the birth of tabu chiefs. 

" Wai kau a Kane me Kanaloa. Once when Kane and Kanaloa were journeying together 
Kanaloa complained of thirst. Kane thrust his staff into the pall near at hand, and out 
flowed a stream of. pure water that has continued to the present day. The place is at 
Keanae, Maui, 



EMEHSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 259 

10 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, 
i:r> 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 lit- 
erature 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 delimita- 
tion 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 semide- 
tached, outlying division of the Polynesian, with which it has much 
in common, the whole running back through the same lines of an- 
cestry to the people of Asia. There still lurk in the subliminal con- 
sciousness of the race, as it were, vague memories of things that long 
ago passed from sight and knowledge. Such, for instance, was the 
md^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 speech- 
center, 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 Ha- 
waiian word foli^ 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 Ha- 
waiian 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 ^iXo3: ra /iiXtf^ lync 
260 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 261 

poetry (Liddell and Scott). Again, take the Hawaiian word «'a, 
fish — Maori, ika; Malay, ikan; Java, iwa; Boutoii, ikani (Edward 
Tregear: The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary). Do not 
these words form a chain that links the Hawaiian form to the tx^s 
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 Ha- 
waiian 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 accom- 
plished 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 giv^ the superior race cause for self-gratulation. 

Another lesson — a corollary to the above — is the debt of recogni- 
tion 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 Con- 
queror 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. 



262 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 

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 noth- 
ing 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 Ha- 
waiians? 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 th^ altar of his gods; the Christian put to death 
with exquisite torture those who disagreed with him in points of doc- 
trine. 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 instruc- 
tion. 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 heathen- 
ism — 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 thoughts, to learn at first hand their emotions 



EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OP HAWAII 263 

toward the natural world, whether of admiration, awe, reverence, 
or whether their attitude was that of blank indifference and absorp- 
tion 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 an^ 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 ha^ been done, and is 
persisted in by people of the purest motives, as to the thoughts, emo- 
tions, and mental operations of the " salvage," 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 i)een quoted, were he living to- 
day, 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 pr^y, without the 
i-glide that follows, as in the first syllable of P^-le, or of m^-a, a 
thing; also the short sound of e in n^t, as in ^-ha, hurt, or in p^a, a 
sail. 

I {ee) has the long sound of i in p^que, or in poKce, as in i-li, skin, 
or in h^-la-h^-la, shame ; also the short sound of i in hell, as in H-hi, 
border, and in e-ki, small. 

O {oh) has the long sound of o in nc>te or in 6>ld, without the u- 
glide, as in M-a, long, or as in the first syllable of LJ-no; also a 
short sound, which approximates to that sometimes erroneously given 
to the vowel in c^at, as in p(?-po, rotten, or as in IJ-ko, a lake. 

1] {oo) has the long sound of u in r^le, as in hw-la, to dance; and 
a short sound approximating to that of u in fi^U, as in mi^-ku, 
cut off. 

Every Hawaiian syllable ends in a vowel. No attempt has been 
made to indicate these differences of vowel sound. The only diacrit- 
ical 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 a^, ai, ao^ au^ ei^ ia^ and ua a delicate ear 
will not fail to detect a coalescence of at least two sounds, thus prov- 
ing 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 Ha- 
waiian 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 TTai-a-lii-a (geographical name), and 'i^a-ha 
mouth. In the middle of a word, or after the first syllable, it 

266 



266 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BtJLL. : 



almost always has the sound of v (vay), as in he-^c?a (wrong), and 
in E-t^a (geographical name). In hi-wa-wk (awkward), the 
compound word ha-i^ai (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 la-na-ki-la (victorious) and as in ho-o-ko-lo- 
ko-lo (to try at law). 



Aha (&-ha) — a braided cord of sinet; 
an assembly ; a prayer or religious 
service (note a, p. 20). 

Ahaaina (a-ha-5.l-na) — a feast. 

Ai (ai, as in aisle) — vegetable food; to 
eat; an event in a game or contest 
(p. 93). 

Aird-lo (to eat in the presence of) — 
the persons privileged to eat at an 
alii*s table. 

Aiha'a (ai-ha'a) — a strained, bom- 
bastic, guttural tone of voice in re- 
citing a mele, in contrast to the style 
termed ko'irhonua (pp. 89, 90). 

Ailolo (ai-16-lo=to eat brains) — a 
critical, ceremonial sacrifice, the con- 
ditions 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 (al-na) — the land; a meal (of 
food). 

Alii (a-li'i) — a chief; a person of 
rank; a king. 

Aloha (a-16-ha) — good will; affection; 
love; a word of salutation. 

Ami (d-mi) — to bend; a bodily mo- 
tion used in the hula (note, p. 202). 

Anuenue (a-nti-e-nti-e) — a rainbow; a 
waterfall in Hilo (p. 61, verse 13). 

Ao (d-o) — dawn ; daytime ; the world ; 
a cloud (p. 196, verse 7). 

Aumakua (ati-ma-kti-a) — an ancestral 
god (p. 23). 

Awa (d-va) — bitter; sour; the sopo- 
rific root of the Piper methysticum 
(p. 130). 

Ekaha (e-kdha) — 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-6-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 (ha-ia) — a sin; a variety of the 
"screw-pine" (Pandanus odoratissl- 
mus, Hillebrand). Its drupe was 
used in decoration, its leaves were 
braided into mats, hats, bags, etc. 

Halapepe (hfi-la-p^-pe) — a tree used 
in decorating the kuahu (Dracaena 
aurea, Hillebrand) (p. 24). 

Halau (ha-lilu — 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 (ha-le) — ^a house. 

Hanai-kuah u ( ha-ndi-ku-^-hu — altar- 
feeder) — the daily renewal of the 
offerings laid on the kuahu; the 
officer who performed this work 
(p. 29). 

Hanohano (hd-no-hd-no) — shaving dig- 
nity and wealth. 

Hau (how) — a tree whose light, tough 
wood, strong fibrous bark, and muci- 
laginous flowers have many uses 
(Hibiscus tiliaceus). 

Haumea (Hau-me-a) — ^a mythological 
character, the same as Papa (note c, 
p. 126). 

Heiau (hei-ati) — a temple. 

Hiiaka (Hi'i-^-ka) — the youngest sis- 
ter of Pele (p. 186). 

Hilo (HMo) — 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 (h6-lo-kti) — a loose gown 
resembling a "Mother Hubbard," 
much worn by the women of Hawaii. 



EMEBSON] 



UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 



267 



Hoonoa (lio'o-n6-a) — to remove a 
tabu; to make ceremonially free 
(p. 126). 

Hooulu (ho'o-ti-lu)— to cause to 
grow; to inspire. (Verse 3, Pule 
Kuahu, p. 20, and verse 1, Pule 
Kuahu, p. 21.) 

Hoopaa (ho'o-p^'a) — the members of 
a hula company who, as instrumen- 
talists, remained stationary, not 
moving in the dance (p. 28). 

Huikala (hti-i-ka-la)— to cleanse 
ceremonially; to pardon (p. 15). 

Hula (hti-la), or int hulahula — ^to 
dance, to make sport, to the accom- 
paniment of music and song. 

Pa (i'a) — fish; a general term for 
animal food or whatever relish 
serves for the time in its place. 

leie (I-e-f-e) — a tall woody climber 
found in the wild woods, much used 
in decoration (Freycinetia arnottl, 
p. 19). 

Ilamuka (Ma-m^-ku) — a constable. 

lUnia (i-ll-ma) — a woody shrub (Sida 
fallax, Hillebrand) whose chrome- 
yellow flowers were much used in 
making wreaths (p. 56). 

Ilio (i-ll-o) — ^a dog; a variety of hula 
(p. 223). 

Imu (1-mu), sometimes umu (ti-mu) — 
a native oven, made by lining a hole 
in the ground and arching it over 
with stones ( verse 3, Oli Pati, p. 51 ) . 

Inoa. (i-n6-a) — a name. (See Mele 
inoa.) 

Ipo (I-po) — a lover; a sweetheart. 

Ipoipo (f-po-1-po), hoipo (ho-I-po), 
or hoipoipo (ho-I-po-I-po) — to make 
love; to play the lover; sexual dal- 
liance. 

Ipu (I-pu) — a general name for the 
Cucurbitacese, and the dishes made 
from them, as well as dishes of 
coconut shell, wood, and stone; the 
drum-like musical instrument made 
from joining two calabashes (p. 
73). 

Iwa (1-wa, pr. I-va) — the number 
nine; a large black sea-bird, prob- 
ably a gull (p. 76). 

Kahiki (Ka-hl-ki)— Tahiti; any for- 
eign country (p. 17). 



Kahiko (ka-hi-ko) — ancient; to ar- 
ray ; to adorn. 

Kahuna (ka - hti - na) — a priest; a 
skilled craftsman. Every sort of 
kahuna was at bottom and in some 
regard a priest, his special depart- 
ment being indicated by a qualifying 
word, as kahuna anaana^ sorcerer, 
kahuna kalai wa^a, canoe-maker. 

Kai (pr. kye) — the ocean; salty. 
I-kaiy to the ocean; ma-kai, at the 
ocean. 

Kakaolelo (ka-kft-o-16-lo) — one 
skilled in language; a rhetorician; 
a councilor (p. 98). 

Kamapua'a (K^-ma-pu-a'a) — liter- 
ally the hog-child; the mythological 
swine-god, whose story is connected 
with that of Pele (p. 231). 

Kanaka (ka-n^-ka) — a man; a com- 
moner as opposed to the alii. 
Kanaka (kd-na-ka), men in gen- 
eral; the human race. (Notice the 
different accents.) 

Kanaenae (kfi,-nae-na6) — a propitia- 
tory sacrifice; an intercession; a 
part of a prayer (pp. 16, 20). 

Kanaloa (Kd-na-lo-a) — one of the 
four major gods, represented as of 
a dark complexion and of a malig- 
nant disposition (p. 24). 

Kane (K&-ne) — ^male; a husband; 
one of the four major gods, repre- 
sented as being a tall blond and of 
a benevolent disposition (p. 24). 

Kapa (kd-pa) — the paper-cloth of the 
Polynesians, made from the fibrous 
bark of many plants by pounding 
with wooden beaters while kept 
moist. 

Kapo (Kd-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 (kd-pu) — a tabu; a religious 
prohibition (pp. 30, 57). 

Kau (Ka-ti)— "the milk;" a district 
on the island of Hawaii. 

Kawele (ka-w4-le) — ^a manner of can- 
tillating in a distinct and natural 
tone of voice; about the same as 
ko'irhonua (p. 58). 

Kihei (ki-h6i) — a robe of kapa worn 
after the fashion of the Roman toga. 



268 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 38 



Kit (kl'i)— to fetch, to go after a 
thing; an image, a picture, a mario- 
nette; a variety of the hula (p. 91). 

Kilauea (Ki-lau-§-a) — the great ac- 
tive volcano of Hawaii. 

Kini (kl-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 re- 
sembled our elves and brownies, and 
were esteemed as having godlike 
powers (p. 21, note; p. 24). 

Kilu (kl-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 kUu. (Hula kilu, p. 235.) 

Ko — sugar-cane ; performed, accom- 
plished. With the causative prefix 
ho'Oy as in ho'oko (ho'o-k6), to 
accomplish, to carry to success 
(p. 30). 

KoH (k6'i) — an ax, an adz; originally 
a stone implement. (See mele be- 
ginning KoH maka nui, p. 228.) 

Ko'i honua (ko'i ho-nti-a) — a com- 
pound 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 bom- 
bastic manner termed ai-ha'a (p. 58). 

Kokwchkumu (ko-k(i-a-kti-mu) — the 
aaiistant or deputy who took charge 
of the halau in the absence of the 
kumu-hula (p. 29). 

Kolea (ko-16-a) — the plover; the name 
of a hula (p. 219). 

Kolohe (ko-16-he) — mischievous; rest- 
less; lawless (note d, p. 194). 

Kona (K6na) — a southerly wind or 
storm ; a district on the leeward side 
of many of the islands. 

Koolau (Ko'o-iau) — leaf-compeller ; 
the windward side of an island ; the 
name of a wind. (A Koolau wau, 
ike i ka ua, v^rse 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-&-hu) — an altar; a rustic 
stand constructed in the halau in 
honor of the hula gods (p. 15). 

Kuhai-moana ( Ku - hfti - mo - a - na ) — 
a shark-god (pp. 76, 77). 

KuH (ku'i)— to smite; to beat; the 
name of a hula (p. 250). 

Kukui (ku-k(i-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 (kti-mu htila)— a teacher 
and leader of the hula. 

Kupee (ku-pe'e) — a bracelet; an 
anklet (Mele Kupe'e, p. 49.) 

Kupua (ku-pti-a) — ^a superhuman be- 
ing; a wonder-worker; a wizard. 

KU'pulupulu ( Kti-pO-lu-pli-m ) — Ku 
the hairy; one of the forms of god 
Ku, propitiated by canoe-makers 
and hula folk (p. 24). 

Laa {Wa) — consecrated; holy; de- 
voted. 

Laa-mairKahiki — ^A prince who 
flourished some six or seven cen- 
turies ago and voyaged to Kahiki 
and back. He was an ardent patron 
of the hula (p. 103). 

Lama (la-ma) — a torch; a beautiful 
tree (Maba sandwicensis, Hille- 
brand) having fine-grained whitish 
wood that was much used for sacred 
purposes (p. 23). 

Lanai (la-na,i) — a shed or veranda; 
an open part of a house covered only 
by a roof. 

Lanai (La-na'l) — the small Island ly- 
ing southwest of Maui. 

Lani (la-ni)— the sky; the heaven or 
the heavens; a prince or king; 
heaven-born (pp. 81, 82). 

Lehua (le-h(i-a) — a forest tree (Me- 
trosideros polymorpha) whose beau- 
tiful scarlet or salmon-colored 
flowers were much used in decora- 
tion (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-16-a) — an ancient king of 
Hawaii, the father of Umi (p. 131). 



EMERSON] 



UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 



269 



Lohiau (L6-lii-au)— the prince of 
Haena, with whom Pele became 
enamored in her dreams (p. 186). 
Lolo (16-10)— the brain (p. 34). 
Lono (L6-no)— one of the four major 

gods of Hawaii (p. 24). 
Luau (lu-ati)— greens made by cook- 
ing young taro leaves; in modern 
times a term applied to a Hawaiian 
feast. 
Mahele (ma-h6-le)— to divide; a divi- 
sion of a mele ; a canto ; a part of a 
song-service (p. 58). 
Mahiole (ma-hi-6-le)— a helmet or 
war-cap, a style of hair-cutting in 
imitation of the same (p. 91). 
Mahuna (ma-hti-na)— a small parti- 
cle; a fine scale; a variety of deli- 
cate kapa ; the desquamation of the 
skin resulting from habitual awa- 
drinking. 
Makalii ( Ma-ka-ir i ) —small eyes ; 
small, fine; the Pleiades (p. 216 and 
note on p. 218). 
Malo (md-lo)- a loin-cloth worn es- 
pecially by men. (Verses 3, 4, 5, 6 
of mele on p. 36). 
Mano (ma-n6)— a shark; a variety of 

hula (p. 221). 
Mauna (mdu-na)- a mountain. A 

word possibly of Spanish origin. 
Mele (m§-le) — a ix)em; a song; to 

jchant ; to sing. 
Mele inoa — a name-song; a eulogy 

(pp. 27, 37). 
Mele kaMa (ka-h4a=to call)— a pass- 
word by which one gained admis- 
sion to the halau (pp. 38, 41). 
Moo (m6'o) — a reptile; a dragon; a 

mythologic monster (p. 260). 
Muumuu (mu'u-mu'u) — an under gar- 
ment worn by women; a shift; a 
chemise; a person maimed of hand 
or foot; the name of a hula (p. 212). 
Naulu (ndu-lu) — name of the sea- 
breeze at Waimea, Kauai. Ua na- 
ulu=si heavy local rain (pp. 110, 
112). 
Noa (n6-a) — ceremonially free; unre- 
strained by tabu (p. 126). 
Noni (n6-ni) — a dye-plant (Morinda 
citrifolia) whose fruit was some- 
times eaten. 



Nuuanu (Nu'u-d-nu) a valley back of 

Honolulu that leads to the " Pali." 
Ohe (6-he) — bamboo; a flute; a vari- 
ety of the hula (pp. 135, 145). 
Ohelo (o-h^-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-ia-pa) — those members &t a 
hula company who moved in the 
dance, as distinguished from the 
hoopaa, q. v., who sat and cantil- 
lated or played on some instrument 
(p. 28). 
on (6-li)— a song; a lyric; to sing or 

chant (p. 254). 
Olioli — Joyful. 

Olofie (o-16-he) — an expert in the 
hulq ; one who has passed the ailolo 
test and has also had much experi- 
ence (p. 32). 
Oo (0-6) — a spade; an agricultural 
implement, patterned after the 
whale spade (p. '85) ; a blackbird, 
one of those that furnished the 
golden-yellpw feathers for the ahu- 
ula, or feather cloak. 
Paepae (pae-p^e) — a prop; a support; 
the assistant to the po'o-pua'a (p. 
29). 
Pahu (pa-hu) — a box; a drum; a 
landmark ; to thrust, said of a spear 
(pp. 103, 138). 
Pale (p^-le) — a division; a canto of 
a mele; a division of the song serv- 
ice in a hula performance (pp. 58, 
89). 
Pali (p^-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 (pA,-pa) — a board; the plane of 
the earth's surface; a mythological 
character, the wife of Wakea. 
Pa-u (pa-ti) — 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-ti (p. 51). 



270 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 38 



Pele (PMe) — the goddess of the vol- 
cano and of volcanoes generally, who 
held court at the crater of Kllauea, 
on Hawaii; a variety of the hula 
(p. 186). 

Pijcai (pl-kAi)— to asperse with sea- 
water taixeA, 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 ^ tbeir agent 
and mouthpiece (p. ?d). 

Pua'a (pu-a'a)— a pig; th« mme of a 
hula (p. 228). 

Puka (pti-ka) — a hole, a doorway, to 
pass through. 

Pule (pti-le) — a prayer; an incatita- 
tion ; to pray. 

Pulou (pu-lo'u)— to muffle; to cover 
the head and face (p. 31). 

Puniu (pu-nl-u) — a coconut shell; ft 
small drum made from the coeonut 



Puniu — Continued, 
shell (p. 141) ; a derisive epithet for 
the human headpiece. 

Tif or ki — a plant (Dracaena termi- 
nalis) diftt has large smooth green 
leaves used for wrapping food and 
in decoration. Its fleshy root be- 
<?omes syrupy when cooked (p. 44). 

Vka (fl-ka) — landward or mountain- 
ward. 

UkU'lclc ((i-ku-16-le)— a flea; a sort 
of iruitar introduced by the P<m^- 
guese. 

Uniki (u-ni-ki) — the d#but or the first 
public performance of a hula actor. 
( Verse 21 of mele on p. 17. ) 

Waa (wa'a) — a canoe. 

Wahine (wa-hl-ne)— a female; a 
woman ; a wife. 

Wai — water. 

Waialeale ( Wai-ft-le-S-le) — billowy 
water; the central mountain on tbe 
island of Kauai (p. 106). 



INDEX 



[Note.— All Hawaiian words, as such (except catch words), are italicized.] 

Page 

Aala kupukupu: mele hupe^e 49 

A EULOGY for the princess: song for the hula kuH Molohai 209 

A Hamakua au: mele for the hula kaekeeke 122 

A HiLo aw, e: mele for the hula pa'i-umauma 203 

AiA I Wai'pVo 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 

eating of 34 

inspection of 33 

A Kauai, a ke olewa iluna: mele for the hula Pole 189 

A KE KUAHiwi: a kanaenae to Laka 16 

A Koa'e-kea: m^le for the hula ala'a-papa 67 

A KooLAU WAu: m£le for the hula ala'a-papa 59 

A LALo muuxi Waipi'o: mele for the hula iliili 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 mmio 222 

Alas, there's no stay to the smoke!: song for the hula Pele 195 

Aloha na hale o Tnakou: mele komx), 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 mulihini • 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, Laka from the mountains 20 

to Laka: This my wish 43 

to Laka: This spoil and rape of the wildwood 19 

Altar, visible abode of the deity 15 

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 IVu-la o Mand: mele for the hula pa-ipu 79 

Aole e MAO ka ohu: m^le for the hula Pele 195 

Aole i manao ia : m^le for the hula Uli-uli 108 

A Piu, a pili: m^le for the hula hoonand 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 

271 



272. INDEX 

Page 

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 paH-umauma 203 

Attitude of the Hawaiian toward — 

nature 262 

song 159 

the gods 225 

At Wailua stands the main house-post: song for the hula Pele 192 

Auhea wale oe, e ha Makani Inu-wai?: mele for the hula uli-uli 110 

AuwE, auwe, mo* ku^u limal: lament of Mana-mana-ia-kaluea 212 

AuwE, pau au i ka mano nuiy e\: mele for the hula mand 221 

A uwEUw6 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 lauwiliy e: a proverbial saying (note) 53 

Ax OP 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 Kauna, that sprite of windy Ka-u: 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 

Black crabs are climbing: song for the hula mu'umu^u 214 

Bloom op 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 ?ialau 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 paH-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 i 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 

Debut of a hula performer 35 

Debut-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 1 129 



INDEX 273 

Page 

Dispensation granted to pupils before graduation from the Tialau 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 — 

description of 140 

introduced by La'a-mai-Kahiki 141 

Drum hula, the 103 

E ALA, e Kahiki'hu: mele for the hula Pele 196 

E hea i he kandka e homo 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 Wa: altar-prayer, to Laka 43 

Ei' AU, e Laka mai uka: altar-prayer 20 

E iHo ana oluna: oracular utterance of Kapihc 99 

E KAUKAU i hale manu^ e\ mele for the hula kVi 99 

E Laka, e !: mele kuahu at ailolo service 34 

E le'e kaukau: irule for the hula kiH 98 

Eleele kaukau: mele for the hula HH 97 

Ellis, Rev. William — 

his description of the ^^hura ka-raau " 116 

his remarks about the ^^hura araapapa " 71 

Elocution and rhythmic accent in Hawaiian song 158 

E Manono Za, ea: mele for the hula paH-umxiumxi 204 

Engulfed in heaven's abyss: song for the hula hilu 243 

E oe mauna i ka ohu: mele for the hula Pele 194 

E OLA ia'u, i ka mulihini: altar-prayer, in prose speech 46 

E pi' I ka nahele: mele for the hula ohe 135 

E pi'i ka wax ka nahele: irule for the hula niau-kani 133 

Epithalamium, mele for the hula kVi: Wanahili ka po loaia Manuka 100 

E ULU, e ulu: altar-prayer to the Kini Akua 46 

Ewa's lagoon is red with dirt: song for the hula pa-ipii 84 

E Wewehi, ke, kel: mele for the hula kVi 94 

Fable, Hawaiian love of Ill 

Facial expression 179 

Fame trumpets your conquests each day: song for the hula kuH 253 

Feet and legs in gesture 181 

Fish-tree, Maka-lei (note) 17 

Flowers acceptable for decoration 19 

Fluctuating utterance in song, t'l 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 — 

song for the hula ala^a-papa 64 

with music VII 157 

Game of kilu 235 

Game op na-i^ (note) 118 

General review 260 

25352— Bull. 38—09 18 



274 INDEX 

Gesture — Page 

illustrating an obstacle 177 

illustrating movement 178 

influenced by convention — . . • 180 

inviting to come in 1 179 

mimetic 178 

representing a plain 178 

representing clothing or covering 178 

representing death 178 

representing union or similarity 178 

taught by the kumu-hula 176 

with feet and legs 181 

Gird on the pa-x^: tiring song 5^ 

Glossary * 266 

Glowing is Kahiki, oh!: song for the hula pa-ipu 75 

God— 

of health, Mauli-ola (note) 198 

of mirage, Lima-loa (note) 79 

Gods, attitude of the Hawaiian toward the '. 225 

Gods of the hula 23 

Gourd drum, ipu-hula 142 

Gourd-rattle, uli-uli 144 

Graduation from the halau — 

ailolo sacrament 32, 34 

ceremonies of 31 

tabu-lifting prayer: Oh wild wood bouquet, oh Laka 32 

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 — 

a school for the hula 30 

ceremonies of graduation from 31 

decorum required in 30 

description of 14 

its worship contrasted with that of the heiau 15 

passwords to 38 

purification of its site 14 

rules of conduct while it is abuilding 15 

worship in 42 

Halau Hanalei i ka nini a ka ua: an oli 155 

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) 196 

Haunt of white tropic bird: song for the hula ala^a-papa 67 

Hawaiian harp, the ukeke 147 

Hawaiian love of fable Ill 

Hawaiian musical instruments 138 

Hawaiian music displaced by foreign 138 

Hawauan slang : 98 

Hawahan song — 

elocution and rhythmic accent 158 

characteristics 170 



INDEX 275 

Hawahan song — Continued. Page 

melody; rhythm 171 

tone-intervals 158 

Hawaiian speech, music affected by peculiarities of 139 

Hawau Ponoi (national hymn) with music XIV 172 

Hawaii's Very Own: translation of national hymn 175 

He ALA kai olohia: mele for the hula huH Molokai 207 

Heaven magic fetch a Hilo pour: song for the hula ala^a-papa 66 

He inoa no ha Lani: mele for the hula huH Molokai 208 

He inoa no Kamefiameha: song set to music VIII * 162 

He lua i ka hikina: mele for the hula pa4pu 85 

Here am I, Laka from the mountains: altar-prayer to Laka 20 

He ua la, he ua: mele for the hula kolani 216 

He u-i, he ninau: mele for Kane 257 

HnAKA — 

her bathing place 190 

in a kilu contest with Peie-ula 240 

See Gods of the hula. 

HiKi MAI, hiki mm ka La, e\: mele for the hula puili 114 

Hi'u-o-LANi, kii kauao Hilo: mele for the hula ala'a-papa 65 

HoAEAE 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 aWa-papa 68 

Ho! MOUNTAIN of vUpor 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 haw. mele for hula aWa-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 iaoe 166 

Hula — 

degeneration of 14 

intermission of 126 

support and organization 26 

Hula ala'a-papa, the — 

a religious service 11, 57 

company — organization of 29 

dancer's costume 49 

democratic side of 26 

remarks on, by Rev. W. Ellis 71 

Hula hoonana, the 244 

Hula fLifLi, the 120 

Hula ilio, the 223 

Hula kaekeeke, the 122 

Hula ka-laau 116 

its novel performance on Kauai 118 

responsive chanting in 116 

Hula kielei, the 210 

Hula ki'i, the >, 91 

Hula kilu, the 235 

Hula kolani, the 216 

Hula kolea, the 219 



276 INDEX 

Page 

Hula kolili, the : 246 

Hula ku'i Molokai, the 207 

Hula zu'i, the 250 

Hula ku6lo, the 73 

Hula man5, 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 PalAni, the (note) 202 

Hula Pele, the 186 

Hula performance, influenced by instrument of accompaniment 113 

Hula performers — 

classes 28, 57 

d^but 35 

physique 57 

Hula pua'a, the 228 

Hula puili, the 113 

Hulas — 

calabash hulas 102 

David Malo's list of 107 

first hula 8 

gods of 23 

of varying dignity and rank 57 

See also Hida and names of various hulas. 

Hula songs — their source 58 

Hula ulili, the 246 

Hula TJLi-ULf , the 107 

**HuRA KA RAAU," description of, by Rev. William Ellis 116 

I ALOHA i ke ho a ka wax: mele for the hula ku'i 251 

I AM SMITTEN with spear of Kane: song for the hula pa-hua 184 

Idyl, typical Hawaiian 217 

I'l— 

a fluctuating utterance in song 158 

its vowel repetition 159 

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 Kauna-wahine, Makani Ka-u: mele for the hula Pele 193 

Iliili, castanets 147 

III 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 



INDEX 277 

Page 

I SPURN THE THOUGHT with disdain: song for the hula Uli-uli 109 

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 Mand : song for the hula pa-ipu 80 

Kaekeeke, musical bamboo pipe 143 

Kahea i ha mele 58 

Ka-HIKi-nui, auwahi ha 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 paH-umauma 205 

Kahuli aku, kahuli mai: m^le apropos of the tree-shell 121 

Kakua pa-u, ahu na kikipa: tiring song 51 

Kalakalaihi, kaha ka La mxi ke kua o Lehua: m^le 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 kVi 101 

Ka-liu-wa'a (note) 230 

Kama-pua'a, his relations with — 

Kapo 25 

Pele 231 

Ka Mawae : song and music XI 167 

Kamehameha II, song composed by 69 

Ka-moho-aui (note) 229 

Kanaenae TO Laka: A ke kuuhiwi, 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 mm Kona: name-song to Naihe 35 

Kane, hiki a'e, he maldma 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 — 

parentage and relations to the hula '. . . 47 

relations with Kama-pua'a 25 

See Gods of the hula. 

Kauai, characteristics of its hula 119 

Kauhua Ku, ka Lani, iloli ka moku: mele for the hula pa-ipu 80 

Kau ka ha-e-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 kuH 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 

Kau6 pu ka iwa kala-pahe^e: Tnele for the hula pa-ipu 76 

Ka wai opuM-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 koH ke Akua la i uka: mele for the hula Pele 190 

Keawe — 

a name of many personalities (note) 74 

the red blush of dawn: old song (note) 74 

Ke lei mai la o Kaula i ke kai^ e-e! — 

m£le of Mana-mana-ia-kaluea 212 

wreath-song 56 



278 INDEX 

Page 

Ke POHi. NEi; u%na la: mele for the hula o-niu 248 

Ki'i-Ki'i 91 

Ki'i NA KA. ipo: TTvele for the hula ulili 246 

KiLELEI, THE HULA 210 

KiLU, a game and a hula 235 

KiLU-coNTEST o£ 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 puxi'a 228 

KoLEA KAi piha: mele for the hula kolea 219 

KoNA KAi OPUA, i kala i ha laH: mele for the hula ka-laau 117 

KuAHU-SEEViCE, not a rigid liturgy 21 

KUAHU, THE 15. 32 

Ku AKU LA Keaau, leU ha makani mawaho: mele for the hula pa-ipu 77 

KuA LOLOA Keadu i ha nahele: mele for the hula ala^a-papa 62 

Ku, A MARIONETTE 91 

Ku E, nanX e ! : m£le for the hula ilio 223 

Ku I Wailua ha pou hale: vfiele for the hula Pele 191 

Ku KA MAKAiA a ha huakaH moe ipo : dismissing prayer at intermission 129 

Ku KA punohu ula i ha 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 % ha IttH, e: Tnele hahea^ password to the halau 40 

Ku oe ko'u wahi ohelo nei lay auwe, auwel: mele for the hula ohelo 233 

Ku PiMKi'i Hanald lehua^ la: mele for the hula hielei 210 

Ku-PULUPULU. See Gods of the hula. 

Ku. See Gods of the hula. 

Ku'u HO A MAI ha mahani huehu hapa 6 Kalalau: mele for the hula hilu 240 

La'a-mai- Kahiki — 

his connection with the fiula pahu * 103 

introduces the drum, or pahu hula 141 

Laau, a xylophone 144 

Laka — 

a block of wood her special symbol 20, 23 

adulatory prayer to 18 

a friend of the Pele family 24 

aumahua of the hula 23 

compared with the gods of classic Greece 24 

emanation origin 48 

epithets and appellations of 24 

invoked as god of wildwood growths 24 

special god of the hula * 24 

versus Kapo 47 

wreathing her emblem 34 

Laka sits in her shady grove: altar-prayer 34 

Lament op Mana-mana-ia-kaluea — 

Alas, alas, maimed are my hands ! 212 

Auwhy auwe, mo^ hu^u lima ! 212 

Lau lehua punoni ula he hai o Kona: mele for the hula pa-ipu 75 



INDEX 279 

Page 

Leaf op lehua and noni-tint, the Kona sea: song for the hula pa-ijm 76 

Le'a wale hoi ha wahine lima-lima oh, 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 kiH 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 op kuahu not rigid 21 

Li'uLi'u ALOHA ia^u TTiele hahea: 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 forth, god Ku, look forth : song for the hula ilio 225 

Look now, Waialua, land clothed with ocean-mist : song for the hula aWa-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 Tcolani 217 

Love pain compels to greet thee: song, **Cold breast," with music IX 165 

Love is at play in the grove : song for the hula aWa-papa 71 

Love tousled Waimea with shafts of the wind: song for the hula aWa-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 ha wahine^ o Pele: mele for the hula Pele 187 

Maile-lau-li'i 91 

Maile-pakaha 91 

Maka-ku 91 

Maka-l]6i, a mythical fish-tree (note) 17 

Makali'i, the Pleiades (note) 17 

Malua, fetch water of love: song for the hula puili 115 

Malua, HH wax he aloha: meU for the hula puili 114 

Mao wale i ha 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 ahuy kahuli mm 121 

Keawe : Keawe ula-i-ka-lani (note) 74 

Nihi-aumoe: E hoopono ka hele i ka uka o Puna 94 

at d^but of hula performer: Ka nalu nui, a ku ka nalu mai Kona 35 

for interlude : TJa ona o Kane i ka awa 130 

for Kane: He u-i, he nindu 257 

for the — 

hula aWa-papa — 

A Koa^e-kea, i Pueo-hulu-nui 67 

A Koolau waUj ike i ka vm 59 

Wu-o-lani, kiH ka ua o Hilo 65 

Hoe Puna i ka wa^a poldlo 70 

Ho-ina-inau mea ipo i ka nahele 71 



280 INDEX 

Meles — Continued, 
for the — Continued. 

hula aWa-papa — Continued. Page 

Hole Waimea i ha the a ha makani 68 

Hoopono 06, he aina kai Waialtca i ka hcu 60 

Kau ka ha-i-a, kau o ka hana wa ele 69 

Kv/i loloa Keaau i ka naJiele 62 

Noluna ka Hale-kaiy no ka ma'a-leva 63 

PakH Kea-au, lulu Wai-akea 60 

hula hoonand: A piliy a pili 244 

hula iliili: A lalo maua o WaipVo 120 

hula ilio: Ku e, nand el 223 

hula kaekeeke — 

A Hamaku/i au 122 

Kahiki-nuif auwahi ka makani 124 

hula ka-laau — 

Kona kai opua i kala i ka laH 117 

Kalakaua, he inoa 117 

hvia kielei Ku pilihVi Hanalei-lehua, li 210 

hula kiH — 

E kaukau % hale manu, e! 99 

E le'e kaukau 98 

EUeU kaukau 97 

E Wewehi, ke, ke! 94 

Kalalau, pali eku i ka makani 101 

Pikdka e, ka luna ke, ke! 96 

hula kilu — 

Kdlakdlaihij kaha ka La ma ke kua o Lehuxi 238 

Ku^u hoa mai ka makani ku£hu-kapa o Kalalau 240 

Mao wale i ka lani 243 

Pua ehu kamalena ka uka o Kapa^a 237 

Ula Kala^e-loa i ka lepo a ka makani 239 

Via ka lani ia Kanaloa 241 

hula kolani: He ua la, he uxx 216 

hula kolea: Kolea kai piha 219 

hula kuH — 

1 aloha i ke ko a ka wai 251 

Kaulana mai nei Pua Lanakila 252 

hula kuH Molokai — 

He ala kai olohia 207 

He inoa no ka Lani 208 

hula mmio: Auwe! pau au i ka mano nui, e! 221 

hula mu^umu'u: PVi ana a-ama 213 

hula niau-kani: E pVi ka wai ka nahele 133 

hula ohe: E pV i ka nahele 135 

hula ohelo: Ku oe ko^u wahi ohelo nei la, auwe, auwe! 233 

hula o-niu: Ke pohd nei ,u^ina la! 248 

hula pahu — 

A Puna au, i KukiH au, i Ha^eha^e 104 

Kau lilua i ke anu Wai-aleale 105 

Hilo oe, muliwai akauaika lani 104 

hula pa-hun: Pa au ikaihea Kane 183 



INDEX 281 

Meles — Continued . 
for the — Continued. 

hula pa-ipu — Page 

Aole au e hele ha IVu-la o Hand 79 

HakuH ka uahi o ka Ivxi 88 

He lua i ka hikina 85 

Kauhua Ku, ka Lani, iloli ka moku 80 

Kauo pu ka iwa kala-pahe^e 76 , 

Ku aku la Kea-au, lele ka makani mawalio 77 

Lau lehvxi punoni ula ke kai o Kona 75 

Ewa^ aina kai ula i ka lepo 84 

Ooe no paha ia, e ka lau o ke aloha 82 

Wela Kahiki, e! 73 

hula paH-wmauma — 

A Uilo au, e, hoolulu ka lehui 203 

E Manono la, ea : 204 

Kahipa, na waiu olewn 205 

hula Pele — 

A Kauai, a ke olewa iluna 189 

Aole e max) ka ohu 195 

E ala, e Kahiki-ku 196 

E oe mauna i ka ohu 194 

/ kama^ama^a la i ka pua-lei 199 

Ike ia Kaund-wahine, Makani Ka-u 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 

Pele la ko^u akua 198 

hula puili — 

Hiki mai, hiki mai ka La, e! 114 

Malua, kVi wai ke aloha 114 

hula ulili: KiH na ka ipo 246 

hula {bli-uli — 

Aole i mana^o ia 108 

Auhea wale oe, e ka Makani Inv-nai? 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 laH, e •. 40 

LVu-lVu 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 



282 INDEX 

Meles — Continued. Page 

hupe^Cy anklet song: Aala kupukupu ha uka o Kanehoa 49 

of Hiiaka : Le^a wale hoi ha wahine limalima ohy wawae ole 212 

of Mana-mana-ia-kaluea: Ke lei mat la o Kaula i ke kai e-e! 212 

oli — 

for the hula jma^a: Ko'i maka nui 228 

in the game of kilu: A uweuwe ke ko^e a ke kae 240 

set to music — 

XI : AehoH ke aloha i ka mawae 167 

VIII: Aia i Waipi'o Paka^alana 162 

IX: AloJia wale oe 164 

VII : Halau Hanalei i ka nini alaua 156 

XIV: Hawaii ponoi 172 

X : He aloha wau iaoe 166 

XIII: ka ponaha iho akea:> 169 

XII: Ua like no a like 168 

to Kaukini : Ike ia Kaukini, he lawaia manu (note) 51 

Melody of Hawaiian song 170 

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 kiln 237 

Motion, illustrated by gesture 178 

Musical instruments 140 

influence on a hula performance 113 

the kaekeeke 122 

the pU'la-i 147 

the ukeke 149 

Musical selections — 

I : range of the nose-flute 146 

II : from the nose-flute 146 

III : the ukeH as played by Keaonaloa 149 

IV: song from the hula paH-umauma 153 

V: song from the hula pa-ipu 153 

VI : song from the hula Pele 154 

VII : oli and mele from the hula aWa-papa 156 

VIII : He inoa no Kamehameha 162 

IX: song, Poli anwanu: Aloha wale cc 164 

X : song, Hv/i-huaH 166 

XI : song, Ka Mawae 167 

XII : song. Like no a Like 168 

XIII : song, Pili-aoao 169 

XIV: Hawaiian National Hymn, Hawaii Ponoi 172 

Music and poetry, Hawaiian — their relation 161 

Music op the Hawaiians 138-140 

cadence 140 

phrasing 140 

rhythm 160 

under foreign influences 163 

vocal execution 139 

Myth about Kumu-kahi (note) 197 

Mythical shark, Papi'o (note) .* r 206 

Name-song op Kamehameha: In Waipio stands Pa ka'alana 163 

of Naihe: The huge roller, roller that surges from Kona 36 



INDEX 283 

National hymn of Hawaii — Page 

translation 175 

withmusicXIV 172 

Na-u, 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 ha hale haij e ka ma^alewa — 

mele for the hula aWa-papa 63 

mele with music VII 155 

NOSE-PLUTE 135, 145 

music from, II 146 

remarks on, by Jennie Eisner 146 

Nou PAHA E, ka inoa: mele for the hula Pele 200 

Now FOR THE DANCE, dauce in accord: song for the hula kVi 98 

Now, Ka.ne, APPROACH, illumine the altar: altar-prayer to Kane and Kapo. . . 45 

Now WRIGGLES THE WORM to its goal : soug 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 

HiLO OE, Hilo, muliwai akauaika lani: mele for the hula pahu 104 

Oh Wewehi, la, la! : song for the hula kiH 95 

Oh wildwood bouquet. Oh Laka — 

tabu-removing prayer at graduation 32 

tabu-removing prayer at intermission 128 

KA.LAKAUA, he inoa: mele foi the hula ka-laau. 117 

O KA PONAHA iJio a ke aoi song with music XIII 169 

Keawe-ula-i-ka-lani: old mele apropos of Keawe (note) 74 

Laka oe : altar-prayer to Laka 42 

Olapa, a division of hula performers , 28, 57 

Old sea song — 

Blow, blow, thou wind of Hilo! (note) 65 

Pa mxiif pa mai (note) 65 

Old song: Keawe, the red blush of dawn (note) 74 

Olelo huna, secret talk 97 

Oli and mele — 

dividing line between '. 254 

from the huh, ala'a-papa, music VII 156 

Oli lei: Ke lei mai la o Kaula i ke kai, e! 56 

Oli pa-u : KakuM pa-u, ahu na kikepa 51 

Oli, the 254-256 

illustration of: Ka wai opua-makani o Wailua 255 

Oli, with music VII : Halau Hanalei i ka nini akaua 155 

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 lA, e ka lau o ke alohairnele for the hula pa-ipu 82 

O Pele la ko^u akua: mele for the hula Pele 198 

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 



284 INDEX 

Page 

Outspreads now the dawn : song with music XIII 170 

Wanahili kapoloaia Manu'a: mele for the hula MH 100 

Pa au I ka ihe a Kane: mele for the hula pa-hua 183 

Pahu, the drum 140 

PakiJ Keaau, lulu Waiakea: mele for the hula pa-hua 60 

Pa MAI, pa mm: old sea song (note) 65 

Papi'o, mythical shark (note) 206 

Part-singing in Hawaii — 

at the present time 152 

in ancient times 1 50, 152 

Password to the halau — 

In the uplands, the darting flame-bird of La'a 41 

Long, long have I tarried with love 39 

Steep stands the mountain in calm 40 

Pa-u halaka, the (note) 124 

Pa-u song : Gird on the pa-u, garment tucked in one side 54 

Pa-u, the hula skirt 49 

Peculiarities of Hawaiian speech, music affected by 139 

Pele — 

relations of, with Kama-pua'a 231 

story of 186 

Perilous, steep, is the climb to Hanalei woods: song for the hula kielei 211 

Phrasing in music 140 

Physique of hula performers hi 

Pi'i ANA a-Ama: mele for the hula mu'umuu 213 

PikAka, e, lea lunay ke, ke: mele for 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 

Plela-DES, the, MakaWi (note) 17 

Poetry of ancient Hawaii 161, 263 

Point to a dark one: song for the hula kVi 97 

PoLi ANUANU, song with music IX : Aloha wale oe 164 

Prayer op adulation to Laka: In the forests, on the ridges 18 

Prayer op dismissal at intermission: Ku ka makaia a ka huakaH moe ipo 129 

Precious the gift of heart 's-ease : song for the hula kuH Molokai 208 

Proverbial saying: Unstable the house 53 

Pu-A, a whistle 146 

PuA EHU KAMALENA ka uka o Kapd'a: mele for the hula kilu 237 

PUAPUA-KEA 91 

PuiLi, a bamboo rattle 144 

Pu-LA-f , a musical instrument . 147 

Pule hoonoa — 

at graduation exercises: Pupu ue^uwe^u e, Laka c! 31 

at intermission : Lehua i-luna 126 

to Laka: Pupu we^uwe'u e, Laka e! 128 

Pule kuahu — 

E hooulu ana i Kini o ke Akua 21 

EV au, e Laka mm uka .• 20 

in prose speech : E ola ia^u, i ka malihin i 46 

to Kane and Kapo: Kane hiki aV, he maldnia ia lima 44 

to Laka: Eixi ke kuko, ka li'a 43 

to Laka: Ilaki pu o ka nahelehch 18 

to Laka: Laka oe 42 

to the Kini Akua: E ulu, e ulxi, Kin i o ke Akua! 46 



INDEX 285 

Page 

Puna plies paddle night-long in the storm: song for hula ala^a-papa 70 

PuNCH-AND-JuDY SHOW and the hula hi'i 91 

Pu-Niu, coconut drum 141 

Pupils op the halau — dispensation before graduation 33 

Pupu-A-LENALENA, a famous dog 131 

Pupu we'uwe'u e, Laka el: pule hoonoa — 

at graduation 31 

at intermission 128 

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-hani 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 XT 168 

Rhythm in Hawaiian music 160, 171 

Rules and penalties controlling a hula company 29 

Rules op 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 hoonand 245 

Singing in ancient times — testimony of Capt. James Kinn^ 149 

Skirt for the hula, the pa-u 49 

Slang among the Ilawaiians 98 

Song, Hawaiian attitude toward 159 

See also Hawaiian song. 
Songs — 

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 kiH: Wanahili bides the whole night with 

Manu'a 101 

for interlude: Kane is drunken with awa. 130 

for the — 

hula aWa-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 hoonand: She is limed, she is limed 245 

hula iliili: We twain were lodged in Waipi'o 120 

hula ilio: Look forth, god Ku, look forth! 225 



286 INDEX 

Songs — Continued . 

for the — Continued. Page. 

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 kiH — 

Let's worship now the bird-cage 99 

Now for the dande 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 kuH — 

Fame trumpets your conquests each day 253 

How pleasing, when borne by the tide 252 

hula kuH Molokai — 

A eulogy for the princess 209 

Precious the gift of heart's ease! 208 

hula manS: 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: Come 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 red with dirt 84 

Glowing is Kahiki, oh! 75 

I will not chase the mirage of Mand 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^irumauma — 

At Hilo I rendezvoused with the lehua 203 

Come now, Manono 204 

'Tis Kahipa, with pendulous breast? 206 



INDEX 287 

Songs— Continued . 

for the — Continued. Page 
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 Kaund, that sprite of windy Ka-u 193 

From Kahiki came the woman, Pele 188 

Ho! mountain of vapor puffsl 194 

Lo, Pole'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 uli-uli — 

I spurn the thought with disdain 109 

Whence art thou, thirsty Wind? Ill 

from the hula paH-umauma — music IV 153 

in the game of hilu: Now wriggles the worm to its goal i 240 

of cosmology — 

Begotten were the gods of graded rank (note) 196 

Hanau he apapa nu^u (note) 196 

of Hiiaka: How pleased is the girl maimed of hand and foot 212 

of Mana-mana-ia-kaluea: Kaiila 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 

Source of hula songs '. 58 

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 wild wood 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 plies heavy to nest in the brush: song for the hula pa-ipu 76 

The mountain walls of Kalalau : song for the hula TdH 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 



288 * INDEX 



The rustle and hum of spinning top : song for the hula o-niu 249 

The sun-furrow gleams at the back of Lehua: song for the hula hilu 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 wild wood : 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 — 

Lele MahuHlani a lurw, 56 

Lift, Mahu'ilani, on high 56 

The rainbow stands red o'er the ocean 55 

'Tis KA.HIPA, with pendulous breasts: song for the hula paH-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-par, trill a-near: song of the tree-shell 121 

'TwAS IN KooLAU I met with the rain: song for the hula ala'a-papc 59 

Ua ona o Kane i ka awa: mele for interlude 130 

IJKEKi;, a Hawaiian harp 147 

music of 149 

Uku-lele and taro-patch fiddle, used in the hula kuH (note) 251 

Ula Kala'e-loa i ka lepo a ka makani: mele for the hula kihi 239 

Ula ka lani ia Kanaloa: mele for the hula kilu 241 

Uli-uli, a musical instrument 107, 144 

Union or similarity, illustrated by gesture 178 

Vocal execution of Hawaiian music 139 

Vowel-repetition in the iH 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 kiH 101 

Water op 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 iliili 120 

What love to our cottage homes! : song of welcome to the halau 40 

Whence art thou, thirsty Wind?: song for the hula uli-uli Ill 

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 

Worship in the halau 42 

contrasted with worship in the heiau 15 

Wreathing the emblem of goddess Laka 34 

Wreath-song: Kaula wears the ocean as a wreath 56 

Xylophone, the laau 144 

Yours, doubtless, this name: song for the hula Pele 201 

o 



LSOC 1M.1«u4 (Mi 

>■ rfLii IrirFijhiri; J H.iH',111 ll« 

Toner Uhni 



llllllllllliil 



3 2044 043 1 



02 441 



This book is not to be 
taken from the Library 



r 



■>