Part 13

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

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

XVIII.—AN INTERMISSION

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

_Pule Hoo-noa_

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

[Footnote 266: _Lehua_. See plate XIII.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE XIII [Illustration: LEHUA (METROSIDEROS POLYMORPHA) FLOWERS AND LEAVES]

[Translation.]

_Power to Remove Tabu_

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

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

_Pule Hoo-noa no Laka_

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

[Translation.]

_Tabu-lifting Prayer (to Laka)_

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Pule Hooku’u_

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

[Translation.]

_Dismissing Prayer_

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Mele_

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

[Translation.]

_Song_

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

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

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

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

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

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

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE XIV [Illustration: HAWAIIAN TRUMPET, PU (CASSIS MADAGASCARENSIS)]

[Page 131]

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Page 132]

XIX.—THE HULA NIAU-KANI

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

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

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

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

[Page 133]

_Mele_

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Translation.]

_Song_

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

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

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE XV WOMAN PLAYING ON THE NOSE-FLUTE (OHE-HANO-IHU)]

[Page 135]

XX.—THE HULA OHE

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

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

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

_Mele_