Part 5

Kane, hiki a’e, he maláma [73] la luna; Ha’aha’a, he maláma ia lalo; Oni-oni,[74] he málama ia ka’u; He wahine [75] lei, málama ia Kapo; 5 E Kapo nui, hala-hala [76] a i’a; E Kapo nui, hala-hala [77] a mea, Ka alihi [78] luna, ka alihi lalo; E ka poha-kú.[79] Noho ana Kapo i ka ulu wehi-wehi; 10 Ku ana i Moo-helaia,[80] Ka ohi’a-Ku iluna o Mauna-loa. Aloha mai Kaulana-a-ula [81] ia’u; Eia ka ula la, he ula leo,[82] He uku, he mohai, he alana, [Page 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[83] Ke kui ia mai la e na wahine a lawa I lei no Kapo— 20 O Kapo, alii nui no ia moku, Ki’e-ki’e, ha’a-ha’a; Ka la o ka ike e ike aku ai: He ike kumu, he ike lono; He ike pu-awa [84] 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,[85] la, 30 He wai e ola. E ola nou, e!

[Footnote 73: _Maláma_. 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 syllable, and the word here means to preserve, to foster. These words furnish an example of poetical word-repetition.]

[Footnote 74: _Onioni._ To squirm, to dodge, to move. The meaning here seems to be to move with delight.]

[Footnote 75: _Wahine lei._ A reference to _Laka_, the child of Kapo, who was symbolized by a block of wood on the altar. (See p. 23.)]

[Footnote 76: _Hala-hala a i’a._ Said to be a certain kind of fish that was ornamented about its tailend with a band of bright color; therefore an object of admiration and desire.]

[Footnote 77: _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.]

[Footnote 78: _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.]

[Footnote 79: _Poha-kú._ The line that runs up and down at the end of a long net, by which it may be anchored.]

[Footnote 80: _Moo-helaia._ See note a, p. 33.]

[Footnote 81: _Kaulana-a-ula._ See note d, p, 33.]

[Footnote 82: _Ula leo._ See note e, p. 33.]

[Footnote 83: _Kaana._ A place on Mauna-loa, Molokai, 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.]

[Footnote 84: _Pu-awa hiwa (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.]

[Footnote 85: _Wai._ Literally water, refers to the bowl of awa, replenished each day, which set on the altar of the goddess.]

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE V TI (DRACAENA TERMINALIS)]

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 Garland-Prayer, used while decorating 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: [Page 46] A seeing of facts, a sifting of rumors, An insight won by the black sacred awa, 25 A vision like that of a god! O Kapo, return! Return, and abide in your altar! Make 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 playground, 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 to 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 Ie-ie! A’e mai a noho i kou kuahu! 5 Eia ka wai la, he wai 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 demands, 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. E Laka ia Pohaku i ka wawae. E 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. [Page 47]

[Translation.]

Thy blessing, O Laka, 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 Luukia. To (each one) give gesture and voice. O Laka, 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 [86] was the father:”

“How about Laka?”

[Footnote 86: _Kua-ha-ilo._ A god of the _kahuna anaana;_ meaning literally to breed maggots in the back.] [Page 48] “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.

[Page 49]

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-ú. (PL I.)

When the time has come for a dance, the halau becomes one common 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 _ku-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[87] ka uka o Kane-hoa.[88] E ho-a![89] Hoa na lima o ka makani, he Wai-kaloa.[90] He Wai-kaloa ka makani anu Lihue. 5 Alina[91] 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!

[Footnote 87: _Kupukupu_. Said to be a fragrant grass.]

[Footnote 88: _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.]

[Footnote 89: _Ho-a_. To bind. An instance of word-repetition, common in Hawaiian poetry.]

[Footnote 90: _Wai-kaloa_. A cool wind that Wows at Lihue, Kauai]

[Footnote 91: _Alina_. A scar, or other mark of disfigurement, a moral blemish. In ancient times lovers inflicted injuries on themselves to prove devotion.]

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 fabricated from a great variety of [Page 50] materials furnished by the garden of nature. In its simplest terms the pa-ú 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 _tapa_, 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-ú would be only a close-set fringe of ribbons stripped from the bark of the hibiscus (_hau_), 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-ú 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-ú worn by the danseuse, when of tapa, was often of such volume as to balloon like the skirt of a coryphée. 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 _unu-lau-koa_, and to this place they repaired as soon as the kumu gave the signal for dressing.

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

The method of girding on the pa-ú 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 beneath the hanging folds of the pa-ú 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-ú respectively _Ku-kápu-úla-ka-láni_ and _Léle-a-mahu’i_.

According to another method, which was simpler and more commonly 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. [Page 51] While the girls 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 cantillating a mele that sets forth in grandiloquent imagery the praise of the pa-ú.

_Oli Pa-ú_

Kakua pa-ú, ahu na kikepa![92] I ka pa-ú noenoe i hooluu’a, I hookakua ia a paa iluna o ka imu.[93] Ku ka nu’a[94] o ka pali o ka wai kapu, 5 He kuina[95] pa-ú pali[96] no Kupe-hau, I holo a paa ia, paa e Hono-kane.[97]

Malama o lilo i ka pa-ú. Holo ilio la ke ala ka Manú[98] i na pali; Pali ku kahakó liaka a-i, 10 I ke keiki pa-ú pali a Kau-kini,[99] I hoonu’anu’a iluna o ka Auwana.[100]

[Page 52] Akahi ke ana, ka luhi i ka pa-ú: Ka ho-oio i ke kapa-wai, I na kikepa wai o Apua,[101] 15 I hopu ’a i ka ua noe holo poo-poo, Me he pa-ú elehiwa wale i na pali.

Ohiohi ka pali, ki ka liko o ka lama, Mama ula[102] ia ka malua ula, I hopu a omau ia e ka maino. 20 I[103] ka malo o Umi ku huná mai. Ike’a ai na maawe wai oloná,[104] E makili ia nei i Wahilau.[105] Holo ke oloná, paa ke kapa.

Hu’a lepo ole ka pa-ú; 25 Nani ka o-iwi ma ka maka kilo-hana.[106] Makalii ka ohe,[107] paa ke kapa.

Opua ke ahi i na pali, I hookau kalena ia e ka makani, I kaomi pohaku ia i Wai-manu, 30 I na alá[108] ki-óla-óla; I na alá, i alá lele Ia Kane-poha-ka’a.[109]

Paa ia Wai-manu,[110] o-oki Wai-pi’o; Lalau o Ha’i i ka ohe, Ia Koa’e-kea,[111] 35 I kauhihi ia ia ohe laulii, ia ohe. Oki’a a moku, mo’ ke kini,[112] [Page 53] Mo’ ke kihi, ka maiáma ka Hoaka,[113] I apahu ia a poe, 40 O awili[114] o Malu-ó.

He pola ia no ka pa-ú; E hii ana e Ka-holo-kua-iwa, Ke amo la e Pa-wili-wlli I ka pa-ú poo kau-poku—[115] 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;[116] 50 Uwá, kamalii, hookani ka pihe, Hookani ka a’o,[117] a hana pilo ka leo, I ka mahalo i ka pa-ú, I ka pa-ú wai-lehua a Hi’i-lawe[118] iluna, Pi’o anuenue a ka ua e ua nei.

[Footnote 92: _Kikepa_. The bias, the one-sided slant given the pa-ú by tucking it in at one side, as previously described.]

[Footnote 93: _Imu_. An oven; an allusion to the heat and passion of the part covered by the pa-ú.]

[Footnote 94: _Hu’a_. Foam; figurative of the fringe at the border of the pa-ú.]

[Footnote 95: _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-ú.]

[Footnote 96: _Pali no Kupe-Hau_. Throughout the poem the pa-ú is compared to a _pali_, a mountain wall. Kupe-hau is a precipitous part of Wai-pi’o valley.]

[Footnote 97: _Hono-kane_. A valley near Wai-pi’o. Here it is personified and said to do the work on the pa-ú.]

[Footnote 98: _Manú_. A proper name given to this pa-ú.]

[Footnote 99: _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, truthfully 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-kahi, 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-alii. It’s only the king that I wish: But stay now—I doubt. ] [Footnote 100: _Auwana_. Said to be an eminence on the flank of Haleakala, back of Ulupalakua.]

[Footnote 101: _Apua_. A place on Hawaii, on Maui, on Oahu, on Kauai, and on Molokai.]

[Footnote 102: _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 kukui tree). The ripe kukui nut was chewed into a paste and mingled with this stain. _Mama ula_ refers to this chewing. The _malua ula_ is mentioned as a foil to the pa-ú, being a cheap tapa.]

[Footnote 103: _I_. A contracted form of _ti_ or _ki_, the plant or, as in this case, the leaf of the _ti_, the Dracæna (pl. V). Liloa, 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.]

[Footnote 104: _Oloná_. A strong vegetable fiber sometimes added to tapa to give it strength. The fibers of olona in the fabric of the pa-ú are compared to the runnels and brooklets of _Waihilau_.]

[Footnote 105: _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.]

[Footnote 106: _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-ú which was decorated with figures. The word comes from _kilohi_, to examine critically, and _hana_, to work, and therefore means an ornamental work.]

[Footnote 107: _Ohe_. Bamboo. In this case the stamp, made from bamboo, used to print the tapa.]

[Footnote 108: _Alá_. The hard, dark basalt of which the Hawaiian _ko’i_, adz, is made; any pebble, or small water-worn stone, such as would be used to hold in place the pa-ú while spread out to dry.]

[Footnote 109: _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.]

[Footnote 110: _Wai-manu_ and _Wai-pi’o_ are neighboring valleys.]

[Footnote 111: _Ko-a’e-kea_. A land in Wai-pi’o valley.]

[Footnote 112: _Mo’ ke kihi_. Mo’ is a contracted form of _moku_.]

[Footnote 113: _Hoaka._ The name of the moon in its second day, or of the second day of the Hawaiian month; a crescent.]

[Footnote 114: _O awili o Malu-ó._ The most direct and evident sense of the word _awili_ is to wrap. It probably means the wrapping of the pa-ú about the loins; or it may mean the movable, shifty action of the pa-ú caused by the lively actions of the dancer. The expression _Malu-ó_ 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-o!_ The meaning is that the pa-ú, 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:

Awiliwili i ka hale[119] o ka lauwili, e. He lauwili ka makani, he Kaua-ula,[120] I hoapaapa i ka hale o ka lauwili, e:

[Translation.]

Unstable the house of the shifty man, Fickle as the wind Kaua-ula. Treachery lurks in the house of Unstable. ]

[Footnote 115: _Kaupoku._ A variant of the usual form, which is _kaupaku_, the ridgepole of a house, its apex. The pa-ú when worn takes the shape of a grass house, which has the form of a haystack.]