Part 7

[Footnote 153: _Lehua_. An allusion to the ill-fated’ young woman Hopoe, who was Hiiaka’s intimate friend. The allusion is amplified in the next line.]

[Footnote 154: _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.]

[Footnote 155: _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 fondness not only to despoil the tree of its scarlet flowers, but womanhood, the woman it represented.]

[Footnote 156: _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.]

[Footnote 157: _Hoolono_. To call, to make an uproar, to spread a report.]

[Footnote 158: _Ia hoo-nee-nee ia pili mai_. A very peculiar figure of speech. It Is as if the poet personified, the act of two lovers snuggling up close to each other. Compare with this the expression _No huli mai_, used by another poet in the thirteenth line of the lyric given on p. 204. The motive is the same in each case.]

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 founded 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.

[Page 65]

MAHELE-HELE II

Hi’u-o-lani,[159] kii ka ua o Hilo[160] i ka lani; Ke hookiikii mai la ke ao o Pua-lani;[161] O mahele ana,[162] pulu Hilo i ka ua— O Hilo Hana-kahi.[163]

5 Ha’i ka nalu, wai kaka lepo o Pii-lani; Hai’na ka iwi o Hilo, I ke ku ia e ka wai. Oni’o lele a ka ua o Hilo i ka lani.

Ke hookiikii mai 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[164] He ole ke ku a mauna Hilo me Puna. 15 He kowa Puna mawaena Hilo me Ka-ú; Ke pili wale la i ke kua i mauna-ole; Pili hoohaha i ke kua o Mauna-loa.

He kuahiwi Ka-ú e pa ka makani. Ke alai ia a’e la Ka-ú e ke A’e;[165] 20 Ka-u ku ke ehu lepo ke A’e; Ku ke ehu-lepo mai la Ka-ú i ka makani. Makani Kawa hu’a-lepo Ka-ú i ke A’e.

[Page 66] Kahiko mau no o Ka-ú i ka makani. Makani ka Lae-ka-ilio i Unu-lau, 25 Kaili-ki’i[166] a ka lua a Kaheahea,[167] I ka ha’a nawali ia ino.

Ino wa o ka mankani o Kau-ná. Nana aku o ka makani malaila! O Hono-malino, malino i ka la’i o Kona. 30 He inoa la!

[Footnote 159: _Hi’u-o-lani_. A very blind phrase. Hawaiians disagree as to its meaning. In the author’s opinion, it is a word referring to the conjurer’s art.]

[Footnote 160: _Ua o Hilo_. Hilo is a very rainy country. The name Hilo 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 mai, Ka makani a Hilo![168] Waiho ka ipu iki, Homai ka ipu nui!

[Translation.]

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

[Footnote 161: _Pua-lani_. The name of a deity who took the form of the rosy clouds of morning.]

[Footnote 162: _Mahele ana_. Literally the dividing; 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 off toward Puna at the cape named Lele-iwi, one-half watering, in the direction of the present town, the land known as Hana-kahi.]

[Footnote 163: _Hana-kahi_. Look at note _f_, p. 60.]

[Footnote 164: _Mauna-ole_. 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 the 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.]

[Footnote 165: _A’e_. 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 Hawaiians. The Hawaiians of the present day are not quite up to this sort of logomachy.]

[Footnote 166: _Kaili-ki’i_. The promontory that shelters the cove _Ka-hewa-hewa_.]

[Footnote 167: _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_.]

[Footnote 168: _Hilo_, or Whiro, as in the Maori, was a great navigator.]

[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; 5 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-ú and Hilo; Just leaning her back on Mount Nothing, She sleeps at the feet of Mount Loa.

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

Ka-ú 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-ná. Just look at the tempest there raging! Hono-malino 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.” [Page 67]

His answer was, “The gods composed the mele; men did not compose it.”

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

MAHELE III

(Ai-ha’a)

A Koa’e-kea,[169] i Pueo-hulu-nui,[169] Neeu a’e la ka makahiapo o ka pali; A a’e, a a’e, a’e[170] la iluna Kaholo-kua-iwa, ka pali o Ha’i.[171] 5 Ha’i a’e la ka pali; Ha-nu’u ka pali; Hala e Malu-ó; 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 pali Halehale-o-ú; Me he aho i hilo ’a la ka wai o Wai-hi-lau; Me he uahi pulehu-manu la ke kai o ka auwala hula ana. Au ana Maka’u-kiu[172] iloko o ke kai; 15 Pohaku lele[173] 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-lá-lele.

[Translation.]

CANTO III

(Bombastic style)

Haunt of white tropic-bird and big ruffled owl, Up rises the firstborn 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-ó is left far below. [Page 68] 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-ú. A twisted cord hangs the brook Wai-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[174] and Flat-leaf—[174] See the ocean charge ’gainst the cliffs, Thrust snout like rooting boar against Windy-cape, Against Koholá-lele.

[Footnote 169: _Koa’e-kea, Pueo hulu-nui_. Steep declivities, _pali_, on the side of Waipio valley, Hawaii. Instead of inserting these names, which would be meaningless without an explanation, the author has given a literal translation of the names themselves, thus getting a closer insight into the Hawaiian thought.]

[Footnote 170: _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.]

[Footnote 171: _Ha’i_. Short for _Ha’ina-kolo;_ a woman about whom there is a story of tragic adventure. Through eating when famished of some berries in an unceremonious way she became distraught and wandered about for many months until discovered by the persistent efforts of her husband. The pali which she climbed was named after her.]

[Footnote 172: _Maka’u-kiu_. The name of a famous huge shark that was regarded with reverential fear.]

[Footnote 173: _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.]

[Footnote 174: _Big-leaf_. A literal translation of _Lau-nui_. _Laupahoehoe_, Flat-leaf.]

MAHELE IV

Hole[175] Waimea i ka ihe a ka makani, Hao mai na ale a ke Ki-pu’u-pu’u;[176] He laau kala-ihi ia na ke anu, I o’o i ka nahele o Mahiki.[177] 5 Ku aku la oe i ka Malanai[178] a ke Ki-puu-puu; Nolu ka maka o ka oha-wai[179] o Uli; Niniau, eha ka pua o Koaie,[180] Eha i ke anu ka nahele o Wai-ka-é, A he aloha, e! 10 Aloha Wai-ká, ia’u me he ipo la; Me he ipo la ka maka lena o ke Koo-lau,[181] Ka pua i ka nahele o Mahule-i-a, E lei hele i ke alo o Moo-lau.[182] E lau ka huaka’i-hele i ka pali loa; 15 Hele hihiu, puli[183] 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_.

[Footnote 175: _Hole_. To rasp, to handle rudely, to caress passionately. Waimea is a district and village on Hawaii.]

[Footnote 176: _Kipu’u-pu’u_. A cold wind from Mauna-Kea that blows at Waimea.]

[Footnote 177: _Mahiki_. A woodland in Waimea, in mythological times haunted by demons and spooks.]

[Footnote 178: _Mala-nai_. The poetical name of a wind, probably the trade wind; a name much used in Hawaiian sentimental poetry.]

[Footnote 179: _Oha-wai_. A water hole that is filled by dripping; an important source of supply for drinking purposes in certain parts of Hawaii.]

[Footnote 180: _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.)]

[Footnote 181: _Koolau_, or, full form, _Ko-kao-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.)]

[Footnote 182: _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.]

[Footnote 183: _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.)] [Page 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 inconsequential thing and the demonstration 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.]

_Song—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-é: And this—it is love. 10 Wai-ká loves me like a sweetheart. Dear as my heart Koolau’s yellow eye, My flower in the tangled wood, Hule-í-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-é-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 waiho aku ai.

[Page 70]

[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’[184] a ka ino; Ha-uke-uke i ka wa o Koolau: Eha e! eha la! Eha i ku’i-ku’i o ka Ulu-mano.[185] 5 Hala ’e ka walu-ihe a ke A’e,[186] Ku iho i ku’i-ku’i a ka Ho-li’o;[187] Hana ne’e ke kikala o ko Hilo Kini. Ho’i lu’u-lu’u i ke one o Hana-kahi,[188] 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!

[Footnote 184: _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_ being dropped. This form of speech was called _kepakepa_, and was much used by the Hawaiians in old times.]

[Footnote 185: _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 village was burned to light them ashore. (Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language, by Lorrin Andrews.)]

[Footnote 186: _Walu-ihe a ke A’e_. The _A’e_ is a violent wind that is described as blowing from different 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 Hawaiians. 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.]

[Footnote 187: _Ho-li’o_ The name of a wind, but of an entirely different character from those above mentioned.]

[Footnote 188: _Hana-kahi_. (See note _f_, p. 60.)] [Page 71]

This is not a line-for-line translation; that the author found infeasible. Line 8 of the English represents line 7 of the Hawaiian. Given more literally, it might be, “He’ll shake 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 Moani, I ka ike i na pua i hoomahie ’Iuna; Ua hi-hi-hina wale i ka moe awakea. 5 Ka ino’ ua poina ia Mali’o. Aia ka i 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-tide. 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 Researches of the Rev. 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 knowledge 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 arranged themselves on a fine sandy beach in front of one of the governor’s houses, where they exhibited a native dance, called _hura 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 before 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. [Page 72] 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 bracelets 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, occasionally 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 _l_ in the words _hula, alaapapa_, and _palaoa_ may, therefore, be ascribed to the fact of his previous acquaintance with the dialects of southern Polynesia, in which the sound of _r_ to a large extent substitutes that of _l_, 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.

[Illustration: PLATE VII IPU HULA, GOURD DRUM]

[Page 73]

X.—THE HULA PA-ÍPU, OR KUÓLO

The _pa-ípu_, called also the _kuólo_, was a hula of dignified character, in which all the performers maintained the kneeling position and accompanied their songs with the solemn tones of the _ípu_ (pl. 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 instrumentalist, that only persons of the most approved skill and experience were chosen to take part in the performance of this hula.

The manner of treating the ípu in this hula differed somewhat from that employed in the ala’a-papa, being subdued and quiet in that, whereas in the pa-ípu 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 ípu 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-ípu, as in the hulas generally, while the actors were sometimes grouped according to sex, they were quite as often distributed indiscriminately, the place for the leader, the kumu, being the center.