[Footnote 21: Compare Gill's story of the first god, Watea, who dreams
of a lovely woman and finds that she is Papa, of the underworld, who
visits him in dreams to win him as her lover. (Myths and Songs, p. 8.)]
[Footnote 22: In the song the girl is likened to the lovely _lehua_,
blossom, so common to the Puna forests, and the lover's longing to the
fiery crater, Kilauea, that lies upon their edge. The wind is the
carrier of the vision as it blows over the blossoming forest and
scorches its wing across the flaming pit. In the _Halemano_ story the
chief describes his vision as follows: "She is very beautiful. Her eyes
and form are perfect. She has long, straight, black hair and she seems
to be of high rank, like a princess. Her garment seems scented with the
_pele_ and _mahuna_ of Kauai, her skirt is made of some very light
material dyed red. She wears a _hala_ wreath on her head and a _lehua_
wreath around her neck."]
[Footnote 23: No other intoxicating liquor save _awa_ was known to the
early Hawaiians, and this was sacred to the use of chiefs. So high is
the percentage of free alcohol in this root that it has become an
article of export to Germany for use in drug making. Vancouver,
describing the famous Maui chief, Kahekili, says: "His age I suppose
must have exceeded 60. He was greatly debilitated and emaciated, and
from the color of his skin I judged his feebleness to have been brought
on by excessive use of _awa_."]
[Footnote 21: In the Hawaiian form of checkers, called _konane_, the
board, _papamu_, is a flat surface of stone or wood, of irregular shape,
marked with depressions if of stone, often by bone set in if of wood;
these depressions of no definite number, but arranged ordinarily at
right angles. The pieces are beach pebbles, coral for white, lava for
black. The smallest board in the museum collection holds 96, the
largest, of wood, 180 men. The board is set up, leaving one space empty,
and the game is played by jumping, the color remaining longest on the
board winning the game. _Konane_ was considered a pastime for chiefs and
was accompanied by reckless betting. An old native conducting me up a
valley in Kau district, Hawaii, pointed out a series of such evenly set
depressions on the flat rock floor of the valley and assured me that
this must once have been a chief's dwelling place.]
[Footnote 25: The _malo_ is a loin cloth 3 or 4 yards long and a foot
wide, one end of which passes between the legs and fastens in front. The
red _malo_ is the chief's badge, and his bodyguard, says Malo, wear the
girdle higher than common and belted tight as if ready for instant
service. Aiwohikupua evidently travels in disguise as the mere follower
of a chief.]
[Footnote 28: In Hawaiian warfare, the biggest boaster was the best man,
and to shame an antagonist by taunts was to score success. In the
ceremonial boxing contest at the Makahiki festivities for Lono, god of
the boxers, as described by Malo, the "reviling recitative" is part of
the program. In the story of _Kawelo_, when his antagonist, punning on
his grandfather's name of "cock," calls him a "mere chicken that
scratches after roaches," Kawelo's sense of disgrace is so keen that he
rolls down the hill for shame, but luckily bethinking himself that the
cock roosts higher than the chief (compare the Arab etiquette that
allows none higher than the king), and that out of its feathers, brushes
are made which sweep the chief's back, he returns to the charge with a
handsome retort which sends his antagonist in ignominious retreat. In
the story of Lono, when the nephews of the rival chiefs meet, a sparring
contest of wit is set up, depending on the fact that one is short and
fat, the other long and lanky, "A little shelf for the rats," jeers the
tall one. "Little like the smooth quoit that runs the full course,"
responds the short one, and retorts "Long and lanky, he will go down in
the gale like a banana tree." "Like the _ea_ banana that takes long to
ripen," is the quick reply. Compare also the derisive chants with which
Kuapakaa drives home the chiefs of the six districts of Hawaii who have
got his father out of favor, and Lono's taunts against the revolting
chiefs of Hawaii.]
[Footnote 27: The idiomatic passages "_aohe puko momona o Kohala_,"
etc., and (on page 387) "_e huna oukou i ko oukou mau maka i ke aouli_"
are of doubtful interpretation.]
[Footnote 28: This boast of downing an antagonist with a single blow is
illustrated in the story of _Kawelo_. His adversary, Kahapaloa, has
struck him down and is leaving him for dead. "Strike again, he may
revive," urge his supporters. Kahapaloa's refusal is couched in these
words:
"He is dead; for it is a blow from the young,
The young must kill with a blow
Else will the fellow go down to Milu
And say Kahapaloa struck frim twice,
Thus was the fighter slain."
All Hawaiian stories of demigods emphasize the ease of achievement as a
sign of divine rather than human capacity.]