[Footnote 50: The abrupt entrance of the great _moo_, as of its
disappearance later in the story, is evidently due to the humanized and
patched-together form in which we get the old romance. The _moo_ is the
animal form which the god takes who serves Aiwohikupua's sisters, and
represents the helpful beast of Polynesian folk tale, whose appearance
is a natural result of the transformation power ascribed to the true
demigod, or _kupua_, in the wilder mythical tales. The myths of the
coming of the _moo_ to Hawaii in the days of the gods, and of their
subjection by Hiiaka, sister of Pele, are recounted in Westervelt's
"Legends of Honolulu" and in Emerson's "Pele and Hiiaka." Malo (p. 114)
places Waka also among the lizard gods. These gods seem to have been
connected] with the coming of the Pali family to Hawaii as recounted in
Liliuokalani's "Song of Creation" and in Malo, page 20. The ritual of
the god Lono, whose priests are inferior to those of Ku, is called that
of "Paliku" (Malo, 210), a name also applied to the northern part of
Hilo district on Hawaii with which this story deals. The name means
"vertical precipice," according to Emerson, and refers to the rending by
earthquakes. In fact, the description in this story of the approach of
the great lizard, as well as his name--the word _kiha_ referring to the
writhing convulsions of the body preparatory to sneezing--identify the
monster with the earthquakes so common to the Puna and Hilo districts of
Hawaii, which border upon the active volcano, Kilauea. Natives say that
a great lizard is the guardian spirit or _aumakua_ of this section. At
Kalapana is a pool of brackish water in which, they assert, lies the
tail of a _moo_ whose head is to be seen at the bottom of a pool a mile
and a half distant, at Punaluu; and bathers in this latter place always
dive and touch the head in order to avert harm. As the lizard guardians
of folk tale are to be found "at the bottom of a pit" (see Fornander's
story of _Aukele_), so the little gecko of Hawaii make their homes in
cracks along cuts in the _pali_, and the natives fear to harm their eggs
lest they "fall off a precipice" according to popular belief. When we
consider the ready contractility of Polynesian demigods, the size of the
monster dragons of the fabulous tales is no difficulty in the way of
their identification with these tiny creatures, the largest of which
found on Hawaii is 144 millimeters. By a plausible analogy, then, the
earthquake which rends the earth is attributed to the god who clothes
himself in the form of a lizard; still further, such a convulsion of
nature may have been used to figure the arrival of some warlike band who
peopled Hawaii, perhaps settling in this very Hilo region and forcing
their cult upon the older form of worship.