HIIAKA ADDRESSES POHAKU-O-KAUA'I--THE TWO WOMEN RIG UP A CANOE--SHE
SALUTES KAENA--SALUTE TO HAUPU--SEES LOHIAU'S SPIRIT FORM
Hiiaka had large acquaintance with the natural features of every
landscape, and if those features were of volcanic origin she might
claim them as kindred through her own relationship with Pele. It
was hers to find friendship, if not sermons, in stones. This
Pohaku-o-Kaua'i, to whom Hiiaka now addressed herself, though
in outward form an unshapen bowlder, as we see it today,--the
very one that Mawi drew from its ocean-bed with his magic hook
Mana-ia-ka-lani--was in truth a sentient being, alive to all the
honor-claims of kinship. To him, in her need, Hiiaka addressed herself:
E Pohaku o Kaua'i i kai, e,
A po Ka-ena i na pali,
I wa'a no maua
E ike aku ai i ka maka o ke hoa,
O Lohiau ipo, e!
TRANSLATION
O sea-planted Rock of Kaua'i,
Night shadows the cliffs of Ka-ena:
A canoe for me and my fellow;
We would look on the face of our friend,
Lohiau the dearly beloved.
"I have no canoe," said Pohaku-o-Kaua'i. "The one I had was wrecked
in a storm while on a fishing trip. One huge wave came aboard and
split her from end to end. We had to swim for it. But surely, such a
beautiful woman as you will have no trouble in finding a canoe. There
must be no lack of canoes making the trip to Kaua'i."
"In the lack of a canoe, let us have a plank, such as I see you are
there using for a shelf."
"If that will serve you, you are welcome," said the old man.
"We shall also need an outrigger-float for our craft," Hiiaka remarked.
"An ama (outrigger-float) is a thing I lack," he answered.
"You must have some block of wili-wili--such as that one, for instance,
which you use to hold your fishhooks," Hiiaka urged.
The old man was able to meet their demands. The two women then set
their wits to work and finally succeeded in lashing the parts together
in such fashion as to make something that would serve as a canoe.
Hiiaka, as the one in command, sat astern and Wahine-oma'o in the
bow. As they sailed away Hiiaka saluted Cape Ka-ena in these words:
Holo Ka-ena, la,
Me he wa'a kaukahi la i ka malie;--
Ka lau hoe, lau hoe o Kua-o-ka-la; [159]
Ke kowelowelo [160] la o Lehua, e;
O Lehua ho'i, e!
TRANSLATION
Ka-ena speeds along
A single canoe in the calm;
The four hundred rays that dart from
The Back of the Sun sink down
In the sea at Lehua,
The western waves of Lehua.
When well out in the channel of Kaieie the sight of the famous Hill of
Haupu, that now appeared to lift its head like a water-fowl stemming
the tide, was an inspiration to song. Mingled with the pleasure,
however, was the chagrin and indignation that came from knowing that
at that very moment her own lehua preserves in Kona were suffering
ravage from fire by the act of Pele:
O Haupu, [161] mauna ki'e-ki'e,
Huki a'e la, pa i ka lani;
Waha [162] keiki ma ke kua;
Hi'i Ke-olewa [163] ma ke alo;
Au ana Ni'ihau i ke kai.
Pau a'u lehua i ka manu, e,
Pau, e, o a'u lehua, ho'i, e!
TRANSLATION
Famed Haupu, the mighty hill,
Lifts head till she touches heaven;
On her back strapped a suckling child,
While she fondles a fleecy cloud,
And Niihau swims the ocean tide.
Oh, my lehuas! spoiled by the birds!
Alas, my lehuas, alas!
"What a notion!" Wahine-oma'o exclaimed. "Who in the world is meddling
with your lehuas?"
While they were sailing along the precipitous coast of Ka-lalau,
set in the windward wall of the island, Hiiaka saw standing at the
mouth of a cave high up on the precipice, the spirit form of one who
was no other than Lohiau, and again she was moved to song:
A Ka-lalau, a Ke-é,
A ka pali au i Haena,
E peahi mai ana ka lawakua [164] ia'u la;
Peahi, e peahi mai ana ka lawakua ia'u.
Owau keia, o ka maka o ke aloha, la,
O ke aloha, ho'i, e!
TRANSLATION
Off the coast of Lalau, off Ke-é,
When nigh the cliffs of Haena,
The loved one beckons, he beckons,
The loved one beckons to me.
I am the one--the eye-scout of love:
Love, indeed, is my errand, aye love!
The ghost-form of Lohiau still continued to show itself as they sailed;
and when it signalled a recognition of Hiiaka by beckoning to her,
she could but answer it:
Ua pu'e ia e ke one ka lehua o uka;
Ua ho-á iki ka ula i ka papa;
Ua huná i ke kino i ka pohaku;
O ka pua na'e, ke ahu nei i ke ala--
Alanui hele o Ka-unu-kupukupu; [165]
Hele li'u-lá [166] o ka poha-kau, [167] e;
Kaulia [168] a ka poha-kau he kilohana [169] ia;
He maka'ika'i ia no Ka-hua-nui; [170]
He kahiko ia no ka wai o kaunu, [171] e.
A kaunu anei, o ke aloha ia?
A ia'u la, éha oe!
TRANSLATION
The upland lehua is clinker-heaped;
Wee flame-buds crop up on the plain;
The tree-trunk is hidden with rocks,
Yet its flowers encarpet the path:
The road this that leads to desire--
One's travel stays not at twilight,
Nor to ease one's back of its load.
My journey's to Ka-hua-nui;
She is the goal of my passion.
If love be the targe of thy aim,
And I that targe, ruin awaits thee!