HIIAKA AND LOHIAU ... A REUNION
Hiiaka's sense of outrage touched every fiber of her being and stirred
such indignation against her sister that she could not again take
her former place as a member of Pele's court. Hawaii was the largest
island of the group, but it was not large enough to hold herself
and Pele. Of all the islands Kaua'i was the one most remote from the
scene of her troubles; it was also the land which Lohiau had claimed
as his own--and his was a name that called up only the most tender
emotions. To Kaua'i would she go.
The company of those who shared her feelings and whose personal
attachment to her was sufficient to lead them with herself in a
venture of new fortunes was not large. It included, of course, her
two staunch attendants, Pau-o-pala'e and Wahine-oma'o and, strangely
enough, a considerable quota of the sisters who shared with her the
name Hiiaka (qualified though it was in each case by some additional
distinguishing epithet). Towards Kaua'i, then, did they set their
faces or, more literally, turn the prow of their canoe.
Many unforeseen things, however, were to happen before the God of
Destiny would permit her to gain her destination. Other strands stood
ready to be interwoven with the purposeful threads Hiiaka was braiding
into her life.
In the ancient regime of Hawaii, the halau, as the home and school
of the hula, stood for very much and for many things. It served,
after a fashion, as a social exchange or clearing house for the whole
nation; the resort of every wandering minstrel, bohemian soul or beau
esprit whose oestrus kept him in travel; the rallying point of souls
dislocated from an old and not yet accommodated to a new environment;
a place where the anxious and discouraged, despairing of a new outlook,
or seeking balm for bruised hearts, might quaff healing nepenthe.
It is not to be wondered at, then, that Hiaaka, not yet healed of her
bruises, on reaching Oahu and finding herself in the peaceful haven
of Kou, should turn her steps to the home of that hospitable siren
and patroness of the hula Pele-ula, as to a sanitarium or hospital
whose resources would avail for the assuagement of her troubles. It
was almost an article of Pele-ula's creed that in the pleasures
and distractions of the hula was to be found a panacea for all the
wounds of the spirit; and Pele-ula, as if taking her cue from the
lady of the Venusberg, offered her consolations generously to every
comfort-needing soul that fared her way.
Hiiaka stepped into the life at Pele-ula's court as if she had been
absent from it for only a day. Madame Pele-ula, good sport that she
was, bore no grudge against the woman who had outplayed her at every
turn, and would do it again. She received Hiiaka with open arms. As
to entertainment, the play was the thing and that, fortunately,
was already appointed for the same evening. It was the same old
performance, the hula kilu, with but slight change in the actors and
with full opportunity for Hiiaka to display her marvelous skill in
hurling the kilu.
It was Hiiaka's play and she, following the custom of the game,
was caroling--in sober strain--a song of her own; when, to her
astonishment, a voice from the crowd struck in and carried the song
to completion in the very words that would have been her's. Hiiaka
stood and listened. The voice had a familiar ring; the song was not
yet in the possession of the public, being known only to a few of
her own household, among whom was to be reckoned Lohiau. There was
no avoiding the conclusion: it was Lohiau.
It remains to tell the miracle of Lohiau's reappearance among men in
living form and at this time. While the body of Lohiau lay entombed
in its stony shroud, his restless spirit fluttered away and sought
consolation in the companionship of the song-birds that ranged the
forests of Hawaii.
When the magician La'a, who lived in Kahiki, contemplated the degraded
condition of Lohiau, alienated from all the springs of human affection,
living as a wild thing in the desert, he determined on his rescue
and despatched Kolea (plover), one of his ancestral kupuas, to fetch
him. The mission of Kolea was not a success. The voice, the manner,
the arguments of the bird made no appeal to Lohiau; they were, in
fact, distasteful to him and rather increased his devotion to his
other bird-friends.
"Well, Kolea, what sort of a place is Kahiki?" asked Lohiau.
"A most charming place," he answered, nodding his head and uttering
his call, "Ko-lé-a, Ko-lé-a."
Lohiau was disgusted with his performances and would have nothing
more to do with Kolea.
When Kolea returned and reported his failure to La'a, that magician
sent another bird on the same errand, one of more seductive ways,
Ulili. There was something in the voice and manner of Ulili that
touched the fancy and won the heart of Lohiau at once and he began to
follow him. Ulili skilfully lured him on and at last brought him to
Kahiki and delivered him over to his master. La'a ministered to the
soul of Lohiau with such tenderness and skill that he became reconciled
once more to human ways. But the soul of Lohiau still remained an
unhoused ghost, and at times ranged afar in its restless excursions.
Now it happened that at the very time when these events were taking
place Kane-milo-hai, an elder brother of Pele, was voyaging from Kahiki
to Hawaii. His canoe was of that mystical pattern, the leho (cowry)
in which Mawi had sailed. While in the middle of the Iëië-waho channel
he caught sight of the distracted spirit of Lohiau fluttering like a
Mother Carey's chicken over the expanse of waters. The poor ghost,
as if desirous of companionship, drew nigh and presently came so
near that Kane-milo-hai captured it and, having ensconced it in his
ipu-holoho-lona, [508] he sailed on his way.
Reaching Hawaii and coming to the desolate scene of Lohiau's tragedy,
he recognized a charred heap as the former bodily residence of the
shivering ghost in his keeping. He broke the stony form into many
pieces and then, by the magical power that was his, out of these
fragments he reconstructed the body of Lohiau, imparting to it
its original form and lineaments. Into this body Kane-milo-hai now
introduced the soul and Lohiau lived again.
The tide of new life surging in the veins of Lohiau stirred in him
emotions that found utterance in song:
I ola no au i ku'u kino wailua,
I a'e'a mai e ke 'lii o Kahiki,
Ke 'lii nana i a'e ke kai uli,
Kai eleele, kai melemele,
Kai popolo-hua mea a Kane;
I ka wa i po'i ai ke Kai-a-ka-hina-lii--
Kai mu, kai lewa. Ho'opua ke ao ia Lohiau;
O Lohiau--i lono oukou.
Ola e; ola la; ua ola Lohiau, e!
O Lohiau, ho'i, e!
TRANSLATION
I lived, but 'twas only my soul;
Then came Kahiki's King and took me--
The King who sails this purple and blue,
An ocean, now black, now amber,
The dark mottled sea of Kane,
The sea that whelmed those monarchs of old,
A sea that is ghostly, foreign, strange.
Lohiau flowers anew in the sunlight;
It is I, Lohiau! Do you hear it?
New life has come to Lohiau!
To Lohiau, aye, to Lohiau!
Having come to himself, Lohiau sought his own. His chancing at Kou
and his appearance at the halau in which Pele-ula was holding her
kilu performance, and on the very evening of Hiiaka's arrival, was
an arrangement of converging lines that reflected great credit on
the god of Destiny.
Lohiau arrived at the kilu hall just in time to witness the opening
of the game. Having seated himself quietly in the outskirts of the
assembly, he begged a neighbor to permit him, as a favor, to conceal
himself under the ample width of his kihei, exacting of him also
the promise not to betray his retreat. Thus hidden, he could see
without being seen. The sight of Hiiaka, the words of her song--he
had heard them a score of times before--stirred within him a thousand
memories. Without conscious effort of will, the words of his response
sprang from his heart almost with the spontaneity of an antiphonal
echo. Let us bring together the two cotyledons of this song:
O ka wai mukiki a'ala lehua o ka manu,
O ka awa ili lena i ka uka o Ka-li'u,
O ka manu aha'i kau-laau o Puna:--
Aia i ka laau ka awa o Puna.
Mapu wale mai ana no ia'u kona aloha,
Hoolana mai ana ia'u, e moe, e;
A e moe no, e-e-e.
And now comes the unexpected antiphone by Lohiau:
O Puna, lehua ula i ka papa;
I ula i ka papa ka lehua o Puna:
Ke kui ia mai la e na wahine o ka Lua:
Mai ka Lua a'u i hele mai nei, mai Kilauea.
Aloha Kilauea, ka aina a ke aloha.
TRANSLATION
Nectar for gods, honeyed lehua;
Food for the birds, bloom of lehua;
Pang of love, the yellow-barked awa,
Quaffed by the dryads in Puna's wilds;
Bitter the sweet of Puna's tree-awa.
His love wafts hither to me from dreamland--
The cry of the soul for love's fond touch;
And who would forbid the soul's demand!
Antiphone
Puna's plain takes the color of scarlet--
Red as heart's blood the bloom of lehua.
The nymphs of the Pit string hearts in a wreath:
Oh the pangs of the Pit, Kilauea!
Still turns my heart to Kilauea.
We must leave to the imagination of the reader the scene that occurred
when Lohiau, the man twice called back from the dead, leaves his hiding
place and comes into Hiiaka's encircling arms lovingly extended to him.
This was accomplished the reunion of Hiiaka and Lohiau, and thus it
came to pass that these two human streams of characters so different,
in defiance of powerful influences that had long held them apart,
were, at length, turned into one channel--that of the man, not
wholly earthly, but leavened with the possibility of vast spiritual
attainment under the tonic discipline of affliction; that of the
woman, self-reliant, resourceful, yet acutely in need of affection;
human and practical, yet feeling after the divine, conscious of daily
commerce with the skies; and, yet, in spite of all, in bondage to
that universal law which gives to the smaller and weaker body the
power to introduce a perturbation into the orbit of the greater and
to pull it away from its proper trajectory.
The old order has passed away, the order in which the will of Pele
has ruled almost supreme, regardless of the younger, the human, race
which is fast peopling the land that was hers in the making. Hitherto,
surrounded by a cohort of willing servants ready at all times to
sacrifice themselves to her caprice,--behold, a new spirit has leavened
the whole mass, a spirit of dissent from the supreme selfishness of
the Vulcan goddess, and the foremost dissident of them all is the
obedient little sister who was first in her devotion to Pele, the
warm-hearted girl whom we still love to call Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele.
THE END
NOTES
[1] Hui, an elided form of huli, the l being dropped.
[2] Paoa. One Hawaiian says this should be pahoa. (Paulo Hokii.)
The Paoa mentioned in verse eight was a divining rod used to determine
the suitability of any spot for Pele's excavations. The land must be
proof against the entrance of sea water. It also served as a spade
in excavating for a volcanic crater.
When a suitable place was finally discovered on Hawaii, the Paoa staff
was planted in Panaewa and became a living tree, multiplying itself
until it was a forest. The writer's informant says that it is a tree
known to the present generation of men. "I have seen sticks cut from
it," said he, "but not the living tree itself."
[3] O Ahu. The particle o is not yet joined to its substantive,
as in Oahu, the form we now have.
[4] Pola, the raised platform in the waist of the canoe, a place
of honor.
[5] This Laupahoehoe is to be distinguished from that in Hilo.
[6] Ua, rain. It is suggested this may refer--sarcastically--to the
watery secretion in Pele's eyes, as found in old people.
[7] Ina, here means consider.
[8] Loiloi. If a chief was not pleased or satisfied with a gift,
loiloi would express his state of mind.
[9] Elua oiwi, literally, two shapes. Pele had many metamorphoses.
[10] The wavering of indecision.
[11] This Pohakau was the friend, previously mentioned, who had
brought to Pele the faithful dog that lay fasting and mourning at
Lohiau's grave. Pohakau remained at Pele's court; the dog Pele hid
away in her own secret place.
[12] One critic says it should be po'e.
[13] Kaupaku o ka hale o kaua. A hidden reference to sexual
intercourse.
[14] Malu-ko'i, dark and gloomy.
[15] Kamaaina, a resident, one acquainted with the land.
[16] Ele-i. One Hawaiian says this rare word means blue-black, shiny
black (J. W. P.); another says it means rich, choice, select (T. J. P.)
[17] Ka, to remove, clean up entirely, as in bailing a canoe.
[18] Hea, destroyed, flattened out.
[19] Ne, an elided poetical form of nele, meaning gone, blotted out.
[20] Piko, the navel. The belly, or piko, of a fish was the choicest
part. "I ka piko no oe, lihaliha." Eat of the belly and you shall be
satiated. (Old saying.)
[21] Hu-la. (Notice the accent to distinguish it from hula.) To dig
up, as a stone out of the ground.
[22] Kukui, the tree whose nuts furnished torches.
[23] Uli, an elder sister of Pele, a character much appealed to
by sorcerers.
[24] Kahuna, in this case probably Hiiaka.
[25] Alohi-lani, literally, the brightness of heaven; a term applied
to the residence or heavenly court of both Uli and Kapo. In verses
36 and 37 it is distinctly mentioned as the abode of Kapo-ula-kina'u:
"E ho'i, e komo i kou hale, O Ke-alohi-lani."
[26] Ilio-uli, literally, a dog of dark blue-black color. The primitive
Aryans, according to Max Müller, poetically applied the term "sheep"
to the fleecy white clouds that float in the sky. The Hawaiian poet,
in the lack of a nobler animal, spoke of the clouds as ilio, dogs. With
this homely term, however, he coupled--by way of distinction--some
ennobling adjective.
[27] Ilio-ehu, literally, a white dog.
[28] Ilio-mea, literally, a dog--cloud--of a warm pinkish hue.
[29] Ku-ke-ao-iki, Ao-iki, small clouds that stand ranged about
the horizon.
[30] Ao-poko, a short cloud, in contrast with ao-loa.--J. H.
[31] Ao-loa, long clouds--stratus?--such as are seen along the horizon.
[32] Ao-awihiwihi-ula, a cloud-pile having a pinkish, or ruddy, tint.
[33] Hoalii, the relatives of Hiiaka.
[34] Ko-wawa, a notched pali that formed part of the wall enclosing
the caldera of Kilauea--on its Kau side.
[35] Kupina'e, echo, hero personified and endowed with the attributes
of a superhuman being.
[36] Ku-haili-moe, one of the forms, or characters, of god Ku,
representing him as a smoother and beautifier of the landscape.
[37] Ha'iha'i-lau-ahea, a goddess who had to do with the flame of
fire. Her share in the care of a fire, or, perhaps, of Pele's peculiar
fire, seems to have been confined to the base of the flame.
[38] Mau-a-ke-alii-hea, a being who had special charge of the
flame-tip.
[39] Kanaka loloa o ka mauna, this included Ku-pulupulu and his
fellows.
[40] Ku-pulupulu, described as a hairy being, the chief god of
canoe-makers, who had his residence in the wildwoods.
[41] Kuli-pe'e-nui. This much-used term is the embodiment
in a word of the wild, lumbering, progress of a lava-flow,
or lava-tongue. Translating the figure into words, my imagination
pictures a huge, shapeless monster, hideous as Caliban drunk,
wallowing, sprawling, stumbling along on swollen disjointed knees--a
picture of uncouth desolation.
[42] Kike-alana, the formulation in a word of the rending and crashing
sounds--rock smiting rock--made by a lava-flow.
[43] Kahuna i ka, puoko o ke ahi. The word Kahuna is used here where
the word akua or kupua would seem to have served the purpose of the
meaning, which, as I take it, is the spirit, or genius, of flame.
[44] I'imi, derived seemingly from imi, to seek.
[45] Lalama, derived seemingly from lala, a branch; or possibly,
from lama, a flambeau.
[46] Kane-hekili. Thunder is always spoken of as under the control
of god Kane.
[47] Ka-ulua, the name of one of the months in the cool season of
the year; one can not say positively which month is intended, for the
reason that the nomenclature varied greatly in the different islands,
and varied even on the same island.
[48] Kumu-kahi, the name of a hill in Puna on the easternmost cape
of Hawaii; also the name of a monolith once set up there; in this
connection the name of the female kupua who acted as keeper of the
Sun's eastern gate. This name is almost always coupled with that of ...
[49] Ha'eha'e, of whom the same account can be given as above.
[50] Kapo-ula-Kina'u, one of the family. The epithet ula-kina'u is
used in allusion to the fact that her attire, red in color, is picked
out with black spots. The name Kapo alone is the one by which she is
usually known.
[51] The awa papa had a small root, but it was of superior quality.
[52] Moe-ha-una-iki, literally, the sleep with a gentle snore--such
sleep as follows the use of awa. The poet personifies this sleep. To
such lengths does the Hawaiian poetic imagination go.
[53] Pahu kapu a ka leo. One--who ought to know--tells me this means
the ear; as if the ear were the drum on which the voice played.
[54] Ho'okiki kanawai, to enforce, to carry out the law.
[55] He kua a kanawai. It was said of Pele that her back was hot like
fire, and that a bundle of taro leaves laid thereon was cooked and
turned into luau. It was an offense punishable by death for any one
to stand at her back or to approach her by that way.
[56] He kai oki'a kanawai, literally, an ocean that
separates. Exclusiveness, to live apart, was the rule of Pele's
life. This principle is enforced with further illustration in the
next line:--
[57] He ala muku no Kane me Kanaloa. Even to the great gods Kane
and Kanaloa the path of approach to Pele was cut off by the edict,
thus far shalt thou come and no further.
[58] He ki ho'iho'i kanawai. The ki is said, to my surprise, to be the
thong with which a door was made fast, ho'iho'i, in the olden times
of Hawaii. I cannot but look upon this statement with some suspicion.
[59] Leo, the voice; articulate speech. Leo o ka kanaka hookahi. This
one supreme man was Kane. The poet evidently had in mind the myth
which is embodied in a certain Kumu-lipo, or song of creation:
Kane, the supreme one, looking from heaven, saw Chaos, or the god
of Chaos, Kumu-lipo, spread out below and he called to him to send
his voice--leo--to the east, to the west, to the north and to the
south. Kumu-lipo, thus roused from inaction, despatched the bird
Halulu, who flew and carried the message to the east, to the west,
to the north and to the south.
[60] Ka manu, the bird Halulu, above mentioned.
[61] Kai-nu'u a Kane. This expression is an allusion to god Kane's
surf-riding, which is often mentioned in Hawaiian mythology. Huli
refers to the curling or bending over of the breaker's crest; Nu'u
to the blanket of white and yeasty water that follows as the wake
of the tumbling wave. The Hawaiians who are best informed in these
matters have only vague ideas on the whole subject.
[62] Amama, a word frequently used at the end of a prayer in connection
with the word noa (free), as in the expression amama, ua noa. The
evident meaning is it (the tabu) is lifted, it is free. I conjecture
that the word amama is derived from, or related to, the word mama,
light, in the sense of levitation.
[63] Kui-hanalei, a region in Puna, not far from the caldera of
Kilauea, said to be covered now with pahoehoe and aa.
[64] Pu'u-lena, a wind that blows in the region of the volcano.
[65] Ke-ka-ko'i (literally, the ax-maker), the name of the guide and
path-finder to the company.
[66] Ka-maiau, their trumpeter who carried a conch.
[67] Hinihini, a poetical name for a land-shell, probably one of
the genus Achatinella, which was popularly believed to give a shrill
piping note.
[68] Mapu, one of the trumpeters.
[69] Ale ula, a cloud of steam and smoke, such as accompanied an
eruption.
[70] Ale lani, the patches of blue sky between masses of clouds.
[71] Pu-ko'a, a column of steam and smoke bursting up from a volcanic
eruption.
[72] A'aka, a column of lapillae, accompanied by hot vapor and smoke,
such as jet up from a volcanic crater or fissure.
[73] Lono, a message; to hear a message, i.e., to receive it. The
expression ahu a lono is at first a little puzzling. It means the
visible bulk, or sign, of the message.
[74] Au-hula-ana. This is the term applied to such a break in a seaside
trail as is above described. The word hula indicates the billowy toss
of the ocean or of the swimmer's body while making the passage. The
term, following Hawaiian usage, is employed either as a noun or as
a verb.
[75] Maka'u-kiu, afeared-o-a-spy.
[76] Ma-hi-ki (mahiti, mawhiti), to leap, to skip, to spring up
suddenly. The Maori Comp. Dict. E. Tregear.
[77] Wai-luku, water of destruction.
[78] Mo'o-puna, a grandchild, nephew or niece.
[79] Kahuli-huli. Kahuli, or its intensive, kahuli-huli, primarily
means to upset, to overturn. A secondary meaning, much employed in
the argot of hula folk, is to hand over, to pass this way; as when
one guest at table might say to a neighbor, "hand me the salt (if
you please)."
[80] Nuku-o-ka-manu, literally, the beak of the bird; said to be a
cape in the neighborhood of Hilo.
[81] Hala. The fruit of the hala was so often worn in the form of a
wreath by Kapo that it came to be looked upon almost as her emblem. To
ordinary mortals this practice savored of bad luck. If a fisherman
traveling on his way to the ocean were to meet a person wearing a
lei of this description he would feel compelled to turn back and
give over his excursion for that day. In this instance Kapo was on
her way to visit a sick man--a bad omen for him.
[82] Kapo-ula-kina'u. This was the full name of Kapo, who was one
of the goddesses of the kahunas who practiced anaana (po'e kahuna
anaana). Ula-kina'u is a term applied to a feather cloak or cape made
of yellow feathers which had in them black spots.
[83] Makani. The reference is to the halitus, spirit, or influence
that was supposed to rest upon and take possession of one obsessed,
even as the tongues of fire rested upon the multitude in Pentecostal
times. Kapo herself had this power.
[84] Ua, literally, rain, is by a much employed figure of speech
used to mean the guests or people of a house. Thus, if one sees a
great number of guests arriving to share the hospitality of a house,
he might say, "kuaua ua nui ho'i keia e hele mai nei."
[85] Pua-lehei, a pali mauka of Wai-he'e.
[86] Olohe, an expert in the hula.
[87] Aoaoa, an imitative word, meaning dog.
[88] The most acceptable bonne bouche that could be offered to Pele,
or to Hiiaka, by way of refreshment, was the tender leaf of the taro
plant. We of this day and generation eat it when cooked under the
name of lu-au. In the old old times, when the gods walked on the
earth, it was acceptable in the raw state under the name of paha;
but, when cooked, it was called pe'u. The word luau seems to be modern.
[89] Po'ipo'i. Po'i uhane, soul catching, was one of the tricks of
Hawaiian black art and sorcery.
[90] There seems to be a disagreement in the different versions as to
who is the king with whom Hiiaka is now contending, whether Ole-pau
or Ka-ula-hea. For historical reasons I deem it to be Ole-pau, unless,
indeed, the two names represent the same person.
[91] Kau, offered, literally put upon the altar.
[92] Lohelohe. By some inadvertence, this word was wrongly written as
kohekohe, and I was cudgelling my wits and searching heaven and earth,
and all the dictionaries, to learn the meaning of this artifact,
this false thing. After having vainly inquired of more than a score
of Hawaiians, one man, wiser than the rest, suggested that it should
be lohelohe, not kohekohe, meaning underdone, or half-baked dog. The
word-fit was perfect; the puzzle was solved.
[93] Kanaloa, a name given to Kaho'olawe, the island that faces East
Maui, lying opposite to Lahaina, and acts as a sort of buffer against
the blasts of the south wind, allusion to which is made, as I believe,
in the word A-a, in the same line.
[94] Ele. Some critics claim that ka and ele properly form one word
(kaele), meaning overturned. The grammatical construction of the
sentence forbids this claim, and favors the interpretation I have given
it. The figure is that of a canoe whose black body has turned turtle.
[95] Pa'iauma. This is a word that has presented some difficulties
in the discovery of its meaning. The reference, I believe, is to
breast-beating practiced by persons distracted with grief. Uma, the
final part of the word, I take to be the shortened form of umauma,
the bosom.
[96] Pili, to meet, the point or line of meeting, the boundaries of
a land, therefore, the whole land.
[97] Ka-ma'o-ma'o, the name given to the sandy plain between Kahului
and Wailuku, Maui.
[98] Female deities of necromancy.
[99] Akua, literally, a god, or godlike, i.e., in an awe-inspiring
manner.
[100] Ke-olo-ewa, an akua ki'i, i.e., a god of whom an image
was fashioned. Some form of cloud was recognized as his body
(Ke-ao-lewa(?)). One of his functions was rain-producing. Farmers
prayed to him: "Send rain to my field; never mind the others." S. Percy
Smith of New Zealand (in a letter to Professor W. D. Alexander) says
that in Maori legend Te Orokewa, also called Poporokewa, was one of
the male apa, guardians and messengers of Io, the supreme god who
presided over the 8th heaven.
According to Hawaiian tradition Ke-olo-ewa was, as Fornander has it,
the second son of Kamauaua, a superior chief, or king of Moloka'i,
and succeeded his father in the kingship of that island. His
brother, Kau-pe'e-pe'e-nui-kauila, it was who stole away Hina,
the beautiful wife of Haka-lani-leo of Hilo, and secreted her on
the famous promontory of Haupu on Moloka'i. For the story of this
interesting tradition see Fornander's "The Polynesian Race," Vol. II,
p. 31. After death he became deified and was prayed to as a rain god.
[101] Kama-ua, literally, the son of rain.
[102] Ulu-nui, meaning the crop-giver. This was the name of a king,
or chief of Makawao, Maui, under whom agriculture greatly flourished.
[103] Me-ha'i-kana, the goddess of the bread-fruit tree; said to be
one with Papa.
[104] Kele honua, an instance of a noun placed after its adjective. The
meaning of kele honua, literally, the miry soil, a deep taro patch.
[105] Oloku'i, a high bluff that overlooks Pele-kunu and Wailau,
valleys on Moloka'i.
[106] Maka-pu'u, a headland at the eastern extremity of Oahu, on
which a lighthouse of the first class has been established within
three years.
[107] Lae o Ka-laau, the south-western cape of Moloka'i, on which is
a lighthouse of the first class.
[108] Makua-ole, literally, fatherless or parentless; seemingly a
reference to the lonely inhospitable character of the place.
[109] Ulu-ma-wao, a hill in the same region as Maka-pu'u point. The
name is said to mean a place having a very thin soil.
[110] Ua poai-hale, a rain that whisked about on all sides of a house.
[111] Moko-li'i (little snake), compound of moko, archaic form of mo'o,
and li'i.
[112] I-maka, a watch-tower. (This is a new word, not in the
dictionary.)
[113] Ha-lawa-lawa, zigzag.
[114] Ololo-e, out of line; out of order; irregular. See ololo, in
Andrews' Hawaiian Dictionary. Keke'e, halawalawa and ololo-e have
the same generic meaning.
[115] Manu'u-ke-eu, the name of a mythical hala tree that once grew
in Puna. The seed was brought from Kahiki by Ka-moho-alii, when he
came from that land with Pele and others. They ate the drupe of it
with salt and sugar-cane, and then Ka-moho-alii planted the seed. The
tree that grew up was, of course, a kupua.
[116] Halu'a-pua, flower-bedecked; compound of halu'a (covered),
and pua (a flower).
[117] Pe'ape'a, a bat; a creature regarded as a kupua.
[118] Ka-upu, some sort of a sea-gull.
[119] Lu-ahi, the object of a person's wrath or indignation.
[120] Hika'a-lani, facing heaven; looking up to heaven. This was the
name given later to a beautiful princess on Oahu.
[121] Ma-u, literally, damp; the name of the wife of Maka-li'i, as
here indicated. Maka-li'i, here used as the name of a deity, is also,
1. the name of the Pleiades; 2. the name of the month in which that
constellation rises at the time of sunset; 3. the name sometimes
applied to the six summer months collectively. The visible sign of
Maka-li'i, as a deity or kupua, was a rain-cloud.
[122] Awa i-ku, awa i-lani. A clear understanding of these words calls
for a reference to the customs, that had almost the dignity of a rite,
that were observed in the handling of awa for purposes of worship,
or as an offering to the gods. This began with the very digging of
the awa root. He who did this had first to purify himself by a bath
in the ocean, followed by an ablution in fresh water and completing
the lustration with an aspersion of water containing turmeric,
administered by a priest. Then, having arrayed himself in a clean
malo, he knelt with both knees upon the ground and tore the root from
its bed. Now, rising to his feet, he lifted the awa root to heaven,
and by this act the awa was dignified and was called awa i-ku. The
utterance (by the priest?) of the kanaenae, or prayer of consecration
and eulogy, still further enhanced this dignity and set it apart as
a special sacrifice to some god, or to the gods of some class. Awa
thus consecrated was known as awa i-lani.
[123] Mauli-ola, the God of Health; also the name of a place. The
same name was applied also to the breath of life, and to the kahuna's
power of healing. In the Maori tongue the word mauri means life,
the seat of life. In Samoan mauli means heart; in Hawaiian it means
to faint. "Sneeze, living heart" ("Tihe, mauri ora"), says the New
Zealand mother to her infant when it utters a sneeze. The Hawaiian
mother makes the same ejaculation.
[124] Ka-ulu-ola. I can throw no light on this phrase further than
is to be obtained in the above note.
[125] Kapu-kapu-kai. Awa was forbidden to women. Under certain
circumstances, however, it was set before them. In such a case the tabu
was first removed by sprinkling the root with sea water (kapu-kai).
[126] Haumea, the mother of Pele.
[127] Ai. In another version, instead of ai, I find eli or elieli used.
[128] Ma-u, the sister of Haumea, therefore aunt to Pele, also the
wife of Maka-li'i.
[129] Lua-wahine, (lua-hine?), said to be an incarnation, or more
properly, perhaps, a spiritual form (kino-lau) of Haumea.
[130] Kukuena, the goddess, au-makua, who presided over the ceremony
of preparing awa for drinking; said to be an elder sister of Pele.
[131] Akua malihini, an epithet applied to himself by Kauhi, because,
as previously stated, he had since his arrival from Kahiki been
obliged to remain fixed in his station in the cliff and had thus been
denied acquaintance with the other islands, especially the big island
of Hawaii.
[132] Ka-ma'a-ma'a, a land in Puna.
[133] Pua-le'i. Bird-hunters often stripped off the lower branches
from a selected lehua tree that was in full flower and then limed it
to ensnare the birds that were attracted to its rich clusters. Such
a tree was termed pua-le'i.
[134] Apua, a place in Puna.
[135] Ku-ka-la-ula, a place on the road that ascends from Puna to
Kilauea. The same term was applied to the ruddy glow that appears on
a mountain horizon just before sunrise.
[136] Pu'u-lena, said to be the name of a hill near Kilauea-iki. It
is now commonly employed as the name of a wind, as in the old saying:
"Ua hala ka Pu'u-lena, aia i Hilo."
[137] Akua. That was Pele herself. "Aina a ke Akua i noho ai" has
passed into a saying.
[138] I have purposely weeded out from the narrative, as popularly
told, several incidents that have but little interest and no seeming
pertinence to the real purpose of the story.
[139] Moa'e, the trade wind.
[140] There seems to lurk a play in this word hala. It stood not only
for the pandanus tree; it also meant a fault, a sin.
[141] Poluea, ordinary meaning, to be nauseated; here it means to
slope down.
[142] Moe-wa'a, literally, a canoe-dream. To dream of a canoe-voyage
was considered an omen of very bad luck.
[143] Uwa'u, a sea-bird, a gull.
[144] Nene-le'a, a place near Ka-ena point, close to Pohaku o Kaua'i.
[145] Koa'e, the tropic-bird, or bosen-bird.
[146] Ka-ieie, the channel between Oahu and Kauai.
[147] Ka-peku. The word kapeku, at the beginning of verse 13, means,
I am told, querulous.
[148] Ho'o-ilo, or Ho-ilo, the cool or rainy season of the year,
covering six months according to the Hawaiians. There was no such month
(mahina) as Ho'o-ilo, or Ho-ilo.
[149] Ka-hulu-manu. The kai o Ka-hulu-manu is, as reported to me by a
well-informed Hawaiian, a flood that submerged the land in mythological
times, distinct from Kai-a-ka-hina-alii.
[150] Hoohaehae, to chase, to irritate, to tease.
[151] Lae-o-ka-laau, (literally, Cape of the Trees), the south-western
cape of Moloka'i, on which the United States have established a
first-class lighthouse.
[152] Kihe, to sneeze; to spatter; to wet with spray.
[153] Wawalu, a cove.
[154] Owaewae, gullied. This is an instance of the adjective being
placed before its noun.
[155] Huna i ka wai. The people of the region concealed the holes
where water dripped, as it was very scarce.
[156] Muli-wai, literally a river, a poetical exaggeration.
[157] Wa'a-wa'a, simple-minded; unsophisticated; "green;" the name
of two youths mentioned in tradition, one of whom committed blunder
after blunder from his soft-hearted stupidity.
[158] Pohaku o Kaua'i. The most audacious terrestrial undertaking of
the demigod Mawi was his attempt to rearrange the islands of the group
and assemble them into one solid mass. Having chosen his station at
Kaena Point, the western extremity of Oahu, from which the island of
Kaua'i is clearly visible on a bright day, he cast his wonderful hook,
Mana-ia-ka-lani, far out into the ocean that it might engage itself
in the foundations of Kaua'i. When he felt that it had taken a good
hold, he gave a mighty tug at the line. A huge bowlder, the Pohaku o
Kaua'i, fell at his feet. The mystic hook, having freed itself from
its entanglement, dropped into Palolo Valley and hollowed out the
crater, that is its grave. This failure to move the whole mass of
the island argues no engineering miscalculation on Mawi's part. It
was due to the underhand working of spiritual forces. Had Mawi been
more politic, more observant of spiritual etiquette, more diplomatic
in his dealings with the heavenly powers, his ambitious plans would,
no doubt, have met with better success.
[159] Kua-o-ka-La (the back of the sun), a personification and
deification of that orb.
[160] Kowelowelo, to sink into; to be submerged.
[161] Haupu, a famous hill on Kauai, visible from Oahu. When it was
capped with a cloud, Hawaiians said, "Ua kau mai ka pua'a i Haupu;
e ua ana." If that occurred in the rainy season, they said it was
about to clear.
[162] Waha, the same as haawe, i.e., a load for the back. In this
case it was a bank of mist or clouds.
[163] Ke-olewa, a hill, smaller than Haupu, on the side towards
Kipu-kai. The word also applied to the floating clouds about the
mountain.
[164] Lawa-kua, a precious object bound to the back; applied,
therefore, to a child, a dear friend and the like; the local name
applied to a wind at Ka-lalau.
[165] Ka-unu-kupukupu, a land in Puna. The intrinsic meaning of the
phrase is an increasing, overmastering, passion ka-unu, a passion;
kupukupu, to grow up, to increase.
[166] Li'u-la, twilight.
[167] Poha-kau, a resting place where the burden-carrier leaned back
and relieved his shoulders of their burden for a time.
[168] Kaulia, old form of kauia (kau ia). It connotes the removing
from the back the haawe, preliminary to a long rest.
[169] Kilohana, here means a comfort, a relief.
[170] Ka-hua-nui, the elder sister of Lohiau.
[171] Kau-nu, desire, passion. Wai o kau-nu, lit., the water of
love--"the warm effects."
[172] Ulu o Wahine-Kapu. Wahine-kapu was the name given to the
plateau over which Kaneohoalii presided, a very tabu place. As to the
bread-fruit tree Ulu, I have been able to learn nothing; this is the
first mention of it I have met with.
[173] Na-maka-o-ka-ha'i, an elder sister of Pele, with whom she had
trouble over the question of tabus, rights and privileges, involving
the right to dominion over the volcanic fires. Pele was not only a
stickler for her own rights and privileges but ambitious for their
extension. The result was she had to flee for her life. (For the
story of this trouble see p. V of the introduction.)
[174] Elieli, kau mai! A solemn expression often found at the end
of a prayer. Hawaiians are unable to give an exact account of its
meaning. The phrase kau mai by itself means overshadow me, sit upon
me, possess me.
[175] Hana-kahi, an appelation applied to Hilo derived from the name
of an ancient king.
[176] Wai-o-lama, the name applied to the eastern section of Hilo town,
including the sand-beach and the river there located.
[177] Ako ia ka hale. The hands elevated and the fingers brought
together in the form of an inverted V were, I am informed, an accepted
symbol that might be used in place of a heiau at a time when distress
or emergency made impossible the erection of such a structure. David
Malo narrates a similar incident as occurring in the mythical story
of Wakea at a time when he was in peril and beset by his enemies.
[178] Ko'i ke Akua. There is a division of opinion as to the meaning of
this passage. Some, including J. W. P., think it may be the shortened,
poetical form of ko'iko'i, heavy, referring to the timber used in
building a temple for the deity. Others take the view that the word
ko'i should be given its face-value. I see in it a possible reference
to pahoehoe, the plates of which, in their hot and nascent state, are
capable of felling a forest as effectively as a ko'i. One expounder
(Pelei-oho-lani) finds in this word ko'i a reference to a symbolical
lifting of the thumb of the left hand as a sign of prayer. The
arguments on the one side and on the other are not quite convincing.
[179] Kou pua'a kanu. Pua'a-kanu is the name of a place in Puna, said
to be the spot where Pele had her sexual encounter with Kama-pua'a,
the swine-god. I look upon it as meaning the encounter itself.
[180] Kukuena wahine, an elder sister of Pele. (Some one says the
first born of the Pele family. This assertion is not verified by
other authorities.) She had charge of the making and distribution of
the leis and of the ceremonies connected with formal awa-drinking. She
was, in short, a sort of lady of the bedchamber to Pele.
[181] Lauwili, literally, an entanglement. It refers to the lustful
attack made by Kama-pua'a on Pele, an attack to which she gave seeming
acquiescence.
[182] Apa'apa'a, the name of a violent wind, here used adjectively.
[183] Luahine moe nana, Pele, who is depicted as an old woman huddled
up on a lava plate. The snoring must refer to the sounds made by the
lava while in action.
[184] Wa'a kauhi, an unrigged canoe, without iako or ama.
[185] Pepe mua, Pepe waena. This a detail in the development of the
figure in which flowing lava is compared to a canoe. The pepe is a
chock such as is put under the canoe when it is at rest on land. Mua,
waena and muimui mean respectively at the bow, amidships and astern.
[186] Muimui, an elided form of mulimuli, the hindmost.
[187] Kihele ia ulu. Kihele, to bail out; ulu--the belly of the canoe,
its swell amidships, the place where the bilge would settle. The
implication is that, if the water is not bailed out, the incrusted
salt will form a spot like the staring eye of Niheu.
[188] Niheu, a mythological hero who is always spoken of as kalohe,
mischievous, because of his restlessness and stirring energy. His
mother, Hina, had been abducted by a pirate chief who lived on the high
bluff of Haupu, on Moloka'i. Niheu and his brother Kana, whose body
was a rope of immense length, went to their mother's rescue, in which
they succeeded, after many adventures. The eyes of Niheu were a marked
feature in his appearance, being described as large and searching.
[189] Hina, the goddess with whom Wakea consorted after he had divorced
his wife Papa by spitting in her face. Hina became the mother of the
island of Moloka'i. From such a distinguished parentage arose the
proverbial saying "Moloka'i nui a Hina."
[190] Kaunu-ohua, a hill on Moloka'i between Halawa valley and Puko'o,
where is said to repose the body of Pele.
[191] Haupu, a hill on Moloka'i.
[192] Okaoka, said to be the flame-body of Pele, or the small stones,
iliili, that entered into the composition of her body.
[193] Nana'i, an archaic form of Lana'i.
[194] Ka-ula-hea, a goddess with whom Wakea consorted after his divorce
of Papa. The name also of a historic king of Lana'i, as well as of a
kaula--prophet--attached to the disreputable set of gods that infested
Lana'i at one time.
[195] Poli-hua, a sandy cape on Lana'i famous for its sea-turtles.
[196] Wai-li'u, full form, wai-li'u-la, mirage.
[197] Hoopa'apa'a Pele ilaila. Pele had planted a spring at this place,
near Wai-lua, Kaua'i. Kama-pua'a, in company with two dragon-goddesses,
Ka-la-mai-nu'u and Kilioe, who will find mention later in the story,
took possession and moved the spring to another spot. When Pele came
that way again, after a wordy contention with the two dragons, she
slew them.
[198] Ulu, to guard, to farm, to protect. The kahu was the one
who offered the sacrifices and prayers that were necessary to the
maintenance of power and life in an artificial divinity, such as many
of the Hawaiian deities were.
[199] Mo'o-kini, literally, the multitude (40,000) of dragons; the
name of a heiau in Puna. There is also a heiau in Kohala called by
the same name.
[200] Ko'i, said to be a kupua who had to do with carving and finishing
the canoe. Pua seems to be epithet applied to the group of workmen
who assisted him.
[201] Lele-iwi, a cape on the Puna side of Hilo bay.
[202] Mokau-lele, the name of a little land in Hilo situated near
the point where the eruption of 1881-1882 came to a stand-still.
[203] Lili. This word, accented on the final syllable, means to rush,
to move with one fixed purpose in view. It is to be distinguished
from lili, having the accent on the penult, and meaning to be angry,
jealous, alienated. (My authority is J. M. Poepoe). The word is not
given by Andrews in his Dictionary.
[204] Haili-opua, the name of a deity. It means the piling-up of
cloud-portents.
[205] Wai-a-kahala-loa, the Green lake, in Puna. This was, no doubt,
much larger and of more importance in ancient times than it is now.
[206] Wa'a, the name of a kaula, soothsayer, who observed the omens
in the heavens and instructed the fishermen. He had his station on
or near the hill Maka-noni, in Puna.
[207] In one text this is Pu-ala'a, said to be a place in Puna. I
have amended it to make better sense.
[208] Ko'e-ula, a family of Kupua, superhuman creatures, who had power
over men's lives. They were, in truth, some kind of mud-worms, or
glow-worms. They came out from their subterranean retreats to see Pele.
[209] A'ama, an edible black crab whose shell has a highly decorative
pattern. It is said to have been used as a special, or sacred food
by certain priests.
[210] Pe'ai, a contracted form from pe'e, to hide. In this case,
the meaning seems to be to hang low in the heavens.
[211] Ihi, another form for uhi, to cover, or covered. The ahea,
or aheahea is a common plant that was cooked and eaten like luau. It
was also used as a poultice, after heating.
[212] Ka-ula-hea. See note 22.
[213] Ka-o-mea-lani, a god of rain. He indicated his presence by
piling up volumes of white clouds.
[214] Hokahoka, disappointed, fooled, deceived; said of Pele in view
of her painful experience with Kama-pua'a.
[215] Ne'ene'e, to shift about, as Pele had to do because her back was
pierced to the bone by the sharp points of a-a on which she lay during
her affair with Kama-pua'a. The point of the irony is to be found in
the fact that she was as a rule indifferent to the roughness of the
bed on which she lay. Yet she was accustomed--so the story goes--to
choose pahoehoe as a bed.
[216] Ai pau, literally, to eat the whole; and for the first time.
[217] Pahoehoe. The mention of pahoehoe in this and in the following
line has reference to a saying, or belief, which asserted that Pele
was covered with an armor of pahoehoe. It is as if the poet sought
to banter her on this popular notion.
[218] Pau hale, literally, the destruction of the house, meaning,
of course, the deflowering of Pele.
[219] Kane-ula-a-Pele, literally, the red man of Pele, meaning
Ka-moho-alii, a brother of Pele. He is described as having a ruddy
complexion and reddish hair. He presided over the council of the
Pele gods.
[220] Ku-ihi-malanai-akea, one of the forms or attributes of god Ku,
the Trade-wind. The word Malanai by itself is often used in modern
Hawaiian poetry to signify the same thing.
N.B.--The occurrence of the preposition e in verse 147 illustrates
the somewhat vague and, at times illogical, use of prepositions in
Hawaiian poetry. If I read this passage correctly, Kane-ula-a-Pele
and Ku-ihi-malanai-akea are in apposition with hoalii, the subject of
the verb noho; and, that being the case, instead of the preposition
e we should have the particle o standing before Kane-... as we find
it before Ku-.... The explanation of this anomaly, it seems to me,
is to be found in the demand of the Hawaiian ear for tone-color,
at any cost, even at the expense of grammar.
[221] He noho ana ai laau, a session of the gods in which they partook
in common of some laau, medicine, or spiritual corrective, as a sign of
mutual amity, even as the North American Indians smoked the peace-pipe
in token of friendly relation between the participants. This laau
is said to have been none other than the tender buds of the a'ali'i,
which was chewed by the members of the assembly and was deemed to be
not merely a symbol but an active agent in the production of amity
and a good understanding.
[222] Papa-walu, literally, eightfold. The wahine are the Hiiaka
sisters, seven in number. The inclusion of Kukuena fills the number
to eight.
N.B.--It should be noted that during the time of Pele's
disqualification, or retirement, or disgrace, Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele
would be the one to control the affairs of the Pele family.
[223] Kiope, to scatter, said of a fire, in order to extinguish it.
[224] Ku mau-mau wa. The literal meaning is, stand in order, or, as
I have put it, stand shoulder to shoulder. It corresponded to and
served the purpose of a sailor's chantey, and was employed in the
ancient times to Hawaiian history to give spirit and precision to
the work of the men straining at the hauling line of a canoe-log. The
koa tree has been felled and rudely fashioned; a strong line is made
fast to one end of it, and the men, having ranged themselves along,
rope in hand, their chief, sometimes standing on the log itself,
gives the signal for them to be ready for a start by uttering the
inspiring cry "I ku mau-mau wa!" "I ku mau wa," answer the men, and
with a mighty pull the huge log starts on its way to its ocean-home.
[225] Mauli, contracted form of Mauli-ola; the name of a kupua, a
deity, who had to do with health, after some ideal fashion, a sort of
Hygeia; also the name of that kupua's mystical abode. The name Mauli,
or Mauli-ola, was also given, as I learn, to the site of the present
Kilauea Volcano House.
[226] Hua-wai maka, literally, an unripe water-gourd. In this place
it means a small collection of dew or rain-water, a water-hole, a
thing much sought after by men, even as the owl--as remarks the poet
in the next verse--searches after it. Whether the poet is correct in
his assertion about the owl, is more than I can say.
[227] Pu oe i kau laau me kou makaainana. Kou makaainana is,
undoubtedly, Pele. The reference is to the practice spoken of in
note 48.
[228] Hahau i ke Akua, offer to the god.
[229] Ku'u ia a'e Pele. (In the text the ia is shortened to a). The
meaning seems to be that Pele is exonerated from blame. That would
not, however, alter the facts and render back to Pele the sacredness
that belonged to her uncontaminated body.
[230] Lapu'u 'na Pele. This seems to have a double meaning, referring
at once to the dismissal of hard feelings against Pele and to her
rising up from her customary attitude in repose, that with her head
crouched forward and her legs drawn up towards the body.
[231] Kauwiki, a hill in Hana, Maui, famous in history.
[232] Ho'oili, to come together in a bunch, said of fish. This is an
unusual use of the word, though an old Hawaiian (J. T. P.) tells me
his mother used it in this way. It refers not to the swarming of fish,
but their bunching together when driven.
[233] Paiea, a species of crab that resembles the a'ama. The background
color of the paiea is black; this is strewn with spots and markings
of dark red, producing a highly artistic effect. The specimen I
examined was found in the Honolulu fish market and came from Kona,
Hawaii. In spite of mutilation, it still retained a formidable claw.
[234] Maunu paiea. The Hawaiian fisherman often prepared his bait by
chewing it fine, after which he blew it into the water to attract the
fish. The poet finds a parallel between this action of the fisherman
and the discharge of venomous words by an angered person.
[235] Nie, an elided form of niele, to question.
[236] Ea, the sea-turtle.
[237] Honu, the land-turtle.
[238] Kukuau, a hairy, spotted crab, said to be poisonous.
[239] Hinalea, a name applied to fish of several different species,
among which one that is rare is the Hinalea akilolo (Macropharyngodon
geoffroy, Quoy and Gaimard). Another less rare, though beautiful,
species is the Hinalea i'iwi (Gomphosus tricolor, Quoy and Gaimard).
[240] Apuhihi.
[241] Hihi-wai, a bivalve shell that is found clinging to rocks or
reeds in fresh or brackish water streams. Its dorsum is jetty black,
its front white, shading into yellow.
[242] Loli-pua, loli-koko and loli-ka'e, different species of
holothuriae, or sea-slugs, some of which are esteemed as food by the
Hawaiians. They were, nevertheless, looked upon as kupua.
[243] Lelea, a marine creature that is said to be slimy and adheres
to the rocks.
[244] Kahi-kona, said to be a god of the fishermen.
[245] Leo hokiki, an imperfect tone caused by a torn drumhead.
[246] Kua a. The penalty of approaching Pele from behind was death:
she is said to have had a consuming back.
[247] Kai oki'a, an engulfing abyss.
[248] Ala muku, the rainbow. (For further comments on these difficult
passages, see notes 11, 12, and 13, on page 114.)
[249] Ho'o-nou o ka lani. This must be Pele. The word ho-onou is used
of a person striving to accomplish some physical task, as of a woman
straining in labor.
[250] Ku-walu, literally, eighth in order of succession.
[251] Ulu-po, said to be the name of a heiau at Kailua, Oahu.
[252] Iku-wa, the name of a month in the Hawaiian year, corresponding,
according to one account, pretty closely to October; according to
another nomenclature it corresponds pretty nearly to our April. The
name etymologically connoted thunder and reverberations.
[253] Eka mua, literally, the first blast of a storm; here used
figuratively to mean the first sexual ecstacy.
[254] Hoaka, a setting forth in figures. (Hoakaka).
[255] Ana-ku, the name of a cave situated somewhere in the caldera of
Kilauea, a place of assembly for the gods. Its use here is evidently
for a highly figurative purpose, and has, of course, to do with Pele
and her affair with Kama-pua'a.
[256] Ha-amo, the name of the road to Ana-ku. (Peleioholani).
[257] Pahu. It is doubtful whether this means a drum or a post. In
either case, in the smash-up of the one or the overthrow of the other,
the figure evidently is designed to set forth the confusion caused
by the catastrophe--Pele's debauchment. The other figures that follow
have the same purpose.
[258] Halau ololo, literally, a long shed or canoe-house, meaning a
place of common assembly for people. The figure is applied to Pele
and is intended to declare that, through her affair with Kama-pua'a
she had degraded herself and robbed her body of its tabu, its sanctity.
[259] Kiko, a mark to indicate a tabu. Two ti leaves placed crosswise,
and held in place by a pebble, would constitute a kiko.
[260] Mo'a, literally, cooked; meaning that the tabu has expired,
been abrogated.
[261] Pu'e-pu'e, the hills of taro. Kaele means the division or
apportioning of them.
[262] Ne'ine'i, the more scattered, smaller, hills of taro, those
that are nearer the bank.
[263] Pakikokiko, the scattered taro plants that grow in the
water-course.
[264] These Honopu women, two in number, were mo'o, witches, related
to Kilioe, a famous witch-mo'o of Hawaii, and their names were
Kili-oe-i-ka-pua and Ka-lana-mai-nu'u.
[265] Kili-hau, the name given to a local wind accompanied by a
fine rain.
[266] Kili-opu, a name descriptive of a wind and rain-shafts that,
plunging into the water, made as little splash as a skillful diver.
[267] Pu'e. This word is here used in an unusual sense to mean cold.
[268] Hanehane, the shrill, seemingly far-off, wailing of a ghost;
ghostly.
[269] Pololei, an archaic name applied to the land shell, now known
as pupu-kanioi. This was supposed to utter a delicate trilling cry
similar to that of the cricket.
[270] Lima-loa, the god Mirage.
[271] Wawae-nohu, the name given to a red cloud seen at sunset in
the west from Mana, Kauai.
[272] Ka-halau-a-ola, literally, the hall of health. The more commonly
used appellation Mauli-ola, was both the name of a deity and of
a mystical place. One may infer from their use that Halau-a-ola
meant rather a sort of house-of-refuge, a place of security from
the attack of an enemy, while Mauli-ola had in view a mystical,
beatific, condition. The former is illustrated in the line describing
Kama-pua'a's escape from Pele's onslaught:
Noho ana Kama-pua'a i ka Halau-a-ola.
Kama-pua'a finds refuge in the hall of life.
[273] Hala-aniani, a small lake of fresh water in a cave at Haena,
in which the writer has bathed.
[274] Koa maka-iwa, idols with eyes of mother o' pearl. To this class
belonged Ku-kaili-moku, the famous war god of Kamehameha.
[275] Halawa, the largest valley on Moloka'i, a stronghold of
priestcraft and sorcery. "Ua o'o na pule o Moloka'i," the incantations
of Moloka'i are ripe, became a proverbial expression.
[276] Hea, a stream near Haena.
[277] Hana-ia-ka-malama, a benevolent goddess who presided over
the tabus that were the birthright of certain chiefs. The rules and
observances that etiquette prescribed in the life and conduct of such
a chief were intricate and burdensome to the last degree. It was,
for instance, required that an infant who inherited this sort of a
tabu must not be placed in such a position that the sun's rays could
shine on its vertex.
[278] Mai-u'u, Ma-a'a, two goddesses (of the wilderness) whose function
it was to string or twine leis and wreaths for the decoration of the
superior gods. All the gods here mentioned were sometimes grouped
under the appellation Akua o ka wa po--gods of the night-time--the
fact being, however, that they worked as much by day as by night.
[279] Nahinahi-ana, another name for the goddess Hina-ulu-ohi'a,
under which appelation her function was to make the dyes used in
coloring and printing the tapas.
[280] Kuhulu ma. The particle-affix ma indicates that this name, or
cognomen rather, comprises a group--in this case a family group--of
deities. Under the family cognomen Ku were ranged a large and
important group of deities, to whom were given individual appelations
appropriate to their functions. Thus, Ku-huluhulu and Ku-ka-ohi'a-laka
were deities worshipped by the canoe-makers. Ku-hulu and his set
(ma) exercised a function akin to that of the water-carrier. They
had charge of the fabled, life-giving water of Kane, Wai a Kane,
and served it out according to the needs of men.
[281] Hanau a Kane, offspring of Kane. This appellation is intended,
apparently, to cover the whole list of names already mentioned and,
perhaps, some to be mentioned later in the mele.
[282] Wahine. Who these women, goddesses, were is brought out in
what follows.
[283] Na Wahine i ka pa'ipa'i, literally, the women who clapped,
or applauded; but more closely specified as:
[284] Pa'i-kua, the goddess who slapped the back, as was done in
the hula.
[285] Pa'i-alo, the goddess who slapped the chest, as was also done
in the hula.
[286] Pa'i-kauhale, she who knocked at the doors of the village,
i.e., who roused the people generally.
[287] Aha, the charm of a pule, its ceremonial correctness, its power
as an incantation.
[288] Lele wale, to get off the track; to go astray; to fail to hit
the point.
[289] A pa ia'u, pa ia oe, with results disastrous to me and to you.
[290] Wahine-kapu, a bluff in the north-western wall that surrounds
the caldera of Kilauea, the tabu residence of god Ka-moho-alii,
a brother of Pele.
[291] Hoali'i (Hoa, companion and alii, chief); a fellow chief.
[292] Ku-wa'a, a god who presided at the hauling of a canoe-log. The
shout raised on such an occasion, though it sounds almost like a
repetition of this god's name, being "ku maumau wa," had a different
origin.
[293] Ku-haili-moe, one of the Ku gods, whose function it was to
induce or preside over dreams at night.
[294] Naele o Hawaii, probably meaning the whole broad area of
Hawaii. One view would make it refer specially to the swampy lands.
[295] Kui-kui, an archaic form of the word kukui; here meaning both
the candle made from the kukui nut and the god who had the same under
his special charge.
[296] Koli-koli, the god who presided over the snuffling of the
kukui nut candles. These were made by stringing the roasted nuts on
a coconut leaf-rib.
[297] Kaha-ula, the goddess who presided over erotic dreams.
[298] Lono-makua, a god one of whose functions was to act as guardian
of fire. When Pele and Kama-pua'a fought together and Kama-pua'a had
succeeded in extinguishing the fires of Kilauea, Pele, in dismay,
appealed to Lono-makua, saying, "There is no fire left." Lono-makua
calmly pointed to his armpit and said, "Here is the fire, in these
fire-sticks," (aunaki and aulima). The armpit was his place for
carrying these sticks. When the Hawaiians first saw a White man with
a lighted pipe in his mouth, smoke issuing therefrom, they said,
"Surely, this is the great god Lono-makua; he breathes out fire."
[299] Kane-kapolei, god of flowers and shrubs.
[300] Laka, a god, or demi-god of various functions, such as fishing,
agriculture, and house-building. Malo mentions Ku-ka-ohi'a-Laka as a
god invoked by canoe-makers. Laka is evidently derived from the name
Rata, which in Tahiti, Raro-tonga and New Zealand is the name of the
ohi'a tree. Laka is to be distinguished from Laka, the goddess of
the hula.
[301] Haina-kolo, the same as Ha'i-wahine, the name used in the
Hawaiian text. Ha'ina-kolo is a name that spells tragedy. She was a
princess of Hawaii who married a mythical being, Ke-anini-ula-o-ka-lani
and went with him to his home in the South. Being deserted by her
husband, after the birth of her child she started to swim home to
Hawaii. Arriving in a famished condition in Kohala, she ate of some
ulei berries without first making an offering to the gods. For this
offense she was afflicted with insanity, and being distraught, she
wandered in the wilderness until her repentant husband sent for her
and restored her by his returning love.
[302] Uli, the chief aumakua of sorcery, but at the same time having
power as a healer if she would but exercise it.
[303] Alohi-lani (literally, the shining heavenly ones); the notions
that prevail as to its precise meaning in this place are vague.
[304] Kupukupu, a benevolent deity who healed diseases and who caused
vegetation to flourish.
[305] Uli. In this connection the word means black. Ilio is a cloud.
[306] Mea, yellow. Ilio mea, a yellow cloud.
[307] Ku-ke-ao-iki, a form of the god Ku, a small
cloud--hand-size--that grew and grew until it became ominous and
seemed to fill the heavens.
[308] Ku-ke-ao-loa, a cloud-omen grown to full size.
[309] Ku-ke-ao-poko, said to be a cloud that quickly dissolved itself
in rain.
[310] Ku-ke-ao-apihapiha, a sky full of small clouds, probably the
same as our "mackerel sky." All these different kinds of clouds are
forms in which Ku showed himself.
[311] Kanaka o ka mauna. This undoubtedly means Ku-pulupulu, a god
of the canoe-makers. He seems to have had much influence over the
lawless Kini Akua. He it was who contracted for the building of a
canoe for the hero Laka.
[312] Ulu laau, another form of ulu; a shady place.
[313] Hina, to sit or kneel for prayer.
[314] Omaka, a quiet, silent, place in the wilderness suitable
for prayer.
[315] Kana, another form of kena, enough.
[316] Wai, the awa cup.
[317] Ka-hoalii, one of the gods who came with Pele from Kahiki.
[318] Piko. The operation of trimming the thatch over the door of a
house was a ceremonious operation and was termed oki ka piko. No one
would think of sitting in the doorway or of standing on the door sill;
it was sacred to Ka-hoalii (mentioned in the 14th line.)
[319] Uli, the arch-goddess of sorcery and anaana (praying to
death). It seems to be implied that she has healing power as well as
power to kill. Or, it may be, she is invoked, retained, to keep her
from enlisting on the side of the opposition.
[320] Ilio-uli o ka lani, the slaty-blue clouds, here appealed to as
kupua, beings possessed of power for good or ill.
[321] Ilio-mea, a white cloud (cumulus).
[322] Ilio-ehu, a cloud having a ruddy tint from the light of the sun.
[323] Ku-ke-ao-iki, clouds broken up into small fragments, like our
mackerel sky.
[324] Ku-ke-ao-loa, the long stratus clouds, here represented as an
embodiment of Ku.
[325] Ku-ke-ao-poko, a small compact cloud standing detached from
its fellows.
[326] Ku-ke-ao-awihiwihi-ula, a ruddy cloud, ragged at its border.
[327] Kanaka o ka mauna, probably the Kini Akua, the host of elfins,
kobolds and brownies--godlings--that peopled the wilderness.
[328] Hoa hele o ka ulu-laau, an apposition clause that explains the
previous appellations.
[329] Na Keo-lani, goddesses of healing.
[330] Maka'a-pule, a term applied to an ohi'a fruit (mountain apple)
when so ripe that its seed rattled within the drupe. It was then in
the finest condition for eating.
[331] Ku-haili-moe, the same god as Ku-haili-moku, who bedecked the
land with greenery, a god also worshipped by the canoe-makers.
[332] Ha'iha'i-lau-ahea, said to be the same as Ha'ina-kolo.
[333] Wahine i kapa ku, the woman who stood in the outskirts of
the assembly.
[334] Uhau, to lay down or offer a prayer, as, e.g., uhau i ka
pule. The offering of the prayer is considered as a physical act,
the same as laying down a pig or a fish on the altar of the god.
[335] Paeaea, a fishing rod; the act of fishing. Hiiaka is represented
as fishing for a favor.
[336] Laka, a god, or demi-god, of various functions, including
fishing, agriculture and a participation in house-building. He was also
one of the gods invoked by canoe-builders. The name is evidently the
same as Rata, the appellation, in Tahiti, Raro-tonga and New Zealand,
of the lehua (Metrosideros lutea). N.B. This Laka is to be carefully
distinguished from the female Laka, the goddess and patron of the
hula as well as necromancy.
[337] Kai-a-ulu, a sea-breeze that comforted Waianae.
[338] Kane-pu-niu, a form of god Kane, now an uncarved bowlder; here
used in a tropical sense to mean the head. The Hawaiians, impelled
by the same vein of humor as ourselves, often spoke of the human head
as a coconut (pu-niu).
[339] Kona, here used as a local name for the sea-breeze.
[340] Koolau-wahine, a wind, stronger, but from the same direction
as the Kona.
[341] The author begs to remark that sunstroke is unknown in all
Hawaii.
[342] Lau-a'e, a fragrant plant that grows in the woods of Kauai.
[343] Akua. The word akua was used not alone to designate the gods,
it was also applied to any superhuman or supernatural being. The
reference here is to the little creatures that swarmed in the land.
[344] Oe. This last line is evidently addressed to her traveling
companion, Wahine-oma'o, whom she descried in the canoe in the offing.
[345] Huli ke alo i ka paia. To sleep with one's face turned to
the wall was reckoned to indicate a high degree of confidence in
one's safety.
[346] Ula, a tingling in the ears. Tinnitus aurium, a tingling in the
ears, or any similar symptom in that organ was regarded as a sure sign
that some person was making a communication from a distance. This
superstition, or sentiment, in regard to tinnitus aurium was not
peculiar to the Polynesian. In Der Trompeter von Säckingen I find
the following:
Laut das Ohr klingt, als ein Zeichen,
Dass die Heimath sein gedenket,--
[347] Pahele-hala, literally, shaking the hala (pandanus tree). Hala
also meant fault or sin. The figure is to be taken to mean a shaking of
sins, in other words, a casting of them away, a disregarding of them.
[348] Wai-lua, an abyss in the water. The reference is, of course,
to the shark-gods.
[349] Laau, wooden. The reference is to the shark-bodies of the two
monsters which became dead, wooden, when discarded by them on their
coming out of the ocean and resuming ordinary human form.
[350] Lehua. The full name is Moana-nui-ka-lehua, a goddess (mermaid)
whose domain was in the abyss of the Ieie-waena channel. For further
details see remarks in the text.
[351] Aina, to furnish food.
[352] Lahui, wholly, entirely.
[353] Huki, to fetch a wide course; to deviate from a direct course.
[354] Ilio, dog. It is explained that the meaning covered by this
figure is a storm-cloud and that the stripping off of its garment,
wehe ... i kona kapa, meant its break up into the fleecy white clouds
of fair weather. It seems that if the head of this cloud-dog pointed
to the west it meant rain, if to the east, fair weather.
[355] Hanai alualu, to fan with a gentle breeze. Alu-alu is another
form for oluolu.
[356] Miki-kala and Puha-malo, names of places along the coast of
Oahu in the region under observation.
[357] Kai-a-ulu, a wind felt on the leeward side of Oahu.
[358] Ha'ina na ihu. Ha'i, to break or be broken. The Hawaiian kiss
was a flattening of nose against nose. The breaking of noses, as here,
therefore, means excessive kissing.
[359] Lualua-lei, the name of a plain in this region.
[360] Barber's Point.
[361] Kua-mú, said to be the name of a wind, the blowing of which
caused heavy rain in the woods back of Hilo.
[362] Hana-kahi, an ancient king of Hilo, frequently mentioned in
poetry, whose name is used to designate the district.
[363] Hale Lehua, an evident allusion to the goddess, or mermaid,
Moana-nui-ka-Lehua. She was a relative of Pele and had her habitation
in the ocean caverns of Ie-ie-waena, the channel between Oahu and
Kauai. Her story belongs to the time when the sun-hero Mawi was
performing his wonderful exploits. (See account given on p. 104.)
[364] Pulelo, a word descriptive of the tremor of the flames that
wrapped the trees.
[365] Maewa, to fork, or branch, said of the flames.
[366] Awa lau, leaf-shaped lagoon; a highly appropriate epithet, when
applied to that system of lochs, channels and estuaries that form the
famous "Pearl Lochs," as any one acquainted with the place will admit.
[367] Pe'e-kaua, the name applied to a portion of the plain west
of Pu'u-loa.
[368] Kau-no'a, a parasitic plant (Cassytha filiformis) consisting of
wiry stems that cling to other plants by means of small protuberances
or suckers.
[369] Akuli-kuli, a low, vine-like plant, said to have fleshy leaves
and minute flowers.
[370] Wili-wili (Erythrina monosperma), a tree having light, corky
wood, much used in making the outrigger floats for canoes. Its flowers,
of a ruddy flame-color, make a splendid decoration.
[371] Kane-hili, a name applied to a part of the plain west of
Pu'u-loa[Pu'uloa?]. Notice the repetition of the word hili in the
next verse. Hili means astray, or distressed.
[372] Hili, to go astray, to lose one's way. Assonance by
word-repetition was a favorite device of Hawaiian poetry. The Hawaiian
poet did not use rhyme.
[373] Mo-ewa'a, literally a canoe-dream. To dream of a canoe was an
omen of ill luck. It was also unlucky to dream of having gained some
valued possession and then wake to the disappointing reality.
[374] Wa'a-hila is said to have been the name of a favorite hula
of Pele-ula; so called after a princess who, with her brother
Ka-manu-wai, excelled in the performance of this dance. Her name has
been perpetuated in an old saying that has come down to us: Ka ua
Wa'a-hila o Nu'uanu. This is a gentle rain that extends only as far
down Nu'uanu valley as to Wyllie or Judd street.
[375] Po Puna. Puna, as the home-center of volcanic action, knew what
it was to be darkened by a volcanic eruption. Puna here stands for
Hiiaka and her companion whose home it was. The night that overshadows
Puna represents allegorically the intriguing designs of Pele-ula.
[376] Maka lehua. The lehua buds stand for the harmony, kindly
affection and love that up to this time had existed between Lohiau
and the two women escorting him. Pele-ula is the smoke that blights
the lehua buds.
[377] Kihei-hei, frequentative form of kihei, to wear.
[378] Paü heihei. The pau heihei was a fringe of vegetable ribbons
strung together and worn about the loins, thus serving as the
conventional shield of modesty among the people of the olden time. The
modifying expression, o uka, implies that the use of this particular
form of pau was rather a sign of rusticity.
[379] Papa lohi o Mau-kele, glistening lava plates of
Mau-kele. Mau-kele was a land in Puna. The implication is that these
women, Pele-ula, Waikiki and the rest of them are plotting to steal
away the affections of Lohiau.
[380] Ha'a ho'i ka papa, the lava plates rock: that is the plot is
a shaky fabrication and will....
[381] Kahuli, topple over.
[382] Puna. There is a punning double entendre involved in the use
of this word here. A puna-lua was one who shared with another the
sexual favors of a third party. The implication is that Hiiaka and
Wahine-oma'o stood thus towards Lohiau. See also note (a).
[383] Lau o ka lima, leaves of the hand. The spasmodic working (ha'a)
of the fingers was deemed to be a sign of lustful passion. It is here
attributed to Lohiau.
[384] Loha, to droop, to be fooled; here to be understood in the
latter sense of Pele-ula.
[385] Wahine-kapu, one of the female deities of the Pele family who
had her seat on an eminence at the brink of the caldera of Kilauea
which was reverenced as a tabu place.
[386] Mai O'olu-eä. O'olu-ea, as a place-name calls for a preposition
in mai. O'olu-ea, however, contains within it a verb, olu, to be easy,
comfortable, and as a verb olu decides the mai to be an adverb of
prohibition. In this meaning the caution is addressed to Lohiau.
[387] Ahi-a-Laka, a land in Puna. The double sense, in which it is
here used, gives it a reference to the fires of passion.
[388] La anoano, literally, quiet day.
[389] The kilu, which gave name to the sport, was an egg-shaped dish
made by cutting a coconut or small gourd from end to end and somewhat
obliquely so that one end was a little higher than the other.
[390] Au-hula-ana. When the road along a steep coast is cut off by
a precipice with the ocean tossing at its base, the traveler will
often prefer to swim rather than make a wide inland detour. Such a
place or such an adventure is called an au-hula or au-hula-ana.
[391] Laau ku'i, literally, spliced sticks; a ladder, or some
contrivance of the sort to aid the traveler in climbing a pali.
[392] Lalo, below, to leeward; therefore to the west, meaning Lohiau,
who came from the leeward island of Kauai.
[393] Manawa, the fontanelles; the heart and affections.
[394] Wai-lua, a river on Kauai.
[395] Lehua-wehe, a land in Honolulu; here meaning Pele-ula herself.
[396] Moe-awakea, a hill in Puna; here used for its etymological
signification--literally, to sleep at noontime--which is brought out
in the translation.
[397] The ami was a vigorous action of the body, often employed by
dancers. Its chief feature was a rotation of the pelvis in circles
of elipses. Though sometimes used with amorous intent, it was not
necessarily an attempt to portray sexual attitudes. The ami honua,
or ami ku'u pau, was an exaggerated action of the same description.
[398] Kalukalu, a place in Puna which supported extensive forests
of hala (pandanus), a tree whose sword-shaped leaves were edged
with fierce thorns. In contrast with the smart they produced the
poet adduces the delights of the wilds in his own island of Kauai,
instancing the laua'e, a fragrant vine that abounds in its mountains.
[399] Mohole, an unusual form for pohole, to be lacerated, but not
quite so strong.
[400] Na-pali (the cliffs), a name given to the precipitous side of
Kauai, where is the wild valley of Ka-lalau.
[401] Pu'u o Moe-awa. The full form is Moe-awakea (noonday sleep), the
name of a hill in Puna. By omitting kea, the word awakea (noon) comes
to mean bitter, thus imparting to the meaning a cutting irony. Cf. note
(a), page 176.
[402] Hana-lei, literally, to make a wreath; a valley on Kauai.
[403] Hala. It was ill luck to wear a wreath of the hala drupe.
[404] According to one version of this story, Hiiaka made free use
of her powers of enchantment in withdrawing from the presence of
Pele-ula. At the proper psychological moment, with the wreath of
victory crowning her brow, while Pele-ula was vainly intent on an
effort to turn the tide of her own defeat and gain the shadow of a
recognition as mistress of the game of Kilu, Hiiaka, with a significant
gesture to her companions, spat upon the ground and, her example having
been imitated by Wahine-oma'o and Lohiau, their physical bodies were
at once transported to a distance while their places continued to be
occupied by unsubstantial forms that had all the semblance of reality.
[405] Maka-pa, an expression used of stones that burst when placed
in the fire.
[406] Makani holo ulá. The allusion is to a cold wind that chills
the naked legs of the fisher-folk.
[407] Pau-kua, a place-name, meaning consumed in the back--a clear
reference to the fact that the kahuna's black art very frequently
made its fatal ravages by attacking first the back.
[408] Lele-iwi, the name of a cape that marked the coast of Puna. The
word also has a meaning of its own, to express which seems to be the
purpose of its use here. It connotes a grave-yard, a scaffold, one,
perhaps, on which the body (literally the bones) of a human sacrifice
are left exposed.
[409] Maka-hana-loa, the name of another cape, also on the Hilo-Puna
coast.
[410] Lae Ohi'a, literally, ohi'a cape, meaning a forest growth that
stretched out like a tongue.
[411] Apane, a species of lehua that has red flowers, much fed upon
by the birds. (In the original newspaper-text the word was pane,
evidently a mistake. There are, regretably, many such mistakes in
the original text.)
[412] Manienie, smooth, meadow-like, a name given in modern times
to the Bermuda grass--"fine grass"--said to have been imported by
Vancouver, now extensively seen in Hawaiian lawns.
[413] Ke-ahi-a-Laka, literally, the fire of Laka, the name of a land.
[414] Ha'eha'e, the eastern Sun-gate, applicable to Puna as the
easternmost district of Hawaii and of the whole group. In claiming
Puna as hers--i.e., as her home-land--Hiiaka seems to have set up
a claim to be the guardian of the Sun's rising, and therefore, by
implication of Pele.
[415] "I hana ia ka ihu i mea honi."
[416] Muliwai o Lena. There is a stream of this name in Waianae, it
is said. Lena is also said to be the name of a place in Kahiki. The
word lena, yellow, strongly suggests the thought of sulphur.
[417] Moku po'o a Kane, literally, the fissured head of Kane. The
first land formed by Kane.
[418] Kane-lau-apua, the same as Kane-apua. One of the numerous
avatars or characters of Kane. He appeared in Kahiki--Kukulu o
Kahiki--and gained a reputation as a benevolent deity, whose benign
function--shared by Kane-milo-hai--was to pluck from the jaws of death
those who lay at the last gasp (mauli-awa), or whose vital spark was
at the last flicker (pua-aneane). He healed the palsied, the helpless
and hopeless, those who were beyond the reach of human aid. On one
occasion he restored himself to perfect health and soundness by
the exercise of his own will; hence his name, Kane-apua. On another
occasion he illustrated his power by restoring to life some okuhekuhe
which the fisherman had already scaled and laid upon the fire. The
motive for this act seems to have been that this fish was a form
in which he sometimes appeared. The story of his adventure with
Kane-lelei-aka is worthy of mention. At one time while standing on
a headland that reached out into the ocean like the prow of a ship,
his eye caught a gleam from something moving swiftly through the
water. He saw it repeatedly passing and repassing and wondered what
it was. It was the shadowy form of Kane-lelei-aka, but he knew it
not. He scanned the surrounding mountains and cliffs, if perchance
he might get sight of the body, bird, or spirit that produced this
reflection. He discovered nothing. In pursuit of his quest, he started
to go to Kukulu-o-Kahiki. On the way he met his relative Kane-milo-hai,
out in mid ocean.
"Are you from Kanaloa?" asked Kane-milo-hai. That meant are you from
Lana'i, Kanaloa being the name formerly given to that little island.
"Aye, I am from Kanaloa and in pursuit of a strange shadowy thing
that flits through the ocean and evades me."
"You don't seem to recognize that it is only a shadow, a
reflection. The real body is in the heavens. What you are pursuing
is but the other intangible body, which is represented by the body
of Kane-mano. He is speeding to reach his home in Ohe-ana" (a cave
in the deep sea, in the Kai-popolohua-a-Kane).
"How then shall I overtake him?" asked Kane-pua.
"You will never succeed this way. You are no better off than a kolea
(plover) that nods, moving its head up and down (kunou). Your only way
is to return with me and start from the bread-fruit tree of Lei-walo
(Ka ulu o Lei-walo). You must make your start with a flying leap from
the topmost branch of that tree. In that way you can come up to him
and catch him."
The rest of the story: how he followed the advice given him by
Kane-milo-hai and succeeded is too long for insertion here.
[419] Nowai he wa'a? To speak of a lava flow as a wa'a, a canoe, is a
familiar trope in Hawaiian mele. (See U. L. of H., p. 194). The canoe
in this case is the eruption of fire sent against Lohiau, the hoapaio,
against whom it is launched, Lohiau and Hiiaka.
[420] Aimoku wahine. An aimoku is one who eats up the land, a
conqueror, a literal description of Pele.
[421] Kini maka o ka la. In the original text from which this is taken
the form is Kini-maka, offering the presumption that it is intended as
a proper name. Kini-maka was a malevolent kupua, demigod, against whom,
it is charged that she was given to scooping out and eating the eyes of
men and her fellow gods. Her name was then called Walewale-o-Ku. Kane,
it is said, took her in hand and weaned her from her bad practice;
after which she was called Kini-maka, Forty-thousand-eyes. The phrase
o ka la affixed to her name discountenances the idea that she is the
one here intended. It becomes evident that the whole expression means
rather the many eyes of the Sun, i.e., the many rays that dart from
the Sun; and this is the way I construe it.
[422] Pau o ka wahine? The question as to the kind of pau, skirt,
worn by the women--those of Pele's fire-brigade, as I have termed
them--is pertinent, from the fact that the answer will throw light
on their mood and the character of their errand, whether peaceful,
warlike, etc. The answer given in the text (line 20 of the translation)
is Their skirts were fern and leaf of the ti. A pau of fern was said
to be hanohano, dignified. Ua kapa ia ka palai he palai alii; o ka
la-i, ua kapa ia he mea kala (the pau of fern was worn by chiefs;
the pau of ti leaf was a sign of propitiation.) A woman wore a ti
leaf during her period of monthly infirmity. The whole subject will
bear further investigation.
[423] Kihi o ka Mahina, the horn of the Moon. The manner of fastening
the pau, knotting or tucking it in at each hip, gave it a crescent
shape, with an angle at each hip. This seems to have suggested to
the poet a comparison with the horns of the young Moon.
[424] Akua lehe-oi, an undoubted reference to Pele,--the sharp
devouring edge, lip, of her lava-flow.
[425] Akua lehe-ama. This also must refer to Pele--her gaping lips.
[426] Puke, this archaic form of pu'e, a hill of potatoes, yams and
the like.
[427] The Hawaiians had no such thing as bread. The Hawaiian word ai,
in line 20 of the original, means vegetable food. The necessities
of the case seem to justify the use of the word bread in the
translation. The reader will pardon the anachronism.
[428] Awa. The full expression would probably be ua awa, bitter rain,
i.e., bad weather.
[429] Halelo, rough, jagged like aa. The following quotation is given:
Ku ke a, ka halelo o Kaupo,
I ho'okipa i ka hale o ka lauwili:
E-lau-wili. He lau-wili ka makani, he Kaua-ula.
TRANSLATION
How jagged stand the rocks of Kaupo,
That once held the house of the shiftless!
[430] Ihi-lani, literally, the splendor of heaven; said to be a god
of lightning, also the name of a hill.
[431] Ihi-awaawa, said to be the name of a god of lightning, as well
as the name of a hill.
[432] Huki-huki, literally, to pull, to haul with a succession of
jerks. The action here figured is eminently descriptive of the manner
of advance of a lava-flow. It is not with the uniform movement of a
body of water. It shoots out a tongue of molten stuff here and there;
and as this cools, or is for cause arrested, a similar process takes
place at some other point. This movement bears a striking resemblance
to the action of a body of skirmishers advancing under fire. Its
progress is by fits and starts.
[433] Pua'a-kanu. In spite of the fact that this is claimed by
Hawaiians to be a place-name, I must see in it an allusion to a swine,
devoted to sacrifice, connoting Lohiau himself.
[434] Oa, a poetical contraction for loa, long.
[435] Haele. By a figure of speech--metonymy--the word haele, meaning
to travel, is used to signify a fellow traveler, the companion,
of course, is Hiiaka herself.
[436] Ku-mauna, a rain-god of great local fame and power; now
represented by a monolithic bowlder about thirty feet high, partly
overgrown with ferns and moss, situated in the lower edge of the
forest-belt, that lies to the south and Kau of Mauna-loa, deserves
more than passing mention. The region in which this rock is situated
is declared by vulcanologists to have been one vast caldera and must
have been the scene of tremendous disturbances.
Up to the present time the Hawaiians have continued to hold Ku-mauna in
great reverence mingled with fear. The following modern instance isnot
only a true story, and interesting, but also furnishes an illustration
of the attitude of mind of the Hawaiian people generally,--or many
of them--towards their old gods.
During a period of severe drought in the district of Kau, Hawaii, a
gentleman named S----, while hunting in the neighborhood of the rock
that bears the name Ku-mauna, took occasion to go out of his way and
visit the rock. Standing before the rocky mass and calling it by name,
he used towards it insulting and taunting epithets, professing to
hold it responsible for the drought that was distressing the land. He
concluded his tirade by discharging his rifle point blank against
the face of the rock, resulting in the detachment of a considerable
fragment.
The vaqueros in the employ of Mr. S.----, who were assisting in the
hunt, horrified at the sacreligious act, at once put spurs to their
horses and made off, predicting the direst consequences from the rash
act of Mr. S----.
Now for the denouement: Within about ten days of this occurrence, the
valley, on one side of which Mr. S---- had his residence, was visited
by a violent rain-storm--such as would in popular speech be termed a
cloud-burst. There was a mighty freshet, the waters of which reached
so high as to flood his garden and threaten the safety of his house,
which he saved only by the most strenuous exertions. The land which
had been his garden was almost entirely washed away and in its place
was deposited a pell-mell of stones.
Needless to say, that, by the natives, this incident was and is
regarded to this day as conclusive evidence of the divine power
of Ku-mauna and of his wrath at the audacious person who insulted
him. Special significance is attached to the fact that as part of
Ku-mauna's reprisal the place that had been a garden was turned into
a field of rocks. The only wonder is that Mr. S---- got off with so
light a punishment.
[437] Kani-a-hiku, a place-name--that of a village in the remote
valley of Wai-manu--here used, apparently, for its meaning. To analyze
its meaning, Kani = a sound, a voice, probably a bird-song; Hiku, a
celebrated kupua, the mother of the famous mythical hero Mawi. It is
said that when the wind, locally known as the Kapae, but more commonly
named the Ho'olua--the same as our trade-wind--blew gently from the
ocean, the listening ears of Kani-a-hiku heard, in the distance,
the sound of hula drums and other rude instruments mingling with the
voices of men chanting the songs of the hula. This seems to be the
kani referred to.
[438] Wahine ai lehua, Pele. Who else would it be?
[439] Unu kupukupu (also written, it is said, haunu kupukupu), a
hummock or natural rock-pile, such as would be selected by fishermen,
with the addition, perhaps, of a few stones, as an altar on which to
lay their offering and before which to utter their prayers. Kupukupu
indicates the efficacy of such an altar as a luck-bringer.
[440] Pu'u-lena, a wind felt at Kilauea that blew from Puna. The word
lena, yellow, suggests the sulphurous fumes that must have added to
it their taint at such time as the wind passed over the volcanic pit.
[441] Ku-hala-kai, a plentiful fall of rain.
[442] Ku-hulu-ku, a chilling of the atmosphere.
[443] Pu'uku-akahi, Pu'uku-alua, names applied to hills on one or
the other side of the fire-pit, whence seem to come those sonorous
puffing or blowing sounds that accompany the surging of the fires.
[444] Kua-loi. This is probably shortened from the full form
Kua-loiloi. The reference is to a law, or custom, which forbade any
one to approach Pele from behind, or to stand behind her. He kua
loiloi ko Pele, the meaning of which is, Pele has a fastidious back.
[445] Ka-hoa-lii, literally, companion of kings; the shark-god,
a relation of Pele, who occupied a section of the plateau on the
northwestern side of the caldera, a place so sacred that the smoke
and flames of the volcano were not permitted to trespass there.
[446] Maiau pololei, land shells found on trees, generally called
pupu-kanioi.
[447] Kanaka loloa, Ku-pulupulu, one of the gods of the canoe-makers;
here spoken of as a tall man in contradistinction, perhaps, to the
dwarfish Kini-akua, who were his followers.
[448] Kuli-pe'e-nui, a deity, or an idealization, of a lava flow. The
feature that seems to be emphasized is the stumbling, crawling,
motion, which as seen in a flow, may be compared to the awkward,
ataxic movement of one whose knees are dislocated and leg-bones broken.
[449] Pi'i-kea, the god of the roaches, who is described as given
to making certain tapping motions with his head which, I believe,
are practiced by the roach at the present time.
[450] Mahao'o, an epithet applied to a dog that shows a patch of
yellow hairs on each side of his face. It has somewhat the force of
our expression, breathing out flames.
[451] Ama wa'a. The commotion in Kilauea is here compared to the
upsetting of the canoe's outrigger (ama). When an outriggered canoe
capsizes the outrigger, ama, as a rule, lifts out of the water.
[452] Wa'a. The reference seems to be to the masses of solid lava
that, not infrequently may be seen to break off from the wall of the
fire-pit and float away on the surface of the molten lake, even as
an iceberg floats in the ocean.
[453] Na'ena'e, said of an object that looks small from a distance. The
use of the particle emphatic o, placed before this word, implies that
it performs the office of a proper name, here a place-name. Such a
use of the particle emphatic before a noun not a proper name indicates
that the word is used as an abstract term.
[454] Lama kau oni'oni'o. When two strings of kukui nuts are bound
together to form one torch, the light given by it is said to be of
varying colors. The word oni'oni'o alludes to this fact.
[455] Kukulu a awa, said of those in the rear of the company that
came against Lohiau. I cannot learn that this is a military term.
[456] Kai-a-ka-hulu-manu, literally, the sea of the bird feathers. Some
claim this as being the same as the Kai-a-ka-hinali'i; others, and
I think rightly, claim that it was a distinct flood that occurred at
a later period and that destroyed all birds and flying things.
[457] Opiopi. The waves of the sea in the season of Makali'i are
compared to the wrinkles in a mat, the contrast with those of the
Kai-a-ka-hulu-manu, and the kai a ka pohaku.
[458] Noho, a seat, or to sit. Here used for the people there living.
[459] Kua o ka makani (literally, at the back of the wind). Koolau,
the windward side of an island, was its kua, back. The whole line
contains an ingenious reference to the manner of fire-lighting. When
the smouldering spark from the fire-sticks has been received on a
bunch of dry grass, it is waved to and fro to make it ignite. To the
old-fashioned Hawaiian familiar with this manner of fire-making this
figure is full of meaning.
[460] Ulu o ka La, the figure of the Sun as it touched the horizon,
or its glare.
[461] Akua, literally, a god. This is a generic term and includes
beings that we would call heroes, as well as devils and demons.
[462] Ka-wai-hoa, the southern point of Niihau.
[463] Hoaka-lei, a hill on Niihau.
[464] Kiu, the name of a wind.
[465] Makalii, Kaelo and Ka-ulua are cold months. Lohiau found them
hot enough.
[466] Ha'aha'a, literally, hanging low. I am reminded of an old song
uttered, it is said, by a hero from the top of Kauwiki hill, in Hana,
Maui: "Aina ua, lani ha'aha'a." Land of rain, where the heavens hang
(ever) low.
[467] Wai-wela-wela, a hot lake in lower Puna.
[468] Ko'olau, a term applied generally to the windward side of an
island, which was, of course, the stormy side. The expression au
Ko'olau, or Ko'olau weather, is one of great significance.
[469] E ki'i mai oe ia'u; eia au la i ke au a ka hewahewa.
[470] Lawakua, an intimate companion, a friend.
[471] Ua a ka lipoa, a fine, cold rain; a Scotch mist.
[472] Lala, to bask in the sunlight.
[473] Oma'o-lala, a place in upper Ola'a, named from the bird oma'o.
[474] Aina i ka houpu a Kane, a proverbial expression applied to Puna,
signifying the affection in which Puna was held.
[475] A'aka, an ocean cave (definition not given in the dictionary).
[476] Nawele ka maka o Hina-ulu-ohi'a. By metonymy, a figure of speech
for which the Hawaiian poets showed great fondness, the name of the
goddess, or superior being, Hina-ulu-ohi'a, is here used instead of
the fruit which seems to have been her emblem. This fruit, the ohi'a
puakea, is a variety of the ohi'a ai, or mountain apple, as it is
commonly called. The common variety is of a deep red color shading
into purple; but this variety, departing from the usual rule, is of
a pale lemon color. This pale variety shows a faint pink or reddish
ring about the maka, or eye where the flower was implanted. The poet's
fancy evidently makes a comparison between this delicate aureole and
the dim glow by which the volcanic fire made itself perceived in its
periphery at Kahiki.
[477] Kahaea, a pile of white cumulus clouds, or a single large cloud,
which was regarded by weather prophets, soothsayers and diviners as
a significant portent.
[478] Ku-lani-ha-ko'i. The old Hawaiians imagined that somewhere in the
heavens was an immense reservoir of water, and that a heavy downpour
of rain was due to the breaking of its banks. When the clouds of
storm and rain gathered thick and black, they saw in this phenomenon
a confirmation of their belief, which gained double assurance when
the clouds discharged their watery contents.
[479] Eleua ... Eleao. When a Hawaiian house had a door at each end,
the door at one end was named Ele-ua, that at the other end Ele-ao.
[480] Kula-manu. A plain or tract of land that was flooded in wet
weather and thus converted for a time into a resort for water-fowl,
was termed a kula-manu or bird plain.
[481] Wahi'a ka lani. This passive form of the verb has here the
force of entreaty almost equivalent to the imperative. The opening
here spoken of was the parting and drawing aside of the dark clouds
that shut in the heavens, an opening that would be equivalent to the
restoration of peace and good will.
[482] Ku-lili-ka-ua, the name applied to a grove of pandanus in Puna.
[483] Pohaku-loa, the name of a rocky ledge or cliff in Puna.
[484] Lau-ahea. This was a deceitful voice, a vocal Will-o'-the-wisp,
that was sometimes heard by travelers and that enticed them into
the wilderness or thicket there to be entrapped in some lua meke or
fathomless pit.
[485] Kuku-ena, a sister of Pele who, like Kahili-opua, was a physician
and of a benevolent disposition. She was wont to act as the guide to
travelers who had their way in the mazes of a wilderness. So soon,
however, as the traveler had come clear into a clear place and was
able to orient himself, she modestly disappeared.
[486] Ku kihikihi, to stand cornerwise or edgewise. In the ebullition
that stirs the mass of a lava lake at seemingly rhythmical intervals
the congealed crust that has formed on the surface is seen to break
up, become tilted on edge, and then be sucked down into the depths
by the vortex of the lava-pit. The allusion here is to the tilting
of the plate on edge in this wonderful phenomenon.
[487] Olohe. This is explained and described as meaning a spectral
appearance of human figures and of objects animate and inanimate
moving about in the firmament. The description given of it almost
leads one to think it a mirage or fata morgana.
[488] Kuahiwi haoa, a term applied in Kau to a forest-clump which a
devastating lava flow has spared, after having laid waste the country
on all sides of it.
[489] Hiiaka-i-ka-ale-i, Hiiaka of the bounding billow. The number
of the sisters in whose names that of Hiiaka formed a part was
considerable, as may be inferred from the fact that the names here
mentioned do not include the whole list of them.
[490] Hiiaka-i-ka-pua-enaena, Hiiaka of the burning flower. Her emblem
was the little budlike pea-blossom flame. This name is sometimes given
as Hiiaka-i-ka-pua-aneane, a more delicate but less striking epithet.
[491] Hiiaka-noho-lae, Hiiaka who dwells on the cape. She was
recognized by a trickle of blood on the forehead.
[492] O ka la ko luna. O ka pahoehoe ko lalo. The sun overhead. The
lava below.
[493] Aohe o kahi nana oluna o ka pali. Iho mai a lalo nei; ike i ke
au nui me ke au iki, he alo a he alo; nana i ka makemake. The exact
meaning of ke au iki and ke au nui is not clear.
[494] Keehi ... e nalo kapua'i. I am informed that Hawaiians, in order
to conceal their goings, would erase their footprints by blurring
them with their feet.
[495] Onohi ula i ka lani, a fragment of a rainbow.
[496] Lele kapu i kai. This may be put,--the old order has passed.
[497] Hoole akua, hoole mana. (To deny God, to deny supernatural
power). It thus appears that the old Hawaiians were not unacquainted
with those phases of skepticism that have flourished in all philosophic
times.
[498] Ho'o-malau, to treat one's religious duties, or solemn things,
with scorn.
[499] Ho'o-maloka, to be neglectful of one's religious duties, or of
solemn things. In old times, how often did the writer hear the term
ho'o-maloka applied as a stigma to those who persistently neglected
and showed indifference to the services and ordinances of the church.
[500] Apapa-nu'u, the under-world and its spiritual powers.
[501] Apapa-lani, the heavens and their spiritual powers.
[502] Mano-ka-lani-po. This distinguished name was borne by that one of
Kaua'i's kings who preceded its last independent monarch, Ka-umu-alii,
by fourteen generations, which would bring his reign in the first half
of the fifteenth century. He has the honor, unique among Hawaiian
kings, of having his name affixed as a sobriquet to the island that
was his kingdom. Whether the use of his name in this connection,
apparently as a god, is to be regarded as antedating its occurrence
in the Ulu genealogy (given by Fornander. See The Polynesian Race;
vol. I, p. 195.), or whether, on the other hand, it is to be considered
as an apotheosis of a name justly held in veneration, we cannot decide.
[503] Pahu-kapu a ka leo. The best-informed and most thoughtful
among the Hawaiian authorities have poorly defined and contradictory
notions as to the meaning of this term. Its literal meaning may be
given as sacred (or tabu) pillar. Mr. Tregear, in his incomparable
Maori Comparative Dictionary, gives one meaning of the word to be
sanctuary. One thoughtful Hawaiian defines it as a pillar, such as Pele
set up, due regard for which demanded silence. Another, equally well
informed, defines it as an edict, or canon. To the writer it seems more
logical and safer to adopt the material view regarding this phrase.
[504] Ala hele ... ala muku, (literally, a short path or road). This
ala hele ... ala muku was probably the rainbow. It is said in Hawaiian
story that when Hiiaka came down from the cave where she found the
body of Lohiau she used a rainbow as her way of descent. In an old
mele occurs this line: O ke anuenue ke ala o Kaha'i. The rainbow was
the path of Kaha'i.
[505] Ki ho'iho'i. Hawaiian authorities differ as to the meaning of
this phrase. After much cogitation and search, I concluded that the
word ki has the same root-meaning as i, to utter. (I find myself
supported in such an interpretation by no less an authority than
Edward Tregear. Maori Comparative Dictionary.)
[506] Kai oki'a. Hawaiian authorities are quite at sea as to the
meaning of these words. I think it means that the ocean is a gulf
that swallows up and destroys. A very stringent tabu, says one,
that regulated the diet, cutting off bananas and the like.
[507] Kua a. Pele is said to have had a back that was so hot that any
fabric laid upon it was reduced to ashes. It was also said to be tabu
for any one to approach Pele from behind.
[508] A calabash, often covered with a net, used by a fisherman to
hold his spare hooks and lines and, by the traveler, his belongings.
End of Project Gutenberg's Pele and Hiiaka, by Nathaniel Bright Emerson