Given in the Fornander Collection, Vol. V, Part II, of the Memoirs of
the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, with the title Kaao no Halemano,
Legend of Ha-le-ma-no.
Kama, or, to give her her full name, Kamalalawalu, was living under a
strict tapu. Ha-le-ma-no is no thoughtless tapu-breaker, as are other
young men in Hawaiian romance; there is very little of the mythical
element in this story; the enchantress-sister, however, is a figure
that often comes into Hawaiian romance. This story is remarkable for
its vivid rendering of episodes belonging to the aristocratic life—the
surf-riding, surely the greatest of sports to participate in, as it is
the most thrilling of sports to watch; the minstrelsy; the gambling.
The poems that Ha-le-ma-no and Kama repeat to each other are very
baffling, and are open to many interpretations. In this respect they
are like most Hawaiian poetry, which has a deliberate obscurity that
might have won Mallarmé’s admiration.