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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38
UNWRITTEN LITERATURE
OF HAWAII
THE SACRED SONGS OF THE HULA
COLLECTED AND TRANSLATED, WITH
NOTES AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE HULA
BY NATHANIEL B. EMERSON, A.M., M.D.
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1909
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[Page 3]
PREFATORY NOTE
Previous to the year 1906 the researches of the Bureau were
restricted to the American Indians, but by act of Congress
approved June 30 of that year the scope of its operations was
extended to include the natives of the Hawaiian islands.
Funds were not specifically provided, however, for
prosecuting investigations among these people, and in the
absence of an appropriation for this purpose it was
considered inadvisable to restrict the systematic
investigations among the Indian tribes in order that the new
field might be entered. Fortunately the publication of
valuable data pertaining to Hawaii is already provided for,
and the present memoir by Doctor Emerson is the first of the
Bureau's Hawaiian series. It is expected that this Bulletin
will be followed shortly by one comprising an extended list
of works relating to Hawaii, compiled by Prof. H.M. Ballou
and Dr. Cyrus Thomas.
W.H. HOLMES,
_Chief._
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[Page 5]
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 7
I. The hula 11
II. The halau; the kuahu--their decoration and consecration 14
III. The gods of the hula 23
IV. Support and organization of the hula 26
V. Ceremonies of graduation; debut of a hula dancer 31
VI. The password--the song of admission 38
VII. Worship at the altar of the halau 42
VIII. Costume of the hula dancer 49
IX. The hula ala'a-papa 57
X. The hula pa-ipu, or kuolo 73
XI. The hula ki'i 91
XII. The hula pahu 103
XIII. The hula uliuli 107
XIV. The hula puili 113
XV. The hula ka-laau 116
XVI. The hula ili-ili 120
XVII. The hula kaekeeke 122
XVIII. An intermission 126
XIX. The hula niau-kani 132
XX. The hula ohe 135
XXI. The music and musical instruments of the Hawaiians 138
XXII. Gesture 176
XXIII. The hula pa-hua 183
XXIV. The hula Pele 186
XXV, The hula pa'i-umauma 202
XXVI. The hula ku'i Molokai 207
XXVII. The hula kielei 210
XXVIII. The hula mu'u-mu'u 212
XXIX. The hula kolani 216
XXX. The hula kolea 219
XXXI. The hula mano 221
XXXII. The hula ilio 223
XXXIII. The hula pua'a 228
XXXIV. The hula ohelo 233
XXXV. Thehula kilu 235
XXXVI. The hula hoonana 244
XXXVII. The hula ulili 246
XXXVIII. The hula o-niu 248
XXXIX. The hula ku'i 250
XL. The oli 254
XLI. The water of Kane 257
XLII. General review 260
Glossary 265
Index 271
[Page 6]
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
PLATE I. Female dancing in hula costume Frontispiece
II. Ie-ie (Freycinetia arnotti) leaves and fruit 19
III. Hala-pepe (Dracaena aurea) 24
IV. Maile (Alyxia myrtillifolia) wreath 32
V. Ti (Dracaena terminalis) 44
VI. Ilima (Sida fallax), lei and flowers 56
VII. Ipu hula, gourd drum 73
VIII. Marionettes (Maile-pakaha, Nihi-au-moe) 91
IX. Marionette (Maka-ku) 93
X. Pahu hula, hula drum 103
XI. Uli-uli, a gourd rattle 107
XII. Hawaiian tree-snails (Achatinella) 120
XIII. Lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) flowers and
leaves 126
XIV. Hawaiian trumpet, pu (Cassis madagascarensis) 131
XV. Woman playing on the nose-flute (ohe-hano-ihu) 135
XVI. Pu-niu, a drum 142
XVII. Hawaiian musician playing on the uku-lele 164
XVIII. Hala fruit bunch and drupe with a "lei" 170
XIX. Pu (Triton tritonis) 172
XX. Phyllodia and true leaves of the koa
(Acacia koa) 181
XXI. Pala-palai ferns 194
XXII. Awa-puhi, a Hawaiian ginger 210
XXIII. Hinano hala 235
XXIV. Lady dancing the hula ku'i 250
FIGURE 1. Puili, bamboo rattle 113
2. Ka, drumstick for pu-niu 142
3. Ohe-hano-ihu, nose-flute 145
MUSICAL PIECES
I. Range of the nose-flute--Elsner 146
II. Music from the nose-flute--Elsner 146
III. The _ukeke_ (as played by Keaonaloa)--Eisner 149
IV. Song from the hula pa'i-umauma--Berger 153
V. Song from the hula pa-ipu--Berger 153
VI. Song for the hula Pele--Berger 154
VII. Oli and mele from the hula ala'a-papa--Yarndley 156
VIII. _He Inoa no Kamehameha_--Byington 162
IX. Song, _Poli Anuanu_--Yarndley 164
X. Song, _Hua-hua'i_--Yarndley 166
XI. Song, _Ka Mawae_--Berger 167
XII. Song, _Like no a Like_--Berger 168
XIII. Song, _Pili Aoao_--Berger 169
XIV. _Hawaii Ponoi_--Berger 172
[Page 7]
INTRODUCTION
This book is for the greater part a collection of Hawaiian
songs and poetic pieces that have done service from time
immemorial as the stock supply of the _hula_. The descriptive
portions have been added, not because the poetical parts
could not stand by themselves, but to furnish the proper
setting and to answer the questions of those who want to
know.
Now, the hula stood for very much to the ancient Hawaiian; it
was to him in place of our concert-hall and lecture-room, our
opera and theater, and thus became one of his chief means of
social enjoyment. Besides this, it kept the communal
imagination in living touch with the nation's legendary past.
The hula had songs proper to itself, but it found a mine of
inexhaustible wealth in the epics and wonder-myths that
celebrated the doings of the volcano goddess Pele and her
compeers. Thus in the cantillations of the old-time hula we
find a ready-made anthology that includes every species of
composition in the whole range of Hawaiian poetry. This
epic[1] of Pele was chiefly a more or less detached series of
poems forming a story addressed not to the closet-reader, but
to the eye and ear and heart of the assembled chiefs and
people; and it was sung. The Hawaiian song, its note of joy
par excellence, was the _oli_; but it must be noted that in
every species of Hawaiian poetry, _mele_--whether epic or
eulogy or prayer, sounding through them all we shall find the
lyric note.
[Footnote 1: It might be termed a handful of lyrics strung on
an epic thread.]
The most telling record of a people's intimate life is the
record which it unconsciously makes in its songs. This record
which the Hawaiian people have left of themselves is full and
specific. When, therefore, we ask what emotions stirred the
heart of the old-time Hawaiian as he approached the great
themes of life and death, of ambition and jealousy, of sexual
passion, of romantic love, of conjugal love, and parental
love, what his attitude toward nature and the dread forces of
earthquake and storm, and the mysteries of spirit and the
hereafter, we shall find our answer in the songs and prayers
and recitations of the hula.
The hula, it is true, has been unfortunate in the mode and
manner of its introduction to us moderns. An institution of
divine, that is, religious, origin, the hula in modern times
[Page 8] has wandered so far and fallen so low that foreign and
critical esteem has come to associate it with the riotous and
passionate ebullitions of Polynesian kings and the amorous
posturing of their voluptuaries. We must make a just
distinction, however, between the gestures and bodily
contortions presented by the men and women, the actors in the
hula, and their uttered words. "The voice is Jacob's voice,
but the hands are the hands of Esau." In truth, the actors in
the hula no longer suit the action to the word. The utterance
harks back to the golden age; the gesture is trumped up by
the passion of the hour, or dictated by the master of the
hula, to whom the real meaning of the old bards is ofttimes a
sealed casket.
Whatever indelicacy attaches in modern times to some of the
gestures and contortions of the hula dancers, the old-time
hula songs in large measure were untainted with grossness. If
there ever were a Polynesian Arcadia, and if it were possible
for true reports of the doings and sayings of the Polynesians
to reach us from that happy land--reports of their joys and
sorrows, their love-makings and their jealousies, their
family spats and reconciliations, their worship of beauty and
of the gods and goddesses who walked in the garden of
beauty--we may say, I think, that such a report would be in
substantial agreement with the report that is here offered;
but, if one's virtue will not endure the love-making of
Arcadia, let him banish the myth from his imagination and hie
to a convent or a nunnery.
If this book does nothing more than prove that savages are
only children of a younger growth than ourselves, that what
we find them to have been we ourselves--in our
ancestors--once were, the labor of making it will have been
not in vain'.
For an account of the first hula we may look to the story of
Pele. On one occasion that goddess begged her sisters to
dance and sing before her, but they all excused themselves,
saying they did not know the art. At that moment in came
little Hiiaka, the youngest and the favorite. Unknown to her
sisters, the little maiden had practised the dance under the
tuition of her friend, the beautiful but ill-fated Hopoe.
When banteringly invited to dance, to the surprise of all,
Hiiaka modestly complied. The wave-beaten sand-beach was her
floor, the open air her hall; Feet and hands and swaying form
kept time to her improvisation:
Look, Puna is a-dance in the wind;
The palm groves of Kea-au shaken.
Haena and the woman Hopoe dance and sing
On the beach Nana-huki,
A dance of purest delight,
Down by the sea Nana-huki.
The nature of this work has made it necessary to use
occasional Hawaiian words in the technical parts. At their
[Page 9] first introduction it has seemed fitting that they should be
distinguished by italics; but, once given the entree, it is
assumed that, as a rule, they will be granted the rights of
free speech without further explanation.
A glossary, which explains all the Hawaiian words used in the
prose text, is appended. Let no one imagine, however, that by
the use of this little crutch alone he will be enabled to
walk or stumble through the foreign ways of the simplest
Hawaiian _mele_. Notes, often copious, have been appended to
many of the mele, designed to exhaust neither the subject nor
the reader, but to answer some of the questions of the
intelligent thinker.
Thanks, many thanks, are due, first, to those native
Hawaiians who have so far broken with the old superstitious
tradition of concealment as to unearth so much of the
unwritten literary wealth stored in Hawaiian memories;
second, to those who have kindly contributed criticism,
suggestion, material at the different stages of this book's
progress; and, lastly, to those dear friends of the author's
youth--living or dead--whose kindness has made it possible to
send out this fledgling to the world. The author feels under
special obligations to Dr. Titus Munson Coan, of New York,
for a painstaking revision of the manuscript.
HONOLULU, HAWAII.
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LITERATURE OF HAWAII
By NATHANIEL B. EMERSON
I.--THE HULA
One turns from the study of old genealogies, myths, and
traditions of the Hawaiians with a hungry despair at finding
in them means so small for picturing the people themselves,
their human interests and passions; but when it comes to the
hula and the whole train of feelings and sentiments that made
their entrances and exits in the _halau_ (the hall of the
hula) one perceives that in this he has found the door to the
heart of the people. So intimate and of so simple confidence
are the revelations the people make of themselves in their
songs and prattlings that when one undertakes to report what
he has heard and to translate into the terms of modern speech
what he has received in confidence, as it were, he almost
blushes, as if he had been guilty of spying on Adam and Eve
in their nuptial bower. Alas, if one could but muffle his
speech with the unconscious lisp of infancy, or veil and tone
his picture to correspond to the perspective of antiquity, he
might feel at least that, like Watteau, he had dealt
worthily, if not truly, with that ideal age which we ever
think of as the world's garden period.
The Hawaiians, it is true, were many removes from being
primitives; their dreams, however, harked back to a period
that was close to the world's infancy. Their remote ancestry
was, perhaps, akin to ours--Aryan, at least Asiatic--but the
orbit of their evolution seems to have led them away from the
strenuous discipline that has whipped the Anglo-Saxon branch
into fighting shape with fortune.
If one comes to the study of the hula and its songs in the
spirit of a censorious moralist he will find nothing for him;
if as a pure ethnologist, he will take pleasure in pointing
out the physical resemblances of the Hawaiian dance to the
languorous grace of the Nautch girls, of the geisha, and
other oriental dancers. But if he comes as a student and
lover of human nature, back of the sensuous posturings, in
the emotional language of the songs he will find himself
entering the playground of the human race.
The hula was a religious service, in which poetry, music,
pantomime, and the dance lent themselves, under the forms of
[Page 12] dramatic art, to the refreshment of men's minds. Its view of
life was idyllic, and it gave itself to the celebration of
those mythical times when gods and goddesses moved on the
earth as men and women and when men and women were as gods.
As to subject-matter, its warp was spun largely from the
bowels of the old-time mythology into cords through which the
race maintained vital connection with its mysterious past.
Interwoven with these, forming the woof, were threads of a
thousand hues and of many fabrics, representing the
imaginations of the poet, the speculations of the
philosopher, the aspirations of many a thirsty soul, as well
as the ravings and flame-colored pictures of the sensualist,
the mutterings and incantations of the _kahuna_, the
mysteries and paraphernalia of Polynesian mythology, the
annals of the nation's history--the material, in fact, which
in another nation and under different circumstances would
have gone to the making of its poetry, its drama, its opera,
its literature.
The people were superstitiously religious; one finds their
drama saturated with religious feeling, hedged about with
tabu, loaded down with prayer and sacrifice. They were
poetical; nature was full of voices for their ears; their
thoughts came to them as images; nature was to them an
allegory; all this found expression in their dramatic art.
They were musical; their drama must needs be cast in forms to
suit their ideas of rhythm, of melody, and of poetic harmony.
They were, moreover, the children of passion, sensuous,
worshipful of whatever lends itself to pleasure. How, then,
could the dramatic efforts of this primitive people, still in
the bonds of animalism, escape the note of passion? The songs
and other poetic pieces which have come down to us from the
remotest antiquity are generally inspired with a purer
sentiment and a loftier purpose than the modern; and it may
be said of them all that when they do step into the mud it is
not to tarry and wallow in it; it is rather with the
unconscious naivete of a child thinking no evil.
On the principle of "the terminal conversion of opposites,"
which the author once heard an old philosopher expound, the
most advanced modern is better able to hark back to the
sweetness and light and music of the primeval world than the
veriest wigwam-dweller that ever chipped an arrowhead. It is
not so much what the primitive man can give us as what we can
find in him that is worth our while. The light that a Goethe,
a Thoreau, or a Kipling can project into Arcadia is mirrored
in his own nature.
If one mistakes not the temper and mind of this generation,
we are living in an age that is not content to let perish one
seed of thought or one single phase of life that can be
rescued from the drift of time. We mourn the extinction of
the buffalo of the plains and of the birds of the islands,
[Page 13] rightly thinking that life is somewhat less rich and full
without them. What of the people of the plains and of the
islands of the sea? Is their contribution so nothingless that
one can affirm that the orbit of man's mind is complete
without it?
Comparison is unavoidable between the place held by the dance
in ancient Hawaii and that occupied by the dance in our
modern society. The ancient Hawaiians did not personally and
informally indulge in the dance for their own amusement, as
does pleasure-loving society at the present time. Like the
Shah of Persia, but for very different reasons, Hawaiians of
the old time left it to be done for them by a body of trained
and paid performers. This was not because the art and
practice of the hula were held in disrepute--quite the
reverse--but because the hula was an accomplishment requiring
special education and arduous training in both song and
dance, and more especially because it was a religious matter,
to be guarded against profanation by the observance of tabus
and the performance of priestly rites.
This fact, which we find paralleled in every form of communal
amusement, sport, and entertainment in ancient Hawaii, sheds
a strong light on the genius of the Hawaiian. We are wont to
think of the old-time Hawaiians as light-hearted children of
nature, given to spontaneous outbursts of song and dance as
the mood seized them; quite as the rustics of "merrie
England" joined hands and tripped "the light fantastic toe"
in the joyous month of May or shouted the harvest home at a
later season. The genius of the Hawaiian was different. With
him the dance was an affair of premeditation, an organized
effort, guarded by the traditions of a somber religion. And
this characteristic, with qualifications, will be found to
belong to popular Hawaiian sport and amusement of every
variety. Exception must be made, of course, of the
unorganized sports of childhood. One is almost inclined to
generalize and to say that those children of nature, as we
are wont to call them, in this regard were less free and
spontaneous than the more advanced race to which we are proud
to belong. But if the approaches to the temple of Terpsichore
with them were more guarded, we may confidently assert that
their enjoyment therein was deeper and more abandoned.
[Page 14]
II.--THE HALAU; THE KUAHU--THEIR DECORATION
AND CONSECRATION
THE HALAU
In building a halau, or hall, in which to perform the hula a
Hawaiian of the old, old time was making a temple for his
god. In later and degenerate ages almost any structure would
serve the purpose; it might be a flimsy shed or an
extemporaneous _lanai_ such as is used to shelter that _al
fresco_ entertainment, the _luau_. But in the old times of
strict tabu and rigorous etiquette, when the chief had but to
lift his hand and the entire population of a district
ransacked plain, valley, and mountain to collect the poles,
beams, thatch, and cordstuff; when the workers were so
numerous that the structure grew and took shape in a day, we
may well believe that ambitious and punctilious patrons of
the hula, such as La'a, Liloa, or Lono-i-ka-makahiki, did not
allow the divine art of Laka to house in a barn.
The choice of a site was a matter of prime importance. A
formidable code enunciated the principles governing the
selection. But--a matter of great solicitude--there were
omens to be heeded, snares and pitfalls devised by the
superstitious mind for its own entanglement. The untimely
sneeze, the ophthalmic eye, the hunched back were omens to be
shunned.
Within historic times, since the abrogation of the tabu
system and the loosening of the old polytheistic ideas, there
has been in the hula a lowering of former standards, in some
respects a degeneration. The old gods, however, were not
entirely dethroned; the people of the hula still continued to
maintain the form of divine service and still appealed to
them for good luck; but the soul of worship had exhaled; the
main study now was to make of the hula a pecuniary success.
In an important sense the old way was in sympathy with the
thought, "Except God be with the workmen, they labor in vain
that build the house." The means for gaining divine favor and
averting the frown of the gods were those practised by all
religionists in the infantile state of the human mind--the
observance of fasts and tabus, the offering of special
prayers and sacrifices. The ceremonial purification of the
site, or of the building if it had been used for profane
purposes, was accomplished by aspersions with sea water mixed
with turmeric or red earth.
[Page 15]
When one considers the tenacious hold which all rites and
ceremonies growing out of what we are accustomed to call
superstitions had on the mind of the primitive Hawaiian, it
puzzles one to account for the entire dropping out from
modern memory of the prayers which were recited during the
erection of a hall for the shelter of an institution so
festive and so popular as the hula, while the prayers and
gloomy ritual of the temple service have survived. The
explanation may be found, perhaps, in the fact that the
priests of the temple held position by the sovereign's
appointment; they formed a hierarchy by themselves, whereas
the position of the _kumu-hula_, who was also a priest, was
open to anyone who fitted himself for it by training and
study and by passing successfully the _ai-lolo_[2] ordeal.
After that he had the right to approach the altar of the hula
god with the prescribed offerings and to present the prayers
and petitions of the company to Laka or Kapo.
[Footnote 2: _Ai-lolo_. See pp. 32, 34, 36.]
In pleasing contrast to the worship of the _heiau_, the
service of the hula was not marred by the presence of
groaning victims and bloody sacrifices. Instead we find the
offerings to have been mostly rustic tokens, things entirely
consistent with light-heartedness, joy, and ecstasy of
devotion, as if to celebrate the fact that heaven had come
down to earth and Pan, with all the nymphs, was dancing.
During the time the halau was building the tabus and rules
that regulated conduct were enforced with the utmost
strictness. The members of the company were required to
maintain the greatest propriety of demeanor, to suppress all
rudeness of speech and manner, to abstain from all carnal
indulgence, to deny themselves specified articles of food,
and above all to avoid contact with a corpse. If anyone, even
by accident, suffered such defilement, before being received
again into fellowship or permitted to enter the halau and
take part in the exercises he must have ceremonial cleansing
(_huikala_). The _kumu_ offered up prayers, sprinkled the
offender with salt water and turmeric, commanded him to bathe
in the ocean, and he was clean. If the breach of discipline
was gross and willful, an act of outrageous violence or the
neglect of tabu, the offender could be restored only after
penitence and confession.
THE KUAHU
In every halau stood the _kuahu_, or altar, as the visible
temporary abode of the deity, whose presence was at once the
inspiration of the performance and the luck-bringer of the
enterprise--a rustic frame embowered in greenery. The
gathering of the green leaves and other sweet finery of
[Page 16] nature for its construction and decoration was a matter of so
great importance that it could not be intrusted to any chance
assemblage of wild youth, who might see fit to take the work
in hand. There were formalities that must be observed, songs
to be chanted, prayers to be recited. It was necessary to
bear in mind that when one deflowered the woods of their
fronds of _ie-ie_ and fern or tore the trailing lengths of
_maile_--albeit in honor of Laka herself--the body of the
goddess was being despoiled, and the despoiling must be done
with all tactful grace and etiquette.
It must not be gathered from this that the occasion was made
solemn and oppressive with weight of ceremony, as when a
temple was erected or as when a tabu chief walked abroad, and
all men lay with their mouths in the dust. On the contrary,
it was a time of joy and decorous exultation, a time when in
prayer-songs and ascriptions of praise the poet ransacked all
nature for figures and allusions to be used in caressing the
deity.
The following adulatory prayer (_kanaenae_) in adoration of
Laka was recited while gathering the woodland decorations for
the altar. It is worthy of preservation for its intrinsic
beauty, for the spirit of trustfulness it breathes. We remark
the petitions it utters for the growth of tree and shrub, as
if Laka had been the alma mater under whose influence all
nature budded and rejoiced.
It would seem as if the physical ecstasy of the dance and the
sensuous joy of all nature's finery had breathed their spirit
into the aspiration and that the beauty of leaf and flower,
all of them familiar forms of the god's
metamorphosis--accessible to their touch and for the
regalement of their senses--had brought such nearness and
dearness, of affection between goddess and worshiper that all
fear was removed.
_He kanaenae no Laka_
A ke kua-hiwi, i ke kua-lono,
Ku ana o Laka i ka mauna;
Noho ana o Laka i ke po'o o ka ohu.
O Laka kumu hula,
5 Nana i a'e ka tvao-kele,[3]
Kahi, kahi i moli'a i ka pua'a,
I ke po'o pua'a,
He pua'a hiwa na Kane.[4]
[Page 17] He kane na Laka,
10 Na ka wahine i oni a kelakela i ka lani:
I kupu ke a'a i ke kumu,
I lau a puka ka mu'o,
Ka liko, ka ao i-luna.
Kupu ka lala, hua ma ka Hikina;
15 Kupu ka laau ona a Maka-li'i,[5]
O Maka-lei,[6] laau kaulana mai ka Po mai.[7]
Mai ka Po mai ka oiaio--
I ho-i'o i-luna, i o'o i-luna.
He luna au e ki'i mai nei ia oe, e Laka,
20 E ho'i ke ko-kua[8] pa-u;
He la uniki[9] e no kaua;
Ha-ike-ike[10] o ke Akua;
Hoike ka mana o ka Wahine,
O Laka, kaikuahine,
25 Wahine a Lono i ka ou-alii.[11]
E Lono, e hu'[12] ia mai ka lani me ka honua.
Nou okoa Kukulu o Kaniki.[13]
Me ke ano-ai[14] i aloha, e!
E ola, e!
[Footnote 3: _Wao-kele_. That portion of the mountain forest
where grew the monarch trees was called _wao-kele_ or
_wao-maukele_.]
[Footnote 4: _Na Kane_. Why was the offering, the black roast
porkling, said to be for Kane, who was not a special patron,
_au-makua_, of the hula? The only answer the author has been
able to obtain from any Hawaiian is that, though Kane was not
a god of the hula, he was a near relative. On reflection, the
author can see a propriety in devoting the reeking flesh of
the swine to god Kane, while to the sylvan deity, Laka,
goddess of the peaceful hula, were devoted the rustic
offerings that were the embodiment of her charms. Her image,
or token--an uncarved block of wood--was set up in a
prominent part of the _kuahu_, and at the close of a
performance the wreaths that had been worn by the actors were
draped about the image. Thus viewed, there is a delicate
propriety and significance in such disposal of the pig.]
[Footnote 5: _Maka-li'i_ (Small eyes). The Pleiades; also the
period of six months, including the rainy season, that began
some time in October or November and was reckoned from the
date when the Pleiades appeared in the East at sunset.
_Maka-li'i_ was also the name of a month, by some reckoned as
the first month of the year.]
[Footnote 6: _Maka-lei_. The name of a famous mythological
tree which had the power of attracting fish. It did not
poison, but only bewitched or fascinated them. There were two
trees bearing this name, one a male, the other a female,
which both grew at a place in Hilo called Pali-uli. One of
these, the female, was, according to tradition, carried from
its root home to the fish ponds in Kailua, Oahu, for the
purpose of attracting fish to the neighboring waters. The
enterprise was eminently successful.]
[Footnote 7: _Po_. Literally night; the period in cosmogony
when darkness and chaos reigned, before the affairs on earth
had become settled under the rule of the gods. Here the word
is used to indicate a period of remote mythologic antiquity.
The use of the word _Po_ in the following verse reminds one
of the French adage, "La nuit porte conseil."]
[Footnote 8: _Kokua_. Another form for _kakua_, to gird on
the _pa-u_. (See _Pa-u_ song, pp. 51-53.)]
[Footnote 9: _Uniki_. A word not given in the dictionary. The
debut of an actor at the hula, after passing the _ai-lolo_
test and graduating from the school of the halau, a critical
event.]
[Footnote 10: _Ha-ike-ike_. Equivalent to _ho-ike-ike_, an
exhibition, to exhibit.]
[Footnote 11: _Ou-alii_. The Hawaiians seem to have lost the
meaning of this word. The author has been at some pains to
work it out somewhat conjecturally.]
[Footnote 12: _E Lono, e hu' ia, mai, etc_. The unelided form
of the word _hu'_ would be _hui_. The final _i_ is dropped
before the similar vowel of _ia_.]
[Footnote 13: _Kukulu o Kahiki_. The pillars of Kahiki. The
ancient Hawaiians supposed the starry heavens to be a solid
dome supported by a wall or vertical
construction--_kukulu_--set up along the horizon. That
section of the wall that stood over against Kahiki they
termed _Kukulu o Kahiki_. Our geographical name Tahiti is of
course from Kahiki, though it does not apply to the same
region. After the close of what has been termed "the period
of intercourse," which, came probably during the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, and during which the ancient Hawaiians
voyaged to and fro between Hawaii and the lands of the South,
geographical ideas became hazy and the term _Kahiki_ came to
be applied to any foreign country.]
[Footnote 14: _Ano-ai_. An old form of salutation, answering
in general to the more modern word aloha, much used at the
present time. _Ano-ai_ seems to have had a shade of meaning
more nearly answering to our word "welcome." This is the
first instance the author has met with of its use in poetry.]
[Page 18]
[Translation]
_A Prayer of Adulation to Laka_
In the forests, on the ridges
Of the mountains stands Laka;
Dwelling in the source of the mists.
Laka, mistress of the hula,
5 Has climbed the wooded haunts of the gods,
Altars hallowed by the sacrificial swine,
The head of the boar, the black boar of Kane.
A partner he with Laka;
Woman, she by strife gained rank in heaven.
10 That the root may grow from the stem,
That the young shoot may put forth and leaf,
Pushing up the fresh enfolded bud,
The scion-thrust bud and fruit toward the East,
Like the tree that bewitches the winter fish,
15 Maka-lei, tree famed from the age of night.
Truth is the counsel of night--
May it fruit and ripen above.
A messenger I bring you, O Laka,
To the girding of pau.
20 An opening festa this for thee and me;
To show the might of the god,
The power of the goddess,
Of Laka, the sister,
To Lono a wife in the heavenly courts.
25 O Lono, join heaven and earth!
Thine alone are the pillars of Kahiki.
Warm greeting, beloved one,
We hail thee!
The cult of god Lono was milder, more humane, than that of
Kane and the other major gods. No human sacrifices were
offered on his altars,--The statement in verse 26 accords
with the general belief of the Hawaiians that Lono dwelt in
foreign parts, _Kukulu o Kahiki_, and that he would some time
come to them from across the waters. When Captain Cook
arrived in his ships, the Hawaiians worshiped him as the god
Lono.
[Illustration: IE-IE (FREYCINETIA ARNOTTI) LEAVES AND FRUIT]
The following song-prayer also is one that was used at the
gathering of the greenery in the mountains and during the
building of the altar in the halau. When recited in the halau
all the pupils took part, and the chorus was a response in
which the whole assembly in the halau were expected to join:
_Pule Kuahu no Laka_
Haki pu o ka nahelehele,
Haki hana maile o ka wao,
[Page 19] Hooulu[15] lei ou, o Laka, e!
O Hiiaka[16] ke kaula nana e hooulu na ma'i,
5 A aeae a ulu[17] a noho i kou kuahu,
Eia ka pule la, he pule ola,
He noi ola nou, e-e!
_Chorus:_
E ola ia makou, aohe hala!
[Translation]
_Altar-Prayer to Laka_
This spoil and rape of the wildwood,
This plucking of wilderness maile--
Collect of garlands, Laka, for you.
Hiiaka, the prophet, heals our diseases.
5 Enter, possess, inspire your altar;
Heed our prayer, 'tis for life;
Our petition to you is for life.
_Chorus:_
Give us life, save from transgression!
[Footnote 15: _Hoo-ulu_. This word has a considerable range of
meaning, well illustrated in this mele. In its simplest form,
_ulu_, it means to grow, to become strong. Joined with the
causative _hoo_, as here, it takes on the spiritual meaning
of causing to prosper, of inspiring. The word "collect," used
in the translation, has been chosen to express the double
sense of gathering the garlands and of devoting them to the
goddess as a religious offering. In the fourth verse this
word, _hooulu_, is used in the sense of to heal. Compare note
_c_.]
[Footnote 16: _Hiiaka_. The youngest sister of Pele, often
spoken of as _Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele_,
Hiiaka-of-the-bosom-of-Pele. Why she should be spoken of as
capable of healing diseases is not at all clear.]
[Footnote 17: _Ulu_. Here we have the word _ulu_ in its
simple, uncombined form, meaning to enter into and inspire.]
The wildwoods of Hawaii furnished in great abundance and
variety small poles for the framework of the kuahu, the
altar, the holy place of the halau, and sweet-scented leaves
and flowers suitable for its decoration. A spirit of fitness,
however, limited choice among these to certain species that
were deemed acceptable to the goddess because they were
reckoned as among her favorite forms of metamorphosis. To go
outside this ordained and traditional range would have been
an offense, a sacrilege. This critical spirit would have
looked with the greatest disfavor on the practice that in
modern times has crept in, of bedecking the dancers with
garlands of roses, pinks, jessamine, and other nonindigenous
flowers, as being utterly repugnant to the traditional spirit
of the hula.
Among decorations approved and most highly esteemed stood
pre-eminent the fragrant maile (pl. IV) and the star-like
fronds and ruddy drupe of the _ie-ie_ (pl. II) and its
kindred, the _hala-pepe_ (pl. III); the scarlet pompons of
the _lehua_ (pl. XIII) and _ohi'a_, with the fruit of the
latter (the mountain-apple); many varieties of fern,
including that splendid parasite, the "bird's nest fern"
[Page 20] (_ekaha_), hailed by the Hawaiians as Mawi's paddle; to which
must be added the commoner leaves and lemon-colored flowers
of the native hibiscus, the _hau_, the breadfruit, the native
banana and the dracaena (_ti_), plate V; and lastly, richest
of all, in the color that became Hawaii's favorite, the royal
yellow _ilima_ (pl. VI), a flower familiar to the eyes of the
tourist to Honolulu.
While deft hands are building and weaving the light framework
of the kuahu, binding its parts with strong vines and
decorating it with nature's sumptuous embroidery, the _kumu_,
or teacher, under the inspiration of the deity, for whose
residence he has prepared himself by long vigil and fasting
with fleshly abstinence, having spent the previous night
alone in the halau, is chanting or cantillating his adulatory
prayers, _kanaenae_--songs of praise they seem to be--to the
glorification of the gods and goddesses who are invited to
bless the occasion with their presence and inspiration, but
especially of that one, Laka, whose bodily presence is
symbolized by a rude block of wood arrayed in yellow tapa
that is set up on the altar itself. Thus does the kumu sing:
_Pule Kuahu_
El' au e Laka mai uka,
E Laka mai kai;
O hooulu
O ka ilio[18] nana e hae,
5 O ka maile hihi i ka wao,
O ka lau-ki[19] lei o ke akua,
O na ku'i hauoli
O Ha'i-ka-manawa.[20]
O Laka oe,
10 O ke akua i ke kuahu nei, la;
E ho'i, ho'i mai a noho i kou kuahu!
[Translation]
_Altar-Prayer_ (to Laka)
Here am I, oh Laka from the mountains,
Oh Laka from the shore;
Protect us
Against the dog that barks;
[Page 21] 5 Reside in the wild-twining maile
And the goddess-enwreathing ti.
All, the joyful pulses.
Of the woman Ha'i-ka-manawa!
Thou art Laka,
10 The god of this altar;
Return, return, abide in thy shrine!
[Footnote 18: _Ilio nana e hae_. The barking of a dog, the
crowing of a cock, the grunting of a pig, the hooting of an
owl, or any such sound occurring at the time of a religious
solemnity, _aha_, broke the spell of the incantation and
vitiated the ceremony. Such an untimely accident was as much
deprecated as were the Turk, the Comet, and the Devil by
pious Christian souls during the Middle Ages.]
[Footnote 19: _Lau-ki_. The leaf of the _ti_ plant--the
same as the _ki_--(Dracaena terminalis), much used as an emblem
of divine power, a charm or defense against malign spiritual
influences. The kahuna often wore about his neck a fillet of
this leaf. The _ti_ leaf was a special emblem of Ha'i-wahine,
or of Li'a-wahine. It was much used as a decoration about the
halau.]
[Footnote 20: _Ha'i-ka-manawa_. It is conjectured that this is
the same as Ha'i-wahine. She was a mythological character,
about whom there is a long and tragic story.]
The prayers which the hula folk of old times chanted while
gathering the material in the woods or while weaving it into
shape in the halau for the construction of a shrine did not
form a rigid liturgy; they formed rather a repertory as
elastic as the sighing of the breeze, or the songs of the
birds whose notes embroidered the pure mountain air. There
were many altar-prayers, so that if a prayer came to an end
before the work was done the priest had but to begin the
recitation of another prayer, or, if the spirit of the
occasion so moved him, he would take up again a prayer
already repeated, for until the work was entirely
accomplished the voice of prayer must continue to be heard.
The _pule_ now to be given seems to be specially suited to
that portion of the service which took place in the woods at
the gathering of the poles and greenery. It was designed
specially for the placating of the little god-folk who from
their number were addressed as _Kini o ke Akua_, the
multitude of the little gods, and who were the counterparts
in old Hawaii of our brownies, elfins, sprites, kobolds,
gnomes, and other woodland imps. These creatures, though
dwarfish and insignificant in person, were in such
numbers--four thousand, forty thousand, four hundred
thousand--and were so impatient of any invasion of their
territory, so jealous of their prerogatives, so spiteful and
revengeful when injured, that it was policy always to keep on
the right side of them.
_Pule Kuahu_
E hooulu ana I Kini[21] o ke Akua,
Ka lehu o ke Akua,
Ka mano o ke Akua,
I ka pu-ku'i o ke Akua,
5 I ka lalani Akua,
Ia ulu mai o Kane,
Ulu o Kanaloa;
Ulu ka ohia, lau ka ie-ie;
Ulu ke Akua, noho i ke kahua,
10 A a'ea'e, a ulu, a noho kou kuahu.
Eia ka pule la, he pule ola.
_Chorus:_
E ola ana oe!
[Footnote 21: _Kini o ke Akua._ See note _d_, p. 24.]
[Page 22]
[Translation]
_Altar-Prayer_
Invoke we now the four thousand,
The myriads four of the nimble,
The four hundred thousand elves,
The countless host of sprites,
5 Rank upon rank of woodland gods.
Pray, Kane, also inspire us;
Kanaloa, too, join the assembly.
Now grows the _ohi'a_, now leafs _ie-ie_;
God enters, resides in the place;
10 He mounts, inspires, abides in the shrine.
This is our prayer, our plea this for life!
_Chorus:_
Life shall be thine!
From one point of view these _pule_ are not to be regarded as
prayers in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather as
song-offerings, verbal bouquets, affectionate sacrifices to
the gods.
[Page 23]
III.--THE GODS OF THE HULA.
Of what nature were the gods of the old times, and how did
the ancient Hawaiians conceive of them? As of beings having
the form, the powers, and the passions of humanity, yet
standing above and somewhat apart from men. One sees, as
through a mist, darkly, a figure, standing, moving; in shape
a plant, a tree or vine-clad stump, a bird, a taloned
monster, a rock carved by the fire-queen, a human form, a
puff of vapor--and now it has given place to vacancy. It was
a goddess, perhaps of the hula. In the solitude of the
wilderness one meets a youthful being of pleasing address, of
godlike wit, of elusive beauty; the charm of her countenance
unspoken authority, her gesture command. She seems one with
nature, yet commanding it. Food placed before her remains
untasted; the oven, _imu_,[22] in which the fascinated host
has heaped his abundance, preparing for a feast, when opened
is found empty; the guest of an hour has disappeared. Again
it was a goddess, perhaps of the hula. Or, again, a traveler
meets a creature of divine beauty, all smiles and loveliness.
The infatuated mortal, smitten with hopeless passion, offers
blandishments; he finds himself by the roadside embracing a
rock. It was a goddess of the hula.
The gods, great and small, superior and inferior, whom the
devotees and practitioners of the hula worshiped and sought
to placate were many; but the goddess Laka was the one to
whom they offered special prayers and sacrifices and to whom
they looked as the patron, the _au-makua_,[23] of that
institution. It was for her benefit and in her honor that the
kuahu was set up, and the wealth of flower and leaf used in
its decoration was emblematic of her beauty and glory, a
pledge of her bodily presence, the very forms that she, a
sylvan deity, was wont to assume when she pleased to manifest
herself.
As an additional crutch to the imagination and to emphasize
the fact of her real presence on the altar which she had been
invoked to occupy as her abode, she was symbolized by an
uncarved block of wood from the sacred _lama_[24] tree. This
was wrapped in a robe of choice yellow tapa, scented with
turmeric, and set conspicuously upon the altar.
[Footnote 22: _Imu_. The Hawaiian oven, which was a hole in
the ground lined and arched over with stones.]
[Footnote 23: _Au-makua_. An ancestral god.]
[Footnote 24: _Lama_. A beautiful tree having firm,
fine-grained, white wood; used in making sacred inclosures
and for other tabu purposes.]
[Page 24]
Laka was invoked as the god of the maile, the ie-ie, and
other wildwood growths before mentioned (pl. II). She was
hailed as the "sister, wife, of god Lono," as "the one who by
striving attained favor with the gods of the upper ether;" as
"the kumu[25] hula"--head teacher of the Terpsichorean art;
"the fount of joy;" "the prophet who brings health to the
sick;" "the one whose presence gives life." In one of the
prayers to Laka she is besought to come and take possession
of the worshiper, to dwell in him as in a temple, to inspire
him in all his parts and faculties--voice, hands, feet, the
whole body.
Laka seems to have been a friend, but not a relative, of the
numerous Pele family. So far as the author has observed, the
fiery goddess is never invited to grace the altar with her
presence, nor is her name so much as mentioned in any prayer
met with.
To compare the gods of the Hawaiian pantheon with those of
classic Greece, the sphere occupied by Laka corresponds most
nearly to that filled by Terpsichore and Euterpe, the muses,
respectively, of dance and of song. Lono, in one song spoken
of as the husband of Laka, had features in common with
Apollo.
That other gods, Kane, Ku, Kanaloa,[26] with Lono,
Ku-pulupulu,[27] and the whole swarm of godlings that peopled
the wildwood, were also invited to favor the performances
with their presence can be satisfactorily explained on the
ground, first, that all the gods were in a sense members of
one family, related to each other by intermarriage, if not by
the ties of kinship; and, second, by the patent fact of that
great underlying cause of bitterness and strife among
immortals as well as mortals, jealousy. It would have been an
eruptive occasion of heart-burning and scandal if by any
mischance a privileged one should have had occasion to feel
slighted; and to have failed in courtesy to that countless
host of wilderness imps and godlings, the _Kini Akua_,[28]
mischievous and irreverent as the monkeys of India, would
indeed have been to tempt a disaster.
While it is true that the testimony of the various
_kumu-hula_, teachers of the hula, and devotees of the art of
the hula, so far as the author has talked with them, has been
overwhelmingly to the effect that Laka was the one and only
divine patron of the art known to them, there has been a
small number equally ready to assert that there were those
who observed the cult of the goddess Kapo and worshiped her
[Page 25] as the patron of the hula. The positive testimony of these
witnesses must be reckoned as of more weight than the
negative testimony of a much larger number, who either have
not seen or will not look at the other side of the shield. At
any rate, among the prayers before the kuahu, of which there
are others yet to be presented, will be found several
addressed to Kapo as the divine patron of the hula.
[Footnote 25: The teacher, a leader and priest of the hula.
The modern school-master is called _kumu-hula_.]
[Footnote 25: _Kanaloa_. Kane, Ku, Kanaloa, and Lono were the
major gods of the Hawaiian pantheon.]
[Footnote 27: _Ku-pulupulu_. A god of the canoe-makers.]
[Footnote 28: _Kini Akua_. A general expression--often used
together with the ones that follow--meaning the countless
swarms of brownies, elfs, kobolds, sprites, and other
godlings (mischievous imps) that peopled the wilderness.
_Kini_ means literally 40,000, _lehu_ 400,000, and _mano_
4,000. See the _Pule Kuahu_--altar-prayer--on page 21. The
Hawaiians, curiously enough, did not put the words _mano_,
_kini_, and _lehu_ in the order of their numerical value.]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE III
HALA-PEPE (DRACAENA AUREA) ]
Kapo was sister of Pele and the daughter of Haumea.[29] Among
other roles played by her, like Laka she was at times a
sylvan deity, and it was in the garb of woodland
representations that she was worshiped by hula folk. Her
forms of activity, corresponding to her different
metamorphoses, were numerous, in one of which she was at
times "employed by the _kahuna_[30] as a messenger in their
black arts, and she is claimed by many as an _aumakua,_" [31]
said to be the sister of Kalai-pahoa, the poison god.
[Footnote 29: _Haumea_. The ancient goddess, or ancestor, the
sixth in line of descent from Wakea.]
[Footnote 30: _Kahuna._ A sorcerer; with a qualifying
adjective it meant a skilled craftsman; _Kahuna-kalai-wa'a_
was a canoe-builder; _kahuna lapaau_ was a medicine-man, a
doctor, etc.]
[Footnote 31: The Lesser Gods of Hawaii, a paper by Joseph S.
Emerson, read before the Hawaiian Historical Society, April
7, 1892.]
Unfortunately Kapo had an evil name on account of a
propensity which led her at times to commit actions that seem
worthy only of a demon of lewdness. This was, however, only
the hysteria of a moment, not the settled habit of her life.
On one notable occasion, by diverting the attention of the
bestial pig-god Kama-pua'a, and by vividly presenting to him
a temptation well adapted to his gross nature, she succeeded
in enticing him away at a critical moment, and thus rescued
her sister Pele at a time when the latter's life was
imperiled by an unclean and violent assault from the
swine-god.
Like Catherine of Russia, who in one mood was the patron of
literature and of the arts and sciences and in another mood a
very satyr, so the Hawaiian goddess Kapo seems to have lived
a double life whose aims were at cross purposes with one
another-now an angel of grace and beauty, now a demon of
darkness and lust.
Do we not find in this the counterpart of nature's twofold
aspect, who presents herself to dependent humanity at one
time as an alma mater, the food-giver, a divinity of joy and
comfort, at another time as the demon of the storm and
earthquake, a plowshare of fiery destruction?
The name of Hiiaka, the sister of Pele, is one often
mentioned in the prayers of the hula.
[Page 26]
IV.--SUPPORT AND ORGANIZATION OF THE HULA
In ancient times the hula to a large extent was a creature of
royal support, and for good reason. The actors in this
institution were not producers of life's necessaries. To the
_alii_ belonged the land and the sea and all the useful
products thereof. Even the jetsam whale-tooth and wreckage
scraps of iron that ocean cast up on the shore were claimed
by the lord of the land. Everything was the king's. Thus it
followed of necessity that the support of the hula must in
the end rest upon the alii. As in ancient Rome it was a
senator or general, enriched by the spoil of a province, who
promoted the sports of the arena, so in ancient Hawaii it was
the chief or headman of the district who took the initiative
in the promotion of the people's communistic sports and of
the hula.
We must not imagine that the hula was a thing only of kings'
courts and chiefish residences. It had another and democratic
side. The passion for the hula was broadspread. If other
agencies failed to meet the demand, there was nothing to
prevent a company of enthusiasts from joining themselves
together in the pleasures and, it might be, the profits of
the hula. Their spokesman--designated as the _po'o-puaa_,
from the fact that a pig, or a boar's head, was required of
him as an offering at the kuahu--was authorized to secure the
services of some expert to be their kumu. But with the hula
all roads lead to the king's court.
Let us imagine a scene at the king's residence. The alii,
rousing from his sloth and rubbing his eyes, rheumy with
debauch and _awa_, overhears remark on the doings of a new
company of hula dancers who have come into the neighborhood.
He summons his chief steward.
"What is this new thing of which they babble?" he demands.
"It is nothing, son of heaven," answers the kneeling steward.
"They spoke of a hula. Tell me, what is it?"
"Ah, thou heaven-born (_lani_), it was but a trifle--a new
company, young graduates of the halau, have set themselves up
as great ones; mere rustics; they have no proper acquaintance
with the traditions of the art as taught by the bards of...
your majesty's father. They mouth and twist the old songs
all awry, thou son of heaven."
"Enough. I will hear them to-morrow. Send a messenger for
this new kumu. Fill again my bowl with awa."
[Page 27]
Thus it comes about that the new hula company gains audience
at court and walks the road that, perchance, leads to
fortune. Success to the men and women of the hula means not
merely applause, in return for the incense of flattery; it
means also a shower of substantial favors--food, garments,
the smile of royalty, perhaps land--things that make life a
festival. If welcome grows cold and it becomes evident that
the harvest has been reaped, they move on to fresh woods and
pastures new.
To return from this apparent digression, it was at the king's
court--if we may extend the courtesy of this phrase to a
group of thatched houses--that were gathered the bards and
those skilled in song, those in whose memories were stored
the mythologies, traditions, genealogies, proverbial wisdom,
and poetry that, warmed by emotion, was the stuff from which
was spun the songs of the hula. As fire is produced by
friction, so it was often by the congress of wits rather than
by the flashing of genius that the songs of the hula were
evolved.
The composition and criticism of a poetical passage were a
matter of high importance, often requiring many suggestions
and much consultation. If the poem was to be a _mele-inoa_, a
name-song to eulogize some royal or princely scion, it must
contain no word of ill-omen. The fate-compelling power of
such a word, once shot from the mouth, was beyond recall.
Like the incantation of the sorcerer, the _kahuna anaana_, it
meant death to the eulogized one. If not, it recoiled on the
life of the singer.
The verbal form once settled, it remained only to stereotype
it on the memories of the men and women who constituted the
literary court or conclave. Think not that only thus were
poems produced in ancient Hawaii. The great majority of songs
were probably the fruit of solitary inspiration, in which the
bard poured out his heart like a song-bird, or uttered his
lone vision as a seer. The method of poem production in
conclave may be termed the official method. It was often done
at the command of an alii. So much for the fabrication, the
weaving, of a song.
If the composition was intended as a eulogy, it was
cantillated ceremoniously before the one it honored; if in
anticipation of a prince yet unborn, it was daily recited
before the mother until the hour of her delivery; and this
cantillation published it abroad. If the song was for
production in the hula, it lay warm in the mind of the kumu,
the master and teacher of the hula, until such time as he had
organized his company.
The court of the alii was a vortex that drew in not only the
bards and men of lore, but the gay and fashionable rout of
pleasure-seekers, the young men and women of shapely form and
gracious presence, the sons and daughters of the king's
[Page 28] henchmen and favorites; among them, perhaps, the offspring of
the king's morganatic alliances and amours--the flower and
pick of Hawaii's youth. From these the kumu selected those
most fitted by beauty and grace of form, as well as quickness
of wit and liveliness of imagination, to take part in the
hula.
The performers in the hula were divided into two classes, the
_olapa_--agile ones--and the _ho'o-paa_--steadfast ones. The
role of olapa, as was fitting, was assigned to the young men
and young women who could best illustrate in their persons
the grace and beauty of the human form. It was theirs,
sometimes while singing, to move and pose and gesture in the
dance; sometimes also to punctuate their song and action with
the lighter instruments of music. The role of ho'o-paa, on
the other hand, was given to men and women of greater
experience and of more maturity. They handled the heavier
instruments and played their parts mostly while sitting or
kneeling, marking the time with their instrumentation. They
also lent their voices to swell the chorus or utter the
refrain of certain songs, sometimes taking the lead in the
song or bearing its whole burden, while the light-footed
olapa gave themselves entirely to the dance. The part of the
ho'o-paa was indeed the heavier, the more exacting duty.
Such was the personnel of a hula troupe when first gathered
by the hula-master for training and drill in the halau, now
become a school for the hula. Among the pupils the kumu was
sure to find some old hands at the business, whose presence,
like that of veterans in a squad of recruits, was a leaven to
inspire the whole company with due respect for the spirit and
traditions of the historic institution and to breed in the
members the patience necessary to bring them to the highest
proficiency.
The instruction of the kumu, as we are informed, took a wide
range. It dealt in elaborate detail on such matters as
accent, inflection, and all that concerns utterance and
vocalization. It naturally paid great attention to gesture
and pose, attitude and bodily action. That it included
comment on the meaning that lay back of the words may be
gravely doubted. The average hula dancer of modern times
shows great ignorance of the mele he recites, and this is
true even of the kumu-hula. His work too often is largely
perfunctory, a matter of sound and form, without appeal to
the intellect.
It would not be legitimate, however, to conclude from this
that ignorance of the meaning was the rule in old times;
those were the days when the nation's traditional songs,
myths, and lore formed the equipment of every alert and
receptive mind, chief or commoner. There was no printed page
to while away the hours of idleness. The library was stored
in one's memory. The language of the mele, which now has
[Page 29] become antiquated, then was familiar speech. For a kumu-hula
to have given instruction in the meaning of a song would have
been a superfluity, as if one at the present day were to
inform a group of well-educated actors and actresses who was
Pompey or Julius Caesar.
"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you,
trippingly on the tongue." Hamlet's words to the players
were, it may be supposed, the substance of the kumu's
instructions to the pupils in his halau.
The organization of a hula company was largely democratic.
The kumu--in modern sense, the teacher--was the leader and
conductor, responsible for the training and discipline of the
company. He was the business manager of the enterprise; the
priest, _kahuna_, the leader in the religious exercises, the
one who interpreted the will of heaven, especially of the
gods whose favor determined success. He might be called to
his position by the choice of the company, appointed by the
command of the alii who promoted the enterprise, or
self-elected in case the enterprise was his own. He had under
him a _kokua kumu_, a deputy, who took charge during his
absence.
The _po'o-puaa_ was an officer chosen by the pupils to be
their special agent and mouthpiece. He saw to the execution
of the kumu's judgments and commands, collected the fines,
and exacted the penalties imposed by the kumu. It fell to him
to convey to the altar the presents of garlands, awa, and the
like that were contributed to the halau.
The _paepae_, also chosen by the pupils, subject to
confirmation by the kumu, acted as an assistant of the
po'o-puaa. During the construction of the kuahu the po'o-puaa
stood to the right, the paepae at his left. They were in a
general sense guardians of the kuahu.
The _ho'o-ulu_ was the guard stationed at the door. He
sprinkled with sea-water mixed with turmeric everyone who
entered the halau. He also acted as sergeant-at-arms to keep
order and remove anyone who made a disturbance. It was his
duty each day to place a fresh bowl of awa on the altar of
the goddess (_hanai kuahu_), literally to feed the altar.
In addition to these officials, a hula company naturally
required the services of a miscellaneous retinue of stewards,
cooks, fishermen, hewers of wood, and drawers of water.
RULES OF CONDUCT AND TABUS
Without a body of rules, a strict penal code, and a firm hand
to hold in check the hot bloods of both sexes, it would have
been impossible to keep order and to accomplish the business
purpose of the organization. The explosive force of passion
would have made the gathering a signal for the breaking loose
of pandemonium. That it did not always so result is a
[Page 30] compliment alike to the self-restraint of the people and to
the sway that artistic ideals held over their minds, but,
above all, to a peculiar system of discipline wisely adapted
to the necessities of human nature. It does not seem likely
that a Thespian band of our own race would have held their
passions under equal check if surrounded by the same
temptations and given the same opportunities as these
Polynesians. It may well be doubted if the bare authority of
the kumu would have sufficed to maintain discipline and to
keep order, had it not been reenforced by the dread powers of
the spirit world in the shape of the _tabu_.
The awful grasp of this law; this repressive force, the tabu,
held fast the student from the moment of his entrance into
the halau. It denied this pleasure, shut off that innocent
indulgence, curtailed liberty in this direction and in that.
The tabu waved before his imagination like a flaming sword,
barring approach to the Eden of his strongest propensity.
The rules and discipline of the halau, the school for the
hula, from our point of view, were a mixture of shrewd common
sense and whimsical superstition. Under the head of tabus
certain articles of food were denied; for instance, the
sugar-cane--_ko_--was forbidden. The reason assigned was that
if one indulged in it his work as a practitioner would amount
to nothing; in the language of the kumu, _aohe e leo ana kana
mau hana_, his work will be a failure. The argument turned on
the double meaning of the word _ko_, the first meaning being
sugar cane, the second, accomplishment. The Hawaiians were
much impressed by such whimsical nominalisms. Yet there is a
backing of good sense to the rule. Anyone who has chewed the
sweet stalk can testify that for some time thereafter his
voice is rough, ill-fitted for singing or elocution.
The strictest propriety and decorum were exacted of the
pupils; there must be no license whatever. Even married
people during the weeks preceding graduation must observe
abstinence toward their partners. The whole power of one's
being must be devoted to the pursuit of art.
The rules demanded also the most punctilious personal
cleanliness. Above all things, one must avoid contact with a
corpse. Such defilement barred one from entrance to the halau
until ceremonial cleansing had been performed. The offender
must bathe in the ocean; the kumu then aspersed him with holy
water, uttered a prayer, ordered a penalty, an offering to
the kuahu, and declared the offender clean. This done, he
was again received into fellowship at the halau.
The ordinary penalty for a breach of ceremony or an offense
against sexual morality was the offering of a baked porkling
with awa. Since the introduction of money the penalty has
generally been reckoned on a commercial basis; a money fine
is imposed. The offering of pork and awa is retained as a
concession to tradition.
[Page 31]
V--CEREMONIES OF GRADUATION; DEBUT OF A HULA DANCER
CEREMONIES OF GRADUATION
The _ai-lolo_ rite and ceremony marked the consummation of a
pupil's readiness for graduation from the school of the halau
and his formal entrance into the guild of hula dancers. As
the time drew near, the kumu tightened the reins of
discipline, and for a few days before that event no pupil
might leave the halau save for the most stringent necessity,
and then only with the head muffled (_pulo'u_) to avoid
recognition, and he might engage in no conversation whatever
outside the halau.
The night preceding the day of ai-lolo was devoted to special
services of dance and song. Some time after midnight the
whole company went forth to plunge into the ocean, thus to
purge themselves of any lurking ceremonial impurity. The
progress to the ocean and the return they made in complete
nudity. "Nakedness is the garb of the gods." On their way to
and from the bath they must not look back, they must not turn
to the right hand or to the left.
The kumu, as the priest, remained at the halau, and as the
procession returned from the ocean he met it at the door and
sprinkled each one (_pikai_) with holy water. Then came
another period of dance and song; and then, having
cantillated a _pule hoonoa_, to lift the tabu, the kumu went
forth to his own ceremonial cleansing bath in the sea. During
his absence his deputy, the _kokua kumu_, took charge of the
halau. When the kumu reached the door on his return, he made
himself known by reciting a _mele wehe puka_, the
conventional password.
Still another exercise of song and dance, and the wearied
pupils are glad to seek repose. Some will not even remove the
short dancing, skirts that are girded about them, so eager
are they to snatch an hour of rest; and some lie down with
bracelets and anklets yet unclasped.
At daybreak the kumu rouses the company with the tap of the
drum. After ablutions, before partaking of their simple
breakfast, the company stand before the altar and recite a
tabu-removing prayer, accompanying the cantillation with a
rhythmic tapping of feet and clapping of hands:
_Pule Hoonoa_
Pupu we'uwe'u e, Laka e!
O kona we'uwe'u ke ku nei.
[Page 32] Kaumaha a'e la ia Laka.
O Laka ke akua pule ikaika.
5 Ua ku ka maile a Laka a imua;
Ua lu ka liua[32] o ka maile.
Noa, noa ia'u, ia Kahaula--
Papalua noa.
Noa, a ua noa.
10 Eli-eli kapu! eli-eli noa!
Kapu oukou, ke akua!
Noa makou, ke kanaka'.
[Translation]
_Tabu-lifting Prayer_
Oh wildwood bouquet, oh Laka!
Hers are the growths that stand here.
Suppliants we to Laka.
The prayer to Laka has power;
5 The maile of Laka stands to the fore.
The maile vine casts now its seeds.
Freedom, there's freedom to me, Kahaula--
A freedom twofold.
10 Freedom, aye freedom!
A tabu profound, a freedom complete.
Ye gods are still tabu;
We mortals are free.
[Footnote 32: _Lu ka hua_. Casts now its seeds. The maile vine
(pl. IV), one of the goddess's emblems, casts its seeds,
meaning that the goddess gives the pupils skill and inspires
them.]
At the much-needed repast to which the company now sit down
there may be present a gathering of friends and relatives and
of hula experts, called _olohe_. Soon the porkling chosen to
be the _ai-lolo_ offering is brought in--a black suckling
without spot or blemish. The kumu holds it down while all the
pupils gather and lay their hands upon his hands; and he
expounds to them the significance of the ceremony. If they
consecrate themselves to the work in hand in sincerity and
with true hearts, memory will be strong and the training, the
knowledge, and the songs that have been intrusted to the
memory will stay. If they are heedless, regardless of their
vows, the songs they have learned will fly away.
The ceremony is long and impressive; many songs are used.
Sometimes, it was claimed, the prayers of the kumu at this
laying on of hands availed to cause the death of the little
animal. On the completion of the ceremony the offering is
taken out and made ready for the oven.
One of the first duties of the day is the dismantling of the
old kuahu, the shrine, and the construction of another from
new materials as a residence for the goddess. While night yet
shadows the earth the attendants and friends of the pupils
[Page 33] have gone up into the mountains to collect the material for
the new shrine. The rustic artists, while engaged in this
loving work of building and weaving the new kuahu, cheer and
inspire one another with joyful songs vociferous with the
praise of Laka. The halau also they decorate afresh, strewing
the floor with clean rushes, until the whole place enthralls
the senses like a bright and fragrant temple.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38 PLATE IV
MAILE (ALYXIA MYRTILLIFOLIA) WREATH]
The kumu now grants special dispensation to the pupils to go
forth that they may make good the results of the neglect of
the person incident to long confinement in the halau. For
days, for weeks, perhaps for months, they have not had full
opportunity to trim hair, nails, or beard, to anoint and
groom themselves. They use this short absence from the hall
also to supply themselves with wreaths of fragrant maile,
crocus-yellow ilima, scarlet-flaming Jehua, fern, and what
not.
At the appointed hour the pupils, wreathed and attired like
nymphs and dryads, assemble in the halau, sweet with woodsy
perfumes. At the door they receive aspersion with consecrated
water.
The ai-lolo offering, cooked to a turn--no part raw, no part
cracked or scorched--is brought in from the _imu_, its bearer
sprinkled by the guard at the entrance. The kumu, having
inspected the roast offering and having declared it
ceremonially perfect, gives the signal, and the company break
forth in songs of joy and of adulation to goddess Laka:
_Mele Kuau_
Noho ana Laka I ka ulu wehi-wehi,
Ku ana iluna I Mo'o-helaia,[33]
Ohia-Ku[34] ouna o Mauna-loa.[35]
Aloha mai Kaulana-ula[36] ia'u.
5 Eia ka ula la, he ula leo,[37]
He uku, he modai, he kanaenae,
He alana na'u ia oe.
E Laka e, e maliu mai;
E maliu mai oe, i pono au,
10 A pono au, a pono kaua.
[Footnote 33: _Mo'o-helaia_. A female deity, a _kupua_, who at
death became one of the divinities, _au-makua_, of the hula.
Her name was conferred on the place claimed as her residence,
on Mauna-loa, island of Molokai.]
[Footnote 34: _Ohia-Ku_. Full name _ohia-ku-makua_; a variety
of the ohia, or lehua (pl. XIII), whose wood was used in
making temple gods. A rough stem of this tree stood on each
side near the _hala-pepe_. (See pl. III, also pp. 19-20.)]
[Footnote 35: _Mauna-loa_. Said to be the mountain of that
name on Molokai, not that on Hawaii.]
[Footnote 36: _Kaulana-ula_. Full form _Kaulana-a-ula_; the
name of a deity belonging to the order, _papa_, of the hula.
Its meaning is explained in the expression _ula leo_, in the
next line.]
[Footnote 37: _Ula leo_. A singing or trilling sound, a
_tinnitus aurium_, a sign that the deity Kaulanaula was
making some communication to the one who heard it.
"By the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes."]
[Page 34]
[Translation]
_Altar-Prayer_
Laka sits in her shady grove,
Stands on her terrace, at Mo'o-helaia;
Like the tree of God Ku on Mauna-loa.
Kaulana-ula trills in my ear;
5 A whispered suggestion to me,
Lo, an offering, a payment,
A eulogy give I to thee.
O Laka, incline to me!
Have compassion, let it be well--
10 Well with me, well with us both.
There is no stint of prayer-song. While the offering rests on
the Imahu, the Joyful service continues:
_Mele Kualiu_
E Laka, e!
Pupu we'uwe'u e, Laka e!
E Laka i ka leo;
E laka i ka loaa;
5 E Laka i ka waiwai;
E Laka i na mea a pau!
[Translation]
_Altar-Prayer_
O goddess Laka!
O wildwood bouquet, O Laka!
O Laka, queen of the voice!
O Laka, giver of gifts!
5 O Laka, giver of bounty!
O Laka, giver of all things!
At the conclusion of this loving service of worship and song
each member of the troupe removes from his head and neck the
wreaths that had bedecked him, and with them crowns the
image of the goddess until her altar is heaped with the
offerings.
Now comes the pith of the ceremony: the novitiates sit down
to the feast of ai-lolo, theirs the place of honor, at the
head of the table, next the kuahiu. The _ho'o-pa'a_, acting
as carver, selects the typical parts--snout, ear-tips, tail,
feet, portions of the vital organs, especially the brain
(_lolo_). This last it is which gives name to the ceremony.
He sets an equal portion before each novitiate. Each one must
eat all that is set before him. It is a mystical rite, a
sacrament; as he eats he consciously partakes of the virtue
of the goddess that is transmitted to himself.
[Page 35]
Meantime the _olohe_ and friends of the novitiates, inspired
with the proper enthusiasm, of the occasion, lift their
voices in joyful cantillations in honor of the goddess,
accompanied with the clapping of hands.
The ceremony now reaches a new stage. The kumu lifts the tabu
by uttering a prayer--always a song--and declares the place
and the feast free, and the whole assembly sit down to enjoy
the bounty that is spread up and down the halau. On this
occasion men and women may eat in common. The only articles
excluded from this feast are _luau_--a food much like
spinach, made by cooking the young and delicate taro
leaf---and the drupe of the _hala_, the pandanus (pl. xviii).
The company sit down to eat and to drink; presently they rise
to dance and sing. The kumu leads in a tabu-lifting,
freedom-giving song and the ceremony of ai-lolo is over. The
pupils have been graduated from the school of the halau; they
are now members of the great guild of hula dancers. The time
has come for them to make their bow to the waiting public
outside, to bid for the favor of the world. This is to be
their "little go;" they will spread their wings for a
greater flight on the morrow.
The kumu with his big drum, and the musicians, the ho'o-pa'a,
pass through the door and take their places outside in the
lanai, where sit the waiting multitude. At the tap of the
drum the group of waiting olapa plume themselves like fine
birds eager to show their feathers; and, as they pass out the
halau door and present themselves to the breathless audience,
into every pose and motion of their gliding, swaying figures
they pour a full tide of emotion in studied and unstudied
effort to captivate the public.
DEBUT OF A HULA DANCER
The occasion is that of a lifetime; it is their _uniki_,
their debut. The song chosen must rise to the dignity of the
occasion. Let us listen to the song that enthralls the
audience seated in the rushstrown lanai, that we may judge of
its worthiness.
_He Mele-Inoa (no Naihe)_[38]
Ka nalu nui, a ku ka nalu mai Kona,
Ka malo a ka mahiehie,[39]
Ka onaulu-loa,[40] a lele ka'u malo.
[Page 36] O kakai[41] malo hoaka,[42]
5 O ka malo kai,[43] malo o ke alii
E ku, e hume a paa i ka malo.
E ka'ika'i [44] ka la i ka papa o Halepo;[45]
A pae o Halepo i ka nalu.
Ho-e'e i ka nalu mai Kahiki;[46]
10 He nalu Wakea,[47] nalu ho'ohua.[48]
Haki opu'u [49] ka nalu, haki kua-pa.[50]
Ea mai ka makakai [51] he'e-nalu,
Kai he'e kakala [52] o ka moku,
Kai-ka o ka nalu nui,
15 Ka hu'a o ka nalu o Hiki-au.[53]
Kai he'e-nalu i ke awakea.
Ku ka puna, ke ko'a i-nka.
Ka makaha o ka nalu o Kuhihewa.[54]
Ua o ia,[55] noha ka papa!
20 Nona Maui, nauweuwe,
Nauweuwe, nakelekele.
Nakele ka ili o ka i he'e-kai.
Lalilali ole ka ili o ke akamai;
Kahilihili ke kai a ka he'e-nalu.
25 Ike'a ka nalu nui o Puna, o Hilo.
[Footnote 38: Naihe. A man of strong character, but not a
high chief. He was horn in Kona and resided at Napoopoo. His
mother was Ululani, his father Keawe-a-heulu, who was a
celebrated general and strategist under Kamehameha I.]
[Footnote 39: Mahiehie. A term conferring dignity and
distinction.]
[Footnote 40: Onaulu-loa. A roller of great length and
endurance, one that reaches the shore, in contrast to a
Kalcala.]
[Footnote 41: _Kalai._ An archaic word meaning forty.]
[Footnote 42: _Hooka._ A crescent; the name of the second day
of the month. The allusion is to the curve (downward) of a
large number (kakai) of malo when hung on a line, the usual
way of keeping such articles.]
[Footnote 43: _Malo kai._ The ocean is sometimes poetically
termed the _malo_ or _pa-a_ of the naked swimmer, or bather.
It covers his nakedness.]
[Footnote 44: _Ka'ika'i._ To lead or to carry; a tropical use
of the word. The sun is described as leading the board.]
[Footnote 45: _Hale-po._ In the opinion of the author it is
the name of the board. A skilled Hawaiian says it is the name
given the surf of a place at Napoopoo, in Kona, Hawaii. The
action is not located there, but in Puna, it seems to the
author.]
[Footnote 46: _Kahiki._ Tahiti, or any foreign country; a term
of grandiloquence.]
[Footnote 47: _Wakea._ A mythical name, coming early in
Hawaiian genealogies; here used in exaggeration to show the
age of the roller.]
[Footnote 48: _Ho'ohua._ Applied to a roller, one that rolls
on and swells higher.]
[Footnote 49: _Opu'u._ Said of a roller that completes its run
to shore.]
[Footnote 50: _Kua-pa._ Said of a roller as above that dies
at the shore.]
[Footnote 51: _Maka-kai._ The springing-up of the surf after
an interval of quiet.]
[Footnote 52: _Kakala._ Rough, heaped up, one wave overriding
another, a chop sea.]
[Footnote 53: _Hiki-au._ Said to be the name of a temple.]
[Footnote 54: _Kuhihewa._ Full name _Ka-kuhi-hewa_, a
distinguished king of Oahu.]
[Footnote 55: _O iu._ Meaning that the board dug its nose
into the reef or sand.]
[Translation]
_A Name-Song, a Eulogy_ (for Naihe)
The huge roller, roller that surges from Kona,
Makes loin-cloth fit for a lord;
Far-reaching swell, my malo streams in the wind;
Shape the crescent malo to the loins--
5 The loin-cloth the sea, cloth for king's girding.
Stand, gird fast the loin-cloth!
[Page 37] Let the sun guide the board Ilalepo,
Till Halepo lifts on the swell.
It mounts the swell that rolls from Kahiki,
10 From Wakea's age enrolling.
The roller plumes and ruffles its crest.
Here comes the champion surf-man,
While wave-ridden wave beats the island,
A fringe of mountain-high waves.
15 Spume lashes the Hiki-an altar--A
surf this to ride at noontide.
The coral, horned coral, it sweeps far ashore.
We gaze at the surf of Ka-kuhi-hewa.
The surf-board snags, is shivered;
20 Maui splits with a crash,
Trembles, dissolves into slime.
Glossy the skua of the surf-man;
Undrenched the skin of the expert;
25 Wave-feathers fan the wave-rider.
You've seen the grand surf of Puna, of Hilo.
This spirited song, while not a full description of a
surf-riding scene, gives a vivid picture of that noble sport.
The last nine verses have been omitted, as they add neither
to the action nor to the interest.
It seems surprising that the accident spoken of in line 19
should be mentioned; for it is in glaring opposition to the
canons that were usually observed in the composition of a
_mele-inoa._ In the construction of a, eulogy the Hawaiians
were not only punctiliously careful to avoid mention of
anything susceptible of sinister interpretation, but they
were superstitiously sensitive to any such unintentional
happening. As already mentioned (p. 27), they believed that
the fate compelling power of a word of ill-omen was
inevitable. If it did not result in the death of the one
eulogized, retributive justice turned the evil influence back
on him who uttered it.
[Page 38]
VI.--THE PASSWORD--THE SONG OF ADMISSION
There prevailed among the practitioners of the hula from one
end of the group to the other a mutual understanding,
amounting almost to a sort of freemasonry, which gave to any
member of the guild the right of free entrance at all times
to the hall, or halau, where a performance was under way.
Admission was conditioned, however, on the utterance of a
password at the door. A snatch of song, an oli, denominated
_mele kahea,_ or _mele wehe puka,_ was chanted, which, on
being recognized by those within, was answered in the same
language of hyperbole, and the door was opened.
The verbal accuracy of any mele kahea that may be adduced is
at the present day one of the vexed questions among hula
authorities, each hula-master being inclined to maintain that
the version given by another is incorrect. This remark
applies, though in smaller measure, to the whole body of
mele, pule, and oli that makes up the songs and liturgy of
the hula as well as to the traditions that guided the
maestro, or kumu-hula, in the training of his company. The
reasons for these differences of opinion and of test, now
that there is to be a written text, are explained by the
following facts: The devotees and practitioners of the hula
were divided into groups that were separated from one another
by wide intervals of sea and land. They belonged quite likely
to more than one cult, for indeed there were many gods and
_au-makua_ to whom they sacrificed and offered prayers. The
passwords adopted by one generation or by the group of
practitioners on one island might suffer verbal changes in
transmission to a later generation or to a remote island.
Again, it should be remembered that the entire body of
material forming the repertory of the hula--pule, mele, and
oli--was intrusted to the keeping of the memory, without the
aid of letters or, so far as known, of any mnemonic device;
and the human mind, even under the most athletic discipline,
is at best an imperfect conservator of literary form. The
result was what might be expected: as the imagination and
emotions of the minstrel warmed under the inspiration of his
trust, glosses and amendments crept in. These, however,
caused but slight variations in the text. The substance
remains substantially the same.
After carefully weighing the matter, the author can not avoid
the conclusion that jealousy had much to do with the slight
differences now manifest, that one version is as
[Page 39] authoritative as another, and that it would be well for each
kumu-hula to have kept in mind the wise adage that shines
among the sayings of his nation: _Aohe pau ka ike i kau halau
_[56]--" Think not that all of wisdom resides in your
halau."[57]
[Footnote 56: Sophocles (Antigone, 705) had said the same
thing:[Greek: me nun en ethos pounon en sauto phorei os
phes su, kouden allo, tout' orphos echein]--"Don't get this
idea fixed in your head, that what you say, and nothing else,
is right."]
[Footnote 57: _Hatoa._ As previously explained, in this
connection _halau_ has a meaning similar to our word
"school," or "academy," a place where some art was taught, as
wrestling, boxing, or the hula.]
_Mele Kahea_
Li'u-li'u aloha ia'u,
Ka uka o Kohola-lele,
Ka nahele mauka o Ka-papala [58] la.
Komo, e komo aku hoi an maloko.
5 Mai ho'ohewahewa mai oe ia'u; oau no ia,
Ke ka-nae-nae a ka mea hele,
He leo, e-e,
A he leo wale no, e-e!
Eia ka pu'u nui owaho nei la,
10 He ua, lie ino, he anu, he ko'e-ko'e.
E ku'u aloha, e,
Maloko aku au.
[Translation.]
_Password_
Long, long have I tarried with love
In the uplands of Kohola-lele,
The wildwood above Ka-papala.
To enter, permit me to enter, I pray;
5 Refuse me not recognition; I am he,
A traveler offering mead of praise,
Just a voice,
Only a human voice.
Oh, what I suffer out here,
10 Rain, storm, cold, and wet.
O sweetheart of mine,
Let me come in to you.
[Footnote 58: _Ka-popala._ A verdant region on the
southeastern flank of Mauua-Loa.]
Hear now the answer chanted by voices from within:
_Mele Komo_
Aloha na hale o makou i maka-maka ole,
Ke alanui hele mauka o Pu'u-kahea la, e-e!
Ka-he-a!
E Kahea aku ka pono e komo mai oe iloko nei.
Eia ka pu'u nui o waho nei, he anu.
[Page 40]
[Translation]
_Song of Welcome_
What love to our cottage-homes, now vacant,
As one climbs the mount of Entreaty!
We call,
We voice the welcome, invite you to enter.
The hill of Affliction out there is the cold.
Another fragment that was sometimes used as a password is the
following bit of song taken from the story of Hiiaka, sister
of Pele. She is journeying with the beautiful Hopoe to feteh
prince Lohiau to the court of Pele. They have come by a steep
and narrow path to the brink of the Wai-lua river, Kauai, at
this point spanned by a single plank. But the bridge is gone,
removed by an ill-tempered naiad (witch) said to have come
from Kahiki, whose name, Wai-lua, is the same as that of the
stream. Hiiaka calls out, demanding that the plank be
restored to its place. Wai-lua does not recognize the deity
in Hiiaka and, sullen, makes no response. At this the goddess
puts forth her strength, and Wai-lua, stripped of her power
and reduced to her true station, that of a _mo'o,_ a reptile,
seeks refuge in the caverns beneath the river. Hiiaka betters
the condition of the crossing by sowing it with stepping
stones. The stones remain in evidence to this day.
_Mele Kahea_
Kunihi ka mauna i ka la'i e,
O Wai-ale-ale[59] la i Wai-lua,
Huki a'e la i ka lani
Ka papa au-wai o ka Wai-kini;
5 Alai ia a'e la e Nou-nou,
Nalo ka Ipu-ha'a,
Ka laula mauka o Kapa'a, e!
Mai pa'a i ka leo!
He ole ka hea mai, e!
[Translation]
Password--Song
Steep stands the mountain in calm,
Profile of Wai-ale-ale at Wai-lua.
Gone the stream-spanning plank of Wai-kini,
Filched away by Nou-nou;
5 Shut off the view of the hill Ipu-ha'a,
And the upland expanse of Ka-pa'a.
Give voice and make answer.
Dead silence--no voice in reply.
In later, in historic times, this visitor, whom we have kept
long waiting at the door, might have voiced his appeal in the
passionate words of this comparatively modern song:
[Footnote 59: _Wai-ale-ale_ (Leaping-water). The central
mountain-mass of Kauai.]
[Page 41]
_Mele Kahea_[60]
Ka uka holo-kia ahi-manu o La'a,[61]
I po-ele i ka uahi, noe ka nahele,
Nohe-nohea i ka makani luhau-pua.
He pua oni ke kanaka--
5 He mea laha ole la oe.
Mai kaua e hea nei;
E hea i ke kanaka e komo maloko,
B hanai ai a hewa[62] ka wa'ha.
Eia no ka uku la, o ka wa'a.[63]
Translation]
_Password--Song_
In the uplands, the darting flame-bird of La'a,
While smoke and mist blur the woodland,
Is keen for the breath of frost-bitten flowers.
A fickle flower is man--
5 A trick this not native to you.
Come thou with her who is calling to thee;
A call to the man to come in
And eat till the mouth is awry.
Lo, this the reward--the canoe.
[Footnote 60: This utterance of passion is said to have been,
the composition of the Princess-Kamamalu, as an address to
Prince William Lunalilo, to whom she was at one time
affianced and would have married, but that King Lihohho
(Kamehameha IV) would not allow the marriage. Thereby hangs a
tragedy.]
[Footnote 61: _La'a_. The region in Hawaii now known as Ola'a
was originally called La'a. The particle _o_ has become fused
with the word.]
[Footnote 62: _Hewa ka waha_. This expression, here tortured,
into "(till) the mouth awry," is difficult of translation. A
skilled Hawaiian scholar suggests, it may mean to change one
from, an enemy to a friend by stopping his mouth with food.]
[Footnote 63: _Wa'a_. Literally a canoe. This is a euphemism
for the human body, a gift often too freely granted. It will
be noted that in the answering mele komo, the song of
admission, the reward promised is more modestly
measured--"Simply the voice."]
The answer to this appeal for admission was in these words:
_Mele Komo_
E hea i ke kanaka e komo maloko,
E hanai ai a hewa waha;
Eia no ka uku la, o ka leo,
A he leo wale no, e!
[Translation]
Welcoming-Song
Call to the man to come in,
And eat till the mouth is estopt;
And this the reward, the voice,
Simply the voice.
The cantillation of the _mele komo_: in answer to the
visitor's petition, meant not only the opening to him of the
halau door, but also his welcome to the life of the halau as
a heart-guest of honor, trebly welcome as the bringer of
fresh tidings from the outside world.
[Page 42]
VII.--WORSHIP AT THE ALTAR OF THE HALAU
The first duty of a visitor on being admitted to the halau
while the tabu was on--that is, during the conduct of a
regular hula--was to do reverence at the kuahu. The
obligations of religion took precedence of all social
etiquette. He reverently approaches the altar, to which all
eyes are turned, and with outstretched hands pours out a
supplication that breathes the aroma of ancient prayer:
_Pule Kuahu_ (no Laka)
O Laka oe,
O ke akua i ke a'a-lii[64] nui.
E Laka mai uka!
E Laka mai kai!
5 O hoo-ulu[65] o Lono,
O ka ilio nana e haehae ke aha,
O ka ie-le ku i ka wao,
O ka maile hihi i ka nahele,
O ka lau ki-ele[66] ula o ke akua,
10 O na ku'i[67] o Hauoli,
O Ha'i-ka-malama,[68]
Wahine o Kina'u.[69]
Kapo ula[70] o Kina'u.
O Laka oe,
15 O ke akua i ke kuahu nei la, e!
E ho'i, e ho'i a nolao i kou kuahu.
Hoo-ulu ia!
[Footnote 64: _A'a-lii_. A deep-rooted tree, sacred to Laka
or to Kapo.]
[Footnote 65: Hoo-ulu. Literally to make grow; secondarily,
to inspire, to prosper, to bring good luck. This is the
meaning most in mind in modern times, since the hula has
become a commercial venture.]
[Footnote 66: _Ki-ele_. A flowering plant native to the
Hawaiian woods, also cultivated, sacred to Laka, and perhaps
to Kapo. The leaves are said to be pointed and curved like
the beak of the bird _i-iwi_, and the flower has the gorgeous
yellow-red color of that bird.]
[Footnote 67: It has been proposed to amend this verse by
substituting _akua_, for _ku'i_, thus making the idea the
gods of the hula.]
[Footnote 68: _Hai-ka-malama_. An epithet applied to Laka.]
[Footnote 69: _Kina'u_. Said to mean Hiiaka, the sister of
Pele.]
[Footnote 70: _Kapo ula_. Red, _ula_, was the favorite color
of Kapo. The _kahuna anaana_, high priests of sorcery, of the
black art, and of murder, to whom Kapo was at times
procuress, made themselves known as such by the display of a
red flag and the wearing of a red malo.]
[Translation]
_Altar-Prayer_ (to Laka)
Thou art Laka,
God of the deep-rooted a'a-lii.
O Laka from the mountains,
O Laka from the ocean!
[Page 43] 5 Let Lono bless the service,
Shutting the mouth of the dog,
That breaks the charm with his barking.
Bring the i-e that grows in the wilds,
The maile that twines in the thicket,
10 Red-beaked kiele, leaf of the goddess,
The joyous pulse of the dance
In honor of Ha'i-ka-malama,
Friend of Kina'u,
Red-robed friend of Kina'u.
15 Thou art Laka,
God of this altar here.
Return, return and reside at your altar!
Bring it good luck!
A single prayer may not suffice as the offering at Laka's
altar. His repertory is full; the visitor begins anew, this
time on a different tack:
_Pule Kuahu_ (no Laka)
Eia ke kuko, ka li'a;
I ka manawa he hiamoe ko'u,
Hoala ana oe,
O oe o Halau-lani,
5 O Hoa-lani,
O Puoho-lani,
Me he manu e hea ana i ka maha lehua
Ku moho kiekie la i-uka.
I-uka ho'i au me Laka
10 A Lea,[71] a Wahie-loa,[72], i ka nahelehele;
He hoa kaana ia no'u,
No kela kuahiwi, kualono hoi.
E Laka, e Laka, e!
B maliu mai!
15 A maliu mai oe pono au,
A a'e mai oe pono au!
[Translation]
_Altar-Prayer_ (to Laka)
This my wish, my burning desire,
That in the season of slumber
Thy spirit my soul may inspire,
Altar-dweller,
5 Heaven-guest,
Soul-awakener,
Bird from covert calling,
Where forest champions stand.
There roamed I too with Laka,
[Page 44] 10 Of Lea and Loa a wilderness-child;
On ridge, in forest boon companion she
To the heart that throbbed in me.
O Laka, O Laka,
Hark to my call!
15 You approach, it is well;
You possess me, I am blest!
[Footnote 71: _Lea_. The same as Laia, or probably Haumea.]
[Footnote 72: _Wahie loa_. This must be a mistake. Laka the
son of Wahie-loa was a great voyager. His canoe
(_kau-meli-eli_) was built for him by the gods. In it he
sailed to the South to rescue his father's bones from the
witch who had murdered him. This Laka had his home at
Kipahulu, Maui, and is not to be confounded with Laka,
goddess of the hula.]
In the translation of this pule the author has found it
necessary to depart from the verse arrangement that obtains
in the Hawaiian text.
The religious services of the halau, though inspired by one
motive, were not tied to a single ritual or to one set of
prayers. Prayer marked the beginning and the ending of every
play--that is, of every dance--and of every important event
in the programme of the halau; but there were many prayers
from which the priest might select. After the prayer
specially addressed to Laka the visitor might use a petition
of more general scope. Such is 'the one now to be given:
He Pule Kuahu (ia Kane ame Kapo); _a he Pule Hoolei_
Kane, hikii a'e, he malama [73] la luna;
Ha'aha'a, he malama ia lalo;
Oni-oni,[74] he malama ia ka'u;
He wahine [75] lei, malama ia Kapo;
5 E Kapo nui, hala-hala [76] a i'a;
E Kapo nui, hala-hala [77] a mea,
Ka alihl [78] luna, ka alihi lalo;
E ka poha-ku.[79]
Noho ana Kapo i ka ulu wehi-wehi;
10 Ku ana i Moo-helaia,[80]
Ka ohi'a-Ku iluna o Mauna-loa.
Aloha mai Kaulana-a-ula [81] ia'u;
Eia ka ula la, he ula leo,[82]
He uku, he mohai, he alana,
[Page 45] 15 He kanaenae na'u ia oe, e Kapo ku-lani.
E moe hauna-ike, e hea au, e o mai oe.
Ata la na Iehua o Kaana,[83]
Ke kui ia mai la e na wahlne a lawa
I lei no Kapo--
20 O Kapo, alii nui no ia moku,
Ki'e-ki'e, ha'a-ha'a;
Ka la o ka ike e ike aku ai:
He ike kumu, he ike lono;
He ike pu-awa [84] hiwa,
25 He ike a ke Akua, e!
E Kapo, ho'i!
E ho'i a noho i kou kuahu.
Ho'ulu ia!
Eia ka wai,[85] la,
30 He wai e ola.
E ola nou, e!
[Footnote 73: _ Malama_. Accented on the penult, as here, the
word means to enlighten or a light (same in second verse). In
the third and fourth verses the accent is changed to the
first syllable, and the word here means to preserve, to
foster. These words furnish an example of poetical
word-repetition.]
[Footnote 74: _Onioni._ To squirm, to dodge, to move. The
meaning here seems to be to move with delight.]
[Footnote 75: _Waliine lei._ A reference to _Laka,_ the child
of Kapo, who was symbolized by a block of wood on the altar.
(See p. 23.)]
[Footnote 76: _Hala-hala a i'a._ Said to be a certain kind of
fish that was ornamented about its tailend with a band of
bright color; therefore an object of admiration and desire.]
[Footnote 77: _Hala-Hala a mea._ The ending _mea_ is perhaps
taken from the last half of the proper name _Hau-mea_ who was
Kapo's mother. It belongs to the land, in contrast to the
sea, and seems to be intended to intensify and extend the
meaning of the term previously used. The passage is
difficult. Expert Hawaiians profess their inability to fathom
its meaning.]
[Footnote 78: _Alihi luna._ The line or "stretching cord,"
that runs the length of a net at its top, the _a lalo_ being
the corresponding line at the bottom of the net. The exact
significance of this language complimentary to Kapo can not
be phrased compactly.]
[Footnote 79: _Poha-ku._ The line that runs up and down at the
end of a long net, by which it may be anchored.]
[Footnote 80: _Moo-helaia._ See note a, p. 33.]
[Footnote 81: _Kaulana-a-ula._ See note d, p, 33.]
[Footnote 82: _Ula leo._ See note e, p. 33.]
[Footnote 83: _Kaana._ A place on Mauna-loa, Molokai, where
the lehua greatly flourished. The body of Kapo, it is said,
now lies there in appearance a rock. The same claim is made
for a rock at Wailua, Hana, Maui.]
[Footnote 84: _Pu-awa hiwa (hiwa,_ black). A kind of strong
awa. The gentle exhilaration, as well as the deep sleep, of
awa were benefits ascribed to the gods. Awa was an essential
to most complete sacrifices.]
[Footnote 85: _Wai._ Literally water, refers to the bowl of
awa, replenished each day, which set on the altar of the
goddess.]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE V
TI (DRACAENA TERMINALIS)]
Verses 9 to 15, inclusive, are almost identical in form with
the first seven verses in the Mele Kuahu addressed to Laka,
given on page 33.
[Translation]
An _Altar-Prayer_ (to Kane and Kapo): _also a Garland-Prayer,
used while decorating the altar_
Now, Kane, approach, illumine the altar;
Stoop, and enlighten mortals below;
Rejoice in the gifts I have brought.
Wreathed goddess fostered by Kapo--
5 Hail Kapo, of beauty resplendent!
Great Kapo, of sea and land,
The topmost stay of the net,
Its lower stay and anchoring line.
Kapo sits in her darksome covert;
10 On the terrace, at Mo'o-he-laia,
Stands the god-tree of Ku, on Mauna-loa.
God Kaulana-ula twigs now mine ear,
His whispered suggestion to me is
This payment, sacrifice, offering,
15 Tribute of praise to thee, O Kapo divine.
Inspiring spirit in sleep, answer my call.
Behold, of Iehua bloom of Kaana
The women are stringing enough
To enwreath goddess Kapo;
20 Kapo, great queen of that island,
Of the high and the low.
The day of revealing shall see what it sees:
[Page 46] A seeing of facts, a sifting of rumors,
An insight won by the black sacred awa,
25 A vision like that of a god!
O Kapo, return!
Return, and abide in your altar!
Make it fruitful!
Lo, here is the water,
30 The water of life!
Hail, now, to thee!
The little god-folk, whom the ancients called Kini
Akua--myriads of gods--and who made the wildwoods and
wilderness their playground, must also be placated. They were
a lawless set of imps; the elfins, brownies, and kobolds of
our fairy world were not "up to them" in wanton deviltry. If
there is to be any luck in the house, it can only be when
they are dissuaded from outbreaking mischief.
The pule next given is a polite invitation to these little
brown men of the woods to honor the occasion with their
presence and to bring good luck at their coming. It is such a
prayer as the visitor might choose to repeat at this time, or
it might be used on other occasions, as at the consecration
of the kuahu:
_He Pule Kuahu_ (no Kini Akua)
E ulu, e ulu, Kini o ke Akua!
Ulu Kane me Kanaloa!
Ulu Ohi'a-lau-koa, me ka Ie-ie!
A'e mai a noho i kou kuahu!
5 Eia ka wai la, he wai e ola.
E ola no, e-e!
[Translation]
_An Altar-Prayer_ (to the Kini Akua)
Gather, oh gather, ye hosts of godlings!
Come Kane with Kanaloa!
Come leafy Ohi'a and I-e!
Possess me and dwell in your altar!
5 Here's water, water of life!
Life, give us life!
The visitor, having satisfied his sense of what the occasion
demands, changes his tone from that of cantillation to
ordinary speech, and concludes his worship with a petition
conceived in the spirit of the following prayer:
E ola ia'u, i ka malihini; a pela hoi na kamaaina, ke kumu,
na haumana, ia oe, e Laka. E Laka ia Pohaku i ka wawae. E
Laka i ke kupe'e. E Laka ia Luukia i ka pa-u; e Laka i ke
kuhi; e Laka i ka leo; e Laka i ka lei. E Laka i ke ku ana
imua o ke anaina.
[Page 47]
[Translation]
Thy blessing, O Laka, on me the stranger, and on the
residents, teacher and pupils. O Laka, give grace to the feet
of Pohaku; and to her bracelets and anklets; comeliness to
the figure and skirt of Luukia. To (each one) give gesture
and voice. O Laka, make beautiful the lei; inspire the
dancers when they stand before the assembly.
At the close of this service of song and prayer the visitor
will turn from the kuahu and exchange salutations and
greetings with his friends in the halau.
The song-prayer "Now, Kane, approach, illumine the altar" (p.
45) calls for remark. It brings up again the question,
previously discussed, whether there were not two distinct
cults of worshipers, the one devoted to Laka, the other to
Kapo. The following facts will throw light on the question.
On either side of the approach to the altar stood,
sentinel-like, a tall stem of hala-pepe, a graceful, slender
column, its head of green sword-leaves and scarlet drupes
making a beautiful picture. (See p. 24.) These are said to
have been the special emblems of the goddess Kapo.
The following account of a conversation the author had with
an old woman, whose youthful days were spent as a hula
dancer, will also help to disentangle the subject and explain
the relation of Kapo to the hula:
"Will you not recite again the prayer you just now uttered,
and slowly, that it may be written down?" the author asked of
her. "Many prayers for the kuahu have been collected, but
this one differs from them all."
"We Hawaiians," she answered, "have been taught that these
matters are sacred (_kapu_) and must not be bandied about
from mouth to mouth."
"Aye, but the time of the tabus has passed. Then, too, in a
sense having been initiated into hula matters, there can be
no impropriety in my dealing with them in a kindly spirit."
"No harm, of course, will come to you, a _haole_ (foreigner).
The question is how it will affect us."
"Tell me, were there two different classes of worshipers, one
class devoted to the worship of Laka and another class
devoted to the worship of Kapo?"
"No," she answered, "Kapo and Laka were one in spirit, though
their names were two."
"Haumea was the mother of Kapo. Who was her father?"
"Yes, Haumea was the mother, and Kua-ha-ilo [86] was the
father:"
"How about Laka?"
[Footnote 86: _Kua-ha-ilo._ A god of the _kahuna anaana;_
meaning literally to breed maggots in the back.]
[Page 48]
"Laka was the daughter of Kapo. Yet as a patron, of the hula
Laka stands first; she was worshiped at an earlier date than
Kapo; but they are really one."
Further questioning brought out the explanation that Laka was
not begotten in ordinary generation; she was a sort of
emanation from Kapo. It was as if the goddess should sneeze
and a deity should issue with the breath from her nostrils;
or should wink, and thereby beget spiritual offspring from
the eye, or as if a spirit should issue forth at some
movement of the ear or mouth.
When the old woman's; scruples had been laid to rest, she
repeated slowly for the author's benefit the pule given on
pages 45 and 46, "Now, Kane, approach," ... of which the
first eight lines and much of the last part, to him, were
new.
[Page 49]
VIII.--COSTUME OF THE HULA DANCER
The costume of the hula dancer was much the same for both
sexes, its chief article a simple short skirt about the
waist, the pa-u. (PL I.)
When the time has come for a dance, the halau becomes one
common dressing room. At a signal from the kumu the work
begins. The putting on of each article of costume is
accompanied by a special song.
First come the _ku-pe'e_, anklets of whale teeth, bone,
shell-work, dog-teeth, fiber-stuffs, and what not. While all
stoop in unison they chant the song of the anklet:
_Mele Ku-pe'e_
Aala kupukupu[87] ka uka o Kane-hoa.[88]
E ho-a![89]
Hoa na lima o ka makani, he Wai-kaloa.[90]
He Wai-kaloa ka makani anu Lihue.
5 Alina[91] lehua i kau ka opua--
Ku'u pua,
Ku'u pua i'ini e ku-i a lei.
Ina ia oe ke lei 'a mai la.
[Translation]
_Anklet-Song_
Fragrant the grasses of high. Kane-hoa.
Bind on the anklets, bind!
Bind with finger deft as the wind
That cools the air of this bower.
5 Lehua bloom pales at my flower,
O sweetheart of mine,
Bud that I'd pluck and wear in my wreath,
If thou wert but a flower!
[Footnote 87: _Kupukupu_. Said to be a fragrant grass.]
[Footnote 88: _Kane-hoa_. Said to be a hill at Kaupo, Maul.
Another person says it is a hill at Lihue, on Oahu. The same
name is often repeated.]
[Footnote 89: _Ho-a_. To bind. An instance of word-repetition,
common in Hawaiian poetry.]
[Footnote 90: _Wai-kaloa_. A cool wind that Wows at Lihue,
Kauai]
[Footnote 91: _Alina_. A scar, or other mark of disfigurement,
a moral blemish. In ancient times lovers inflicted injuries
on themselves to prove devotion.]
The short skirt, _pa-u_, was the most important piece of
attire worn by the Hawaiian female. As an article of daily
wear it represented many stages of evolution beyond the
primitive fig-leaf, being fabricated from a great variety of
[Page 50] materials furnished by the garden of nature. In its simplest
terms the pa-u was a mere fringe of vegetable fibers. When
placed as the shield of modesty about the loins of a woman of
rank, or when used as the full-dress costume of a dancing
girl on a ceremonious occasion, it took on more elaborate
forms, and was frequently of _tapa_, a fabric the finest
specimens of which would not have shamed the wardrobe of an
empress.
In the costuming of the hula girl the same variety obtained
as in the dress of a woman of rank. Sometimes her pa-u would
be only a close-set fringe of ribbons stripped from the bark
of the hibiscus (_hau_), the _ti_ leaf or banana fiber, or a
fine rush, strung upon a thong to encircle the waist. In its
most elaborate and formal style the pa-u consisted of a strip
of fine tapa several yards long and of width to reach nearly
to the knees. It was often delicately tinted or printed, as
to its outer part, with stamped figures. The part of the tapa
skirt thus printed, like the outer, decorative one in a set
of tapa bed-sheets, was termed the _kilohana_.
The pa-u worn by the danseuse, when of tapa, was often of
such volume as to balloon like the skirt of a coryphee. To
put it on was quite an art, and on that account, if not on
the score of modesty, a portion of the halau, was screened
off and devoted to the use of the females as a dressing room,
being known as the _unu-lau-koa_, and to this place they
repaired as soon as the kumu gave the signal for dressing.
The hula pa-u of the women was worn in addition to that of
daily life; the hula pa-u of the men, a less pretentious
affair, was worn outside the malo, and in addition to it.
The method of girding on the pa-u was peculiar. Beginning at
the right hip--some say the left--a free end was allowed to
hang quite to the knee; then, passing across the back,
rounding the left hip, and returning by way of the abdomen to
the starting point, another circuit of the waist was
accomplished; and, a reverse being made, the garment was
secured by passing the bight of the tapa beneath the hanging
folds of the pa-u from below upward until it slightly
protruded above the border of the garment at the waist. This
second end was thus brought to hang down the hip alongside of
the first free end; an arrangement that produced a most
decorative effect.
The Hawaiians, in their fondness for giving personal names to
inanimate objects, named the two free ends (_apua_) of the
pa-u respectively _Ku-kapu-ula-ka-lani_ and _Lele-a-mahu'i_.
According to another method, which was simpler and more
commonly employed, the piece was folded sidewise and, being
gathered into pleats, a cord was inserted the length of the
fold. The cord was passed about the waist, knotted at the
hip, and thus held the garment secure.
[Page 51]
While the girls are making their simple toilet and donning
their unique, but scanty, costume, the kumu, aided by others,
soothes the impatience of the audience and stimulates their
imagination by cantillating a mele that sets forth in
grandiloquent imagery the praise of the pa-u.
_Oli Pa-u_
Kakua pa-u, ahu na kikepa![92]
I ka pa-u noenoe i hooluu'a,
I hookakua ia a paa iluna o ka imu.[93]
Ku ka nu'a[94] o ka pali o ka wai kapu,
5 He kuina[95] pa-u pali[96] no Kupe-hau,
I holo a paa ia, paa e Hono-kane.[97]
Malama o lilo i ka pa-u.
Holo ilio la ke ala ka Manu[98] i na pali;
Pali ku kahako liaka a-i,
10 I ke keiki pa-u pali a Kau-kini,[99]
I hoonu'anu'a iluna o ka Auwana.[100]
[Page 52] Akahi ke ana, ka luhi i ka pa-u:
Ka ho-oio i ke kapa-wai,
I na kikepa wai o Apua,[101]
15 I hopu 'a i ka ua noe holo poo-poo,
Me he pa-u elehiwa wale i na pali.
Ohiohi ka pali, ki ka liko o ka lama,
Mama ula[102] ia ka malua ula,
I hopu a omau ia e ka maino.
20 I[103] ka malo o Umi ku huna mai.
Ike'a ai na maawe wai olona,[104]
E makili ia nei i Wahilau.[105]
Holo ke olona, paa ke kapa.
Hu'a lepo ole ka pa-u;
25 Nani ka o-iwi ma ka maka kilo-hana.[106]
Makalii ka ohe,[107] paa ke kapa.
Opua ke ahi i na pali,
I hookau kalena ia e ka makani,
I kaomi pohaku ia i Wai-manu,
30 I na ala[108] ki-ola-ola;
I na ala, i ala lele
Ia Kane-poha-ka'a.[109]
Paa ia Wai-manu,[110] o-oki Wai-pi'o;
Lalau o Ha'i i ka ohe,
Ia Koa'e-kea,[111] 35
I kauhihi ia ia ohe laulii, ia ohe.
Oki'a a moku, mo' ke kini,[112]
[Page 53] Mo ke kihl, ka maiama ka Hoaka,[113]
I apahu ia a poe,
40 O awili[114] o Malu-o.
He pola ia no ka pa-u;
E hii ana e Ka-holo-kua-iwa,
Ke amo la e Pa-wili-wlli
I ka pa-u poo kau-poku--[115]
45 Kau poku a hana ke ao,
Kau iluna o Hala'a-wili,
I owili hana haawe.
Ku-ka'a, olo-ka'a wahie;
Ka'a ka opeope, ula ka pali;[116]
50 Uwa, kamalii, hookani ka pihe,
Hookani ka a'o,[117] a hana pilo ka leo,
I ka mahalo i ka pa-u,
I ka pa-u wai-lehua a Hi'i-lawe[118] iluna,
Pi'o anuenue a ka ua e ua nei.
[Footnote 92: _Kikepa_. The bias, the one-sided slant given
the pa-u by tucking it in at one side, as previously
described.]
[Footnote 93: _Imu_. An oven; an allusion to the heat and
passion of the part covered by the pa-u.]
[Footnote 94: _Hu'a_. Foam; figurative of the fringe at the
border of the pa-u.]
[Footnote 95: _Kuina_. A term applied to the five sheets that
were stitched together (_kui_) to make a set of bed-clothes.
Five turns also, it is said, complete a pa-u.]
[Footnote 96: _Pali no Kupe-Hau_. Throughout the poem the pa-u
is compared to a _pali_, a mountain wall. Kupe-hau is a
precipitous part of Wai-pi'o valley.]
[Footnote 97: _Hono-kane_. A valley near Wai-pi'o. Here it is
personified and said to do the work on the pa-u.]
[Footnote 98: _Manu_. A proper name given to this pa-u.]
[Footnote 99: _Kau-kini_. The name of a hill back of
Lahaina-luna, the traditional residence of a _kahuna_ named
_Lua-hoo-moe_, whose two sons were celebrated for their manly
beauty. Ole-pau, the king of the island Maui, ordered his
retainer, Lua-hoo-moe, to fetch for his eating some young
_u-a'u_, a sea-bird that nests and rears its young in the
mountains. These young birds are esteemed a delicacy. The
kahuna, who was a bird-hunter, truthfully told the king that
it was not the season for the young birds; the parent birds
were haunting the ocean. At this some of the king's boon
companions, moved by ill-will, charged the king's mountain
retainer with suppressing the truth, and in proof they
brought some tough old birds caught at sea and had them
served for the king's table. Thereupon the king, not
discovering the fraud, ordered that Lua-hoo-moe should be put
to death by fire. The following verses were communicated to
the author as apropos of Kau-kini, evidently the name of a
man:
Ike ia Kau-kini, he lawaia manu.
He upena ku'u i ka noe i Poha-kahi,
Ua hoopulu ia i ka ohu ka kikepa;
Ke na'i la i ka luna a Kea-auwana;
Ka uahi i ke ka-peku e hei ai ka manu o Pu-o-alii.
O ke alii wale no ka'u i makemake
Ali'a la, ha'o, e!
[Translation]
Behold Kau-kini, a fisher of birds;
Net spread in the mist of Poha-kahi,
That is soaked by the sidling fog.
It strives on the crest of Koa-auwana.
Smoke traps the birds of Pu-o-alii.
It's only the king that I wish:
But stay now--I doubt.
]
[Footnote 100: _Auwana_. Said to be an eminence on the flank of
Haleakala, back of Ulupalakua.]
[Footnote 101: _Apua_. A place on Hawaii, on Maui, on Oahu, on
Kauai, and on Molokai.]
[Footnote 102: _Mama ula ia ka malua ula_. The malua-ula was a
variety of tapa that was stained with _hili kukui_ (the
root-bark of the kukui tree). The ripe kukui nut was chewed
into a paste and mingled with this stain. _Mama ula_ refers
to this chewing. The _malua ula_ is mentioned as a foil to
the pa-u, being a cheap tapa.]
[Footnote 103: _I_. A contracted form of _ti_ or _ki_, the
plant or, as in this case, the leaf of the _ti_, the Dracaena
(pl. V). Liloa, the father Of Umi, used it to cover himself
after his amour with the mother of Umi, having given his malo
in pledge to the woman. Umi may have used this same leaf as a
substitute for the malo while in the wilderness of
Laupahoehoe, hiding away from his brother, King Hakau.]
[Footnote 104: _Olona_. A strong vegetable fiber sometimes
added to tapa to give it strength. The fibers of olona in
the fabric of the pa-u are compared to the runnels and
brooklets of _Waihilau_.]
[Footnote 105: _Wai-hilau_. Name applied to the water that
drips in a cave in Puna. It is also the name of a stream in
Wai-pi'o valley, Hawaii.]
[Footnote 106: _Kilo-hana_. The name given the outside,
ornamented, sheet of a set (_kuina_) of five tapas used as
bed-clothing. It was also applied to that part of a pa-u
which was decorated with figures. The word comes from
_kilohi_, to examine critically, and _hana_, to work, and
therefore means an ornamental work.]
[Footnote 107: _Ohe_. Bamboo. In this case the stamp, made from
bamboo, used to print the tapa.]
[Footnote 108: _Ala_. The hard, dark basalt of which the
Hawaiian _ko'i_, adz, is made; any pebble, or small
water-worn stone, such as would be used to hold in place the
pa-u while spread out to dry.]
[Footnote 109: _Kane-poha-ka'a_. Kane-the-hail-sender. The
great god Kane was also conceived of as Kane-hekili, the
thunderer; Kane-lulu-honua, the earthquake-sender, etc.]
[Footnote 110: _Wai-manu_ and _Wai-pi'o_ are neighboring
valleys.]
[Footnote 111: _Ko-a'e-kea_. A land in Wai-pi'o valley.]
[Footnote 112: _Mo' ke kihi_. Mo' is a contracted form of
_moku_.]
[Footnote 113: _Hoaka._ The name of the moon in its second day,
or of the second day of the Hawaiian month; a crescent.]
[Footnote 114: _O awili o Malu-a._ The most direct and evident
sense of the word _awili_ is to wrap. It probably means the
wrapping of the pa-u about the loins; or it may mean the
movable, shifty action of the pa-u caused by the lively
actions of the dancer. The expression _Malw-a_ may be taken
from the utterance of the king's _ilamuku_ (constable or
sheriff) or other official, who, in proclaiming a tabu, held
an idol in his arms and at the same time called out _Kapu,
o-o!_ The meaning is that the pa-u, when wrapped about the
woman's loins, laid a tabu on the woman. The old Hawaiian
consulted on the meaning of this passage quoted the
following, which illustrates the fondness of his people for
endless repetitions and play upon words:
Awiliwili i ka hale[119] o ka lauwili, e.
He lauwili ka makanl, he Kaua-ula,[120]
I hoapaapa i ka hale o ka lauwili, e:
[Translation]
Unstable the house of the shifty man,
Fickle as the wind Kaua-ula.
Treachery lurks in the house of Unstable.
]
[Footnote 115: _Kaupoku._ A variant of the usual form, which is
_kaupaku,_ the ridgepole of a house, its apex. The pa-ti
when, worn takes the shape of a grass house, which has the
form of a haystack.]
[Footnote 116: _Ula ka pali._ Red shows the pali, i. e., the
side hill. This is a euphemism for some accident by which the
pa-u has been displaced, and an exposure of the person has
taken place, as a result of which the boys scream and even
the sea-bird, the _a'o,_ shrieks itself hoarse.]
[Footnote 117: _A'o._ A sea-bird, whose raucous voice is heard
in the air at night at certain seasons.]
[Footnote 118: _Hi'i-lawe_. A celebrated waterfall in Wai-pi'o
valley, Hawaii.]
[Footnote 119: Primitive meaning, house; second, the body as
the house of the soul.]
[Footnote 120: Kaua-ula. A strong wind that shifted from one
point to another, and that blew, often with great violence,
at Lahaina, Maul. The above triplet was often quoted by the
chiefs of olden time apropos of a person who was fickle in
love or residence. As the old book has it, "The double-minded
man is unstable in all his ways." (_O ke kanaka lolilua ka
manao lauwili kona mau aoao a pau._)]
This is a typical Hawaiian poem of the better sort, keyed in
a highly imaginative strain. The multitude of specific
allusions to topographical names make it difficult to
[Page 54] translate it intelligently to a foreign mind. The poetical
units are often so devised that each new division takes its
clue from the last word of the previous verse, on the
principle of "follow your leader," a capital feature in
Hawaiian poetry.
[Translation]
Pa-u Song
Gird on the pa-u, garment tucked in one side,
Skirt lacelike and beauteous in staining,
That is wrapped and made fast about the oven.
Bubbly as foam of falling water it stands,
5 Quintuple skirt, sheer as the cliff Kupe-hau.
One journeyed to work on it at Honokane.
Have a care the pa-u is not filched.
Scent from the robe Manu climbs the valley walls--
Abysses profound, heights twisting the neck.
10 A child is this steep thing of the cliff Kau-kini,
A swelling cloud on the peak of Auwana.
Wondrous the care and toil to make the pa-u!
What haste to finish, when put a-soak
In the side-glancing stream of Apua!
15 Caught by the rain-scud that searches the glen,
The tinted gown illumines the pali--
The sheeny steep shot with buds of lama--
Outshining the comely malua-ula.
Which one may seize and gird with a strong hand.
20 Leaf of ti for his malo, Umi[121] stood covered.
Look at the olona fibers inwrought,
Like the trickling brooklets of Wai-hilau.
The olona, fibers knit with strength
This dainty immaculate web, the pa-u,
25 And the filmy weft of the kilo-hana.
With the small bamboo the tapa is finished.
A fire seems to bud on the pali,
When the tapa is spread out to dry,
Pressed down with stones at Wai-manu--
30 Stones that are shifted about and about,
Stones that are tossed here and there,
Like work of the hail-thrower Kane.
At Wai-manu finished, 'tis cut at Wai-pi'o;
Ha'l takes the bamboo Ko-a'e-kea;
[Page 55] 35 Deftly wields the knife of small-leafed bamboo;
A bamboo choice and fit for the work.
Cut, cut through, cut off the corners;
Cut round, like crescent moon of Hoaka;
Cut in scallops this shift that makes tabu:
40 A fringe is this for the pa-u.
'Tis lifted by Ka-holo-ku-iwa,
'Tis borne by Pa-wili-wili;
A pa-u narrow at top like a house,
That's hung on the roof-tree till morning,
45 Hung on the roof-tree Ha-la'a-wili.
Make a bundle fitting the shoulder;
Lash it fast, rolled tight like a log.
The bundle falls, red shows the pali;
The children shout, they scream in derision.
50 The a'o bird shrieks itself hoarse
In wonder at the pa-u--
Pa-u with a sheen like Hi'i-lawe falls,
Bowed like the rainbow arch
Of the rain that's now falling.
[Footnote 121: _Umi_. It was Liloa, the father of Umi, who
covered himself with a ti leaf instead of a malo after the
amour that resulted in the birth of Umi. His malo he had
given as a pledge to the woman, who became the mother of
Umi.]
The girls of the olapa, their work in the tiring-room
completed, lift their voices in a spirited song, and with a
lively motion pass out into the hall to bloom before the
waiting assembly in the halau in all the glory of their
natural charms and adornments:
_Oli_
Ku ka punohu ula i ka moana;
Hele ke ehu-kai, uhi i ka aina;
Olapa ka uila, noho i Kahiki.
Ulna, nakolo,
5 Uwa, ka pihe,
Lau[122] kanaka ka hula.
E Laka, e!
[Translation]
_Tiring Song_.
The rainbow stands red o'er the ocean;
Mist crawls from the sea and covers the land;
Far as Kahiki flashes the lightning;
A reverberant roar,
5 A shout of applause
From the four hundred.
I appeal to thee, Laka!
[Footnote 122: _Lau_ (archaic). Four hundred.]
[Page 56]
The answering song, led by the kumu, is in the same
flamboyant strain:
_Oli_
Lele Mahu'ilani[123] a luna,
Lewa ia Kauna-lewa![124]
[Translation]
_Song_
Lift Mahu'ilani on high;
Thy palms Kauna-lewa a-waving!
[Footnote 123: _Mahu'ilani_. A poetlcal name for the right
hand; this the _olapa_, the dancing girls, lifted in
extension as they entered the halau from, the dressing room.
The left hand was termed _Kaohi-lani_.]
[Footnote 124: _Kauna-lewa_. The name of a celebrated grove of
coconuts at Kekaha, Kauai, near the residence of the late Mr.
Knudsen.]
After the ceremony of the pa-u came that of the lei, a wreath
to crown the head and another for the neck and shoulders. It
was not the custom in the old times to overwhelm the body
with floral decorations and to blur the outlines of the
figure to the point of disfigurement; nor was every flower
that blows acceptable as an offering. The gods were jealous
and nice in their tastes, pleased, only with flowers
indigenous to the soil--the ilima (pl. VI), the lehua, the
maile, the ie-ie, and the like (see pp. 19, 20). The ceremony
was quickly accomplished. As the company knotted the garlands
about head or neck, they sang:
_Oli Lei_
Ke lei mai la o Ka-ula i ke kai, e!
Ke malamalama o Niihau, ua malie.
A malie, pa ka Inu-wai.
Ke inu mai la na hala o Naue i ke kai.
5 No Naue, ka hala, no Puna ka wahine.[125]
No ka lua no i Kilauea.
[Translation]
_Wreath Song_
Ka-ula wears the ocean as a wreath;
Nii-hau shines forth in the calm.
After the calm blows the wind Inu-wai;
Naue's palms then drink in the salt.
5 From Naue the palm, from Puna the woman--
Aye, from the pit, Kilauea.
Tradition tells a pathetic story (p. 212) in narrating an
incident touching the occasion on which this song first was
sung.
[Footnote 125: _Wahine_. The woman, Pele.]
BULLETIN 38 PLATE VI
[Illustration: ILIMA (SIDA FALLAX) LEI AND FLOWERS]
[Page 57]
IX.--THE HULA ALA'A-PAPA
Every formal hula was regarded by the people of the olden
time as a sacred and religious performance (_tabu_); but all
hulas were not held to be of equal dignity and rank
(_hanohano_). Among those deemed to be of the noblest rank
and honor was the _ala'a-papa_. In its best days this was a
stately and dignified performance, comparable to the
old-fashioned courtly minuet.
We shall observe in this hula the division of the performers
into two sets, the _hoopa'a_ and the _olapa_. Attention will
naturally bestow itself first on the olapa, a division of the
company made up of splendid youthful figures, young men,
girls, and women in the prime of life. They stand a little
apart and in advance of the others, the right hand extended,
the left resting upon the hip, from which hangs in swelling
folds the pa-u. The time of their waiting for the signal to
begin the dance gives the eye opportunity to make deliberate
survey of the forms that stand before us.
The figures of the men are more finely proportioned, more
statuesque, more worthy of preservation in marble or bronze
than those of the women. Only at rare intervals does one find
among this branch of the Polynesian race a female shape which
from crown to sole will satisfy the canons of
proportion--which one carries in the eye. That is not to say,
however, that the artistic eye will not often meet a shape
that appeals to the sense of grace and beauty. The springtime
of Hawaiian womanly beauty hastes away too soon. Would it
were possible to stay that fleeting period which ushers in
full womanhood!
One finds himself asking the question to what extent the
responsibility for this overthickness of leg and
ankle--exaggerated in appearance, no doubt, by the ruffled
anklets often worn--this pronounced tendency to the growth of
that degenerate weed, fat, is to be explained by the standard
of beauty which held sway in Hawaii's courts and for many
ages acted as a principle of selection in the physical
molding of the Hawaiian female.
The prevailing type of physique among the Hawaiians, even
more marked in the women than in the men, is the short and
thick, as opposed to the graceful and slender. One does
occasionally find delicacy of modeling in the young and
immature; but with adolescence fatness too often comes to
blur the outline.
The hoopa'a, who act as instrumentalists, very naturally
maintain a position between sitting and kneeling, the better
[Page 58] to enable them, to handle that strangely effective drumlike
instrument, the _ipu_, the one musical instrument used as an
accompaniment in this hula. The ipu is made from the bodies
of two larger pear-shaped calabashes of unequal sizes, which
are joined together at their smaller ends in such a manner as
to resemble a figure-of-eight. An opening is left at the top
of the smaller calabash to increase the resonance. In moments
of calm the musicians allow the body to rest upon the heels;
as the action warms they lift themselves to such height as
the bended knee will permit.
The ala'a-papa is a hula of comparatively moderate action.
While the olapa employ hands, feet, and body in gesture and
pose to illustrate the meaning and emotion of the song, the
musicians mark the time by lifting and patting with the right
hand the ipu each holds in the left hand. If the action of
the play runs strong and stirs the emotions, each hoopa'a
lifts his ipu wildly, fiercely smites it, then drops it on
the padded rest in such manner as to bring out its deep
mysterious tone.
At a signal from the kumu, who sits with the hoopa'a, the
_poo-pua'a_, leader of the olapa, calls the mele (_kahea i ka
mele_)--that is, he begins its recitation--in a tone
differing but little from that of ordinary conversation, a
sing-song recitation, a vocalization less stilted and less
punctilious than that usually employed in the utterance of
the oli or mele. The kumu, the leader of the company, now
joins in, mouthing his words in full observance of the mele
style. His manner of cantillation may be either what may be
called the low relief, termed _ko'i-honua_, or a pompous
alto-relievo style, termed _ai-ha'a_. This is the signal for
the whole company to chime in, in the same style as the kumu.
The result, as it seems to the untutored ear, is a confusion
of sounds like that of the many-tongued roar of the ocean.
The songs cantillated for the hula ala'a-papa were many and
of great variety. It seems to have been the practice for the
kumu to arrange a number of mele, or poetical pieces, for
presentation in the hula in such order as pleased him. These
different mele, thus arranged, were called _pale_,
compartments, or _mahele_, divisions, as if they were
integral parts of one whole, while in reality their relation
to one another was only that of the juxtaposition imposed
upon them by the kumu.
The poetical pieces first to be presented were communicated
to the author as mahele, divisions--hardly cantos--in the
sense above defined. They are, however, distinct poems,
though there chances to run through them all a somewhat
similar motive. The origin of many of these is referred to a
past so remote that tradition assigns them to what the
Hawaiians call the _wa po_, the night of tradition, or they
say of them, _no ke akua mai_, they are from the gods. It
[Page 59] matters not how faithful has been the effort to translate
these poems, they will not be found easy of comprehension.
The local allusions, the point of view, the atmosphere that
were in the mind of the savage are not in our minds to-day,
and will not again be in any mind on earth; they defy our
best efforts at reproduction. To conjure up the ghostly
semblance of these dead impalpable things and make them live
again is a problem that must be solved by each one with such
aid from the divining rod of the imagination as the reader
can summon to his help.
Now for the play, the song:
_Mele no Ka Hula Ala'a-papa_
MAHELE-HELE I
PAUKU 1
A Koolau wau, ike i ka ua,
E ko-kolo la-lepo ana ka ua,
E ka'i ku ana, ka'i mai ana ka ua,
E nu mai ana ka ua i ke kuahiwi,
5 E po'i ana ka ua me he nalu la.
E puka, a puka mai ka ua la.
Waliwali ke one i ka hehi'a e ka ua;
Ua holo-wai na kaha-wai;
Ua ko-ke wale na pali.
10 Aia ka wai la i ka ilina,[126] he ilio,
He ilio hae, ke nahu nei e puka.
[Translation]
_Song for the Hula Ala'a-papa._
CANTO I
STANZA 1
'Twas in Koolau I met with the rain:
It comes with lifting and tossing of dust,
Advancing in columns, dashing along.
The rain, It sighs In the forest;
5 The rain, it beats and whelms, like the surf;
It smites, it smites now the land.
Pasty the earth from the stamping rain;
Full run the streams, a rushing flood;
The mountain walls leap with the rain.
10 See the water chafing its bounds like a dog,
A raging dog, gnawing its way to pass out.
This song is from the story of Hiiaka on her journey to Kauai
to bring the handsome prince, Lohiau, to Pele. The region is
that on the windward, _Koolau_, side of Oahu.
[Footnote 126: _Ilina_. A sink, a place where a stream sinks
into the earth or sand.]
[Page 60]
PAUKU 2
Hoopono oe, he aina kai Waialua i ka hau;
Ke olelo[127] wale no la i ka lani.
Lohe ka uka o ka pehu i Ku-kani-loko.[128]
I-loko, i-waho kaua la, e ka hoa,
5 I kahi e pau ai o ka oni?
Oni ana i ka manawa o ka lili.
Pee oe, pee ana iloko o ka hilahila.
I hilahila wale ia no e oe;
Nou no ka hale,[129] komo mai maloko.
The lines from, the fourth to the ninth in this stanza
(_pauku_) represent a dialogue between two lovers.
[Translation]
STANZA 2
Look now, Waialua, land clothed with ocean-mist--
Its wilderness-cries heaven's ear only hears,
The wilderness-gods of Ku-kani-loko.
Within or without shall we stay, friend,
5 Until we have stilled the motion?
To toss is a sign of impatience.
You hide, hiding as if from shame,
I am bashful because of your presence;
The house is yours, you've only to enter.
PAUKU 3
(Ko'i-honua)
Paku Kea-au,[130] lulu Wai-akea;[131]
Noho i ka la'i Ioa o Hana-kahi,[132]
O Hilo, i olokea[133] ia, i au la, e, i kai,
O Lele-iwi,[134] o Maka-hana-loa.[135]
5 Me he kaele-papa[136] la Hilo, i lalo ka noho.
Kaele[137] wale Hilo i ke alai ia e ka ua.
Oi ka niho o ka ua o Hilo i ka lani;
Kua-wa'a-wa'a Hilo eli 'a e ka wai;
Kai-koo, haki na nalu, ka ua o Hilo;
[Page 61] 10 Ha'i lau-wili mai ka nahele.
Nanalu, kahe waikahe o Wai-luku;
Hohonu Waiau,[138] nalo ke poo o ka lae o Moku-pane;[139]
Wai ulaula o Wai-anue-nue;[140]
Ka-wowo nui i ka wai o Kolo-pule-pule;[141]
15 Halulu i ha-ku'i, ku me he uahi la
Ka pua, o ka wai ua o-aka i ka lani.
Eleele Hilo e, pano e, i ka ua;
Okakala ka hulu o Hilo i ke anu;
Pili-kau[142] mai Hilo ia ua loa.
20 Pali-ku laau ka uka o Haili[143]
Ka lae ohi'a e kope-kope,
Me he aha moa la, ka pale pa laau,
Ka nahele o Pa-ie-ie,[144]
Ku'u po'e lehua iwaena konu o Mo-kau-lele;[145]
25 Me ka ha'i laau i pu-kaula hala'i i ka ua.
Ke nana ia la e la'i i Hanakahi.
Oni aku Hilo, oni ku'u kai lipo-lipo,
A Lele-iwi, ku'u kai ahu mimiki a ka Malua.[146]
Lei kahiko, lei nalu ka poai.
30 Nana Pu'u-eo[147] e! makai ka iwi-honua,[148] e!
Puna-hoa la, ino, ku, ku wau a Wai-akea la.
[Footnote 127: _Olelo_. To speak, to converse; here used
figuratively to mean that the place is lonely, has no view of
the ocean, looks only to the sky. "Looks that commerce with
the sky."]
[Footnote 128: _Ku-kani-loko_. A land in Waialua, Oahu, to
which princesses resorted in the olden times at the time of
childbirth, that their offspring might have the distinction
of being an _alii kapu_, a chief with a tabu.]
[Footnote 129: _Hale_ House; a familiar euphemism of the human
body.]
[Footnote 130: _Kea-au_. An _ahu-pua'a_, small division of
land, in Puna adjoining Hilo, represented as sheltering Hilo
on that side.]
[Footnote 131: _Waiakea_. A river in Hilo, and the land through
which it flows.]
[Footnote 132: _Hana-kahi_. A land on the Hamakua side of Hilo,
also a king whose name was a synonym for profound peace.]
[Footnote 133: _Olo-kea_. To be invited or pulled many ways at
once; distracted.]
[Footnote 134: _Lele-iwi_. A cape on the north side of Hilo.]
[Footnote 135: _Maka-hana-loa_. A cape.]
[Footnote 136: _Kaele-papa_. A large, round, hollowed board on
which to pound taro in the making of poi. The poi-board was
usually long and oval.]
[Footnote 137: _Kaele_. In this connection the meaning is
surrounded, encompassed by.]
[Footnote 138: _Waiau_. The name given to the stretch of
Wailuku river near its mouth.]
[Footnote 139: _Moku-pane_. The cape between the mouth of the
Wailuku river and the town of Hilo.]
[Footnote 140: _Wai-anue-nue_. Rainbow falls and the river that
makes the leap.]
[Footnote 141: _Kolo-pule-pule_. Another branch of the Wailuku
stream.]
[Footnote 142: _Pili-kau_. To hang low, said of a cloud.]
[Footnote 143: _Haili_. A region in the inland, woody, part of
Hilo.]
[Footnote 144: _Pa-ieie_. A well-wooded part of Hilo, once much
resorted to by bird-hunters; a place celebrated in Hawaiian
song.]
[Footnote 145: _Mokau-lele_. A wild, woody region In the
interior of Hilo.]
[Footnote 146: _Malua_. Name given to a wind from a northerly
or northwesterly direction on several of the islands. The
full form is Malua-lua.]
[Footnote 147: _Pu'u-eo_. A village in the Hilo district near
Puna.]
[Footnote 148: _Iwi-honua_. Literally a bone of the earth: a
projecting rock or a shoal; if in the water, an object to be
avoided by the surf-rider. In this connection see note _e_,
p. 36.]
[Translation]
STANZA 3
(With distinct utterance)
Kea-au shelters, Waiakea lies in the calm,
The deep peace of King Hana-kahi.
Hilo, of many diversions, swims in the ocean,
'Tween Point Lele-iwi and Maka-hana-loa;
5 And the village rests in the bowl,
Its border surrounded with rain--
Sharp from the sky the tooth of Hilo's rain.
Trenched is the land, scooped out by the downpour--
Tossed and like gnawing surf is Hilo's rain--
10 Beach strewn with a tangle of thicket growth;
A billowy freshet pours in Wailuku;
Swoll'n is Wai-au, flooding the point Moku-pane;
And red leaps the water of Anue-nue.
A roar to heaven sends up Kolo-pule,
[Page 62] 15 Shaking like thunder, mist rising like smoke.
The rain-cloud unfolds in the heavens;
Dark grows Hilo, black with the rain.
The skin of Hilo grows rough from the cold;
The storm-cloud hangs low o'er the land.
20 A rampart stand the woods of Haili;
Ohi'as thick-set must be brushed aside,
To tear one's way, like a covey of fowl,
In the wilds of Pa-ie-ie--
Lehua growths mine--heart of Mokau-lele.
25 A breaking, a weaving of boughs, to shield from rain;
A look enraptured on Hana-kahi,
Sees Hilo astir, the blue ocean tossing
Wind-thrown-spray--dear sea--'gainst Point Lele-iwi--
A time-worn foam-wreath to encircle its brow.
30 Look, Pu'u-eo! guard 'gainst the earth-rib!
It's Puna-hoa reef; halt!
At Waiakea halt!
PAUKU 4
(Ai-ha'a)
Kua loloa Kea-au i ka nahele;
Hala kua hulu-hulu Pana-ewa i ka laau;
Inoino ka maha o ka ohia o La'a.
Ua ku kepakepa ka maha o ka lehua;
5 Ua po-po'o-hina i ka wela a ke Akua.
Ua u-ahi Puna i ka oloka'a pohaku,
I ka huna pa'a ia e ka wahine.
Nanahu ahi ka papa o Olu-ea;
Momoku ahi Puna hala i Apua;
10 Ulu-a ka nahele me ka laau.
Oloka'a kekahi ko'i e Papa-lau-ahi;
I eli 'a kahi ko'i e Ku-lili-kaua.
Kai-ahea a hala i Ka-li'u;
A eu e, e ka La, ka malama-lama.
15 O-na-naka ka piko o Hilo ua me ke one,
I hull i uka la, i hulihia i kai;
Ua wa-wahi 'a, ua na-ha-ha,
Ua he-hele-lei!
[Translation]
STANZA 4
(Bombastic style)
Ke'-au is a long strip of wildwood;
Shag of pandanus mantles Pan'-ewa;
Scraggy the branching of Laa's ohias;
The lehua limbs at sixes and sevens--
5 They are gray from the heat of the goddess.
[Page 63] Puna smokes mid the bowling of rocks--
Wood and rock the She-god heaps in confusion,
The plain Oluea's one bed of live coals;
Puna is strewn with fires clean to Apua,
10 Thickets and tall trees a-blazing.
Sweep on, oh fire-ax, thy flame-shooting flood!
Smit by this ax is Ku-lili-kaua.
It's a flood tide of lava clean to Kali'u,
And the Sun, the light-giver, is conquered.
15 The bones of wet Hilo rattle from drought;
She turns for comfort to mountain, to sea,
Fissured and broken, resolved into dust.
This poem is taken from the story of Hiiaka. On her return
from the journey to fetch Lohiau she found that her sister
Pele had treacherously ravaged with fire Puna, the district
that contained her own dear woodlands. The description given
in the poem is of the resulting desolation.
PAUKA 5
No-luna ka Hale-kai[149] no ka ma'a-lewa,[150]
Nana ka maka ia Moana-nui-ka-lehua.[151]
Noi au i ke Kai, e mali'o.[152]
Ina ku a'e la he lehua[153] ilaila!
5 Hopoe-lehua[154] kiekie.
Maka'u ka lehua i ke kanaka,[155]
Lilo ilalo e hele ai, e-e,
A ilalo hoi.
O Kea-au[156] ili-ili nehe ke kai,
[Page 64] 10 Hoo-lono[157] ke kai o Puna
I ka ulu hala la, e-e,
Kai-ko'o Puna.
Ia hooneenee ia pili mai[158] kaua, e ke hoa.
Ke waiho e mai la oe ilaila.
15 Ela ka mea ino la, he anu,
A he anu me he mea la iwaho kaua, e ke hoa;
Me he wai la ko kaua ili.
[Footnote 149: _Hale-kai_. A wild mountain, glen back of
Hanalei valley, Kauai.]
[Footnote 150: _Ma'alewa_. An aerial root that formed a sort
of ladder by which one climbed the mountain steeps; literally
a shaking sling.]
[Footnote 151: _Moana-nui-ka-lehua_. A female demigod that came
from the South (_Ku-kulu-o-Kahiki_) at about the same
mythical period as that of Pele's arrival--If not in her
company--and who was put in charge of a portion of the
channel that lies between Kauai and Oahu. This channel was
generally termed _Ie-ie-waena_ and _Ie-ie-waho_. Here the
name _Moana-nui-ka-lehua_ seems to be used to indicate the
sea as well as the demigoddess, whose dominion it was.
Ordinarily she appeared as a powerful fish, but she was
capable of assuming the form of a beautiful woman (mermaid?).
The title _lehua_ was given her on account of her womanly
charms.]
[Footnote 152: _Mali'o_. Apparently another form of the word
_malino_, calm; at any rate it has the same meaning.]
[Footnote 153: _Lehua_. An allusion to the ill-fated' young
woman Hopoe, who was Hiiaka's intimate friend. The allusion
is amplified in the next line.]
[Footnote 154: _Hopoe-lehua_. The lehua tree was one of the
forms in which Hopoe appeared, and after her death, due to
the jealous rage of Pele, she was turned into a charred lehua
tree which stood on the coast subject to the beating of the
surf.]
[Footnote 155: _Maka'u ka lehua i ke kanaka_. Another version
has it _Maka'u ke kanaka i ka lehua_; Man fears the lehua.
The form here used is perhaps an ironical allusion to man's
fondness not only to despoil the tree of its scarlet flowers,
but womanhood, the woman it represented.]
[Footnote 156: _Kea-au_. Often shortened in pronunciation to
_Ke-au_, a fishing village in Puna near Hilo town. It now has
a landing place for small vessels.]
[Footnote 157: _Hoolono_. To call, to make an uproar, to spread
a report.]
[Footnote 158: _Ia hoo-nee-nee ia pili mai_. A very peculiar
figure of speech. It Is as if the poet personified, the act
of two lovers snuggling up close to each other. Compare with
this the expression _No huli mai_, used by another poet in
the thirteenth line of the lyric given on p. 204. The motive
is the same in each case.]
The author of this poem of venerable age is not known. It is
spoken of as belonging to the _wa po_, the twilight of
tradition. It is represented to be part of a mele taught to
Hiiaka by her friend and preceptress in the hula, Hopoe.
Hopoe is often called _Hopoe-wahine_. From internal evidence
one can see that it can not be in form the same as was given
to Hiiaka by Hopoe; it may have been founded on the poem of
Hopoe. If so, it has been modified.
[Translation]
STANZA 5
From mountain retreat and root-woven ladder
Mine eye looks down on goddess Moana-Lehua;
I beg of the Sea, Be thou calm;
Would there might stand on thy shore a lehua--
5 Lehua-tree tall of Ho-poe.
The lehua is fearful of man;
It leaves him to walk on the ground below,
To walk the ground far below.
The pebbles at Ke'-au grind in the surf.
10 The sea at Ke'-au shouts to Puna's palms,
"Fierce is the sea of Puna."
Move hither, snug close, companion mine;
You lie so aloof over there.
Oh what a bad fellow is cold!
15 'Tis as if we were out on the wold;
Our bodies so clammy and chill, friend!
The last five verses, which sound like a love song, may
possibly be a modern addition to this old poem. The sentiment
they contain is comparable to that expressed in the Song of
Welcome on page 39:
Eia ka pu'u nui o waho nei, he anu.
The hill of Affliction out there is the cold.
[Page 65]
MAHELE-HELE II
Hi'u-o-lani,[159] kii ka ua o Hilo[160] i ka lani;
Ke hookiikii mai la ke ao o Pua-lani;[161]
O mahele ana,[162] pulu Hilo i ka ua--
O Hilo Hana-kahi.[163]
5 Ha'i ka nalu, wai kaka lepo o Pii-lani;
Hai'na ka iwi o Hilo,
I ke ku ia e ka wai.
Oni'o lele a ka ua o Hilo i ka lanu
Ke hookiikii mai la ke ao o Pua-lani,
10 Ke holuholu a'e la e puka,
Puka e nana ke kiki a ka ua,
Ka nonoho a ka ua i ka hale o Hilo.
Like Hilo me Puna ke ku a mauna-ole[164]
He ole ke ku a mauna Hilo me Puna.
15 He kowa Puna mawaena Hilo me Ka-u;
Ke pili wale la i ke kua i mauna-ole;
Pili hoohaha i ke kua o Mauna-loa.
He kuahiwi Ka-u e pa ka makani.
Ke alai ia a'e la Ka-u e ke A'e;[165]
20 Ka-u ku ke ehu lepo ke A'e;
Ku ke ehu-lepo mai la Ka-u i ka makani.
Makani Kawa hu'a-lepo Ka-u i ke A'e.
[Page 66] Kahiko mau no o Ka-u i ka makani.
Makani ka Lae-ka-ilio i Unu-lau,
25 Kaili-ki'i[166] a ka lua a Kaheahea,[167]
I ka ha'a nawali ia ino.
Ino wa o ka mankani o Kau-na.
Nana aku o ka makani malaila!
O Hono-malino, malino i ka la'i o Kona.
30 He inoa la!
[Footnote 159: _Hi'u-o-lani_. A very blind phrase. Hawaiians
disagree as to its meaning. In the author's opinion, it is a
word referring to the conjurer's art.]
[Footnote 160: _Ua o Hilo_. Hilo is a very rainy country. The
name Hilo seems to be used here as almost a synonym of
violent rain. It calls to mind the use of the word Hilo to
signify a strong wind:
Pa mai, pa mai,
Ka makani a Hilo![168]
Waiho ka ipu iki,
Homai ka ipu nui!
[Translation]
Blow, blow, thou wind of Hilo!
Leave the little calabash,
Bring on the big one!
]
[Footnote 161: _Pua-lani_. The name of a deity who took the
form of the rosy clouds of morning.]
[Footnote 162: _Mahele ana_. Literally the dividing; an
allusion to the fact, it is said, that in Hilo a rain-cloud,
or rain-squall, as it came up would often divide and a part
of it turn off toward Puna at the cape named Lele-iwi,
one-half watering, in the direction of the present town, the
land known as Hana-kahi.]
[Footnote 163: _Hana-kahi_. Look at note _f_, p. 60.]
[Footnote 164: _Mauna-ole_. According to one authority this
should be Mauna-Hilo. Verses 13, 14, 16, and 17 are difficult
of translation. The play on the words _ku a_, standing at, or
standing by, and _kua_, the back; also on the word _kowa_, a
gulf or strait; and the repetition of the word _mauna_,
mountain--all this is carried to such an extent as to be
quite unintelligible to the Anglo-Saxon mind, though full of
significance to a Hawaiian.]
[Footnote 165: _A'e_. A strong wind that prevails in Ka-u. The
same word also means to step on, to climb. This
double-meaning gives the poet opportunity for a euphuistic
word-play that was much enjoyed by the Hawaiians. The
Hawaiians of the present day are not quite up to this sort of
logomachy.]
[Footnote 166: _Kaili-ki'i_. The promontory that shelters the
cove _Ka-hewa-hewa_.]
[Footnote 167: _Ka-hea-hea_. The name of the cove
_Ka-hewa-hewa_, above mentioned, is here given in a softened
form obtained by the elision of the letter _w_.]
[Footnote 168: _Hilo_, or Whiro, as in the Maori, was a great
navigator.]
[Translation]
CANTO II
Heaven-magic, fetch a Hilo-pour from heaven!
Morn's cloud-buds, look! they swell in the East.
The rain-cloud parts, Hilo is deluged with rain,
The Hilo of King Hana-kahi.
5 Surf breaks, stirs the mire of Pii-lani; 5
The bones of Hilo are broken
By the blows of the rain.
Ghostly the rain-scud of Hilo in heaven;
The cloud-forms of Pua-lani grow and thicken.
10 The rain-priest bestirs him now to go forth,
Forth to observe the stab and thrust of the rain,
The rain that clings to the roof of Hilo.
Hilo, like Puna, stands mountainless;
Aye, mountain-free stand Hilo and Puna.
15 Puna 's a gulf 'twixt Ka-u and Hilo;
Just leaning her back on Mount Nothing,
She sleeps at the feet of Mount Loa.
A mountain-back is Ka-u which the wind strikes,
Ka-u, a land much scourged by the A'e.
20 A dust-cloud lifts in Ka-u as one climbs.
A dust-bloom floats, the lift of the wind:
'Tis blasts from mountain-walls piles dust, the A'e.
Ka-u was always tormented with wind.
Cape-of-the-Dog feels Unulau's blasts;
25 They turmoil the cove of Ka-hea-hea,
Defying all strength with their violence.
There's a storm when wind blows at Kau-na.
Just look at the tempest there raging!
Hono-malino sleeps sheltered by Kona.
30 A eulogy this of a name.
"What name?" was asked of the old Hawaiian.
"A god," said he.
"How is that? A mele-inoa celebrates the name and glory of a
king, not of a god."
[Page 67]
His answer was, "The gods composed the mele; men did not
compose it."
Like an old-time geologist, he solved the puzzle of a novel
phenomenon by ascribing it to God.
MAHELE III
(Ai-ha'a)
A Koa'e-kea,[169] i Pueo-hulu-nui,[169]
Neeu a'e la ka makahiapo o ka pali;
A a'e, a a'e, a'e[170] la iluna
Kaholo-kua-iwa, ka pali o Ha'i.[171]
5 Ha'i a'e la ka pali;
Ha-nu'u ka pali;
Hala e Malu-o;
Hala a'e la Ka-maha-la'a-wili,
Ke kaupoku hale a ka ua.
10 Me he mea i uwae'na a'e la ka pali;
Me he hale pi'o ka lei na ka manawa o ka pali Halehale-o-u;
Me he aho i hilo 'a la ka wai o Wai-hi-lau;
Me he uahi pulehu-manu la ke kai o ka auwala hula ana.
Au ana Maka'u-kiu[172] iloko o ke kai;
15 Pohaku lele[173] o Lau-nui, Lau-pahoehoe.
Ka eku'na a ke kai i ka ala o Ka-wai-kapu--
Eku ana, me he pua'a la, ka lae Makani-lele,
Koho-la-lele.
[Translation]
CANTO III
(Bombastic style)
Haunt of white tropic-bird and big ruffled owl,
Up rises the firstborn child of the pali.
He climbs, he climbs, he climbs up aloft,
Kaholo-ku'-iwa, the pali of Ha'i.
5 Accomplished now is the steep,
The ladder-like series of steps.
Malu-o is left far below.
[Page 68] Passed is Ka-maha-la'-wili,
The very ridge-pole of the rain--
10 It's as if the peak cut it in twain--
An arched roof the peak's crest Hale-hale-o-u.
A twisted cord hangs the brook Wai-hilau;
Like smoke from roasting bird Ocean's wild dance;
The shark-god is swimming the sea;
15 The rocks leap down at Big-leaf[174] and Flat-leaf--[174]
See the ocean charge 'gainst the cliffs,
Thrust snout like rooting boar against Windy-cape,
Against Kohola-lele.
[Footnote 169: _Koa'e-kea, Pueo hulu-nui_. Steep declivities,
_pali_, on the side of Waipio valley, Hawaii. Instead of
inserting these names, which would be meaningless without an
explanation, the author has given a literal translation of
the names themselves, thus getting a closer insight into the
Hawaiian thought.]
[Footnote 170: _A'e_. The precipices rise one above another
like the steps of a stairway, climbing, climbing up, though
the probable intent of the poet is to represent some one as
climbing the ascent.]
[Footnote 171: _Ha'i_. Short for _Ha'ina-kolo;_ a woman about
whom there is a story of tragic adventure. Through eating
when famished of some berries in an unceremonious way she
became distraught and wandered about for many months until
discovered by the persistent efforts of her husband. The pali
which she climbed was named after her.]
[Footnote 172: _Maka'u-kiu_. The name of a famous huge shark
that was regarded with reverential fear.]
[Footnote 173: _Pohaku lele_. In order to determine whether a
shark was present, it was the custom, before going into the
clear water of some of these coves, to throw rocks into the
water in order to disturb the monster and make his presence
known.]
[Footnote 174: _Big-leaf_. A literal translation of _Lau-nui_.
_Laupahoehoe_, Flat-leaf.]
MAHELE IV
Hole[175] Waimea i ka ihe a ka makani,
Hao mai na ale a ke Ki-pu'u-pu'u;[176]
He laau kala-ihi ia na ke anu,
I o'o i ka nahele o Mahiki.[177]
5 Ku aku la oe i ka Malanai[178] a ke Ki-puu-puu;
Nolu ka maka o ka oha-wai[179] o Uli;
Niniau, eha ka pua o Koaie,[180]
Eha i ke anu ka nahele o Wai-ka-e,
A he aloha, e!
10 Aloha Wai-ka, ia'u me he ipo la;
Me he ipo la ka maka lena o ke Koo-lau,[181]
Ka pua i ka nahele o Mahule-i-a,
E lei hele i ke alo o Moo-lau.[182]
E lau ka huaka'i-hele i ka pali loa;
15 Hele hihiu, puli[183] noho i ka nahele.
O ku'u noho wale iho no i kahua, e-e.
A he aloha, e-e!
O kou aloha ka i hiki mai i o'u nei.
Mahea la ia i nalo iho nei?
This mele, _Hole Waimea_, is also sung in connection with the
hula _ipu_.
[Footnote 175: _Hole_. To rasp, to handle rudely, to caress
passionately. Waimea is a district and village on Hawaii.]
[Footnote 176: _Kipu'u-pu'u_. A cold wind from Mauna-Kea that
blows at Waimea.]
[Footnote 177: _Mahiki_. A woodland in Waimea, in mythological
times haunted by demons and spooks.]
[Footnote 178: _Mala-nai_. The poetical name of a wind,
probably the trade wind; a name much used in Hawaiian
sentimental poetry.]
[Footnote 179: _Oha-wai_. A water hole that is filled by
dripping; an important source of supply for drinking purposes
in certain parts of Hawaii.]
[Footnote 180: _Pua o Koaie_, The koaie is a tree that grows in
the wilds, the blossom of which is extremely fragrant. (Not
the same as that subspecies of the _koa_ (Acacia koa) which
Hillebrand describes and wrongly spells _koaia_. Here a
euphemism for the delicate parts.)]
[Footnote 181: _Koolau_, or, full form, _Ko-kao-lau_. Described
by Doctor Hillebrand as _Kokolau_, a wrong spelling. It has a
pretty yellow flower, a yellow eye--_maka lena_--as the song
has it. Here used tropically. (This is the plant whose leaf
is sometimes used as a substitute for tea.)]
[Footnote 182: _Moolau_. An expression used figuratively to
mean a woman, more especially her breasts. The term
_Huli-lau_, is also used, in a slang way, to signify the
breasts of a woman, the primitive meaning being a calabash.]
[Footnote 183: _Pili_. To touch; touched. This was the word
used in the forfeit-paying love game, _kilu_, when the player
made a point by hitting the target of his opponent with his
_kilu_. (For further description see p. 235.)]
[Page 69]
The song above given, the translation of which is to follow,
belongs to historic times, being ascribed to King
Liholiho--Kamehameha II--who died in London July 13, 1824, on
his visit to England. It attained great vogue and still holds
its popularity with the Hawaiians. The reader will note the
comparative effeminacy and sentimentality of the style and
the frequent use of euphemisms and double-entendre. The
double meaning in a Hawaiian mele will not always be evident
to one whose acquaintance with the language is not intimate.
To one who comes to it from excursions in Anglo-Saxon poetry,
wandering through its "meadows trim with daisies pied," the
sly intent of the Hawaiian, even when pointed out, will, no
doubt, seem an inconsequential thing and the demonstration of
it an impertinence, if not a fiction to the imagination. Its
euphemisms in reality have no baser intent than the euphuisms
of Lyly, Ben Jonson, or Shakespeare.
[Translation.]
_Song--Hole Waimea_
PART IV
Love tousled Waimea with, shafts of the wind,
While Kipuupuu puffed jealous gusts.
Love is a tree that blights in the cold,
But thrives in the woods of Mahiki.
5 Smitten art thou with the blows of love;
Luscious the water-drip in the wilds;
Wearied and bruised is the flower of Koaie;
Stung by the frost the herbage of Wai-ka-e:
And this--it is love.
10 Wai-ka, loves me like a sweetheart.
Dear as my heart Koolau's yellow eye,
My flower in the tangled wood, Hule-i-a,
A travel-wreath to lay on love's breast,
A shade to cover my journey's long climb.
15 Love-touched, distraught, mine a wilderness-home;
But still do I cherish the old spot,
For love--it is love.
Your love visits me even here:
Where has it been hiding till now?
PAUKU 2
Kau ka ha-e-a, kau o ka hana wa ele,
Ke ala-ula ka makani,
Kulu a e ka ua i kou wabi moe.
Palepale i na auwai o lalo;
5 Eli mawaho o ka hale o Koolau, e.
E lau Koolau, he aina ko'e-ko'e;
Maka'u i ke anu ka uka o ka Lahuloa.
Loa ia mea, na'u i waiho aku ai.
[Page 70]
[Translation]
STANZA 2
A mackerel sky, time for foul weather;
The wind raises the dust--
Thy couch is a-drip with the rain;
Open the door, let's trench about the house:
5 Koolau, land of rain, will shoot green leaves.
I dread the cold of the uplands.
An adventure that of long ago.
The poem above given from beginning to end is figurative, a
piece of far-fetched, enigmatical symbolism in the lower
plane of human nature.
PAUKU 3
Hoe Puna i ka wa'a po-lolo'[184] a ka ino;
Ha-uke-uke i ka wa o Koolau:
Eha e! eha la!
Eha i ku'i-ku'i o ka Ulu-mano.[185]
5 Hala 'e ka waluahe a ke A'e,[186]
Ku iho i ku'i-ku'i a ka Ho-li'o;[187]
Hana ne'e ke kikala o ko Hilo Khii.
Ho'i lu'u-lu'u i ke one o Hana-kahi,[188]
I ka po-lolo' ua wahine o ka lua:
10 Mai ka lua no, e!
[Translation]
STANZA 3
Puna plies paddle night-long in the storm;
Is set back by a shift in the weather,
Feels hurt and disgruntled;
Dismayed at slap after slap of the squalls;
5 Is struck with eight blows of Typhoon;
Then smit with the lash of the North wind.
Sad, he turns back to Hilo's sand-beach:
He'll shake the town with a scandal--
The night-long storm with the hag of the pit,
10 Hag from Gehenna!
[Footnote 184: _Po-lolo_. A secret word, like a cipher, made up
for the occasion and compounded of two words, _po_, night,
and _loloa_, long, the final _a_, of _loloa_ being dropped.
This form of speech was called _kepakepa_, and was much used
by the Hawaiians in old times.]
[Footnote 185: _Ulu-mano_. A violent wind which blows by night
only on the western side of Hawaii. Kamehameha with a company
of men was once wrecked by this wind off Nawawa; a whole
village was burned to light them ashore. (Dictionary of the
Hawaiian Language, by Lorrin Andrews.)]
[Footnote 186: _Walu-ihe a ke A'e_. The _A'e_ is a violent wind
that is described as blowing from different points of the
compass in succession; a circular storm. _Walu-ihe_--eight
spears--was a name applied to this same wind during a certain
portion of its circuitous range, covering at least eight
different points, as observed by the Hawaiians. It was well
fitted, therefore, to serve as a figure descriptive of eight
different lovers, who follow each other in quick succession,
in the favors of the same wanton.]
[Footnote 187: _Ho-Wo_ The name of a wind, but of an entirely
different character from those above mentioned.]
[Footnote 188: _Hana-kahi_. (See note _f_, p. 60.)]
[Page 71]
This is not a line-for-line translation; that the author
found infeasible. Line 8 of the English represents line 7 of
the Hawaiian. Given more literally, it might be, "He'll shake
the buttocks of Hilo's forty thousand."
The metaphor of this song is disjointed, but hot with the
primeval passions of humanity.
PAUKU 4
Ho-ina-inau mea ipo i ka nahele;
Haa-kokoe ana ka maka i ka Moani,
I ka ike i na pua i hoomahie 'Iuna;
Ua hi-hi-hina wale i ka moe awakea.
5 Ka ino' ua poina ia Mali'o.
Aia ka i Pua-lei o Ha'o.
I Puna no ka waihona o ka makani;
Kaela ka malama ana a ka Pu'u-lena,
I kahi mea ho-aloha-loha, e!
10 E aloha, e!
[Translation]
STANZA 4
Love is at play in the grove,
A jealous swain glares fierce
At the flowers tying love-knots,
Lying wilted at noon-tide.
5 So you've forgotten Mali'o,
Turned to the flower of Puna--
Puna, the cave of shifty winds.
Long have I cherished this blossom,
A treasure hid in my heart!
10 Oh, sweetheart!
The following account is taken from the Polynesian Researches
of the Rev. William Ellis, the well-known English missionary,
who visited these islands in the years 1822 and 1823, and
whose recorded observations have been of the highest value in
preserving a knowledge of the institutions of ancient Hawaii.
In the afternoon, a party of strolling musicians and dancers
arrived at Kairua. About four o'clock they came, followed by
crowds of people, and arranged themselves on a fine sandy
beach in front of one of the governor's houses, where they
exhibited a native dance, called _hura araapapa_.
The five musicians first seated themselves in a line on the
ground, and spread a piece of folded cloth on the sand before
them. Their instrument was a large calabash, or rather two,
one of an oval shape about three feet high, the other
perfectly round, very neatly fastened to it, having also an
aperture about three inches in diameter at the top. Each
musician held his instrument before him with both hands, and
produced his music by striking it on the ground, where he had
laid a piece of cloth, and beating it with his fingers, or
the palms of his hands. As soon as they began to sound their
calabashes, the dancer, a young man about the middle stature,
advanced through the opening crowd.
[Page 72]
His jet-black hair hung in loose and flowing ringlets on his
naked shoulders; his necklace was made of a vast number of
strings of nicely braided human hair, tied together behind,
while a _paraoa_ (an ornament made of a whale's tooth) hung
pendent from it on his breast; his wrists were ornamented
with bracelets formed of polished tusks of the hog, and his
ankles with loose buskins, thickly set with dog's teeth, the
rattle of which, during the dance, kept time with the music
of the calabash drum. A beautiful yellow tapa was tastefully
fastened round his loins, reaching to his knees. He began his
dance in front of the musicians, and moved forward and
backwards, across the area, occasionally chanting the
achievements of former kings of Hawaii. The governor sat at
the end of the ring, opposite to the musicians, and appeared
gratified with the performance, which continued until the
evening. (Vol. IV, 100-101, London, Fisher, Son & Jackson,
1831.)
NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.--At the time of Mr. Ellis' visit to
Hawaii the orthography of the Hawaiian language was still in
a formative stage, and it is said that his counsels had
influence in shaping it. His use of _r_ instead of _l_ in the
words _hula, alaapapa_, and _palaoa_ may, therefore, be
ascribed to the fact of his previous acquaintance with the
dialects of southern Polynesia, in which the sound of _r_ to
a large extent substitutes that of _l_, and to the
probability that for that reason his ear was already attuned
to the prevailing southern fashion, and his judgment
prepossessed in that direction.
[Illustration:
PLATE VII
IPU HULA, GOURD DRUM]
[Page 73]
X.--THE HULA PA-IPU, OR KUOLO
The _pa-ipu_, called also the _kuolo_, was a hula of
dignified character, in which all the performers maintained
the kneeling position and accompanied their songs with the
solemn tones of the _ipu_ (pl. vii), with which each one was
provided. The proper handling of this drumlike instrument in
concert with the cantillation of the mele made such demands
upon the artist, who was both singer and instrumentalist,
that only persons of the most approved skill and experience
were chosen to take part in the performance of this hula.
The manner of treating the ipu in this hula differed somewhat
from that employed in the ala'a-papa, being subdued and quiet
in that, whereas in the pa-ipu it was at times marked with
great vigor and demonstrativeness, so that in moments of
excitement and for the expression of passion, fierce joy, or
grief the ipu might be lifted on high and wildly brandished.
It thus made good its title as the most important instrument
of the Hawaiian orchestra.
In the pa-ipu, as in the hulas generally, while the actors
were sometimes grouped according to sex, they were quite as
often distributed indiscriminately, the place for the leader,
the kumu, being the center.
The vigor that marks the literary style of the mele now given
stamps it as belonging to the archaic period, which closed in
the early part of the eighteenth century, that century which
saw the white man make his advent in Hawaii. The poem deals
apparently with an incident in one of the migrations such as
took place during the period of intercourse between the North
and the South Pacific. This was a time of great stir and
contention, a time when there was much paddling and sailing
about and canoe-fleets, often manned by warriors, traversed
the great ocean in every direction. It was then that Hawaii
received many colonists from the archipelagoes that lie to
the southward.
_Mele_
(Ko'i-honua)
Wela Kahiki, e!
Wela Kahiki, e!
Wela aku la Kahiki;
Ua kaulu-wela ka moku;
[Page 74] 5 Wela ka ulu o Hawaii;
Kakala wela aku la Kahiki ia Olopana,[189]
Ka'u wahi kanaka;
O ka hei kapu[190] o Hana-ka-ulani,[191]
Ka hei kapu a ke alii,
10 Ka hoo-mamao-lani,[192]
Ke kapu o Keawe,[193]
A o Keawe
Ke alii holo, ho-i'a i kai, e-e!
[Footnote 189: _Olopana_. A celebrated king of Waipio valley,
Hawaii, who had to wife the famous beauty, Luukia. Owing to
misfortune, he sailed away to _Kahiki_, taking with him his
wife and his younger brother, Moikeha, who was his
_puna-lua_, settling in a land called _Moa-ula-nui-akea_.
Olopana probably ended his days in his new-found home, but
Moi-keha, heart-sick at the loss of Luukia's favors, came
hack to Hawaii and became the progenitor of a line of
distinguished men, several of whom were famous navigators.
Exactly what incident in the life of Olopana is alluded to in
the sixth and preceding verses, the traditions that narrate
his adventures do not inform us.]
[Footnote 190: _Hei kapu_. An oracle; the place where the high
priest kept himself while consulting the deities of the
_heiau_. It was a small house erected on an elevated platform
of stones, and there he kept himself in seclusion at such
times as he sought to be the recipient of communications from
the gods.]
[Footnote 191: _Hana-ka-ulani_. A name applied to several
_heiau_ (temples). The first one so styled, according to
tradition, was built at Hana, Maui, and another one at
Kaluanui, on Oahu, near the famous valley of Ka-liu-wa'a.
These heiau are said to have been built by the gods in the
misty past soon after landing on these shores. Was it to
celebrate their escape from perils by sea and enemies on
land, or was it in token of thankfulness to gods still higher
than themselves?
The author's informant can not tell whether these followed
the fierce, strict cult of Kane or the milder cult of Lono.]
[Footnote 192: _Hoo-mamao-lani_. An epithet meaning remote in
the heavens, applied to an alii of very high rank.]
[Footnote 193: _Keawe_. This is a name that belonged, to
several kings and a large family of gods--_papa akua_--all of
which gods are said to have come from Kahiki and to have
dated their origin from the _Wa Po_, the twilight of
antiquity. Among the demigods that were called _Keawe_ may be
mentioned: (1) _Keawe-huli_, a prophet and soothsayer. (2)
_Keawe-kilo-pono_, a wise and righteous one, who loved
justice. (3) _Keawe-hula-maemae_. It was his function to
maintain purity and cleanliness; he was a devouring flame
that destroyed rubbish and all foulness. (4)
_Keawe-ula-o-ka-lani_. This was the poetical appellation,
given to the delicate flush of early morning. Apropos of this
the Hawaiians have the following quatrain, which they
consider descriptive not only of morning blush, but also of
the coming in of the reign of the gods:
O Keawe-ula-i-ka-lani,
O Keawe-liko-i-ka-lani,
O Ke'awe-uina-poha-i-Kahiki;
Hikl mai ana o Lono.[Translation]
Keawe-the-red-blush-of-dawn,
Keawe-the-bud-in-the-sky,
Keawe-thunder-burst-at-Kahiki:
Till Lono comes in to reign.
(5) _Keawe-pa-makani_. It was his function to send winds from
_Kukulu-o-Kahiki_, as well as from some other points. (6)
_Keawe-io-io-moa_. This god inspected the ocean tides and
currents, such as _Au-miki_ and _Au-ka_. (7)
_Keawe-i-ka-liko_. He took charge of flowerbuds and tender
shoots, giving them a chance to develop. (8) _Keawe-ulu-pu_.
It was his function to promote the development and fruitage
of plants. (9) _Keawe-lu-pua_. He caused flowers to shed
their petals. (10) _Keawe-opala_. It was his thankless task
to create rubbish and litter by scattering the leaves of the
trees. (11) _Keawe-hulu_, a magician, who could blow a
feather into the air and see it at once become a bird with
power to fly away. (12) _Keawe-nui-ka-ua-o-Hilo_, a sentinel
who stood guard by night and by day to watch over all
creation. (13) _Keawe-pulehu_. He was a thief and served as
[Page 75] cook for the gods. There were gods of evil as well as of good
in this set. (14) _Keawe-oili_. He was gifted with the power
to convey and transfer evil, sickness, misfortune, and death.
(15) _Keawe-kaili_. He was a robber. (16) _Keawe-aihue_. He
was a thief. (17) _Keuwe-mahilo_. He was a beggar. He would
stand round while others were preparing food, doing honest
work, and plead with his eyes. In this way he often obtained
a dole. (18) _Keawe-puni-pua'a_. He was a glutton, very greedy
of pork; he was also called _Keawe-ai-pua'a_. (19)
_Keawe-inoino_. He was a sloven, unclean in all his ways.
(20) _Keawe-ilio_. The only title to renown of this
superhuman creature was his inordinate fondness for the flesh
of the dog. So far none of the superhuman heings mentioned
seemed fitted to the role of the Keawe of the text, who was
passionately fond of the sea. The author had given up in
despair, when one day, on repeating his inquiry in another
quarter, he was rewarded by learning of--(21)
_Keawe-i-na-'kai_. He was a resident of the region about the
southeastern point of Molokai, called _Lae-ka-Ilio_--Cape of
the Dog. He was extravagantly fond of the ocean and allowed
no weather to interfere with the indulgence of his penchant.
An epithet applied to him describes his dominating passion:
_Keawe moe i ke kai o Kohaku_, Keawe who sleeps in (or on)
the sea of Kohaku. It seems probable that this was the Keawe
mentioned in the twelfth and thirteenth lines of the mele.
The appellation _Keawe_ seems to have served as a sort of
Jack among the demigods of the Hawaiian pantheon, on whom was
to be laid the burden of a mongrel host of virtues and vices
that were not assignable to the regular orthodox deities.
Somewhat in the same way do we use the name Jack as a
caption, for a miscellaneous lot of functions, as when we
speak of a "Jack-at-all-trades."]
[Translation]
Song
(Distinct utterance)
Glowing is Kahiki, oh!
Glowing is Kahiki!
Lo, Kahiki is a-blaze,
The whole island a-burning.
5 Scorched is thy scion, Hawaii.
Kahiki shoots flame-tongues at Olopana,
That hero of yours, and priest
Of the oracle Hana-ka-ulani,
The sacred shrine of the king--
10 He is of the upper heavens,
The one inspired by Keawe,
That tabu-famous Keawe,
The king passion-fond of the sea.
_Mele_
PALE I
Lau lehua punoni ula ke kai o Kona,
Ke kai punoni ula i oweo ia;
Wewena ula ke kai la, he kokona;
Ula ia kini i ka uka o Alaea,
5 I hili ahi ula i ke kapa a ka wahine,
I hoeu ia e ka ni'a, e ka hana,
E ka auwai lino mai la a kehau.
He hau hoomoe ka lau o ka niu,
Ke oho o ka laau, lauoho loloa.
10 E loha ana i ka la i o Kailua la, i-u-a,
O ke ku moena ololi a ehu
O ku'u aina kai paeaea.
Ea, hoea iluna o Mauna Kilohana,
Na kaha poohiwi mau no he inoa.
15 Ua noa e, ua pii'a kou wahi kapu, e-e!
I a'e 'a mai e ha'i.
[Page 76]
[Translation]
_Song_
CANTO I
Leaf of lehua and noni-tint, the Kona sea,
Iridescent saffron and red,
Changeable watered red, peculiar to Kona;
Red are the uplands Alaea;
5 All, 'tis the flame-red stained robes of women
Much tossed by caress or desire.
The weed-tangled water-way shines like a rope of pearls,
Dew-pearls that droop the coco leaf,
The hair of the trees, their long locks--
10 Lo, they wilt in the heat of Kailua the deep.
A mat spread out narrow and gray,
A coigne of land by the sea where the fisher drops hook.
Now looms the mount Kilohana--
Ah, ye wood-shaded heights, everlasting your fame!
15 Your tabu is gone! your holy of holies invaded!
Broke down by a stranger!
The intricately twisted language of this mele is allegorical,
a rope whose strands are inwrought with passion, envy,
detraction, and abuse. In translating it one has to choose
between the poetic verbal garb and the esoteric meaning which
the bard made to lurk beneath the surface.
_Mele_
PALE II
Kauo pu ka iwa kala-pahe'e,
Ka iwa, ka manu o Kaula i ka makani.
E ka manu o-u pani-wai o Lehua,
O na manu kapu a Kuhai-moana,
5 Mai hele a luna o Lei-no-ai,
O kolohe, o alai mai ka Unu-lau.
Puni'a iluna o ka Halau-a-ola;
A ola aku i ka luna o Maka-iki-olea,
I ka lulu, i ka la'i o kai maio,
10 Ma ka ha'i-wa, i ka mole o Lehua la, Le-hu-a!
O na lehua o Alaka'i ka'u aloha,
O na lehua iluna o Ko'i-alana;
Ua nonoho hooipo me ke kohe-kohe;
Ua anu, maeele i ka ua noe.
15 Ua mai oe; kau a'e ka nana, laua nei, e-e,
Na 'lii e o'oni mai nei, e-e!
[Translation]
_Song_
CANTO II
The iwa flies heavy to nest in the brush,
Its haunt on windy Ke-ula.
The watch-bird, that fends off the rain from Le-hu-a--
[Page 77] Bird sacred to Ku-hai, the shark-god--
5 Shrieks, "Light not on terrace of Lei-no-ai,
Lest Unu-lau fiercely assail you."
Storm sweeps the cliffs of the islet;
A covert they seek neath the hills,
In the sheltered lee of the gale,
10 The cove at the base of Le-hu-a.
The shady groves there enchant them,
The scarlet plumes of lehua.
Love-dalliance now by the water-reeds,
Till cooled and appeased by the rain-mist.
15 Pour on, thou rain, the two heads press the pillow:
Lo, prince and princess stir in their sleep!
The scene of this mele is laid on one of the little
bird-islands that lie to the northwest of Kauai. The _iwa_
bird, flying heavily to his nesting place in the wiry grass
(_kala-pahee_), symbolizes the flight of a man in his
deep-laden pirogue, abducting the woman of his love. The
screaming sea-birds that warn him off the island, represented
as watch-guards of the shark-god Kuhai-moana (whose reef is
still pointed out), figure the outcries of the parents and
friends of the abducted woman.
After the first passionate outburst (_Puni'a iluna o ka
Halau-a-ola_) things go more smoothly (ola, ...). The
flight to covert from the storm, the cove at the base of
Le-hu-a, the shady groves, the scarlet pompons of the
lehua--the tree and the island have the same name--all these
things are to be interpreted figuratively as emblems of
woman's physical charms and the delights of love-dalliance.
_Mele_
PALE III
(Ai-ha'a)
Ku aku la Kea-au, lele ka makani mawaho,
Ulu-mano, ma ke kaha o Wai-o-lono.
Ua moani lehua a'e la mauka;
Kani lehua iluna o Kupa-koili,
5 I ka o ia i ka lau o ka hala,
Ke poo o ka hala o ke aku'i.
E ku'i e, e ka uwalo.
Loli ka mu'o o ka hala,
A helelei ka pua, a pili ke alanui:
10 Pu ia Pana-ewa, ona-ona i ke ala,
I ka nahele makai o Ka-unu-loa la.
Nani ke kaunu, ke kaunu a ke alii,
He puni ina'i poi na maua.
Ua hala ke Kau a me ka Hoilo,
15 Mailaila mai no ka hana ino.
Ino mai oe, noho malie aku no hoi au;
Hopo o' ka inaina, ka wai, e-e;
Wiwo au, hopohopo iho nei, e-e!
[Page 78]
[Translation]
_Song_
CANTO III
(In turgid style)
A storm, from the sea strikes Ke-au,
Ulu-mano, sweeping across the barrens;
It sniffs the fragrance of upland lehua,
Turns back at Kupa-koili;
5 Sawed by the blows of the palm leaves,
The groves of pandanus in lava shag;
Their fruit he would string 'bout his neck;
Their fruit he finds wilted and crushed,
Mere rubbish to litter the road--
10 Ah, the perfume! Pana-ewa is drunk with the scent;
The breath of it spreads through the groves.
Vainly flares the old king's passion,
Craving a sauce for his meat and mine.
The summer has flown; winter has come:
15 Ah, that is the head of our troubles.
Palsied are you and helpless am I;
You shrink from a plunge in the water;
Alas, poor me! I'm a coward.
The imagery of this mele sets forth the story of the fierce,
but fruitless, love-search of a chief, who is figured by the
_Ulu-mano_, a boisterous wind of Puna, Hawaii. The fragrance
of upland lehua (_moani lehua, a'e la mauka_, verse 3)
typifies the charms of the woman he pursues. The expression
_kani lehua_ (verse 4), literally the sudden ending of a
rain-squall, signifies the man's failure to gain his object.
The lover seeks to string the golden drupe of the pandanus
(_halo_), that he may wear them as a wreath about his neck
(_uwalo_); he is wounded by the teeth of the sword-leaves (_o
ia i ka lau o ka hala_, verse 5). More than this, he meets
powerful, concerted resistance (_ke poo o ka hala o ke
aku'i_, verse 6), offered by the compact groves of pandanus
that grow in the rough lava-shag (_aku'i_), typifying, no
doubt, the resistance made by the friends and retainers of
the woman. After all, he finds, or declares that he finds,
the hala fruit he had sought to gather and to wear as a _lei_
about his neck, to be spoiled, broken, fit only to litter the
road (_loli ka mu'o o ka hala_, verse 8; _A helelei ka'pua, a
pili ke alanui_, verse 9). In spite of his repulse and his
vilification of the woman, his passion, still feeds on the
thought of the one he has lost; her charms intoxicate his
imagination, even as the perfume of the hala bloom bewitches
the air of Pana-ewa (_Pu ia Panaewa, ona-ona i ke ala_, verse
10).
It is difficult to interpret verses 12 to 18 in harmony with
the story as above given. They may be regarded as a
[Page 79] commentary on the passionate episode in the life of the
lover, looked at from the standpoint of old age, at a time
when passion still survives but physical strength is in
abeyance.
As the sugar-boiler can not extract from the stalk the last
grain of sugar, so the author finds it impossible in any
translation to express the full intent of these Hawaiian
mele.
_Mele_
PALE IV
Aole au e hele ka li'u-la o Mana,
Ia wai crape-kanaka[194] o Lima-loa;[195]
A e hoopunipuni ia a'e nei ka malihini;
A mai puni au: lie wai oupe na.
5 He ala-pahi ka li'u-la o Mana;
Ke poloai[196] la i ke Koolau-waline.[197]
Ua ulu mai ka hoaloha i Wailua,
A ua kino-lau[198] Kawelo[199] mahamaha-i'[200]
[Page 80] A ua aona[201] mai nei lio oiwi e.
10 He mea e wale au e noho aku nei la.
Noho.
O ka noho kau a ka mea waiwai;
O kau ka i'a a haawi ia mai.
Oli-oli au ke loaa ia oe.
15 A pela ke ahi o Ka-maile,[202]
He alualu hewa a'e la ka malihini,
Kukuni hewa i ka ili a kau ka uli, e;
Kau ka uli a ka mea aloha, e.
[Footnote 194: _Wai oupe-kanaka_. Man-fooling water; the
mirage.]
[Footnote 195: _Lima-loa_. The long-armed, the god of the
mirage, who made his appearance at Mana, Kauai.]
[Footnote 196: _Poloai_. To converse with, to have dealings
with one.]
[Footnote 197: _Koolau-wahine_. The sea-breeze at Mana. There
is truth as well as poetry in the assertion made in this
verse. The warm moist air, rising from the heated sands of
Mana, did undoubtedly draw in the cool breeze from the
ocean--a fruitful dalliance.]
[Footnote 198: _Kino-lau_. Having many (400) bodies, or
metamorphoses, said of Kawelo.]
[Footnote 199: _Kawelo_. A sorcerer who lived in the region of
Mana. His favorite metamorphosis was into the form of a
shark. Even when in human form he retained the gills of a
fish and had the mouth of a shark at the back of his
shoulders, while to the lower part of his body were attached
the tail and flukes of a shark. To conceal these monstrous
appendages he wore over his shoulders a _kihei_ of kapa and
allowed himself to be seen only while in the sitting posture.
He sometimes took the form of a worm, a moth, a caterpillar,
or a butterfly to escape the hands of his enemies. On land he
generally appeared as a man squatting, after the manner of a
Hawaiian gardener while weeding his garden plot.
The cultivated lands of Kawelo lay alongside the
much-traveled path to the beach where the people of the
neighborhood resorted to bathe, to fish, and to swim in the
ocean. He made a practice of saluting the passers-by and of
asking them, "Whither are you going?" adding the caution,
"Look to it that you are not swallowed head and tail by the
shark; he has not breakfasted yet" (_E akahele oukou o pau
po'o, pau hi'u i ka mano; aohe i paina i kakahiaka o ka
mano_). As soon as the traveler had gone on his way to the
ocean, Kawelo hastened to the sea and there assumed his
shark-form. The tender flesh of children was his favorite
food. The frequent utterance of the same caution, joined to
the great mortality among the children and youth who resorted
to the ocean at this place, caused a panic among the
residents. The parents consulted a soothsayer, who surprised
them with the information that the guilty one was none other
than the innocent-looking farmer, Kawelo. Instructed by the
soothsayer, the people made an immense net of great strength
and having very fine meshes. This they spread in the ocean at
the bathing place. Kawelo, when caught in the net, struggled
fiendishly to break away, but in vain. According to
directions, they flung the body of the monster into an
enormous oven which they had heated to redness, and supplied
with fresh fuel for five times ten days--_elima anahulu_. At
the end of that time there remained only gray ashes. The
prophet had commanded them that when this had been
accomplished they must fill the pit of the oven with dry
dirt; thus doing, the monster would never come to life. They
neglected this precaution. A heavy rain flooded the
country--the superhuman work of the sorcerer--and from the
moistened ashes sprang into being a swarm of lesser sharks.
From them have come the many species of shark that now infest
our ocean.
The house which once was Kawelo's ocean residence is still
pointed out, 7 fathoms deep, a structure regularly built of
rocks.]
[Footnote 200: _Maha-maha i'a_. The gills or fins of a fish
such as marked Kawelo.]
[Footnote 201: _Aona_. A word of doubtful meaning; according
to one it means lucky. That expounder (T---- P----) says it
should, or-might be, _haona_; he instances the phrase _iwi
paou_, in which the word _paoa_ has a similar, but not
identical, form and means lucky bone.]
[Footnote 202: _Ka-maile_. A place on Kauai where prevailed the
custom of throwing firebrands down the lofty precipice of
Nuololo. This amusement made a fine display at night. As the
fire-sticks fell they swayed and drifted in the breeze,
making it difficult for one standing below to premise their
course through the air and to catch one of them before it
struck the ground or the water, that being one of the objects
of the sport. When a visitor had accomplished this feat, he
would sometimes mark his flesh with the burning stick that he
might show the brand to his sweetheart as a token of his
fidelity.]
[Translation]
_Song_
CANTO IV
I will not chase the mirage of Mana,
That man-fooling mist of god Lima-loa,
Which still deceives the stranger--
And came nigh fooling me--the tricksy water!
5 The mirage of Mana, is a fraud; it
Wantons with the witch Koolau.
A friend has turned up at Wailua,
Changeful Kawelo, with gills like a fish,
Has power to bring luck in any queer shape.
10 As a stranger now am I living,
Aye, living.
You flaunt like a person of wealth,
Yours the fish, till it comes to my hook.
I am blest at receiving from you:
15 Like fire-sticks flung at Ka-maile--
The visitor vainly chases the brand:
Fool! he burns his flesh to gain, the red mark,
A sign for the girl he loves, oho!
_Mele_
PALE V
(Ai-ha'a, a he Ko'i-honua paha)
Kauhua Ku, ka Lani, i-loli ka moku;
Hookohi ke kua-koko o ka Lani;
He kua-koko, pu-koko i ka honua;
He kna-koko kapu no ka Lani;
[Page 81] 5 He ko'i ula ana a maku'i i ka ala,
Hoomau ku-wa mahu ia,
Ka maka o ke ahi alii e a nei.
Ko mai ke keiki koko a ka Lani,
Ke keiki he nuuhiwa ia Hitu-kolo,
10 O ke keiki hiapo anuenue, iloko o ka manawa,
O hi ka wai nui o ka nuuhiwa a Ke-opu-o-lani,
O ua alii lani alewa-lewa nei,
E u-lele, e ku nei ma ka lani;
O ka Lani o na mu'o-lau o Liliha,
15 Ka hakina, ka pu'e, ka maka, o Kuhi-hewa a Lola--
Kalola, nana ke keiki laha-laha;
Ua kela, he kela ka pakela
O na pahi'a loa o ka pu likoliko i ka lani
O kakoo hulu manu o o-ulu,
20 O ka hulu o-ku'i lele i ka lani,
O hiapo o ka manu leina a Pokahi,
O Ka-lani-opu'u hou o ka moku,
O na kupuna koikoi o Keoua, o ka Lani Kui-apo-iwa.
[Translation]
_Song_
CANTO V
(To be recited in bombastic style, or, it may be, distinctly)
Big with child is the Princess Ku;
The whole island suffers her whimsies;
The pangs of labor are on her;
Labor that stains the land with blood,
5 Blood-clots of the heavenly born,
To preserve and guard the royal line,
The spark of king-fire now glowing:
A child is he of heavenly stock,
Like the darling of Hitu-kolo,
10 First womb-fruit born to love's rainbow.
A bath for this child of heaven's breast,
This mystical royal offspring,
Who ranks with the heavenly peers,
This tender bud of Liliha,
15 This atom, this parcel, this flame,
In the line Kuhi-hewa of Lola--
Ka-lola, who mothered a babe prodigious,
For glory and splendor renowned,
A scion most comely from heaven,
20 The finest down of the new-grown plume,
From bird whose moult floats to heaven,
Prime of the soaring birds of Pokahi,
The prince, heaven-flower of the island,
Ancestral sire of Ke-oua,
25 And of King Kui-apo-iwa.
[Page 82]
The heaping up of adulations, of which this mele is a capital
instance, was not peculiar to Hawaiian poetry. The Roman
Senate bestowed divinity on its emperors by vote; the
Hawaiian bard laureate, careering on his Pegasus, thought to
accomplish the same end by piling Ossa on Pelion with
high-flown phrases; and every loyal subject added his
contribution to the cairn that grew heavenward.
In Hawaii, as elsewhere, the times of royal debasement, of
aristocratic degeneracy, of doubtful or disrupted succession,
have always been the times of loudest poetic insistence on
birth-rank and the occasion for the most frenzied utterance
of high-sounding titles. This is a disease that has grown
with the decay of monarchy.
Applying this criterion to the mele above given, it may be
judged to be by no means a product wholly of the archaic
period. While certain parts, say from the first to the tenth
verses, inclusive, bear the mark of antiquity, the other
parts do not ring clear. It seems as if some poet of
comparatively modern times had revamped an old mele to suit
his own ends. Of this last part two verses were so glaringly
an interpolation that they were expunged from the text.
The effort to translate into pure Anglo-Saxon this vehement
outpour of high-colored phrases has made heavy demands on the
vocabulary and has strained the idioms of our speech
well-nigh to the point of protest.
In lines 1, 2, 4, 8, 14, and 23 the word _Lani_ means a
prince or princess, a high chief or king, a heavenly one. In
lines 12, 13, 18, and 20 the same word _lani_ means the
heavens, a concept in the Hawaiian mind that had some
far-away approximation to the Olympus of classic Greece.
_Mele_
Ooe no paha ia, e ka lau o ke aloha,
Oia no paha ia ke kau mai nei ka hali'a.
Ke hali'a-li'a mai nei ka maka,
Manao hiki mai no paha an anei.
5 Hiki mai no la ia, na wai e uwe aku?
Ua pau kau la, kau ike iaia;
Ka manawa oi' e ai ka manao iloko.
Ua luu iho nei an i ke kai nui;
Nui ka ukiuki, paio o ka naau.
10 Aone kanaka eha ole i ke aloha.
A wahine e oe, kanaka e au;
He mau alualu ka ha'i e lawe.
Ike aku i ke kula i'a o Ka-wai-nui.
Nui ka opala ai o Moku-lana.
15 Lana ka limu pae hewa o Makau-wahine.
O ka wahine no oe, o ke kane no ia.
Hiki mai no la ia, na wai e uwe aku?
Hoi mai no la ia, a ia wai e uwe aku?
[Page 83]
[Translation]
_Song_
Methinks it is you, leaf plucked from Love's tree,
You mayhap, that stirs my affection.
There's a tremulous glance of the eye,
The thought she might chance yet to come:
5 But who then would greet her with song?
Your day has flown, your vision of her--
A time this for gnawing the heart.
I've plunged just now in deep waters:
Oh the strife and vexation of soul!
10 No mortal goes scathless of love.
A wife thou estranged, I a husband estranged,
Mere husks to be cast to the swine.[203]
Look, the swarming of fish at the weir!
Their feeding grounds on the reef
15 Are waving with mosses abundant.
Thou art the woman, that one your man--
At her coming who'll greet her with song?
Her returning, who shall console?
[Footnote 203: In the original, _He mau alualu ka, ha'i e
lawe_, literally "Some skins for another to take."]
This song almost explains itself. It is the soliloquy of a
lover estranged from his mistress. Imagination is alive in
eye and ear to everything that may bring tidings of her, even
of her unhoped-for return. Sometimes he speaks as if
addressing the woman who has gone from him, or he addresses
himself, or he personifies some one who speaks to him, as in
the sixth line: "Your day has flown, ..."
The memory of past vexation and anguish extorts the
philosophic remark, "No mortal goes scathless of love." He
gives over the past, seeks consolation in a new
attachment--he dives, _lu'u_, into the great ocean, "deep
waters," of love, at least in search of love. The old self
(selves), the old love, he declares to be only _alualu_,
empty husks.
He--it is evidently a man--sets forth the wealth of comfort,
opulence, that surrounds him in his new-found peace. The
scene, being laid in the land Kailua, Oahu--the place to
which the enchanted tree _Maka-lei_[204] was carried long ago,
from which time its waters abounded in fish--fish are
naturally the symbol of the opulence that now bless his life.
But, in spite of the new-found peace and prosperity that
attend him, there is a lonely corner in his heart; the old
question echoes in its vacuum, "Who'll greet her with song?
who shall console?"
[Footnote 204: _Maka-lei_. (See note _b_, p. 17.)]
[Page 84]
_Mele_
O Ewa, aina kai ula i ka lepo,
I ula i ka makani anu Moa'e,
Ka manu ula i ka lau ka ai,
I palahe'a ula i ke kai o Kuhi-a.
5 Mai kuhi mai oukou e, owau ke kalohe;
Aohe na'u, na lakou no a pau.
Aohe hewa kekahi keiki a ke kohe.
Ei' a'e; oia no palm ia.
I lono oukou ia wai, e, ua moe?
10 Oia kini poai o lakou la paha?
Ike aku ia ka mau'u hina-hina--
He hina ko'u, he aka mai ko ia la.
I aka mai oe i kou la manawa le'a;
A manawa ino, nui mai ka nuku,
15 Hoomokapu, hoopale mai ka maka,
Hoolahui wale mai i a'u nei.
E, oia paha; ae, oia no paha ia.
[Translation]
_Song_
Ewa's lagoon is red with dirt--
Dust blown by the cool Moa'e,
A plumage red on the taro leaf,
An ocherous tint in the bay.
5 Say not in your heart that I am the culprit.
Not I, but they, are at fault.
No child of the womb is to blame.
There goes, likely he is the one.
Who was it blabbed of the bed defiled?
10 It must have been one of that band.
But look at the rank grass beat down--
For my part, I tripped, the other one smiled.
You smiled in your hour of pleasure;
But now, when crossed, how you scold!
15 Avoiding the house, averting the eyes--
You make of me a mere stranger.
Yes it's probably so, he's the one.
A poem this full of local color. The plot of the story, as it
may be interpreted, runs somewhat as follows: While the man
of the house, presumably, is away, it would seem--fishing,
perhaps, in the waters of Ewa's "shamrock lagoon"--the
mistress sports with a lover. The culprit impudently defends
himself with chaff and dust-throwing. The hoodlums, one of
whom is himself the sinner, have been blabbing, says he.
[Page 85]
His accuser points to the beaten down _hina-hina_ grass as
evidence against him. At this the brazen-faced culprit
parries the stroke with a humorous euphemistic description,
in which he plays on the word _hina_, to fall. Such verbal
tilting in ancient Hawaii was practically a defense against a
charge of moral obliquity as decisive and legitimate as was
an appeal to arms in the times of chivalry. He
euphemistically speaks of the beaten herbage as the result of
his having tripped and fallen, at which, says he, the woman
smiled, that is she fell in with his proposals. He gives
himself away; but that doesn't matter.
It requires some study to make out who is the speaker in the
tit-for-tat of the dialogue.
_Mele_
(Ai-ha'a)
He lua i ka Hikina,
Ua ena e Pele;
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao,
Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo;
5 Kawewe ka o-o i-lalo i akea;
A ninau o Wakea,
Owai nei akua e eli nei?
Owan no, o Pele,
Nona i eli aku ka lua i Niihau a a.
10 He lua i Niihau, ua ena e Pele.
He haoloolo e la ke ao,
Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo;
Kawewe ka o-o i-lalo i akea;
A ninau o Wakea,
15 Owai nei akua e eli nei?
Owau no, o Pele,
Nana i eli aku ka lua i Kauai a a.
He lua i Kauai ua ena e Pele.
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao,
20 Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo;
Kawewe ka o-o i-Ialo i akea;
Ninau o Wakea,
Owai nei akua e eli nei?
Owau no, o Pele,
25 Nana i eli ka lua i Oahu a a.
He lua i Oahu, ua ena e Pele.
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao,
Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo;
Kawewe ka o-o i-lalo i akea;
30 A ninau o Wakea,
Owai nei akua e eli nei?
Owau no, o Pele,
Nana i eli ka lua i Molokai a a.
[Page 86] He lua i Molokai, ua ena e Pele.
35 Ke haoloolo e la ke ao,
Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo;
Kawewe ka o-o i-lalo, i akea.
Ninau o Wakea,
Owai nei akua e eli nei?
40 Owau no, o Pele,
Nana i eli aku ka lua i Lanai a a.
He lua i Lanai, ua ena e Pele.
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao,
Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo;
45 Kawewe ka o-o i-lalo i akea.
Ninau o Wakea,
Owai nei akua e eli nei?
Owau no, o Pele,
Nana i eli aku ka lua i Maul a a.
50 He lua i Maui, ua ena e Pele.
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao,
Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo;
Kawewe ka o-o i-lalo, i akea.
Ninau o Wakea,
55 Owai, nei akua e eli nei?
Owau no, o Pele,
Nana i eli aku ka lua i Hu'ehu'e a a.
He lua i Hu'ehu'e, ua ena e Pele.
Ke haoloolo e la ke ao,
60 Ke lele la i-luna, i-lalo;
Kawewe ka o-o i-lalo, i akea.
Eli-eli, kau mai!
[Translation]
_Song_
(In turgid style)
A pit lies (far) to the East,
Pit het by the Fire-queen Pele.
Heaven's dawn is lifted askew,
One edge tilts up, one down, in the sky;
5 The thud of the pick is heard in the ground.
The question is asked by Wakea,
What god's this a-digging?
It is I, it is Pele,
Who dug Mihau deep down till it burned,
10 Dug fire-pit red-heated by Pele.
Night's curtains are drawn to one side,
One lifts, one hangs in the tide.
Crunch of spade resounds in the earth.
Wakea 'gain urges the query,
15 What god plies the spade in the ground?
Quoth Pele, 'tis I:
[Page 87] I mined to the fire neath Kauai,
On Kauai I dug deep a pit,
A fire-well flame-fed by Pele.
20 The heavens are lifted aslant,
One border moves up and one down;
There's a stroke of o-o 'neath the ground.
Wakea, in earnest, would know,
What demon's a-grubbing below?
25 I am the worker, says Pele:
Oahu I pierced to the quick,
A crater white-heated by Pele.
Now morn lights one edge of the sky;
The light streams up, the shadows fall down;
30 There's a clatter of tools deep down.
Wakea, in passion, demands,
What god this who digs 'neath the ground?
It is dame Pele who answers;
Hers the toil to dig down to fire,
35 To dig Molokai and reach fire.
Now morning peeps from the sky
With one eye open, one shut.
Hark, ring of the drill 'neath the plain!
Wakea asks you to explain,
40 What imp is a-drilling below?
It is I, mutters Pele:
I drilled till flame shot forth on Lanai,
A pit candescent by Pele.
The morning looks forth aslant;
45 Heaven's curtains roll up and roll down;
There's a ring of o-o 'neath the sod.
Who, asks Wakea, the god,
Who is this devil a-digging?
'Tis I, 'tis Pele, I who
50 Dug on Maui the pit to the fire:
Ah, the crater of Maui,
Red-glowing with Pele's own fire!
Heaven's painted one side by the dawn,
Her curtains half open, half drawn;
55 A rumbling is heard far below.
Wakea insists he will know
The name of the god that tremors the land.
'Tis I, grumbles Pele,
I have scooped out the pit Hu'e-hu'e,
60 A pit that reaches to fire,
A fire fresh kindled by Pele.
Now day climbs up to the East;
Morn folds the curtains of night;
The spade of sapper resounds 'neath the plain:
65 The goddess is at it again!
[Page 88]
This mele comes to us stamped with the hall-mark of
antiquity. It is a poem of mythology, but with what story it
connects itself, the author knows not.
The translation here given makes no profession of absolute,
verbal literalness. One can not transfer a metaphor bodily,
head and horns, from one speech to another. The European had
to invent a new name for the boomerang or accept the name by
which the Australian called it. The Frenchman, struggling
with the English language, told a lady he was _gangrened_, he
meant he was _mortified_. The cry for literalism is the cry
for an impossibility; to put the chicken back into its shell,
to return to the bows and arrows of the stone age.
To make the application to the mele in question: the word
_hu-olo-olo_, for example, which is translated in several
different ways in the poem, is of such generic and
comprehensive meaning that one word fails to express its
meaning. It is, by the way, not a word to be found in any
dictionary. The author had to grope his way to its meaning by
following the trail of some Hawaiian pathfinder who, after
beating about the bush, finally had to acknowledge that the
path had become so much overgrown since he last went that way
that he could not find it.
The Arabs have a hundred or more words meaning
sword--different kinds of swords. To them our word sword is
very unspecific. Talk to an Arab of a sword--you may exhaust
the list of special forms that our poor vocabulary compasses,
straight sword, broadsword, saber, scimitar, yataghan,
rapier, and what hot, and yet not hit the mark of Ms
definition.
_Mele_
Haku'i ka uahi o ka lua, pa i ka lani;
Ha'aha'a Hawaii, moku o Keawe i hanau ia.
Kiekie ke one o Malama ia Lohiau,
I a'e 'a mai e ke alii o Kahiki,
5 Nana i hele kai uli, kai ele,
Kai popolo-hu'a a Kane,
Ka wa i po'i ai ke Kai-a-ka-Mna-lii,
Kai nu'u, kai lewa.
Hoopua o Kane i ka la'i;
10 Pa uli-hiwa mai la ka uka o ke ahi a Laka,
Oia wahine kihene lehua o Hopoe,
Pu'e aku-o na hala,
Ka hala o Panaewa,
O Panaewa nui, moku lehua;
15 Ohia kupu ha-o'e-o'e;
Lehua ula, i will ia e lie ahi.
A po, e!
Po Puna, po Hilo!
Po i ka uahi o ku'u aina.
20 Ola ia kini!
Ke a mai la ke ahi!
[Page 89]
[Translation]
_Song_
A burst of smoke from the pit lifts to the skies;
Hawaii's beneath, birth-land of Keawe;
Malama's beach looms before Lohian,
Where landed the chief from Kahiki,
5 From a voyage on the blue sea, the dark sea,
The foam-mottled sea of Kane,
What time curled waves of the king-whelming flood.
The sea up-swells, invading the land--
Lo Kane, outstretched at his ease!
10 Smoke and flame o'ershadow the uplands,
Conflagration by Laka, the woman
Hopoe wreathed with flowers of lehua,
Stringing the pandanus fruit.
Screw-palms that clash in Pan'-ewa--
15 Pan'-ewa, whose groves of lehua
Are nourished by lava shag,
Lehua that bourgeons with flame.
Night, it is night
O'er Puna and Hilo!
20 Night from the smoke of my land!
For the people salvation!
But the land is on fire!
The Hawaiian who furnished the meles which, in their
translated forms, are designated as canto I, canto II, and so
on, spoke of them as _pale_, and, following his
nomenclature, the term has been retained, though more
intimate acquaintance with the meles and with the term has
shown that the nearest English synonym to correspond with
pale would be the word division. Still, perhaps with a
mistaken tenderness for the word, the author has retained the
caption Canto, as a sort of nodding recognition of the old
Hawaiian's term--division of a poem. No idea is entertained
that the five _pale_ above given were composed by the same
bard, or that they represent productions from the same
individual standpoint. They do, however, breathe a spirit
much in common; so that when the old Hawaiian insisted that
they are so far related to one another as to form a natural
series for recitation in the hula, being species of the same
genus, as it were, he was not far from the truth. The man's
idea seemed to be that they were so closely related that,
like beads of harmonious colors and shapes, they might be
strung on the same thread without producing a dissonance.
Of these five poems, or _pale_ (pah-lay), numbers I, II, and
IV were uttered in a natural tone of voice, termed _kawele_,
otherwise termed _ko'i-honua_. The purpose of this style of
recitation was to adapt the tone to the necessities of the
[Page 90] aged when their ears no longer heard distinctly. It would
require an audiphone to illustrate perfectly the difference
between this method of pronunciation and the _ai-ha'a_, which
was employed in the recitation of cantos III and V. The
_ai-ha'a_ was given in a strained and guttural tone.
The poetical reciter and cantillator, whether in the halau or
in the king's court, was wont to heighten the oratorical
effect of his recitation by certain crude devices, the most
marked of which was that of choking the voice down, as it
were, into the throat, and there letting it strain and growl
like a hungry lion. This was the ai-ha'a, whose organic
function was the expression of the underground passions of
the soul.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 33 PLATE VIII
MAILE PAKAHA
NIHI-AU-MOE
MARIONETTES]
[Page 91]
XI.--THE HULA KI'I
I was not a little surprised when I learned that the ancient
hula repertory of the Hawaiians included a performance with
marionettes, _ki'i_, dressed up to represent human beings.
But before accepting the hula _ki'i_ as a product indigenous
to Hawaii, I asked myself: Might not this be a performance in
imitation of the Punch-and-Judy show familiar to Europe and
America?
After careful study of the question no evidence was found,
other than what might be inferred from general resemblance,
for the theory of adoption from a European or American
origin. On the contrary, the words used as an accompaniment
to the play agree with report and tradition, and bear
convincing evidence in form, and matter to a Hawaiian
antiquity. That is not to say, however, that in the use of
marionettes the Hawaiians did not hark back to their
ancestral homes in the southern sea or to a remoter past in
Asia.
The six marionettes, _ki'i_ (pls. VIII and IX), in the
writer's possession were obtained from a distinguished
kumu-hula, who received them by inheritance, as it were, from
his brother. "He gave them to me," said he, "with these
words,' Take care of these things, and when the time comes,
after my death, that the king wants you to perform before
him, be ready to fulfill his desire.'"
It was in the reign of Kamehameha III that they came into the
hands of the elder brother, who was then and continued to be
the royal hula-master until his death. These ki'i have
therefore figured in performances that have been graced by
the presence of King Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) and his
queen, Kalama, and by his successors since then down to the
times of Kalakaua. At the so-called "jubilee," the
anniversary of Kalakaua's fiftieth birthday, these
marionettes were very much in evidence.
The make-up and style of these ki'i are so similar that a
description of one will serve for all six. This marionette
represents the figure of a man, and was named _Maka-ku_ (pl.
IX). The head is carved out of some soft wood--either kukui
or wiliwili---which is covered, as to the hairy scalp, with a
dark woven fabric much like broadcloth. It is encircled at
the level of the forehead with a broad band of gilt braid, as
if to ape the style of a soldier. The median line from the
forehead over the vertex to the back-head is crested with the
_mahiole_ ridge. This, taken in connection with the
[Page 92] encircling gilt band, gives to the head a warlike appearance,
somewhat as if it were armed with the classical helmet, the
Hawaiian name for which is _mahi-ole_. The crest of the ridge
and its points of junction with the forehead and back-head
are decorated with fillets of wool dyed of a reddish color,
in apparent imitation of the _mamo_ or _o-o_, the birds whose
feathers were used in decorating helmets, cloaks, and other
regalia. The features are carved with some attempt at
fidelity. The eyes are set with mother-of-pearl.
The figure is of about one-third life size, and was
originally draped, the author was told, in a loose robe,
_holoku_ of tapa cloth of the sort known as _mahuna_, which
is quite thin. This piece of tapa is perforated at short
intervals with small holes, _kiko'i_. It is also stained with
the juice from the bark of the root of the kukui tree, which
imparts a color like that of copper, and makes the Hawaiians
class it as _pa'ikukui_. A portion of its former, its
original, apparel has been secured.
The image is now robed in a holoku of yellow cotton, beneath
which is an underskirt of striped silk in green and white.
The arms are loosely jointed to the body.
The performer in the hula, who stood behind a screen, by
insinuating his hands under the clothing of the marionette,
could impart to it such movements as were called for by the
action of the play, while at the same time he repeated the
words of his part, words supposed to be uttered by the
marionette.
The hula ki'i was, perhaps, the nearest approximation made by
the Hawaiians to a genuine dramatic performance. Its usual
instrument of musical accompaniment was the ipu, previously
described. This drumlike object was handled by that division
of the performers called the hoopa'a, who sat in full view of
the audience manipulating the ipu in a quiet, sentimental
manner, similar to that employed in the hula kuolo.
As a sample of the stories illustrated in a performance of
the hula ki'i the following may be adduced, the dramatis
personae of which are four:
1. _Maka-ku_: a famous warrior, a rude, strong-handed
braggart, as boastful as Ajax.
2. _Puapua-kea_, a small man, but brave and active.
3. _Maile-lau-lii_ (Small-leafed-maile), a young woman, who
becomes the wife of Maka-ku.
4. _Maile-Pakaha_, the younger sister of Maile-lau-lii, who
becomes the wife of Puapua-kea.
Maka-ku, a rude and boastful son of Mars, at heart a bully,
if not a coward, is represented as ever aching for a fight,
in which his domineering spirit and rough-and-tumble ways for
a time gave him the advantage over abler, but more modest,
adversaries.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, BULLETIN 38 PLATE IX
MARIONETTE, MAKA-KU]
[Page 93]
Puapuakea, a man of genuine courage, hearing of the boastful
achievements of Maka-ku, seeks him out and challenges him.
At the first contest they fought with javelins, _ihe_, each
one taking his turn according to lot in casting his javelins
to the full tale of the prescribed number; after which the
other contestant did the same. Neither was victorious.
Next they fought with slings, each one having the right to
sling forty stones at the other. In this conflict also
neither one of them got the better of the other. The next
trial was with stone-throwing. The result was still the same.
Now it was for them to try the classical Hawaiian game of
_lua_. This was a strenuous form of contest that has many
features in common with the panathlion of the ancient
Hellenes, some points in common with boxing, and still more,
perhaps, partakes of the character of the grand art of
combat, wrestling. Since becoming acquainted with the fine
Japanese art of _jiu-jitsu_, the author recognizes certain
methods that were shared by them both. But to all of these it
added the wild privileges of choking, bone-breaking,
dislocating, eye-gouging, and the infliction of tortures and
grips unmentionable and disreputable. At first the conflict
was in suspense, victory favoring neither party; but as the
contest went on Puapuakea showed a slight superiority, and at
the finish he had bettered Maka-ku by three points, or
_ai_[205], as the Hawaiians uniquely term it.
[Footnote 205: _Ai_, literally a food, a course.]
The sisters, Maile-lau-lii and Maile-pakaha, who had been
interested spectators of the contest, conceived a passionate
liking for the two warriors and laid their plans in concert
to capture them for themselves. Fortunately their preferences
were not in conflict. Maile-lau-lii set her affections on
Maka-ku, while the younger sister devoted herself to
Pua-pua-kea.
The two men had previously allowed their fancies to range
abroad at pleasure; but from this time they centered their
hearts on these two Mailes and settled down to regular
married life.
Interest in the actual performance of the hula ki'i was
stimulated by a resort to byplay and buffoonery. One of the
marionettes, for instance, points to some one in the
audience; whereupon one of the _hoopaa_ asks, "What do you
want?" The marionette persists in its pointing. At length the
interlocutor, as if divining the marionette's wish, says:
"Ah, you want So-and-so." At this the marionette nods assent,
and the hoopaa asks again, "Do you wish him to come to you?"
The marionette expresses its delight and approval by nods and
gestures, to the immense satisfaction of the audience, who
join in derisive laughter at the expense of the person held
up to ridicule.
Besides the marionettes already named among the characters
found in the different hula-plays of the hula ki'i, the
[Page 94] author has heard mention of the following marionettes: _Ku,
Kini-ki'i, Hoo-lehelehe-ki'i, Ki'i-ki'i_, and _Nihi-aumoe_.
Nihi-aumoe was a man without the incumbrance of a wife, an
expert in the arts of intrigue and seduction. Nihi-aumoe is a
word of very suggestive meaning, to walk softly at midnight.
In Judge Andrews's dictionary are found the following
pertinent Hawaiian verses apropos of the word _nihi_:
E hoopono ka hele i ka uka o Puna;
E _nihi_ ka hele, mai hoolawehala,
Mai noho a ako i ka pua, o hewa,
O inaina ke Akua, paa ke alanui,
Aole ou ala e hiki aku ai.
[Translation]
Look to your ways in upland Puna;
Walk softly, commit no offense;
Dally not, nor pluck the flower sin;
Lest God in anger bar the road,
And you find no way of escape.
The marionette Ki'i-ki'i was a strenuous little fellow, an
_ilamuku_, a marshal, or constable of the king. It was his
duty to carry out with unrelenting rigor the commands of the
alii, whether they bade him take possession of a taro patch,
set fire to a house, or to steal upon a man at dead of night
and dash out his brains while he slept.
Referring to the illustrations (pl. VIII), a judge of human
nature can almost read the character of the libertine
Nihi-aumoe written in his features--the flattened vertex,
indicative of lacking reverence and fear, the ruffian
strength of the broad face; and if one could observe the
reverse of the picture he would note the flattened back-head,
a feature that marks a large number of Hawaiian crania.
The songs that were cantillated to the hula ki'i express in
some degree the peculiar libertinism of this hula, which
differed from all others by many removes. They may be
characterized as gossipy, sarcastic, ironical,
scandal-mongering, dealing in satire, abuse, hitting right
and left at social and personal vices--a cheese of rank
flavor that is not to be partaken of too freely. It might be
compared to the vaudeville in opera or to the genre picture
in art.
_Mele_
E Wewehi, ke, ke!
Wewehi oiwi, ke, ke!
Punana[206] i ka luna, ke, ke!
Hoonoho kai-oa[207] ke, ke!
[Page 95] 5 Oluna ka wa'a[208], ke, ke!
O kela wa'a, ke, ke!
O keia wa'a, ke, ke!
Ninau o Mawi[209], ke, ke!
Nawai ka luau'i?[209] ke, ke!
10 Na Wewehi-loa[210], ke, ke! 10
Ua make Wewehi, ke, ke!
Ua ku i ka ihe, ke, ke!
Ma ka puka kahiko[211] ke, ke!
Ka puka a Mawi, ke, ke!
15 Ka lepe, ka lepe, la! 15
Ka lepe, ua hina a uwe!
Ninau ka lepe, la!
Mana-mana lii-lii,
Mana-mana heheiao,
20 Ke kumu o ka lepe? 20
Ka lepe hiolo, e?
[Footnote 206: _Punana_. Literally a nest; here a raised couch
on the _pola_, which was a sheltered platform in the waist of
a double canoe, corresponding to our cabin, for the use of
chiefs and other people of distinction.]
[Footnote 207: _Kai-oa_. The paddle-men; here a euphemism.]
[Footnote 208: _Wa'a_. A euphemism for the human body.]
[Footnote 209: _Mawi_. The hero of Polynesian mythology, whose
name is usually spelled _Maui_, like the name of the island.
Departure from the usual orthography is made in order to
secure phonetic accuracy. The name of the hero is pronounced
_Mah-wee_, not _Mow-ee_, as is the island. Sir George Gray,
of New Zealand, following the usual orthography, has given a
very full and interesting account of him in his Polynesian
mythology.]
[Footnote 210: _Wewehi-loa_. Another name for _Wahie-loa_, who
is said to have been the grandfather of Wewehi. The word
_luau'i_ in the previous verse, meaning real father, is an
archaic form. Another form is _kua-u'i_.]
[Footnote 211: _Puka kahiko_. A strange story from Hawaiian
mythology relates that originally the human anatomy was sadly
deficient in that the terminal gate of the _primae viae_ was
closed. Mawi applied his common-sense surgery to the repair
of the defect and relieved the situation. _Ua olelo ia i
kinahi ua hana ia kanaka me ka hemahema no ka nele i ka hou
puka ole ia ka okole, a na Mawi i hoopau i keia pilikia
mamuli o kana hana akamai. Ua kapa ia keia puka ka puka
kahiko._]
[Translation]
_Song_
O Wewehi, la, la!
Wewehi, peerless form, la, la!
Encouched on the pola, la, la!
Bossing the paddlers, la, la!
5 Men of the canoe, la, la! 5
Of that canoe, la, la!
Of this canoe, la, la!
Mawi inquires, la, la!
Who was her grand-sire? la, la!
10 'Twas Wewehi-loa, la, la! 10
Wewehi is dead, la, la!
Wounded with spear, la, la!
The same old wound, la, la!
Wound made by Mawi, la, la!
[Page 96]
15 The flag, lo the flag! 15
The flag weeps at half-mast!
The flag, indeed, asks--
Many, many the flags,
A scandal for number.
20 Why are they overturned? 20
Why their banners cast down?
The author has met with several variants to this mele, which
do not greatly change its character. In one of these variants
the following changes are to be noted:
Line 4. Pikaka[212] e ka luna, ke, ke!
Line 5. Ka luna o ka hale, ke, ke!
Line 8. Ka puka o ka hale, a ke, ke!
Line 9. E noho i anei, a ke, ke!
To attempt a translation of these lines which are
unadulterated slang:
Line 4. The roof is a-dry, la, la!
Line 5. The roof of the house, la, la!
Line 8. The door of the house, la, la!
Line 9. Turn in this way, la, la!
[Footnote 212: _Pikaka_ (full form _pikakao_). Dried up,
juiceless.]
The one who supplied the above lines expressed inability to
understand their meaning, averring that they are "classical
Hawaiian," meaning, doubtless, that they are archaic slang.
As to the ninth line, the practice of "sitting in the door"
seems to have been the fashion with such folk as far back as
the time of Solomon.
Let us picture this princess of Maui, this granddaughter of
Wahieloa, Wewehi, as a Helen, with all of Helen's frailty, a
flirt-errant, luxurious in life, quickly deserting one lover
for the arms of another; yet withal of such humanity and
kindness of fascination that, at her death, or absence, all
things mourned her--not as Lycidas was mourned:
"With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
.............................................
And daffodillies fill their cups with tears,"
but in some rude pagan fashion; all of which is wrought out
and symbolized in the mele with such imagery as is native to
the mind of the savage.
The attentive reader will not need be told that, as in many
another piece out of Hawaii's old-time legends, the path
through this song is beset with euphuistic stumbling blocks.
The purpose of language, says Talleyrand, is to conceal
thought. The veil in this case is quite gauzy.
The language of the following song for the marionette dance,
hula ki'i, as in the one previously given, is mostly of that
[Page 97] kind which the Hawaiians term _olelo kapekepeke_, or _olelo
huna_, shifty talk, or secret talk. We might call it slang,
though, it is not slang in the exact sense in which we use
that word, applying it to the improvised counters of thought
that gain currency in our daily speech until they find
admission to the forum, the platform, and the dictionary. It
is rather a cipher-speech, a method of concealing one's
meaning from all but the initiated, of which the Hawaiian,
whether alii or commoner, was very fond. The people of the
hula were famous for this sort of accomplishment and prided
themselves not a little in it as an effectual means of giving
appropriate flavor and gusto to their performances.
_Mele_
Ele-ele kau-kau;[213]
Ka hala-le,[214] e kau-kau,
Ka e-ele ihi,
Ele ihi, ele a,
5 Ka e-ele ku-pou;[215]
Ku-pou.
Ka hala, e![216]
[Translation]
_Song_
Point to a dark one,
Point to a dainty piece,
A delicate morsel she!
Very choice, very hot!
5 She that stoops over--
Aye stoops!
Lo, the hala fruit!
The translation has to be based largely on conjecture. The
author of this bit of fun-making, which is couched in
old-time slang, died without making known the key to his
cipher, and no one whom the present writer has met with is
able to unravel its full meaning.
[Footnote 213: _Kau-kau_. Conjectural meaning to point out some
one in the audience, as the marionettes often did. People
were thus sometimes inveigled in behind the curtain.]
[Footnote 214: _Hala-le_. Said to mean a sop, with which one
took up the juice or gravy of food; a choice morsel.]
[Footnote 215: _Ku-pou_. To stoop over, from devotion to one's
own pursuits, from modesty, or from shame.]
[Footnote 216: The meaning of this line has been matter for
much conjecture. The author has finally adopted the
suggestion embodied in the translation here given, which is a
somewhat gross reference to the woman's physical charms.]
The following mele for the hula ki'i, in language colored by
the same motive, was furnished by an accomplished
practitioner who had traveled far and wide in the practice of
her art, having been one of a company of hula dancers that
attended the Columbian exposition in Chicago. It was her good
[Page 98] fortune also to reach the antipodes in her travels, and it
was at Berlin, she says, that she witnessed for the first
time the European counterpart of the hula ki'i, the "Punch
and Judy" show:
_Mele no ka Hula Ki'i_
E le'e kau-kau, kala le'e;
E le'e kau-kau.
E le'e kau-kau, kala le'e.
E lepe kau-kau.
5 E o-ku ana i kai;
E u-au ai aku;
E u-au ai aku;
E u-au ai aku!
E-he-he, e!
[Translation.]
_Song for the Hula Ki'i_
Now for the dance, dance in accord;
Prepare for the dance.
Now for the dance, dance in time.
Up, now, with the flag!
5 Step out to the right
Step out to the left!
Ha, ha, ha!
This translation is the result of much research, yet its
absolute accuracy can not be vouched for. The most learned
authorities (_kaka-olelo_) in old Hawaiian lore that have
been found by the writer express themselves as greatly
puzzled at the exact meaning of the mele just given. Some
scholars, no doubt, would dub these nonsense-lines. The
author can not consent to any such view. The old Hawaiians
were too much in earnest to permit themselves to juggle with
words in such fashion. They were fond of mystery and
concealment, appreciated a joke, given to slang, but to
string a lot of words together without meaning, after the
fashion of a college student who delights to relieve his mind
by shouting "Upidee, upida," was not their way. "The people
of the hula," said one man, "had ways of fun-making peculiar
to themselves."
When the hula-dancer who communicated to the author the above
song--a very accomplished and intelligent woman--was asked
for information that would render possible its proper
translation, she replied that her part was only that of a
mouthpiece to repeat the words and to make appropriate
gestures, _he pono hula wale no_, mere parrot-work. The
language, she said, was such "classic" Hawaiian as to be
beyond her understanding.
[Page 99]
Here, again, is another song in argot, a coin of the same
mintage as those just given:
_Mele_
E kau-kau i hale manu, e!
Ike oe i ka lola huluhulu, e?
I ka huluhulu a we'uwe'u, e?
I ka punohu,[217] e, a ka la e kau nei?
5 Walea ka manu i ka wai, e!
I ka wai lohi o ke kini, e!
[Translation]
_Song_
Let's worship now the bird-cage.
Seest thou the furzy woodland,
The shag of herb and forest,
The low earth-tinting rainbow,
5 Child of the Sun that swings above?
O, happy bird, to drink from the pool,
A bliss free to the million!
[Footnote 217: _Punohu_. A compact mass of clouds, generally
lying low in the heavens; a cloud-omen; also a rainbow that
lies close to the earth, such as is formed when the sun is
high in the heavens.]
This is the language of symbolism. When Venus went about to
ensnare Adonis, among her other wiles she warbled to him of
mountains, dales, and pleasant fountains.
The mele now presented is of an entirely different character
from those that have just preceded. It is said to have been
the joint composition of the high chief Keiki-o-ewa of Kauai,
at one time the kahu of Prince Moses, and of Kapihe, a
distinguished poet--haku-mele--and prophet. (To Kapihe is
ascribed the prophetic and oracular utterance, _E iho ana o
luna, e pii ana o lalo; e ku ana ka paia; e moe ana kaula; e
kau ana kau-huhu--o lani iluna, o honua ilalo_--"The high
shall be brought low, the lowly uplifted; the defenses shall
stand; the prophet shall lie low; the mountain walls shall
abide--heaven above, earth beneath.")
This next poem may be regarded as an epithalamium, the
celebration of the mystery and bliss of the wedding night,
the _hoao ana_ of a high chief and his high-born _kapu_
sister. The murmur of the breeze, the fury of the winds, the
heat of the sun, the sacrificial ovens, all are symbols that
set forth the emotions, experiences, and mysteries of the
night:
[Page 100]
_Mele_
(Ko'ihonua)
O Wanahili[218] ka po loa ia Manu'a,[219]
O ka pu kau kama[220] i Hawaii akea;
O ka pu leina[221] kea a Kiha--
O Kiha nui a Pii-lani--[222]
5 O Kauhi kalana-honu'-a-Kama;[223]
O ka maka iolena[224] ke koohaulani i-o!
O kela kanaka hoali mauna,[225]
O Ka Lani ku'i hono i ka moku.[226]
I waihona kapuahi kanaka eha,[227]
10 Ai' i Kauai, i Oahu, i Maui,
I Hawaii kahiko o Keawe enaena,[228]
Ke a-a, mai la me ke o-koko,
Ke lapa-lapa la i ka makani,
Makani kua, he Naulu.[229]
10 Kua ka Wainoa i ka Mikioi,
[Page 101] Pu-a ia lalo o Hala-li'i, [230]
Me he alii, alii, la no ka hele i Kekaha,
Ka hookiekie i ka li'u-la,[231]
Ka hele i ke alia-lia la, alia!
20 Alia-lia la'a-laau Kekaha.
Ke kaha o Kala-ihi, Wai-o-lono.
Ke olo la ke pihe a ka La, e!
Ke nu la paha i Honua-ula.
[Footnote 218: _Wanahili_. A princess of the mythological
period belonging to Puna, Hawaii.]
[Footnote 219: _Manu'a_. A king of Hilo, the son of Kane-hili,
famous for his skill in spear-throwing, _maika_-rolling, and
all athletic exercises. He was united in marriage, _ho-ao_,
to the lovely princess Wanahili. Tradition deals with Manua
as a very lovable character.]
[Footnote 220: _Pu kau kama_. The conch (pu) is figured as the
herald of fame. _Kau_ is used in the sense of to set on high,
in contrast with such a word as _waiho_, to set down. _Kama_
is the word of dignity for children.]
[Footnote 221: _Pu leina_. It is asserted on good authority
that the triton (_pu_), when approached in its ocean habitat,
will often make sudden and extraordinary leaps in an effort
to escape. There is special reference here to the famous
conch known in Hawaiian story as _Kiha-pu_. It was credited
with supernatural powers as a _kupua_. During the reign of
Umi, son of Liloa, it was stolen from the _heiau_ in Waipio
valley and came into the hands of god Kane. In his wild
awa-drinking revels the god terrified Umi and his people by
sounding nightly blasts with the conch. The shell was finally
restored to King Umi by the superhuman aid of the famous dog
Puapua-lena-lena.]
[Footnote 222: _Kiha-nui a Piilani_. Son of Piilani, a king of
Maui. He is credited with the formidable engineering work of
making a paved road over the mountain palis of Koolau, Maui.]
[Footnote 223: _Kauhi kalana-honu'-a-Kama_. This Kauhi, as his
long title indicates, was the son of the famous king,
Kama-lala-walu, and succeeded his father in the kingship over
Maui and, probably, Lanai. Kama-lala-walu had a long and
prosperous reign, which ended, however, in disaster. Acting
on the erroneous reports of his son Kauhi, whom he had sent
to spy out the land, he invaded the kingdom of
Lono-i-ka-makahiki on Hawaii, was wounded and defeated in
battle, taken prisoner, and offered up as a sacrifice on the
altar of Lono's god, preferring that death, it is said, to
the ignominy of release.]
[Footnote 224: _I-olena_. Roving, shifty, lustful.]
[Footnote 225: _Kanaka hoali mauna_. Man who moved mountains;
an epithet of compliment applied perhaps to Kiha, above
mentioned, or to the king mentioned in the next verse,
Kekaulike.]
[Footnote 226: _Ku'i hono i ka moku_. Who bound together into
one (state) the islands Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Kahoolawe.
This was, it is said, Kekaulike, the fifth king of Maui after
Kama-lala-walu. At his death he was succeeded by
Kamehameha-nui--to be distinguished from the Kamehameha of
Hawaii--and he in turn by the famous warrior-king Kahekili,
who routed the invading army of Kalaniopuu, king of Hawaii,
on the sand plains of Wailuku.]
[Footnote 227: _I waihona kapuahi kanaka eha_. This verse
presents grammatical difficulties. The word _I_ implies the
imperative, a form of request or demand, though that is
probably not the intent. It seems to be a means, authorized
by poetical license, of ascribing honor and tabu-glory to
the name of the person eulogized, who, the context leads the
author to think, was Kekaulike. The island names other than
that of Maui seem to have been thrown in for poetical effect,
as that king, in the opinion of the author, had no power over
Kauai, Oahu, or Hawaii. The purpose may have been to assert
that his glory reached to those islands.]
[Footnote 228: _Keawe enaena_. Keawe, whose tabu was hot as a
burning oven. Presumably Keawe, the son of Umi, is the one
meant.]
[Footnote 229: _Naulu_. The sea-breeze at Waimea, Kauai.]
[Footnote 230: _Hala-lii_. A sandy plain on Niihau, where grows
a variety of sugar-cane that lies largely covered by the
loose soil, _ke ko eli o Hala-lii_.]
[Footnote 231: _Li'u-la_. The mirage, a common phenomenon on
Niihau, and especially at Mana, on Kauai.]
[Translation]
_Song_
(Distinct utterance)
Wanahili bides the whole night with Manu'a,
By trumpet hailed through broad Hawaii,
By the white vaulting conch of Kiha--
Great Kiha, offspring of Pii-lani,
5 Father of eight-branched Kama-lala-walu
The far-roaming eye now sparkles with joy,
Whose energy erstwhile shook mountains,
The king who firm-bound the isles in one state,
His glory, symboled by four human altars,
10 Reaches Kauai, Oahu, Maui,
Hawaii the eld of Keawe,
Whose tabu, burning with blood-red blaze,
Shoots flame-tongues that leap with the wind,
The breeze from the mountain, the Naulu.
15 Waihoa humps its back, while cold Mikioi
Blows fierce and swift across Hala-li'i.
It vaunts like a king at Kekaha,
Flaunting itself in the sun's heat,
And lifts itself up in mirage,
20 Ghost-forms of woods and trees in Kekaha--
Sweeping o'er waste Kala-ihi, Water-of-Lono;
While the sun shoots forth its fierce rays--
Its heat, perchance, reaches to Honua-ula.
The mele next given takes its local color from Kauai and
brings vividly to mind the experiences of one who has climbed
the mountain walls _pali_, that buffet the winds of its
northern coast.
_Mele_
Kalalau, pali eku i ka makani;
Pu ka Lawa-kua,[232] hoi mau i Kolo-kini;
Nu a anahulu ka pa ana i-uka--
Anahulu me na po keu elua.
[Page 102] 5 Elua Hono-pu o ia kua kanaka;
Elua Ko'a-mano[233] me Wai-aloha,
Ka pali waha iho, waha iho[234] me ke kua;
Ke keiki puu iloko o ka pali nui.
E hii an'[235] e Makua i Kalalau.
[Footnote 232: Laiea-kua. A wind in Kalalau that blows for a
time from the mountains and then, it is said, veers to the
north, so that it comes from the direction of a secondary
valley, Kolo-kini, a branch of Kalalau. The bard describes it
as continuing to blow for twelve nights before It shifts, an
instance, probably, of poetic license.]
[Footnote 233: _Ko'a-mano_. A part of the ocean into which the
stream Wai-aloha falls.]
[Footnote 234: _Waha iho_. With mouth that yawns downward,
referring, doubtless, to the overarching of the _pali_,
precipice. The same figure is applied to the back (_kua_) of
the traveler who climbs it.]
[Footnote 235: Elision of the final _a_ in _ana_.]
[Translation]
_Song_
The mountain walls of Kalalau
Buffet the blasts of Lawa-kau,
That surge a decade of nights and twain;
Then, wearied, it veers to the north.
5 Two giant backs stand the cliffs Hono-pu;
The falls Wai-aloha mate with the sea:
An overhung pali--the climber's back swings in
Its mouth--to face it makes one a child--
Makua, whose arms embrace Kalalau.
The mind of the ancient bard was so narrowly centered on the
small plot his imagination cultivated that he disregarded the
outside world, forgetting that it could not gaze upon the
scenes which filled his eyes.
The valley of Kalalau from its deep recess in the
northwestern coast of Kauai looks out upon the heaving waters
of the Pacific. The mountain walls of the valley are abrupt,
often overhanging. Viewed from the ocean, the cliffs are
piled one upon another like the buttresses of a Gothic
cathedral. The ocean is often stormy, and during several
months in the year forbids intercourse with other parts of
the island, save as the hardy traveler makes his way along
precipitous mountain trails.
The hula _ala'a-papa_, hula _ipu_, hula _pa-ipu_ (or
_kuolo_), the hula _hoo-nana_, and the hula _ki'i_ were all
performed to the accompaniment of the ipu or calabash, and,
being the only ones that were so accompanied, if the author
is correctly informed, they may be classed together under one
head as the calabash hulas.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38 PLATE X
PAHU HULA, HULA DRUM]
[Page 103]
XII.--THE HULA PAHU
The hula _pahu_ was so named from the _pahu_,[236] or drum,
that was its chief instrument of musical accompaniment (pl.
x).
[Footnote 236: Full form, _pahu-hula_.]
It is not often that the story of an institution can be so
closely fitted to the landmarks of history as in the case of
this hula; and this comes about through our knowledge of the
history of the pahu itself. Tradition, direct and reliable,
informs us that the credit of introducing the big drum
belongs to La'a. This chief flourished between five and six
centuries ago, and from having spent most of his life in the
lands to the south, which the ancient Hawaiians called
Kahiki, was himself generally styled La'a-mai-Kahiki
(La'a-from-Kahiki). The young man was of a volatile
disposition, given to pleasure, and it is evident that the
big drum he brought with him to Hawaii on one of his voyages
from Kahiki was in his eyes by no means the least important
piece of baggage that freighted his canoes. On nearing the
land he waked the echoes with the stirring tones of his drum,
which so astonished the people that they followed him from
point to point along the coast and heaped favors upon him
whenever he came ashore.
La'a was an enthusiastic patron of the hula and is said to
have made a tour of the islands, in which he instructed the
natives in new forms of this seductive pastime, one of which
was the hula _ka-eke_.
There is reason to believe, it seems, that the original use
of the pahu was in connection with the services of the
temple, and that its adaptation to the halau was simply a
transference from one to another religious use.
The hula pahu was preeminently a performance of formal and
dignified character, not such as would be extemporized for
the amusement of an irreverent company. Like all the formal
hulas, it was tabu, by which the Hawaiians meant that it was
a religious service, or so closely associated with the notion
of worship as to make it an irreverence to trifle with it.
For this reason as well as for its intrinsic dignity its
performance was reserved for the most distinguished guests
and the most notable occasions.
Both classes of actors took part in the performance of the
hula pahu, the olapa contributing the mele as they stood and
went through the motions of the dance, while the hoopaa
maintained the kneeling position and operated the big drum
with the left hand. While his left hand was thus engaged, the
[Page 104] musician with a thong held in his right hand struck a tiny
drum, the _pu-niu_, that was conveniently strapped to the
thigh of the same side. As its name signifies, the pu-niu was
made from coconut shell, being headed with fish-skin.
The harmonious and rhythmic timing of these two instruments
called for strict attention on the part of the performer. The
pahu, having a tone of lower pitch and greater volume than
the other, was naturally sounded at longer intervals, while
the pu-niu delivered its sharp crisp tones in closer order.
_Mele_
(Ko'i-honua)
O Hilo oe, Hilo, muliwai a ka ua i ka lani,
I hana ia Hilo, ko-i ana e ka ua.
E halo ko Hilo ma i-o, i-anei;
Lenalena Hilo e, panopano i ka ua.
5 Ua lono Pili-keko o Hilo i ka wai;
O-kakala ka hulu o Hilo i ke anu;
Ua ku o ka paka a ka ua i ke one;
Ua moe oni ole Hilo i-luna ke alo;
Ua hana ka uluna lehu o Hana-kahi.
10 Haule ka onohi Hilo o ka ua i ke one;
Loku kapa ka hi-hilo kai o Pai-kaka.
Ha, e!
2
A Puna au, i Kuki'i au, i Ha'eha'e,
Ike au i ke a kino-lau lehua.
He laau malalo o ia pohaku.
Hanohano Puna e, kehakeha i ka ua,
5 Kahiko mau no ia no-laila.
He aina haaheo loa no Puna;
I haaheo i ka hala me ka lehua;
He maikai maluna, he a malalo;
He kelekele ka papa o Mau-kele.
10 Kahuli Apua e, kele ana i Mau-kele.
[Translation]
_Song_
(Bombastic style)
Thou art Hilo, Hilo, flood-gate of heaven.
Hilo has power to wring out the rain.
Let Hilo turn here and turn there;
Hilo's kept from employ, somber with rain;
5 Pili-keko roars with full stream;
The feathers of Hilo bristle with cold,
And her hail-stones smite on the sand.
She lies without motion, with upturned face,
The fire-places pillowed with ashes;
10 The bullets of rain are slapping the land,
Pitiless rain turmoiling Pai-kaka.
So, indeed.
[Page 105]
2
In Puna was I, in Ku-ki'i, in Ha'e-ha'e,
I saw a wraith of lehua, a burning bush,
A fire-tree beneath the lava plate.
Magnificent Puna, fertile from rain,
5 At all times weaving its mantle.
Aye Puna's a land of splendor,
Proudly bedight with palm and lehua;
Beauteous above, but horrid below,
And miry the plain of Mau-kele.
10 Apua upturned, plod on to Mau-kele.
_Mele_
Kau lilua i ke anu Wai-aleale;
He maka halalo ka lehua makanoe;[237]
He lihilihi kuku ia no Aipo,[238] e;
O ka hulu a'a ia o Hau-a-iliki;[239]
5 Ua pehi 'a e ka ua a eha ka nahele,
Maui ka pua, uwe eha i ke anu,
I ke kukuna la-wai o Mokihana.[240]
Ua hana ia aku ka pono a ua pololei;
Ua hai 'na ia aku no ia oe;
10 O ke ola no ia.
O kia'i loko, kia'i Ka-ula,[241]
Nana i ka makani, hoolono ka leo,
Ka halulu o ka Malua-kele;[242]
Kiei, halo i Maka-ike-ole.
15 Kamau ke ea i ka halau[243] a ola;
He kula lima ia no Wawae-noho,[244]
Me he puko'a hakahaka la i Waahila
Ka momoku a ka unu-lehua o Lehua.
A lehulehu ka hale pono ka noho ana,
20 Loaa kou haawina--o ke aloha,
Ke hauna[245] mai nei ka puka o ka hale.
Ea!
[Footnote 237: _Lehua makanoe_. The lehua trees that grow on
the top of Wai-aleale, the mountain mass of Kauai, are of
peculiar form, low, stunted, and so furzy as to be almost
thorny, _kuku_, as mentioned in the next line.]
[Footnote 238: _Ai-po_. A swamp that occupies the summit basin
of the mountain, in and about which the thorny lehua trees
above mentioned stand as a fringe.]
[Footnote 239: _Hau-a-iliki_. A word made up of _hau_, dew or
frost, and _iliki_, to smite. The _a_ is merely a
connective.]
[Footnote 240: _Mokihana_. The name of a region on the flank of
Wai-aleale, also a plant that grows there, whose berry is
fragrant and is used in making wreaths.]
[Footnote 241: _Ka-ula_. A small rocky island visible from
Kauai.]
[Footnote 242: _Malua-kele_. A wind.]
[Footnote 243: _Halau_. The shed or house which sheltered the
canoe, _wa'a_, which latter, as we have seen, was often used
figuratively to mean the human body, especially the body of a
woman. _Kamau ke ea i ka halau_ might be translated
"persistent the breath from her body." "There's kames o'
hinny 'tween my luve's lips."]
[Footnote 244: _Wawae-noho_. Literally the foot that abides; it
is the name of a place. Here it is to be understood as
meaning constancy. It is an instance in which the concrete
stands for the abstract.]
[Footnote 245: _Hauna_. An odor. In this connection it means
the odor that hangs about a human habitation. The hidden
allusion, it is needless to say, is to sexual
attractiveness.]
[Page 106]
[Translation]
_Song_
Wai-aleale stands haughty and cold,
Her lehua bloom, fog-soaked, droops pensive;
The thorn-fringe set ahout swampy Ai-po is
A feather that flaunts in spite of the pinching frost.
5 Her herbage is pelted, stung by the rain;
Bruised all her petals, and moaning in cold
Mokihana's sun, his wat'ry beams.
I have acted in good faith and honor,
My complaint is only to you--
10 A matter that touches my life.
Best watch within and toward Ka-ula;
Question each breeze, note every rumor,
Even the whisper of Malua-kele.
Search high and search low, unobservant.
15 There is life in the breath from her body,
Fond caress by a hand not inconstant.
Like fissured groves of coral
Stand the ragged clumps of lehua.
Many the houses, easy the life.
20 You have your portion--of love;
Humanity smells at the door.
Aye, indeed.
The imagery of this poem is peculiarly obscure and the
meaning difficult of translation. The allusions are so local
and special that their meaning does not carry to a distance.
Wai-aleale is the central mountain mass of Kauai, about 6,000
feet high. Its summit, a cold, fog-swept wilderness of swamp
and lake beset with dwarfish growths of lehua, is used as the
symbol of a woman, impulsively kind, yet in turn passionate
and disdainful. The physical attributes of the mountain are
ascribed to her, its spells of frosty coldness, its gloom and
distance, its fickleness of weather, the repellant
hirsuteness of the stunted vegetation that fringes the
central swamp--these things are described as symbols of her
temper, character, and physical make-up. The bloom and
herbage of the wilderness, much pelted by the storm, are
figures to represent her physical charms. But spite of all
these faults and imperfections, a perennial fragrance, as of
mokihana, clings to her person, and she is the object of
devoted love, capable of weaving the spell of fascination
about her victims.
This poem furnishes a good example of a peculiarity that
often is an obstacle to the understanding of Hawaiian poetry.
It is the breaking up of the composition into a number of
parts that have but a loose seeming connection the one with
the other.
[Illustration: BULLETIN 38 PLATE XI
ULI-ULI, A GOURD RATTLE]
[Page 107]
XIII.--THE HULA ULI-ULI
The hula _uli-uli_ was so called from the rattle which was
its sole instrument of accompaniment. This consisted of a
small gourd about the size of a large orange, into the cavity
of which were put shot-like seeds, like those of the canna; a
handle was then attached (pl. xi).
The actors who took part in this hula belonged, it is said,
to the class termed hoopaa, and went through with the
performance while kneeling or squatting, as has been
described. While cantillating the mele they held the rattle,
_uli-uli_, in the right hand, shaking it against the palm of
the other hand or the thigh, or making excursions in one
direction and another. In some performances of this hula
which the author has witnessed the olapa also took part, in
one case a woman, who stood and cantillated the song with
movement and gesture, while the hoopaa devoted themselves
exclusively to handling the uli-uli rattles.
The sacrificial offerings that preceded the old-time
performances of this hula are said to have been awa and a
roast porkling, in honor of the goddess Laka.
If the dignity and quality of the meles now used, or reported
to have been used, in the hula _uli-uli_ are to be taken as
any criterion of the quality and dignity of this hula, one
has to conclude that it must be assigned to a rank below that
of some others, such, for instance, as the _ala'a-papa_,
_pa-ipu_, _Pele_, and others.
David Malo, the Hawaiian historian, author of _Ka Moolelo
Hawaii_,[246] in the short chapter that he devotes to the hula,
mentions only ten hulas by name, the _ka-laau_,
_pa'i-umauma_, _pahu_, _pahu'a_, _ala'a-papa_, _pa'i-pa'i_,
_pa-ipu_, _ulili_, _kolani_, and the _kielei_. _Ulili_ is but
another form of the word _uli-uli_. Any utterance of Malo is
to be received seriously; but it seems doubtful if he
deliberately selected for mention the ten hulas that were
really the most important. It seems more probable that he set
down the first ten that stood forth prominent in his memory.
It was not Malo's habit, nor part of his education, to make
an exhaustive list of sports and games, or in fact of
anything. He spoke of what occurred to him. It must also be
remembered that, being an ardent convert to Christianity,
[Page 108] Malo felt himself conscience-bound to set himself in
opposition to the amusements, sports, and games of his
people, and he was unable, apparently, to see in them any
good whatsoever. Malo was a man of uncompromising honesty and
rigidity of principles. His nature, acting under the new
influences that surrounded him after the introduction of
Christianity, made it impossible for him to discriminate
calmly between the good and the pernicious, between the
purely human and poetic and the depraved elements in the
sports practised by his people during their period of
heathenism. There was nothing halfway about Malo. Having
abandoned a system, his nature compelled him to denounce it
root and branch.
[Footnote 246: Translated by N.B. Emerson, M.D., under the
title "Hawaiian Antiquities," and published by the B.P.
Bishop Museum. Hawaiian Gazette Company (Limited), Honolulu,
1903.]
The first mele here offered as an accompaniment to this hula
can boast of no great antiquity; it belongs to the middle of
the nineteenth century, and was the product of some gallant
at a time when princes and princesses abounded in Hawaii:
_Mele_
Aole i manao ia.
Kahi wai a o Alekoki.
Hookohu ka ua i uka,
Noho mai la i Nuuanu.
5 Anuanu, makehewa au
Ke kali ana i-laila.
Ea ino paha ua paa
Kou manao i ane'i,
Au i hoomalu ai.
10 Hoomalu oe a malu;
Ua malu keia kino
Mamuli a o kou leo.
Kau nui aku ka manao
Kani wai a o Kapena.
15 Pani'a paa ia mai
Na manowai a o uka;
Ahu wale na ki'owai,
Na papa-hale o luna.
Maluna a'e no wau,
20 Ma ke kuono liilii.
A waho, a o Mamala,
Hao mai nei ehu-ehu;
Pulu au i ka huna-kai,
Kai heahea i ka ili.
25 Hookahi no koa nui,
Nana e alo ia ino.
Ino-ino mai nei luna,
I ka hao a ka makani.
He makani ahai-lono;
30 Lohe ka luna i Pelekane.
O ia pouli nui
Mea ole i ku'u manao.
I o, i a-ne'i au,
Ka piina la o Ma'ema'e,
[Page 109] 35 E kilohi au o ka nani
Na pua i Mauna-ala.
He ala ona-ona kou,
Ke pili mai i ane'i,
O a'u lehua ula i-luna,
40 Ai ono a na manu.
[Translation]
_Song_
I spurn the thought with disdain
Of that pool Alekoki:
On the upland lingers the rain
And fondly haunts Nuuanu.
5 Sharp was the cold, bootless
My waiting up there.
I thought thou wert true,
Wert loyal to me,
Whom thou laids't under bonds.
10 Take oath now and keep it;
This body is sacred to thee,
Bound by the word of thy mouth.
My heart leaps up at thought
Of the pool, pool of Kapena;
15 To me it is fenced, shut off,
The water-heads tightly sealed up.
The fountains must be a-hoarding,
For skies are ever down-pouring;
The while I am lodged up aloft,
20 Bestowed in the cleft of a rock.
Now, tossed by sea at Mamala,
The wind drives wildly the surf;
I'm soaked with the scud of the ocean,
My body is rough with the rime.
25 But one stout hero and soldier,
With heart to face such a storm.
Wild scud the clouds,
Hurled by the tempest,
A tale-bearing wind,
30 That gossips afar.
The darkness and storm
Are nothing to me.
This way and that am I turning,
Climbing the hill Ma'e-ma'e,
35 To look on thy charms, dear one,
The fragrant buds of the mountain.
What perfume breathes from thy body,
Such time as to thee I come close,
My scarlet bloom of lehua
40 Yields nectar sought by the birds.
This mele is said to have been the production of Prince
[Page 110] William Lunalilo--afterward King of the Hawaiian islands--and
to have been addressed to the Princess Victoria Kamamalu,
whom he sought in marriage. Both of them inherited high chief
rank, and their offspring, according to Hawaiian usage, would
have outranked her brothers, kings Kamehameha IV and V.
Selfish and political considerations, therefore, forbade the
match, and thereby hangs a tale, the shadow of which darkens
this song. Every lover is one part poet; and Lunalilo, even
without the love-flame, was more than one part poet.
The poem shows the influence of foreign ways and teachings
and the pressure of the new environment that had entered
Hawaii, in its form, in the moderation of its language and
imagery, and in the coherence of its parts; at the same time
the spirit of the song and the color of its native imagery
mark it as the product of a Polynesian mind.
According to the author's interpretation of the song,
_Alekoki_ (verse 2), a name applied to a portion of the
Nuuanu stream lower down than the basin and falls of _Kapena_
(_Kahiwai a o Kapena_--verse 14), symbolizes a flame that may
once have warmed the singer's imagination, but which he
discards in favor of his new love, the pool of Kapena. The
rain, which prefers to linger in the upland regions of Nuuanu
(verses 3 and 4) and which often reaches not the lower
levels, typifies his brooding affection. The cold, the storm,
and the tempest that rage at _Mamala_ (verse 21)--a name
given to the ocean just outside Honolulu harbor--and that
fill the heavens with driving scud (verses 27 and 28)
represent the violent opposition in high quarters to the
love-match. The tale-bearing wind, _makani ahai-lono_ (verse
29), refers, no doubt, to the storm of scandal. The use of
the place-names _Ma'ema'e_ and _Mauna-ala_ seem to indicate
Nuuanu as the residence of the princess.
_Mele_
PALE I
Auhea wale oe, e ka Makani Inu-wai?
Pa kolonahe i ka ili-kai,
Hoonui me ka Naulu,
Na ulu hua i ka hapapa.
5 Ano au ike i ke ko Hala-li'i,
I keia wa nana ia Lehua.
PALE II
Aia i Waimea ku'u haku-lei?
Hui pu me ka wai ula iliahi,
Mohala ta pua i ke one o Pawene;
10 Ka lawe a ke Koolau
Noho pu me ka ua punonohu ula i ka nahele,
Ike i ka wai kea o Makaweli;
[Page 111] Ua noho pu i ka nahele
Me ka lei hinahina o Maka-li'i.
15 Liilii ka uka o Koae'a;
Nana i ka ua lani-pili,
Ka o-o, manu le'a o ka nahele.
I Pa-ie-ie an, noho pu me ke anu.
E ha'i a'e oe t ka puana:
20 Ke kahuna kalai-hoe o Puu-ka-Pele.
[Translation]
_Song_
CANTO I
Whence art thou, thirsty wind,
That gently kissest the sea,
Then, wed to the ocean breeze,
Playest fan with the breadfruit tree?
5 Here sprawl Hala-lii's canes,
There stands bird-haunted Lehua.
CANTO II
My wreath-maker dwells at Waimea.
Partnered is she to the swirling river;
They plant with flowers the sandy lea,
10 While the bearded surf, tossed by the breeze,
Vaunts on the hills as the sun-bow,
Looks on the crystal stream Makaweli,
And in the wildwood makes her abode
With Hinahina of silvern wreaths.
15 Koaea's a speck to the eye,
Under the low-hanging rain-cloud,
Woodland home of the plaintive o-o.
From frost-bitten Pa-ie-ie
I bid you, guess me the fable:
20 Paddle-maker on Pele's mount.
This mele comes from Kauai, an Island in many respects
individualized from the other parts of the group and that
seems to have been the nurse of a more delicate imagination
than was wont to flourish elsewhere. Its tone is archaic, and
it has the rare merit of not transfusing the more crudely
erotic human emotions into the romantic sentiments inspired
by nature.
The Hawaiians dearly loved fable and allegory. Argument or
truth, dressed out in such fanciful garb, gained double force
and acceptance. We may not be able to follow a poet in his
wanderings; his local allusions may obscure to us much of his
meaning; the doctrine of his allegory may be to us largely a
riddle; and the connection between the body of its thought
and illustration and the application, or solution, of the
poetical conundrum may be past our comprehension; but the
[Page 112] play of the poet's fancy, whether childish or mature, is an
interesting study, and brings us closer in human sympathy to
the people who took pleasure in such things.
In translating this poem, while not following literally the
language of the poet, the aim has been to hit the target
of his deeper meaning, without hopelessly involving the
reader in the complexities of Hawaiian color and local
topography. A few words of explanation must suffice.
The _Makani Inu-wai_ (verse 1)--known to all the islands--is
a wind that dries up vegetation, literally a water-drinking
wind.
The _Naulu_ (verse 3) is the ordinary sea-breeze at Waimea,
Kauai, sometimes accompanied by showers.
_Hala-li'i_ (verse 5) is a sandy plain on Niihau, and the
peculiarity of its canes is that they sprawl along on the
ground, and are often to a considerable extent covered by the
loose soil.
_Lehua_ (verse 6) is the well-known bird-island, lying north
of Niihau and visible from the Waimea side of Kauai.
The wreath-maker, _haku-lei_ (verse 7), who dwells at Waimea,
is perhaps the ocean-vapor, or the moist sea-breeze, or, it
may be, some figment of the poet's imagination--the author
can not make out exactly what.
The _hinahina_ (verse 14), a native geranium, is a mountain
shrub that stands about 3 feet high, with silver-gray leaves.
_Maka-weli, Maka-li'i, Koae'a_, and _Pa-ie-ie_ are names of
places on Kauai.
_Puu-ka-Pele_ (verse 20) as the name indicates, is a volcanic
hill, situated near Waimea.
The key or answer (_puana_), to the allegory given in verse
20, _Ke kahuna kalai-hoe o Puu-ka-Pele_, the paddle-making
kahuna of Pele's mount, when declared by the poet
(_haku-mele_), is not very informing to the foreign mind; but
to the Hawaiian auditor it, no doubt, took the place of our
_haec fabula docet_, and it at least showed that the poet was
not without an intelligent motive. In the poem in point the
author acknowledges his inability to make connection between
it and the body of the song.
One merit we must concede to Hawaiian poetry, it wastes no
time in slow approach. The first stroke of the artist places
the auditor _in medias res_.
[Page 113]
XIV.--THE HULA PUILI
The character of a hula was determined to some extent by the
nature of the musical instrument that was its accompaniment.
In the hula _puili_ it certainly seems as if one could
discern the influence of the rude, but effective, instrument
that was its musical adjunct. This instrument, the _puili_
(fig. 1), consisted of a section of bamboo from which one
node with its diaphragm had been removed and the hollow
joint at that end split up for a considerable distance into
fine divisions, which gave forth a breezy rustling when the
instrument was struck or shaken.
The performers, all of them hoopaa, were often placed in two
rows, seated or kneeling and facing one another, thus
favoring a responsive action in the use of the puili as well
as in the cantillation of the song. One division would
sometimes shake and brandish their instruments, while the
others remained quiet, or both divisions would perform at
once, each individual clashing one puili against the other
one held by himself, or against that of his vis-a-vis; or
they might toss them back and forth to each other, one bamboo
passing another in mid air.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Puili, bamboo-rattle.]
While the hula puili is undeniably a performance of classical
antiquity, it is not to be regarded as of great dignity or
importance as compared with many other hulas. Its character,
like that of the meles associated with it, is light and
trivial.
The mele next presented is by no means a modern production.
It seems to be the work of some unknown author, a fragment of
folklore, it might be called by some, that has drifted down
to the present generation and then been put to service in the
hula. If hitherto the word _folklore_ has not been used it is
not from any prejudice against it, but rather from a feeling
that there exists an inclination to stretch the application
of it beyond its true limits and to make it include popular
songs, stories, myths, and the like, regardless of its
fitness of application. Some writers, no doubt, would apply
this vague term to a large part of the poetical pieces which
are given in this book.
[Page 114]
On the same principle, why should they not apply the term
folklore to the myths and stories that make up the body of
Roman and Greek mythology? The present author reserves the
term folklore for application to those unappropriated scraps
of popular song, story, myth, and superstition that have
drifted down the stream of antiquity and that reach us in the
scrap-bag of popular memory, often bearing in their battered
forms the evidence of long use.
Mele
Hiki mai, niki mai ka La, e.
Aloha wale ka La e kau nei,
Aia malalo o Ka-wai-hoa,[247]
A ka lalo o Kauai, o Lehua.
5 A Kauai au, ike i ka pali;
A Milo-lii[248] pale ka pali loloa.
E kolo ana ka pali o Makua-iki;[249]
Kolo o Pu-a, he keiki,
He keiki makua-ole ke uwe nei.
[Translation]
_Song_
It has come, it has come; lo the Sun!
How I love the Sun that's on high;
Below it swims Ka-wai-hoa,
Oa the slope inclined from Lehua.
5 On Kauai met I a pali,
A beetling cliff that bounds Milo-lii,
And climbing up Makua-iki,
Crawling up was Pua, the child,
An orphan that weeps out its tale.
The writer has rescued the following fragment from the
wastebasket of Hawaiian song. A lean-to of modern verse has
been omitted; it was evidently added within a generation:
_Mele_
Malua,[250] ki'i wai ke aloha,
Hoopulu i ka liko mamane.
Uleuleu mai na manu,
Inu wai lehua o Panaewa,[251]
5 E walea ana i ke onaona,
Ke one wali o Ohele.
[Page 115] Hele mal nei kou aloha
A lalawe i ko'u nui kino,
Au i hookohu ai,
10 E kuko i ka manao.
Kuhi no paha oe no Hopoe[252]
Nei lehua au i ka hana ohi ai.
[Footnote 247: Kawaihoa. The southern point of Niihau, which is
to the west of Kauai, the evident standpoint of the poet, and
therefore "below" Kauai.]
[Footnote 248: _Milo-lii_. A valley on the northwestern angle
of Kauai, a precipitous region, in which travel from one
point to another by land is almost impossible.]
[Footnote 249: _Makua-iki_. Literally "little father," a name
given to an overhanging pali, where was provided a hanging
ladder to make travel possible. The series of palis in this
region comes to an end at Milo-lii.]
[Footnote 250: The _Malua_ was a wind, often so dry that it
sucked up the moisture from the land and destroyed the tender
vegetation.]
[Footnote 251: Panaewa was a woodland region much talked of in
poetry and song.]
[Footnote 252: _Hopoe_ was a beautiful young woman, a friend
of Hiiaka, and was persecuted by Pele owing to jealousy. One
of the forms in which she as a divinity showed herself was as
a lehua tree in full bloom.]
[Translation]
_Song_
Malua, fetch water of love,
Give drink to this mamane bud.
The birds, they are singing ecstatic,
Sipping Panaewa's nectared lehua,
5 Beside themselves with the fragrance
Exhaled from the garden Ohele.
Your love comes to me a tornado;
It has rapt away my whole body,
The heart you once sealed as your own,
10 There planted the seed of desire.
Thought you 'twas the tree of Hopoe,
This tree, whose bloom you would pluck?
What is the argument of this poem? A passion-stricken swain,
or perhaps a woman, cries to _Malua_ to bring relief to his
love-smart, to give drink to the parched _mamane_
buds--emblems of human feeling. In contrast to his own
distress, he points to the birds caroling in the trees,
reveling in the nectar of _lehua_ bloom, intoxicated with the
scent of nature's garden. What answer does the lovelorn swain
receive from the nymph he adores? In lines 11 and 12 she
banteringly asks him if he took her to be like the
traditional lehua tree of Hopoe, of which men stood in awe as
a sort of divinity, not daring to pluck its flowers? It is as
if the woman had asked--if the poet's meaning is rightly
interpreted--"Did you really think me plighted to vestal
vows, a tree whose bloom man was forbidden to pluck?"
[Page 116]
XV.--THE HULA KA-LAAU
The hula _ka-laau_ (_ka_, to strike; _laau_, wood) was named
from the instruments of wood used in producing the
accompaniment, a sort of xylophone, in which one piece of
resonant wood was struck against another. Both divisions of
the performers, the hoopaa and the olapa, took part and each
division was provided with the instruments. The cantillation
was done sometimes by one division alone, sometimes by both
divisions in unison, or one division would answer the other,
a responsive chanting that was termed _haawe aku, haawe
mai_--"to give, to return."
Ellis gives a quotable description of this hula, which he
calls the "hura ka raau:"
Five musicians advanced first, each, with a staff in his left
hand, five or six feet long, about three or four inches in
diameter at one end, and tapering off to a point at the
other. In his right hand he held a small stick of hard wood,
six or nine inches long, with which he commenced his music by
striking the small stick on the larger one, beating time all
the while with his right foot on a stone placed on the ground
beside him for that purpose. Six women, fantastically dressed
in yellow tapas, crowned, with garlands of flowers, having
also wreaths of native manufacture, of the sweet-scented
flowers of the _gardenia_, on their necks, and branches of
the fragrant _mairi_ (another native plant,) bound round
their ankles, now made their way by couples through the
crowd, and, arriving at the area, on one side of which the
musicians stood, began their dance. Their movements were
slow, and, though not always graceful, exhibited nothing
offensive to modest propriety. Both musicians and dancers
alternately chanted songs in honor of former gods and chiefs
of the islands, apparently much to the gratification of the
spectators. (Polynesian Researches, by William Ellis, IV,
78-79, London, 1836.)
The mele here first presented is said to be an ancient mele
that has been modified and adapted to the glorification of
that astute politician, genial companion, and pleasure-loving
king, Kalakaua.
It was not an uncommon thing for one chief to appropriate the
_mele inoa_ of another chief. By substituting one name for
another, by changing a genealogy, or some such trifle, the
skin of the lion, so to speak, could be made to cover with
more or less grace and to serve as an apparel of masquerade
for the ass, and without interruption so long as there was no
lion, or lion's whelp, to do the unmasking.
The poets who composed the mele for a king have been spoken
of as "the king's washtubs." Mele inoa were not crown-jewels
[Page 117] to be passed from one incumbent of the throne to another. The
practice of appropriating the mele inoa composed in honor of
another king and of another line was one that grew up with
the decadence of honor in times of degeneracy.
_Mele_
O Kalakaua, be inoa,
O ka pua mae ole i ka la;
Ke pua mai la i ka mauna,
I ke kuahiwi o Mauna-kea;
5 Ke a la i Ki-lau-e-a,
Malamalama i Wahine-kapu,
I ka luna o Uwe-kahuna,
I ka pali kapu o Ka-au-e-a.
E a mai ke alii kia-manu;
10 Ua Wahi i ka hulu o ka mamo,
Ka pua nani o Hawaii;
O Ka-la-kaua, he inoa!
[Translation]
Song
Ka-la-kaua, a great name,
A flower not wilted by the sun;
It blooms on the mountains,
In the forests of Mauna-kea;
5 It burns in Ki-lau-e-a,
Illumines the cliff Wahine-kapu,
The heights of Uwe-kabuna,
The sacred pali of Ka-au-e-a.
Shine forth, king of bird-hunters,
10 Resplendent in plumage of mamo,
Bright flower of Hawaii:
Ka-la-kaua, the Illustrious!
The proper names _Wahine-kapu, Uwe-kahuna_, and _Ka-au-e-a_
in the sixth, seventh, and eighth verses are localities,
cliffs, bluffs, precipices, etc., in and about the great
caldera of Kilauea, following up the mention (in the fifth
verse) of that giant among the world's active volcanoes.
The purpose of the poem seems to be to magnify the prowess of
this once famous king as a captivator of the hearts and
loving attentions of the fair sex.
_Mele_
Kona kai opua[253] i kala i ka la'i;
Opua binano ua i ka malie;
Hiolo na wai naoa a ke kehau,
[Page 118] Ke' na-u[254] la na kamalii,
5 Ke kaohi la i ke kukuna o ka la;
Ku'u la koili i ke kai--
Pumehana wale ia aina!
Aloha wale ke kini o Hoolulu,
Aohe lua ia oe ke aloha,
10 O ku'u puni, o ka me' owa.
[Footnote 253: _Opua_ means a distinct cloud-pile, an omen, a
weather-sign.]
[Footnote 254: The word _na-u_ refers to a sportive contest
involving a trial of lung-power, that was practised by the
youth of Kona, Hawaii, as well as of other places. They stood
on the shore at sunset, and as the lower limb of the sun
touched the ocean horizon each one, having filled his lungs
to the utmost, began the utterance of the sound _na-u-u-u-u_,
which he must, according to the rules of the game, maintain
continuously until the sun had disappeared, a lapse of about
two minutes' time. This must be done without taking fresh
breath. Anyone inhaling more air into his lungs or
intermitting the utterance of the sound was compelled by the
umpire to withdraw from the contest and to sit down, while
anyone who maintained the droning utterance during the
prescribed time was declared victor. It was no mean trial.]
[Translation]
_Song_
The cloud-piles o'er Kona's sea whet my joy,
Clouds that drop fain in fair weather.
The clustered dew-pearls shake to the ground;
The boys drone out the na-u to the West,
5 Eager for Sol to sink to his rest.
This my day for a plunge in the sea--
The Sun will be warming other shores--
Happy the tribes of that land of calm!
Fathomless, deep is my love
10 To thee, my passion, my mate.
The author of this love-song, _mele ipo_, is said to have
been Kalola, a widow of Kamehameha I, at a time when she was
an old woman; the place was Lahaina, and the occasion an
amour between Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and a woman of rank.
The last two verses of the poem have been omitted from the
present somewhat free, yet faithful translation, as they do
not seem to be of interest or pertinent from our point of
view, and there is internal evidence that they were added as
an afterthought.
The hulas on the various islands differed somewhat from one
another. In general, it may be said that on Kauai they were
presented with more spirit and in greater variety than in
other parts of the group. The following account will
illustrate this fact:
About the year 1870 the late Queen Emma made the tour of the
island of Kauai, and at some places the hula was performed as
a recreation in her honor. The hula ka-laau was thus
presented; it was marked, however, by such peculiarities as
to make it hardly recognizable as being the same performance
as the one elsewhere known by that name. As given on Kauai,
both the olapa and the hoopaa took part, as they do on the
[Page 119] other islands, but in the Kauai performance the olapa alone
handled the two sticks of the xylophone, which in other parts
formed the sole instrument of musical accompaniment to this
hula. Other striking novelties also were introduced. The
olapa held between their toes small sticks with which they
beat upon a resonant beam of wood that lay on the floor, thus
producing tones of a low pitch. Another departure from the
usual style of this hula was that the hoopaa, at the same
time, devoted themselves with the right hand to playing upon
the pu-niu, the small drum, while with the left they
developed the deep bass of the pahu. The result of this outre
combination must have been truly remarkable.
It is a matter of observation that on the island of Kauai
both the special features of its spoken language and the
character of its myths and legends indicate a closer
relationship to the groups of the southern Pacific, to which
the Hawaiian people owe their origin, than do those of the
other islands of the Hawaiian group.
[Page 120]
XVI.--THE HULA ILI-ILI
The _hula ili-ili_, pebble-dance, was a performance of the
classical times, in which, according to one who has witnessed
it, the olapa alone took part. The dancers held in each hand
a couple of pebbles, _ili-ili_--hence the name of the
dance--which they managed to clash against each other, after
the fashion of castanets, thus producing a rude music of much
the same quality as that elicited from the "bones" in our
minstrel performances. According to another witness, the drum
also was sometimes used in connection with the pebbles as an
accompaniment to this hula.
The ili-ili was at times a hula of intensity--that is to say,
was acted with that stress of voice and manner which the
Hawaiians termed _ai-ha'a_; but it seems to have been more
often performed in that quiet natural tone of voice and of
manner termed _ko'i-honua_, which may be likened to utterance
in low relief.
The author can present only the fragment of a song to
illustrate this hula:
_Mele_
A lalo maua o Wai-pi'o,
Ike i ka nani o Hi'i-lawe.
E lawe mai a oki
I na hala o Naue i ke kai,
5 I na lehua lu-lu'u pali;
Noho ana lohe i ke kani o ka o-o,
Hoolono aku i ka leo o ke kahuli.
[Translation]
_Song_
We twain were lodged in Wai-pi'o,
Beheld Hi'i-lawe, the grand.
We brought and cut for our love-wreath
The rich hala drupe from Naue's strand,
5 Tufted lehua that waves on the cliff;
Then sat and gave ear to song of o-o,
Or harked the chirp of the tree-shell.
_Wai-pi'o_, the scene of this idyl, is a valley deep and
broad which the elements have scooped out in the windward
exposure of Hawaii, and scarce needs mention to Hawaiian
[Page 121] tourists. _Hi'i-lawe_ is one of several high waterfalls that
leap from the world of clouds into the valley-basin.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38 PLATE XII
[Illustration:
PUPU-KANI-OE, POETICALLY STYLED KAHULI
HAWAIIAN TREE-SHELLS (ACHATINELLA)]
_Kahuli_ is a fanciful name applied to the beautiful and
unique genus of tree-shells (Achatinella), plate XII, that
inhabit the Hawaiian woods. The natives are persuaded that
these shells have the power of chirping a song of their own,
and the writer has often heard the note which they ascribe to
them; but to his ear it was indistinguishable from the piping
of the cricket. This is the song that the natives credit to
the tree-shells:
_Mele_
Kahuli aku,
Kahuli mai,
Kahuli lei ula,
Lei akolea.[255]
5 Kolea, kolea,[256]
Ki'i ka wai,
Wai akolea.
[Translation]
_Song of the Tree-shell_
Trill a-far,
Trill a-near,
A dainty song-wreath,
Wreath akolea.
5 Kolea, Kolea,
Fetch me some dew,
Dew from pink akolea.
This little piece of rustic imagination is said to have been
used in the hula, but in connection with what dance the
author has not been able to learn.
[Footnote 255: The _akolea_ is a fern (by some classed as a
Polypodium) which, according to Doctor Hillebrand (Flora of
the Hawaiian Islands), "sustains its extraordinary length by
the circinnate tips which twine round the branches of
neighboring shrubs or trees."]
[Footnote 256: _Kolea_. The red-breasted plover.]
[Page 122]
XVII.--THE HULA KA-EKE-EKE
The _kaekeeke_ was a formal hula worthy of high
consideration. Some authorities assert that the performers in
this dance were chosen from the hoopaa alone, who, it will be
remembered, maintained the kneeling position, while,
according to another authority, the olapa also took part in
it. There is no reason for doubting the sincerity of both
these witnesses. The disagreement probably arose from hasty
generalization. One is reminded of the wise Hawaiian saw,
already noted, "Do not think that your halau holds all the
knowledge."
This hula took its name from the simple instrument that
formed its musical accompaniment. This consisted of a single
division of the long-jointed bamboo indigenous to Hawaii,
which was left open at one end. (The varieties of bamboo
imported from China or the East Indies have shorter joints
and thicker walls, and will not answer the purpose, being not
sufficiently resonant.) The joints used in the kaekeeke were
of different sizes and lengths, thus producing tones of
various pitch. The performer held one in each hand and the
tone was elicited by striking the base of the cylinder
sharply against the floor or some firm, nonresonant body.
On making actual trial of the kaekeeke, in order to prove by
experience its musical quality and capabilities, the writer's
pleasure was as great as his surprise when he found it
capable of producing musical tones of great purity and of the
finest quality. Experiment soon satisfied him that for the
best production of the tone it was necessary to strike the
bamboo cylinder smartly upon some firm, inelastic substance,
such as a bag of sand. The tone produced was of crystalline
purity, and by varying the size and length of the cylinders
it proved possible to represent a complete musical scale. The
instrument was the germ of the modern organ.
The first mele to be presented partakes of the nature of the
allegory, a form of composition not a little affected by the
Hawaiians:
_Mele_
A Hamakua au,
Noho i ka ulu hala.
Malihini au i ka hiki ana,
I ka ua pe'epe'e pohaku.
5 Noho oe a li'u-li'u,
A luli-luli malie iho.
[Page 123]
He keiki akamai ko ia pali;
Elima no pua i ka lima.
Kui oe a lawa
10 I lei no ku'u aloha;
Malama malie oe i ka makemake,
I lei hooheno no ke aloha ole.
Moe oe a ala mai;
Nana iho oe i kou pono.
15 Hai'na ia ka puana:
Keiki noho pali o Hamakua;
A waka-waka, a waka-waka.
[Translation]
_Song_
It was in Hamakua;
I sat in a grove of Pandanus,
A stranger at my arrival,
A rock was my shelter from rain.
5 I found it a wearisome wait,
Cautiously shifting about.
There's a canny son of the cliff
That has five buds to his hand.
You shall twine me a wreath of due length,
10 A wreath to encircle my love,
Whilst you hold desire in strong curb,
Till love-touch thaws the cold-hearted.
When you rise from sleep on the mat,
Look down, see the conquest of love.
15 The meaning of this short story?
What child fondly clings to the cliff?
Waka-waka, the shell-fish.
The scene of this idyl, this love-song, _mele hoipoipo_, is
Hamakua, a district on the windward side of Hawaii, subject
to rain-squalls. The poet in his allegory represents himself
as a stranger sitting in a pandanus grove, _ulu hala_ (verse
2); sheltering himself from a rain-squall by crouching behind
a rock, _ua pe'epe'e pohaku_ (verse 4); shifting about on
account of the veering of the wind, _luli-luli malie iho_
(verse 6). Interpreting this figuratively, Hamakua, no doubt,
is the woman in the case; the grove an emblem of her
personality and physical charms; the rain-squall, of her
changeful moods and passions. The shifting about of the
traveler to meet the veering of the wind would seem to mean
the man's diplomatic efforts to deal with the woman's varying
caprices and outbursts.
He now takes up a parable about some creature, a child of the
cliff--Hamakua's ocean boundary is mostly a precipitous
wall--which he represents as a hand with five buds.
Addressing it as a servant, he bids this creature twine a
[Page 124] wreath sufficient for his love, _kui oe a_ _lawa_ (verse 9),
_I lei no ku'u aloha_ (verse 10). This creature with five
buds, what is it but the human hand, the errand-carrier of
man's desire, _makemake_ (verse 11)? The _pali_, by the way,
is a figure often used by Hawaiian poets to mean the glory
and dignity of the human body.
That is a fine imaginative touch in which the poet
illustrates the power of the human hand to kindle love in one
that is cold-hearted, as if he had declared the hand itself
to be not only the wreath-maker, but the very wreath that is
to encircle and warm into response the unresponsive loved
one, _I lei hooheno no ke aloha ole_ (verse 12).
Differences of physical environment, of social convention, of
accepted moral and esthetic standards interpose seemingly
impassable barriers between us and the savage mind, but at
the touch of an all-pervading human sympathy these barriers
dissolve into very thin air.
_Mele_
Kahiki-nui, auwahi[257] ka makani!
Nana aku au ia Kona,
Me ke kua lei ahi[258] la ka moku;
Me ke lawa uli e, la, no
5 Ku'u kai pa-u hala-ka[259]
I ka lae o Hana-malo;[260]
Me he olohe ili polohiwa,
Ke ku a mauna,
Ma ka ewa lewa[261] Hawaii.
10 Me he ihu leiwi la, ka moku,
Kou mauna, kou palamoa:[262]
Kau a waha mai Mauna-kea[263]
A me Mauna-loa,[263]
Ke ku a Maile-hahei.[264]
15 Uluna mai Mauna Kilohana[265]
I ka poohiwi o Hu'e-Hu'e.[265]
[Footnote 257: _Auwahi_ (a word not found in any dictionary)
is said by a scholarly Hawaiian to be an archaic form of the
word _uwahi_, or _uahi_ (milk of fire), smoke, _Kahiki-nui_
is a dry region and the wind (_makani_) often fills the air
with dust.]
[Footnote 258: _Kua lei ahi_. No Hawaiian has been found who
professes to know the true meaning of these words. The
translation of them here given is, therefore, purely formal.]
[Footnote 259: _Pa-u halaka_. An expression sometimes applied
to the hand when used as a shield to one's modesty; here it
is said of the ocean (_kai_) when one's hody is immersed in
it.]
[Footnote 260: _Hana-malo_. A cape that lies between Kawaihae
and Kailua in north Kona.]
[Footnote 261: _Ewa lewa_. In this reading the author has
followed the authoritative suggestion of a Hawaiian expert,
substituting it for that first given by another, which was
_elewa_. The latter was without discoverable meaning. Even as
now, given conjectures as to its meaning are at variance. The
one followed presents the less difficulty.]
[Footnote 262: _Palamoa_. The name of a virulent _kupua_ that
acted as errand-carrier and agent for sorcerers (_kahuna
anaana_); also the name of a beautiful grass found on Hawaii
that has a pretty red seed. Following the line of least
resistance, the latter meaning has been adopted; in it is
found a generic expression for the leafy covering of the
island.]
[Footnote 263: _Mauna-kea_ and _Mauna-loa_. The two well-known
mountains of the big island of Hawaii.]
[Footnote 264: _Maile-hahei_. Said to be a hill in Kona.]
[Footnote 265: _Kilohana_ and _Hu'e-hu'e_. The names of two
hills in Kona, Hawaii.]
[Page 125]
[Translation]
_Song_
Kahiki-nui, land of wind-driven smoke!
Mine eyes gaze with longing on Kona;
A fire-wreath glows aback of the district,
And a robe of wonderful green
5 Lies the sea that has aproned my loins
Off the point of Hana-malo.
A dark burnished form is Hawaii,
To one who stands on the mount--
A hamper swung down from heaven,
10 A beautiful carven shape is the island--
Thy mountains, thy splendor of herbage:
Mauna-kea and Loa stand (in glory) apart,
To him who looks from Maile-hahei;
And Kilohana pillows for rest
15 On the shoulder of Hu'e-hu'e.
This love-song--_mele hoipoipo_--which would be the
despair of a strict literalist--what is it all about? A
lover in Kahiki-nui--of the softer sex, it would appear--
looks across the wind-swept channel and sends her thoughts
lovingly, yearningly, over to Kona of Hawaii, which district
she personifies as her lover. The mountains and plains,
valleys and capes of its landscapes, are to her the parts and
features of her beloved. Even in the ocean that flows between
her and him, and which has often covered her nakedness as
with a robe, she finds a link in the chain of association.
[Page 126]
XVIII.--AN INTERMISSION
During the performance of a hula the halau and all the people
there assembled are under a tabu, the imposition of which was
accomplished by the opening prayer that had been offered
before the altar. This was a serious matter and laid everyone
present under the most formal obligations to commit no breach
of divine etiquette; it even forbade the most innocent
remarks and expressions of emotion. But when the performers,
wearied of the strait-jacket, determined to unbend and
indulge in social amenities, to lounge, gossip, and sing
informal songs, to quaff a social bowl of awa, or to indulge
in an informal dance, they secured the opportunity for this
interlude, by suspending the tabu. This was accomplished by
the utterance of a _pule hoo-noa_, a tabu-lifting prayer. If
the entire force of the tabu was not thus removed, it was at
least so greatly mitigated that the ordinary conversations of
life might be carried on without offense. The pule was
uttered by the kumu or some person who represented the
whole-company:
_Pule Hoo-noa_
Lehua[266] i-luna,
Lehua i-lalo,
A wawae,
A Ka-ulua,[267]
5 A o Haumea,[268]
Kou makua-kane,[269]
Manu o Kaae;[270]
A-koa-koa,
O Pe-kau,[271]
10 O Pe-ka-nana,[272]
[Page 127] Papa pau.
Pau a'e iluna;
O Ku-mauna,
A me Laka,
15 A me Ku.
Ku i ka wao,
A me Hina,
Huna mele-lani.
A ua pau;
20 Pau kakou;
A ua noa;
Noa ke kahua;
Noa!
[Footnote 266: _Lehua_. See plate XIII.]
[Footnote 267: _Ka-ulua_. The name of the third month of the
Hawaiian year, corresponding to late January or February, a
time when In the latitude of Hawaii nature does not refrain
from leafing and flowering.]
[Footnote 268: _Haumea_. The name applied after her death and
apotheosis to Papa, the wife of Wakea, and the ancestress of
the Hawaiian race. (The Polynesian Race, A. Fornander, 1,
205. London, 1878.)]
[Footnote 269: It is doubtful to whom the expression
"makua-kane" refers, possibly to Wakea, the husband of Papa;
and if so, very properly termed father, ancestor, of the
people.]
[Footnote 270: _Manu o Kaae_ (_Manu-o-Kaae_ it might be
written) is said to have been a goddess, one of the family of
Pele, a sister of the sea nymph _Moana-nui-ka-lehua_,
whose dominion was in the waters between Oahu and Kauai. She
is said to have had the gift of eloquence.]
[Footnote 271: _Pe-kau_ refers to the ranks and classes of the
gods.]
[Footnote 272: _Pe-ka-nana_ refers to men, their ranks and
classes.]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38 PLATE XIII
[Illustration: LEHUA (METROSIDEROS POLYMORPHA) FLOWERS AND LEAVES]
[Translation]
_Power to Remove Tabu_
Bloom of lehua on altar piled,
Bloom of lehua below,
Bloom of lehua at altar's base,
In the month Ka-ulua.
5 Present here is Haumea,
And the father of thee,
And the goddess of eloquent speech;
Gather, now gather,
Ye ranks of gods,
10 And ye ranks of men,
Complete in array.
The heavenly service is done,
Service of Ku of the mount,
Service of Laka,
15 And the great god Ku,
Ku of the wilds,
And of Hina,
Hina, the heavenly singer.
Now it is done,
20 Our work is done;
The tabu is lifted,
Free is the place,
Tabu-free!
Here also is another pule hoo-noa, a prayer-song addressed to
Laka, an intercession for the lifting of the tabu. It will be
noticed that the request is implied, not explicitly stated.
All heads are lifted, all eyes are directed heavenward or to
the altar, and the hands with a noiseless motion keep time as
the voices of the company, led by the kumu, in solemn
cantillation, utter the following prayer:
[Page 128]
_Pule Hoo-noa no Laka_
Pupu we'u-we'u[273] e, Laka e,
O kona we'u-we'u e ku-wa;[274]
O Ku-ka-ohia-Laka,[275] e;
Laua me Ku-pulu-pulu;[276]
5 Ka Lehua me ke Koa lau-lii;
O ka Lama me Moku-halii,
Ku-i-ku-i[277] me ka Hala-pepe;
Lakou me Lau-ka-ie-ie,
Ka Palai me Maile-lau-lii.
10 Noa, noa i kou kuahu;
Noa, noa ia oe, Laka;
Pa-pa-lua noa!
[Translation]
_Tabu-lifting Prayer (to Laka)_
Oh wildwood bouquet, O Laka!
Set her greenwood leaves in order due;
And Ku, god of Ohia-La-ka,
He and Ku, the shaggy,
5 Lehua with small-leafed Koa,
And Lama and Moku-hali'i,
Ku-i-ku-i and Haia-pe-pe;
And with these leafy I-e-i-e,
Fern and small-leafed Maile.
10 Free, the altar is free!
Free through, you, Laka,
Doubly free!
[Footnote 273: _Pupu we'u-we'u_. A bouquet. The reference is to
the wreaths and floral decorations that bedecked the altar,
and that were not only offerings to the goddess, but symbols
of the diverse forms in which she manifested herself. At the
conclusion of a performance the players laid upon the altar
the garlands they themselves had worn. These were in addition
to those which were placed there before the play began.]
[Footnote 274: _Ku-wa_. It has cost much time and trouble to
dig out the meaning of this word. The fundamental notion is
that contained in its two parts, _ku_, to stand, and _wa_, an
interval or space, the whole meaning to arrange or set in
orderly intervals.]
[Footnote 275: _La-ka_. A Tahitian name for the tree which in
Hawaii is called _lehua_, or _ohia_. In verse 3 the Hawaiian
name _ohia_ and the Tahitian _laka_ (accented on the final
syllable, thus distinguishing it from the name of the goddess
_Laka_, with which it has no discoverable connection) are
combined in one form as an appellation of the god
_Ku-ku-ka-ohia-Laka_. This is a notable instance of the
survival of a word as a sacred epithet in a liturgy, which
otherwise, had been lost to the language.]
[Footnote 276: _Ku-pulu-pulu_. Ku, the fuzzy or shaggy, a deity
much worshiped by canoe-makers, represented as having the
figure of an old man with a long beard. In the sixth verse
the full form of the god's name here given as _Moku-ha-li'i_
would be _Ku-moku-hali'i_, the last part being an epithet
applied to _Ku_ working in another capacity. _Moku-hali'i_ is
the one who bedecks the island. His special emblem, as here
implied, was the _lama_, a beautiful tree, whose wood was
formerly used in making certain sacred inclosures. From this
comes the proper name _Palama_, one of the districts of
Honolulu.]
[Footnote 277: _Ku-i-ku-i_. The same as the tree now called
_ku-ku-i_, the tree whose nuts were used as candles and
flambeaus. The Samoan name of the same tree is _tu-i-tu-i_.]
But even now, when the tabu has been removed and the assembly
is supposed to have assumed an informal character, before
they may indulge themselves in informalities, there remains
to be chanted a dismissing prayer, _pule hooku'u_, in which
all voices must join:
[Page 129]
_Pule Hooku'u_
Ku ka makaia a ka huaka'i moe ipo;[278]
Ku au, hele;
Noho oe, aloha!
Aloha na hale o makou i makamaka ole,
5 Ke alanui hele mauka o Huli-wale,[279] la;
H-u-l-i.
E huli a'e ana i ka makana,
I ke alana ole e kanaenae aku ia oe.
Eia ke kanaenae, o ka leo.
[Translation]
_Dismissing Prayer_
Doomed sacrifice I in the love-quest,
I stand [loin-girt][280] for the journey;
To you who remain, farewell!
Farewell to our homes forsaken.
5 On the road beyond In-decision,
I turn me about--
Turn me about, for lack of a gift,
An offering, intercession, for thee--
My sole intercession, the voice.
[Footnote 278: A literal translation of the first line would be
as follows: (Here) stands the doomed sacrifice for the
journey in search of a bed-lover.]
[Footnote 279: _Huli-wale_. To turn about, here used as the
name of a place, is evidently intended figuratively to stand
for mental indecision.]
[Footnote 280: The bracketed phrase is not in the text of the
original.]
This fragment--two fragments, in fact, pieced
together--belongs to the epic of Pele. As her little sister,
Hiiaka, is about to start on her adventurous journey to bring
the handsome Prince Lohiau from the distant island of Kauai
she is overcome by a premonition of Pole's jealousy and
vengeance, and she utters this intercession.
The formalities just described speak for themselves. They
mark better than any comments can do the superstitious
devotion of the old-timers to formalism, their remoteness
from that free touch of social and artistic pleasure, the
lack of which we moderns often lament in our own lives and
sigh for as a lost art, conceiving it to have been once the
possession of "the children of nature."
The author has already hinted at the form and character of
the entertainments with which hula-folk sometimes beguiled
their professional interludes. Fortunately the author is able
to illustrate by means of a song the very form of
entertainment they provided for themselves on such an
occasion. The following mele, cantillated with an
accompaniment of expressive gesture, is one that was actually
given at an awa-drinking bout indulged in by hula-folk. The
author has an account of its recital at Kahuku, island of
Oahu, so late as the year 1849, during a circuit of that
[Page 130] island made by King Kamehameha III. This mele is reckoned as
belonging to the ordinary repertory of the hula; but to which
particular form of the dance it was devoted has not been
learned:
_Mele_
Ua ona o Kane i ka awa;
Ua kau ke keha[281] i ka uluna;
Ua hi'o-lani[282] i ka moena.
Kipu mai la i ke kapa o ka noe.
5 Noe-noe na hoku o ka lani--
Imo-imo mai la i ka po a'e-a'e.
Mahana-lua[283] na kukui a Lanikaula,[274]
He kaula no Kane.[285]
Meha na pali o Wai-pi'o
10 I ke kani mau o Kiha-pu;
A ono ole ka awa a ke alii
I ke kani mau o Kiha-pu;
Moe ole kona po o ka Hooilo;
Uluhua, a uluhua,
15 I ka mea nana e hull a loaa
I kela kupua ino i ka pali,
Olali la, a olali.
[Translation]
_Song_
Kane is drunken with awa;
His head is laid on the pillow;
His body stretched on the mat.
A trumpet sounds through the fog,
5 Dimmed are the stars in the sky;
When the night is clear, how they twinkle!
Lani-kaula's torches look double,
The torches that burn for Kane.
Ghostly and drear the walls of Waipio
10 At the endless blasts of Kiha-pu.
The king's awa fails to console him;
'Tis the all-night conching of Kiha-pu.
Broken his sleep the whole winter;
Downcast and sad, sad and downcast,
15 At loss to find a brave hunter
Shall steal the damned conch from the cliff.
Look, how it gleams [through the fog]!
[Footnote 281: _Keha_ is an elegant expression for the side of
the head.]
[Footnote 282: _Hi'o-lani_, literally to turn the side to
heaven, is a classic expression of refinement.]
[Footnote 283: _Mahana-lua_, literally to see double, was an
accepted test of satisfactory drunkenness. It reminds the
author of an expression he once heard used by the comedian
Clarke in the play of Toodles. While in a maudlin state from
liquor he spoke of the lighted candle that was in his hand as
a "double-barreled candle."]
[Footnote 284: _Lani-kaula_ was a prophet who lived on Molokai
at a place that still bears his name. He had his residence in
the midst of a grove of fine kukui trees, the remnants of
which remain to this day. Torches made from the nuts of these
trees were supposed to be of superior quality and they
furnished the illumination for the revelries of Kane and his
fellows.]
[Footnote 285: _He kaula no Kane_. A literal translation would
be, a prophet of Kane.]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38 PLATE XIV
[Illustration: HAWAIIAN TRUMPET, PU (CASSIS MADAGASCARENSIS)]
[Page 131]
Kane, the chief god of the Hawaiian pantheon, in company with
other immortals, his boon companions, met in revelry on the
heights bounding Wai-pi'o valley. With each potation of awa
they sounded a blast upon their conch-shells, and the racket
was almost continuous from the setting of the sun until
drowsiness overcame them or the coming of day put an end to
their revels.
The tumult of sound made it impossible for the priests to
perform acceptably the offices of religion, and the pious
king, Liloa, was distressed beyond measure. The whole valley
was disturbed and troubled with forebodings at the suspension
of divine worship.
The chief offender was Kane himself. The trumpet which he
held to his lips was a conch of extraordinary size (pl. XIV)
and credited with a divine origin and the possession of
supernatural power; its note was heard above all the others.
This shell, the famed Kiha-pu, had been stolen from the heiau
of Paka'a-lana, Liloa's temple in Waipi'o valley, and-after
many-adventures had come into the hands of god Kane, who used
it, as we see, for the interruption of the very services that
were intended for his honor.
The relief from this novel and unprecedented situation came
from an unexpected quarter. King Liloa's awa-patches were
found to be suffering from the nocturnal visits of a thief. A
watch was set; the thief proved to be a dog, Puapua-lenalena,
whose master was a confirmed awa-toper. When master and dog
were brought into the presence of King Liloa, the shrewd
monarch divined the remarkable character of the animal, and
at his suggestion the dog was sent on the errand which
resulted in the recovery by stealth of the famed conch
Kiha-pu. As a result of his loss of the conch, Kane put an
end to his revels, and the valley of Wai-pi'o again had
peace.
This mele is an admirable specimen of Hawaiian poetry, and
may be taken as representative of the best product of
Hawaii's classical period. The language is elegant and
concise, free from the redundancies that so often load down
Hawaiian compositions. No one, it is thought, will deny to
the subject-matter of this mele an unusual degree of
interest.
There is a historic side to the story of the conch-shell
Kiha-pu. Not many years ago the Hawaiian Museum contained an
ethnological specimen of great interest, the conch-shell
Kiha-pu. It was fringed, after the fashion of a witch-doll,
with strings, beads, and wampumlike bits of mother-of-pearl,
and had great repute as a _kupua_ or luckbringer. King
Kalakaua, who affected a sentimental leaning to the notions
of his mother's race, took possession of this famous "curio"
and it disappeared from public view.
[Page 132]
XIX.--THE HULA MAU-KANI
The hula _niau-kani_ was one of the classic dances of the
halau, and took its name from the musical instrument that was
its accompaniment. This was a simple, almost extemporaneous,
contrivance, constructed, like the Jew's-harp, on the
principle of a reed instrument. It was made of two parts, a
broad piece of bamboo with a longitudinal slit at one end and
a thin narrow piece of the same material, the reed, which was
held firmly against the fenestra on the concave side of part
number one. The convexity of the instrument was pressed
against the lips and the sound was produced by projecting
the breath through the slit in a speaking or singing tone in
such a way as to cause vibrations in the reed. The manner of
constructing and operating this reed instrument is suggestive
of the jew's-harp. It is asserted by those who should know
that the niau-kani was an instrument of purely Hawaiian
invention.
The performer did not depend simply upon the musical tone,
but rather upon the modification it produced in the
utterances that were strained through it. It would certainly
require a quick ear, much practice, and a thorough
acquaintance with the peculiarities of Hawaiian mele to
enable one to distinguish the words of a song after being
transformed by passage through the niau-kani.
As late as about thirty or forty years ago the niau-kani was
often seen in the hands of the native Hawaiian youth, who
used it as a means of romantic conversations and flirtation.
Since the coming in of the Portuguese and their importation
of the _uku-lele_, the _taro-patch-fiddle_, and other cheap
stringed instruments, the niau-kani has left the field to
them and disappeared.
The author's informant saw the niau-kani dance performed some
years ago at Moana-lua, near Honolulu, and again on the
island of Kauai. The dance in each case was the same. The
kumu, aided by a pupil, stood and played on the niau-kani,
straining the cantillations through the reed-protected
aperture, while the olapa, girls, kept time to the music with
the movements of their dancing,
[Page 133]
_Mele_
E pi'i ka wai ka nahele,
U'ina, nakolo i na Molo-kama;[286]
Ka ua lele mawaho o Mamala-hoa.
He manao no ko'u e ike
5 I na pua ohi'a o Kupa-koili,[287]
I hoa kaunu no Manu'a-kepa;[288]
Ua like laua me Maha-moku.[289]
Anapa i ke kai o Mono-lau.[290]
Lalau ka lima a noa ia ia la,
10 I hoa pili no Lani-huli.[291]
E huli oe i ku'u makemake,
A loa'a i Kau-ka-opua.[292]
Elua no pua kau
A ka manao i makemake ai.
15 Hoohihi oe a hihi
I lei kohu no neia kino.
Ahea oe hiki mai?
A kau ka La i na pali;[293]
Ka huli a ka makani Wai-a-ma'o,[294]
20 Makemake e iki ia ka Hala-mapu-ana,
Ka wai halana i Wai-pa.[295]
NOTE.--The proper names belong to localities along the course
of the Wai-oli stream.
[Footnote 286: _Molokama_ (more often given as _Na Molo-kama_).
The name applied to a succession of falls made by the stream
far up in the mountains. The author has here used a
versifier's privilege, compressing this long word into
somewhat less refractory shape.]
[Footnote 287: _Kupa-koili_. A grove of mountain-apples, _ohia
ai_, that stand on the bank of the stream not far from the
public road.]
[Footnote 288: _Manu'a-kepa_. A sandy, grass-covered meadow on
the opposite side of the river from Kupa-koili.]
[Footnote 289: _Maha-moku_. A sandy beach near the mouth of the
river, on the same bank as Manu'a-kepa.]
[Footnote 290: _Mono-lau_. That part of the bay into which the
river flows, that is used as an anchorage for vessels.]
[Footnote 291: _Lani-huli_. The side of the valley Kilauea of
Wai-oli toward which the river makes a bend before it enters
the ocean.]
[Footnote 292: _Kau-ka-opua_. Originally a phrase meaning "the
cloud-omen hangs," has come to be used as the proper name of
a place. It is an instance of a form of personification often
employed by the Hawaiians, in which words having a specific
meaning--such, for instance, as our "jack-in-the-box"--have
come to be used as a noun for the sake of the meaning wrapped
up in the etymology. This figure of speech is, no doubt,
common to all languages, markedly so in the Hawaiian. It may
be further illustrated by the Hebrew name Ichabod--"his glory
has departed."]
[Footnote 293: _A kau ka La, i na pali_. When stands the sun
o'er the pali, evening or late in the afternoon. On this part
of Kauai the sun sets behind the mountains.]
[Footnote 294: _Wai-a-ma'o_. The land-breeze, which sometimes
springs up at night.]
[Footnote 295: _Wai-pa_. A spot on the bank of the stream where
grew a pandanus tree, _hala_, styled _Ka-hala-mapu-ana_, the
hala-breathing-out-its-fragrance.]
[Translation]
_Song_
Up to the streams in the wildwood,
Where rush the falls Molo-kama,
While the rain sweeps past Mala-hoa,
I had a passion to visit
5 The forest of bloom at Koili,
[Page 134] To give love-caress to Manu'a,
And her neighbor Maha-moku,
And see the waters flash at Mono-lau;
My hand would quiet their rage,
10 Would sidle and touch Lani-huli.
Grant me but this one entreaty,
We'll meet 'neath the omens above.
Two flowers there are that bloom
In your garden of being;
15 Entwine them into a garland,
Fit emblem and crown of our love.
And what the hour of your coming?
When stands the Sun o'er the pali,
When turns the breeze of the land,
20 To breathe the perfume of hala,
While the currents swirl at Wai-pa.
This mele is the language of passion, a song in which the
lover frankly pours into the ear of his inamorata the story
of his love up to the time of his last enthrallment. Verses
11, 12, and 17 are the language of the woman. The scene is
laid in the rainy valley of Hanalei, Kauai, a broad and deep
basin, to the finishing of which the elements have
contributed their share. The rush and roar of the waters that
unite to form the river Wai-oli, from their wild tumbling in
the falls of Molo-kama till they pass the river's mouth and
mingle with the flashing waves of the ocean at Mono-lau,
_Anapa i ke kai o Mono-lau_ (verse 8), are emblematic of the
man's passion and his quest for satisfaction.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38 PLATE XV
WOMAN PLAYING ON THE NOSE-FLUTE (OHE-HANO-IHU)]
[Page 135]
XX.--THE HULA OHE
The action of the hula _ohe_ had some resemblance to one of
the figures of the Virginia reel. The dancers, ranged in two
parallel rows, moved forward with an accompaniment of
gestures until the head of each row had reached the limit in
that direction, and then, turning outward to right and left,
countermarched in the same manner to the point of starting,
and so continued to do. They kept step and timed their
gestures and movements to the music of the bamboo nose-flute,
the _ohe_.
In a performance of this hula witnessed by an informant the
chorus of dancers was composed entirely of girls, while the
kumu operated the nose-flute and at the same time led the
cantillation of the mele. This seemed an extraordinary
statement, and the author challenged the possibility of a
person blowing with the nose into a flute and at the same
time uttering words with the mouth. The Hawaiian asserted,
nevertheless, that, the leader of the hula, the kumu, did
accomplish these two functions; yet his answer did not remove
doubt that they were accomplished jointly and at the same
time. The author is inclined to think that the kumu performed
the two actions alternately.
The musical range of the nose-flute was very limited; it had
but two or, at the most, three stops. The player with his
left hand held the flute to the nostril, at the same time
applying a finger of the same hand to keep the other nostril
closed. With the fingers of his right hand he operated the
stops (pl. xv).
_Mele_
E pi' i ka nahele,
E ike ia Ka-wai-kini,[296]
Nana ia Pihaua-ka-lani,[297]
[Page 136] I kela manu hulu ma'e-ma'e,[298]
5 Noho pu me Ka-hale-lehua,
Punahele ia Kaua-kahi-alii.[299]
E Kaili,[300] e Kaili, e!
E Kaili, lau o ke koa,
E Kaili, lau o ke koa,
10 Moopuna a Hooipo-i-ka-Malanai,[301]
Hiwa-hiwa a ka Lehua-wehe![302]
Aia ka nani i Wai-ehu,
I ka wai kaili puuwai o ka makemake.
Makemake au i ke kalukalu o Kewa,[303]
15 E he'e ana i ka nalu o Maka-iwa.
He iwa-iwa oe na ke aloha,
I Wai-lua nui hoano.
Ano-ano ka hale, aohe kanaka,
Ua la'i oe no ke one o Ali-o.
20 Aia ka ipo i ka nahele.
[Footnote 296: _Ka-wai-kini_. The name of a rocky bluff that
stands on the side of Mount Wai-ale-ale, looking to Wailua.
It as said to divide the flow from the great morass, the
natural reservoir formed by the hollow at the top of the
mountain, turning a part of it in the direction of Wai-niha,
a valley not far from Hanalei, which otherwise would, it is
said by Hawaiians, go to swell the stream that forms the
Wailua river. This rock, in the old times, was regarded as a
demigod, a _kupua_, and had a lover who resided in Wai-lua,
also another who resided in the mountains. The words in the
first two or three verses may be taken as if they were the
utterance of this Wai-lua lover, saying "I will go up and see
my sweetheart Ka-wai-kini."]
[Footnote 297: _Pihana-ka-lani_. Literally, the fullness of
heaven. This was a forest largely of lehua that covered the
mountain slope below Ka-wai-kini. It seems as if the purpose
of its mention was to represent the beauties and charms of
the human body. In this romantic region lived the famous
mythological princes--_alii kupua_, the Hawaiians called
them--named _Kaua-kahi-alii_ and _Aiwohi-kupua_, with their
princess sister _Ka-hale-lehua_. The second name mentioned
was the one who married the famous heroine of the romantic
story of _Laie-i-ka-wai_.]
[Footnote 298: _Manu hulu ma'ema'e_. An allusion to the great
number of plumage birds that were reputed to be found in this
place.]
[Footnote 299: _Puna-hele ia Kaua-kahi-alli_. The birds of the
region are said to have been on very intimate and friendly
terms with Kaua-kahi-alii. (See note _b_, p. 135.)]
[Footnote 300: _Kaili_. The full form is said to be
_Ka-ili-lau-o-ke-koa_--Skin-like-the-leaf-of-the-koa. In the
text of the mele this name is analyzed into its parts and
written as if the phrase at the end were an appellative and
not an integral part of the name itself. This was a mythical
character of unusual beauty, a person of superhuman power,
_kupua_, a mistress of the art of surf-riding, which passion
she indulged in the waters about Wai-lua.]
[Footnote 301: _Hooipo-i-ka-Malanai_. A mythical princess of
Wailua, the grandmother of Kaili. This oft-quoted phrase,
literally meaning to make love in the (gently-blowing)
trade-wind, has become almost a stock expression, standing
for romantic love, or love-making.]
[Footnote 302: _Lehua-wehe_. The piece of ocean near the mouth
of the Wailua river in which Kaili indulged her passion for
surf-riding.]
[Footnote 303: _Kalu-kalu o Kewa_. _Kalu-kalu_ may mean a
species of soft, smooth grass specially fitted for sliding
upon, which flourished on the inclined plain of Kewa, Kauai.
One would sit upon a mat, the butt end of a coconut leaf, or
a sled, while another dragged it along. The Hawaiian name for
this sport is _pahe'e_. _Kalu-kalu_ is also the name applied
to "a very thin gauze-like kapa." (See Andrews's Hawaiian
Dictionary.) If we suppose the poet to have clearly intended
the first meaning, the figure does not tally with the
following verse, the fifteenth. Verses 14 and 15 would thus
be made to read:
I desire the kalu-kalu (grass) of Kewa,
That is riding the surf of Maka-iwa.
This is an impossible figure and makes no sense. If, on the
other hand, we take another version and conceive that the
bard had in mind the gauze-like robe of _kalu-kalu_--using
this, of course, as a figure for the person clad in such a
robe--the rendering I have given,
I pine for the sylph, robed in gauze,
Who rides the surf Maka-iwa,
would not only make a possible, but a poetic, picture. Let
the critical reader judge which of these two versions hits
closer to common sense and probability.]
[Translation]
_Song._
Come up to the wildwood, come;
Let us visit Wai-kini,
And gaze on Pihana-ka-lani,
[Page 137] Its birds of plumage so fine;
5 Be comrade to Hale-lehua,
Soul-mate to Kau'kahi-alii.
O, Kaili, Kaili!
Kaili, leaf of the koa,
Graceful as leaf of the koa,
10 Granddaughter of goddess,
Whose name is the breath of love,
Darling of blooming Lehua.
My lady rides with the gray foam,
On the surge that enthralls the desire.
15 I pine for the sylph robed in gauze,
Who rides on the surf Maka-iwa--
Aye, cynosure thou of all hearts,
In all of sacred Wailua.
Forlorn and soul-empty the house;
20 You pleasure on the beach Ali-o;
Your love is up here in the wildwood.
This mele hoipoipo, love-song, like the one previously given,
is from Kauai. The proper names that abound in it, whether of
places, of persons, or of winds, seem to have been mostly of
Kauaian origin, furnished by its topography, its myths and
legends. They have, however, become the common property of
the whole group through having been interwoven in the
national songs that pass current from island to island.
[Page 138]
XXI.--THE MUSIC AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE HAWAIIANS
A bird is easier captured than the notes of a song. The
_mele_ and _oli_ of Hawaii's olden time have been preserved
for us; but the music to which they were chanted, a less
perdurable essence, has mostly exhaled. In the sudden
transition from the tabu system to the new order of things
that came in with the death of Kamehameha in 1819, the old
fashion of song soon found itself antiquated and
outdistanced. Its survival, so far as it did survive, was
rather as a memorial and remembrance of the past than as a
register of the living emotions of the present.
The new music, with its _pa, ko, li_--answering to our do,
re, mi[304]--was soon in everybody's mouth. From the first it
was evidently destined to enact a role different from that of
the old cantillation; none the less the musical ideas that
came in with it, the air of freedom from tabu and priestcraft
it breathed, and the diatonic scale, the highway along which
it marched to conquest, soon produced a noticeable reaction
in all the musical efforts of the people. This new seed, when
it had become a vigorous plant, began to push aside the old
indigenous stock, to cover it with new growths, and,
incredible as it may seem, to inoculate it with its own
pollen, thus producing a cross which to-day is accepted in
certain quarters as the genuine article of Hawaiian song.
Even now, the people of northwestern America are listening
with demonstrative interest to songs which they suppose to be
those of the old hula, but which in reality have no more
connection with that institution than our negro minstrelsy
has to do with the dark continent.
[Footnote 304: The early American missionaries to Hawaii named
the musical notes of the scale _pa, ko, li, ha, no, la, mi_.]
The one regrettable fact, from a historical point of view, is
that a record was not made of indigenous Hawaiian song before
this process of substitution and adulteration had begun. It
is no easy matter now to obtain the data for definite
knowledge of the subject.
While the central purpose of this chapter will be a study of
the music native to old Hawaii, and especially of that
produced in the halau, Hawaiian music of later times and of
the present day can not be entirely neglected; nor will it be
without its value for the indirect light it will shed on
ancient conditions and on racial characteristics. The
reaction that has taken place in Hawaii within historic times
in response to the stimulus from abroad can not fail to be of
[Page 139] interest in itself.
There is a peculiarity of the Hawaiian speech which can not
but have its effect in determining the lyric tone-quality of
Hawaiian music; this is the predominance of vowel and labial
sounds in the language. The phonics of Hawaiian speech, we
must remember, lack the sounds represented by our alphabetic
symbols _b, c_ or _s, d, f, g, j, q, x_, and _z_--a poverty
for which no richness in vowel sounds can make amends. The
Hawaiian speech, therefore, does not call into full play the
uppermost vocal cavities to modify and strengthen, or refine,
the throat and mouth tones of the speaker and to give reach
and emphasis to his utterances. When he strove for dramatic
and passional effect, he did not make his voice resound in
the topmost cavities of the voice-trumpet, but left it to
rumble and mutter low down in the throat-pipe, thus producing
a feature that colors Hawaiian musical recitation.
This feature, or mannerism, as it might be called, specially
marks Hawaiian music of the bombastic bravura sort in modern
times, imparting to it in its strife for emphasis a sensual
barbaric quality. It can be described further only as a
gurgling throatiness, suggestive at times of ventriloquism,
as if the singer were gloating over some wild physical
sensation, glutting his appetite of savagery, the meaning of
which is almost as foreign to us and as primitive as are the
mewing of a cat, the gurgling of an infant, and the snarl of
a mother-tiger. At the very opposite pole of development from
this throat-talk of the Hawaiian must we reckon the
highly-specialized tones of the French speech, in which we
find the nasal cavities are called upon to do their full
share in modifying the voice-sounds.
The vocal execution of Hawaiian music, like the recitation of
much of their poetry, showed a surprising mastery of a
certain kind of technique, the peculiarity of which was a
sustained and continuous outpouring of the breath to the end
of a certain period, when the lungs again drank their fill.
This seems to have been an inheritance from the old religious
style of prayer-recitation, which required the priest to
repeat the whole incantation to its finish with the outpour
of one lungful of breath. Satisfactory utterance of those old
prayer-songs of the Aryans, the _mantras_, was conditioned
likewise on its being a one-breath performance. A logical
analogy may be seen between all this and that unwritten law,
or superstition, which made it imperative for the heroes and
demigods, _kupua_, of Hawaii's mythologic age to discontinue
any unfinished work on the coming of daylight.[305]
[Footnote 305: The author can see no reason for supposing that
this prolonged utterance had anything to do with that Hindoo
practice belonging to the _yoga_, the exercise of which
consists in regulating the breath.]
[Page 140]
When one listens for the first time to the musical utterance
of a Hawaiian poem, it may seem only a monotonous onflow of
sounds faintly punctuated by the primary rhythm that belongs
to accent, but lacking those milestones of secondary rhythm
which set a period to such broader divisions as distinguish
rhetorical and musical phrasing. Further attention will
correct this impression and show that the Hawaiians paid
strict attention not only to the lesser rhythm which deals
with the time and accent of the syllable, but also to that
more comprehensive form which puts a limit to the verse.
With the Hawaiians musical phrasing was arranged to fit the
verse of the mele, not to express a musical idea. The
cadencing of a musical phrase in Hawaiian song was marked by
a peculiarity all its own. It consisted of a prolonged
trilling or fluctuating movement called _i'i_, in which the
voice went up and down in a weaving manner, touching the main
note that formed the framework of the melody, then springing
away from it for some short interval--a half of a step, or
even some shorter interval--like an electrified pith-ball,
only to return and then spring away again and again until the
impulse ceased. This was more extensively employed in the oil
proper, the verses of which were longer drawn out, than in
the mele such as formed the stock pieces of the hula. These
latter were generally divided into shorter verses.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
The musical instruments of the Hawaiians included many
classes, and their study can not fail to furnish substantial
data for any attempt to estimate the musical performances,
attainments, and genius of the people.
Of drums, or drumlike instruments of percussion, the
Hawaiians had four:
1. The _pahu_, or _pahu-hula_ (pl. x), was a section of
hollowed log. Breadfruit and coconut were the woods generally
used for this purpose. The tough skin of the shark was the
choice for the drumhead, which was held in place and kept
tense by tightening cords of coconut fiber, that passed down
the side of the cylinder.
The workmanship of the pahu, though rude, was of tasteful
design. So far as the author has studied them, each pahu was
constructed with a diaphragm placed about two-thirds the
distance from the head, obtained by leaving in place a cross
section of the log, thus making a closed chamber of the
drum-cavity proper, after the fashion of the kettledrum. The
lower part of the drum also was hollowed out and carved, as
will be seen in the illustration. In the carving of all the
specimens examined the artists have shown a notable fondness
for a fenestrated design representing a series of arches,
[Page 141] after the fashion of a two-storied arcade, the haunch of the
superimposed arch resting directly on the crown of that
below. In one case the lower arcade was composed of
Roman,-while the upper was of Gothic, arches. The grace of
the design and the manner of its execution are highly
pleasing, and suggest the inquiry, Whence came the
opportunity for this intimate study of the arch?
The tone of the pahu was produced by striking its head with
the finger-tips, or with the palm of the hand; never with a
stick, so far as the writer has been able to learn. Being
both heavy and unwieldly, it was allowed to rest upon the
ground, and, if used alone, was placed to the front of the
operator; if sounded in connection with the instrument next
to be mentioned, it stood at his left side.
The pahu, if not the most original, was the most important
instrument used in connection with the hula. The drum, with
its deep and solemn tones, is an instrument of recognized
efficiency in its power to stir the heart to more vigorous
pulsations, and in all ages it has been relied upon as a
means of inspiring emotions of mystery, awe, terror,
sublimity, or martial enthusiasm.
Tradition of the most direct sort ascribes the introduction
of the pahu to La'a--generally known as La'a-mai-Kahiki
(La'a-from-Kahiki)--a prince who flourished about six
centuries ago. He was of a volatile, adventurous disposition,
a navigator of some renown, having made the long voyage
between Hawaii and the archipelagoes in the southern
Pacific--Kahiki--not less than twice in each direction. On
his second arrival from the South he brought with him the big
drum, the pahu, which he sounded as he skirted the coast
quite out to sea, to the wonder and admiration of the natives
on the land. La'a, being of an artistic temperament and an
ardent patron of the hula, at once gave the divine art of
Laka the benefit of this newly imported instrument. He
traveled from place to place, instructing the teachers and
inspiring them with new ideals. It was he also who introduced
into the hula the kaekeeke as an instrument of music.
2. The _pu-niu_ (pl. XVI) was a small drum made from the
shell of a coconut. The top part, that containing the eyes,
was removed, and the shell having been smoothed and polished,
the opening was tightly covered with the skin of some
scaleless fish--that of the _kala_ (Acanthurus unicornis) was
preferred. A venerable kumu-hula states that it was his
practice to use only the skin taken from the right side of
the fish, because he found that it produced a finer quality
of sound than that of the other side. The Hawaiian mind was
very insistent on little matters of this sort--the mint,
anise, and cummin of their system. The drumhead was stretched
and placed in position while moist and flexible, and was then
made fast to a ring-shaped cushion--_poaha_--of fiber or tapa
that hugged the base of the shell.
[Page 142]
The Hawaiians sometimes made use of the clear gum of the
_kukui_ tree to aid in fixing the drumhead in place.
When in use the pu-niu was lashed to the right thigh for the
convenience of the performer, who played upon it with a thong
of braided fibers held in his right hand (fig. 2), his left
thus being free to manipulate the big drum that stood on the
other side.
Of three pu-niu in the author's collection, one, when struck,
gives off the sound of [=c] below the staff; another that of
[=c]# below the staff, and a third that of [==c]# in the
staff.
While the grand vibrations of the pahu filled the air with
their solemn tremor, the lighter and sharper tones of the
pu-niu gave a piquancy to the effect, adding a feature which
may be likened to the sparkling ripples which the breeze
carves in the ocean's swell.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Ka, drumstick for pu-niu. (Pl. XVI.)]
3. The _ipu_ or _ipu-hula_ (pl. VII), though not strictly a
drum, was a drumlike instrument. It was made by joining
closely together two pear-shaped gourds of large size in such
fashion as to make a body shaped like a figure 8. An opening
was made in the upper end of the smaller gourd to give exit
to the sound. The cavities of the two gourds were thrown into
one, thus making a single column of air, which, in vibration,
gave off a note of clear bass pitch. An ipu of large size in
the author's collection emits the tone of c in the bass.
Though of large volume, the tone is of low intensity and has
small carrying power.
For ease in handling, the ipu is provided about its waist
with a loop of cord or tapa, by which device the performer
was enabled to manipulate this bulky instrument with one
hand. The instrument was sounded by dropping or striking it
with well-adjusted force against the padded earth-floor of
the Hawaiian house.
The manner and style of performing on the ipu varied with the
sentiment of the mele, a light and caressing action when the
feeling was sentimental or pathetic, wild and emphatic when
the subject was such as to stir the feelings with enthusiasm
and passion.
Musicians inform us that the drum--exception is made in the
case of the snare and the kettle drum--is an instrument in
which the pitch is a matter of comparative indifference, its
function being to mark the time and emphasize the rhythm.
[Page 143] There are other elements, it would seem, that must be taken
into the account in estimating the value of the drum.
Attention may be directed first to its tone-character, the
quality of its note which touches the heart in its own
peculiar way, moving it to enthusiasm or bringing it within
the easy reach of awe, fear, and courage. Again, while,
except in the orchestra, the drum and other instruments of
percussion may require no exact pitch, still this does not
necessarily determine their effectiveness. The very depth and
gravity of its pitch, made pervasive by its wealth of
overtones, give to this primitive instrument a weird hold on
the emotions.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 98 PLATE XVI
PU-NIU, A DRUM]
This combination of qualities we find well illustrated in the
pahu and the ipu, the tones of which range in the lower
registers of the human voice. The tone-character of the
pu-niu, on the other hand, is more subdued, yet lively and
cheerful, by reason in part of the very sharpness of its
pitch, and thus affords an agreeable offset to the solemnity
of the other two.
Ethnologically the pahu is of more world-wide interest than
any other member of its class, being one of many varieties of
the kettle-drum that are to be found scattered among the
tribes of the Pacific, all of them, perhaps, harking back to
Asiatic forbears, such as the tom-tom of the Hindus.
The sound of the pahu carries one back in imagination to the
dread sacrificial drum of the Aztec teocallis and the wild
kettles of the Tartar hordes. The drum has cruel and bloody
associations. When listening to its tones one can hardly put
away a thought of the many times they have been used to drown
the screams of some agonized creature.
For more purely local interest, inventive originality, and
simplicity, the round-bellied ipu takes the palm, a
contrivance of strictly Hawaiian, or at least Polynesian,
ingenuity. It is an instrument of fascinating interest, and
when its crisp rind puts forth its volume of sound one finds
his imagination winging itself back to the mysterious caverns
of Hawaiian mythology.
The gourd, of which the ipu is made, is a clean vegetable
product of the fields and the garden, the gift of
Lono-wahine--unrecognized daughter of mother Ceres--and is
free from all cruel alliances. Fo bleating lamb was
sacrificed to furnish parchment for its drumhead. Its
associations are as innocent as the pipes of Pan.
4. The _ka-eke-eke_, though not drumlike in form, must be
classed as an instrument of percussion from the manner of
eliciting its note. It was a simple joint of bamboo, open at
one end, the other end being left closed with the diaphragm
provided by nature. The tone is produced by striking the
closed end of the cylinder, while held in a vertical
position, with a sharp blow against some solid, nonresonant
body, such as the matted earth floor of the old Hawaiian
[Page 144] house. In the author's experiments with the kaekeeke an
excellent substitute was found in a bag filled with sand or
earth.
In choosing bamboo for the kaekeeke it is best to use a
variety which is thin-walled and long-jointed, like the
indigenous Hawaiian varieties, in preference to such as come
from the Orient, all of which are thick-walled and
short-jointed, and therefore less resonant than the Hawaiian.
The performer held a joint in each hand, the two being of
different sizes and lengths, thus producing tones of diverse
pitch. By making a proper selection of joints it would be
possible to obtain a set capable of producing a perfect
musical scale. The tone of the kaekeeke is of the utmost
purity and lacks only sustained force and carrying power to
be capable of the best effects.
An old Hawaiian once informed the writer that about the year
1850, in the reign of Kamehameha III, he was present at a
hula kaekeeke given in the royal palace in Honolulu. The
instrumentalists numbered six, each one of whom held two
bamboo joints. The old man became enthusiastic as he
described the effect produced by their performance, declaring
it to have been the most charming hula he ever witnessed.
5. The _uli-uli_ (pl. XI) consisted of a small gourd of the
size of one's two fists, into which were introduced shotlike
seeds, such as those of the canna. In character it was a
rattle, a noise-instrument pure and simple, but of a tone by
no means disagreeable to the ear, even as the note produced
by a woodpecker drumming on a log is not without its
pleasurable effect on the imagination.
The illustration of the uliuli faithfully pictured by the
artist reproduces a specimen that retains the original
simplicity of the instrument before the meretricious taste of
modern times tricked it out with silks and feathers. (For a
further description of this instrument, see p. 107.)
6. The _pu-ili_ was also a variety of the rattle, made by
splitting a long joint of bamboo for half its length into
slivers, every alternate sliver being removed to give the
remaining ones greater freedom and to make their play the one
upon the other more lively. The tone is a murmurous breezy
rustle that resembles the notes of twigs, leaves, or reeds
struck against one another by the wind--not at all an
unworthy imitation of nature-tones familiar to the Hawaiian
ear.
The performers sat in two rows facing each other, a position
that favored mutual action, in which each row of actors
struck their instruments against those of the other side, or
tossed them back and forth. (For further account of the
manner in which the puili was used in the hula of the same
name, see p. 113.)
7. The _laau_ was one of the noise-instruments used in the
hula. It consisted of two sticks of hard resonant wood, the
[Page 145] smaller of which was struck against the larger, producing a
clear xylophonic note. While the pitch of this instrument is
capable of exact determination, it does not seem that there
was any attempt made at adjustment. A laau in the author's
collection, when struck, emits tones the predominant one of
which is [=d] (below the staff).
8. The _ohe_, or _ohe-hano-ihu_ (fig. 3), is an instrument of
undoubted antiquity. In every instance that has come under
the author's observation the material has been, as its
name--_ohe_--signifies, a simple joint of bamboo, with an
embouchure placed about half an inch from the closed end,
thus enabling the player to supply the instrument with air
from his right nostril. In every nose-flute examined there
have been two holes, one 2 or 3 inches away from the
embouchure, the older about a third of the distance from the
open end of the flute.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Ohe-hano-ihu, nose-flute.]
The musician with his left hand holds the end of the pipe
squarely against his lip, so that the right nostril slightly
overlaps the edge of the embouchure. The breath is projected
into the embouchure with modulated force. A nose-flute in the
author's collection with the lower hole open produces the
sound of [=f]#; with both holes unstopped it emits the sound
[==a]; and when both holes are stopped it produces the sound
of [==c]#, a series of notes which are the tonic, mediant,
and dominant of the chord of F# minor.
An ohe played by an old Hawaiian named Keaonaloa, an inmate
of the Lunalilo Home, when both holes were stopped sounded
[=f]; with the lower hole open it sounded [==a], and when
both holes were open it sounded [===c].
The music made by Keaonaloa with his ohe was curious, but not
soul-filling. We must bear in mind, however, that it was
intended only as an accompaniment to a poetical recitation.
Some fifty or sixty years ago it was not uncommon to see
bamboo flutes of native manufacture in the hands of Hawaiian
musicians of the younger generation. These instruments were
avowedly imitations of the D-flute imported from abroad. The
idea of using bamboo for this purpose must have been
suggested by its previous use in the nose-flute.
"The tonal capacity of the Hawaiian nose-flute," says Miss
Jennie Elsner, "which has nothing harsh and strident about
it, embraces five tones, [=f] and [==g] in the middle
[Page 146] register, and [==f], [=g], and [==a] an octave above. These
flutes are not always pitched to the same key, varying half a
tone or so." On inquiring of the native who kindly furnished
the following illustrations, he stated that he had bored the
holes of his ohe without much measurement, trusting to his
intuitions and judgment.
I--Range of the Nose-flute
[Music]
The player began with a slow, strongly accented, rhythmical
movement, which continued to grow more and more intricate.
Rhythmical diminution continued in a most astounding manner
until a frenzied climax was reached; in other words, until
the player's breath-capacity was exhausted.
A peculiar effect, as of several instruments being used at
the same time, was produced by the two lower tones being
thrown in wild profusion, often apparently simultaneously
with one of the upper tones. As the tempo in any one of these
increased, the rhythm was lost sight of and a peculiar
syncopated effect resulted.[306]
[Footnote 306: The writer is indebted to Miss Elsner not only
for the above comments but for the following score which she
has cleverly arranged as a sample of nose-flute music
produced by Keaonaloa.]
II--Music from the Nose-flute
Arranged by JENNIE ELSNER
[Music]
9. The _pu-a_ was a whistle-like instrument. It was made from
a gourd of the size of a lemon, and was pierced with three
holes, or sometimes only two, one for the nose, by which it
[Page 147] was blown, while the others were controlled by the fingers.
This instrument has been compared to the Italian ocarina.
10. The _ili-ili_ was a noise-instrument pure and simple. It
consisted of two pebbles that were held in the hand and
smitten together, after the manner of castanets, in time to
the music of the voices. (See p. 120.)
11. The _niau-kani_--singing splinter--was a reed-instrument
of a rude sort, made by holding a reed of thin bamboo against
a slit cut out in a larger piece of bamboo. This was applied
to the mouth, and the voice being projected against it
produced an effect similar to that of the Jew's harp. (See p.
132.)
12. Even still more extemporaneous and rustic than any of
these is a modest contrivance called by the Hawaiians
_pu-la-i_. It is nothing more than a ribbon torn from the
green leaf of the _ti_ plant, say three-quarters of an inch
to an inch in width by 5 or 6 inches long, and rolled up
somewhat after the manner of a lamplighter, so as to form a
squat cylinder an inch or more in length. This was compressed
to flatten it. Placed between the lips and blown into with
proper force, it emits a tone of pure reedlike quality, that
varies in pitch, according to the size of the whistle, from G
in the middle register to a shrill piping note more than an
octave above.
The hula girl who showed this simple device offered it in
answer to reiterated inquiries as to what other instruments,
besides those of more formal make already described, the
Hawaiians were wont to use in connection with their informal
rustic dances. "This," said she, "was sometimes used as an
accompaniment to such informal dancing as was indulged in
outside the halau." This little rustic pipe, quickly
improvised from the leaf that every Hawaiian garden supplies,
would at once convert any skeptic to a belief in the pipes of
god Pan.
13. The _ukeke_, the one Hawaiian instrument of its class, is
a mere strip of wood bent into the shape of a bow that its
elastic force may keep tense the strings that are stretched
upon it. These strings, three in number, were originally of
sinnet, later after the arrival of the white man, of
horsehair. At the present time it is the fashion to use the
ordinary gut designed for the violin or the taro-patch
guitar. Every ukeke seen followed closely a conventional
pattern, which, argues for the instrument a historic age
sufficient to have gathered about itself some degree of
traditional reverence. One end of the stick is notched or
provided with holes to hold the strings, while the other end
is wrought into a conventional figure resembling the tail of
a fish and serves as an attachment about which to wind the
free ends of the strings.
No ukeke seen by the author was furnished with pins, pegs, or
any similar device to facilitate tuning. Nevertheless, the
[Page 148] musician does tune his ukeke, as the writer can testify from
his own observation. This Hawaiian musician was the one whose
performances on the nose-flute are elsewhere spoken of. When
asked to give a sample of his playing on the ukeke, he first
gave heed to his instrument as if testing whether it was in
tune. He was evidently dissatisfied and pulled at one string
as if to loosen it; then, pressing one end of the bow against
his lips, he talked to it in a singing tone, at the same time
plucking the strings with a delicate rib of grass. The effect
was most pleasing. The open cavity of the mouth, acting as a
resonator, reenforced the sounds and gave them a volume and
dignity that was a revelation. The lifeless strings allied
themselves to a human voice and became animated by a living
soul.
With the assistance of a musical friend it was found that the
old Hawaiian tuned his strings with approximate correctness
to the tonic, the third and the fifth. We may surmise that
this self-trained musician had instinctively followed the
principle or rule proposed by Aristoxenus, who directed a
singer to sing his most convenient note, and then, taking
this as a starting point, to tune the remainder of his
strings--the Greek kithara, no doubt--in the usual manner
from this one.
While the ukeke was used to accompany the mele and the oli,
its chief employment was in serenading and serving the young
folk in breathing their extemporized songs and uttering their
love-talk--_hoipoipo_. By using a peculiar lingo or secret
talk of their own invention, two lovers could hold private
conversation in public and pour their loves and longings into
each other's ears without fear of detection--a thing most
reprehensible in savages. This display of ingenuity has been
the occasion for outpouring many vials of wrath upon the
sinful ukeke.
Experiment with the ukeke impresses one with the wonderful
change in the tone of the instrument that takes place when
its lifeless strings are brought into close relation with the
cavity of the mouth. Let anyone having normal organs of
speech contract his lips into the shape of an O, make his
cheeks tense, and then, with the pulp of his finger as a
plectrum, slap the center of his cheek and mark the tone that
is produced. Practice will soon enable him to render a full
octave with fair accuracy and to perform a simple melody that
shall be recognizable at a short distance. The power and
range thus acquired will, of course, be limited by the skill
of the operator. One secret of the performance lies in a
proper management of the tongue. This function of the mouth
[Page 149] familiarly illustrated in the jew's-harp. The author is again
indebted to Miss Elsner for the following comments on the
ukeke:
"The strings of this ukeke, the Hawaiian fiddle, are tuned to
[=e]; to [=b] and to [=d]. These three strings are struck
nearly simultaneously, but the sound being very feeble, it is
only the first which, receiving the sharp impact of the blow,
gives out enough volume to make a decided impression."
III--The Ukeke (as played by Keaonaloa)
Arranged by JENNIE ELSNER
[Music]
The early visitors to these islands, as a rule, either held
the music of the savages in contempt or they were unqualified
to report on its character and to make record of it.
We know that in ancient times the voices of the men as well
as of the women were heard at the same time in the songs of
the hula. One of the first questions that naturally arises
is, Did the men and the women sing in parts or merely in
unison?
It is highly gratifying to find clear historical testimony on
this point from a competent authority. The quotation that
follows is from the pen of Capt. James King, who was with
Capt. James Cook on the latter's last voyage, in which he
discovered the Hawaiian islands (January 18, 1778). The words
were evidently penned after the death of Captain Cook, when
the writer of them, it is inferred, must have succeeded to
the command of the expedition. The fact that Captain King
weighs his words, as evidenced in the footnote, and that he
appreciates the bearing and significance of his testimony,
added to the fact that he was a man of distinguished
learning, gives unusual weight to his statements. The subject
is one of so great interest and importance, that the whole
passage is here quoted.[307] It adds not a little to its value
that the writer thereof did not confine his remarks to the
music, but enters into a general description of the hula. The
only regret is that he did not go still further into details.
[Footnote 307: Italics used are those of the present author.]
Their dances have a much nearer resemblance to those of the
New Zealanders than of the Otaheitians or Friendly Islanders.
They are prefaced with a slow, solemn song, in which all the
party join, moving their legs, and gently striking their
breasts in a manner and with attitudes that are perfectly
easy and graceful; and so far they are the same with the
dances of the Society Islands. When this has lasted about ten
minutes, both the tune and the motions gradually quicken, and
[Page 150] end only by their inability to support the fatigue, which
part of the performance is the exact counterpart of that of
the New Zealanders; and (as it is among them) the person who
uses the most violent action and holds out the longest is
applauded as the best dancer. It is to be observed that in
this dance the women only took part and that the dancing of
the men is nearly of the same kind with what we saw at the
Friendly Islands; and which may, perhaps, with more
propriety, be called the accompaniment of the songs, with
corresponding and graceful motions of the whole body. Yet as
we were spectators of boxing exhibitions of the same kind
with those we were entertained with at the Friendly Islands,
it is probable that they had likewise their grand ceremonious
dances, in which numbers of both sexes assisted.
Their music is also of a ruder kind, having neither flutes
nor reeds, nor instruments of any other sort, that we saw,
except drums of various sizes. But their songs, _which they
sing in parts_, and accompany with a gentle motion of the
arms, in the same manner as the Friendly Islanders, had a
very pleasing effect.
To the above Captain King adds this footnote:
As this circumstance of their _singing in parts_ has been
much doubted by persons eminently skilled in music, and would
be exceedingly curious if it was clearly ascertained, it is
to be lamented that it can not be more positively
authenticated.
Captain Burney and Captain Phillips of the Marines, who have
both a tolerable knowledge of music, have given it as their
opinion they did sing in parts; that is to say, that they
sang together in different notes, which formed a pleasing
harmony.
These gentlemen have fully testified that the Friendly
Islanders undoubtedly studied their performances before they
were exhibited in public; that they had an idea of different
notes being useful in harmony; and also that they rehearsed
their compositions in private and threw out the inferior
voices before they ventured to appear before those who were
supposed to be judges of their skill in music.
In their regular concerts each man had a bamboo[308] which was
of a different length and gave a different tone. These they
beat against the ground, and each performer, assisted by the
note given by this instrument, repeated the same note,
accompanying it with words, by which means it was rendered
sometimes short and sometimes long. In this manner they sang
in chorus, and not only produced octaves to each other,
according to their species of voice, but fell on concords
such as were not disagreeable to the ear.
[Footnote 308: These bamboos were, no doubt, the same as the
_kaekeeke_, elsewhere described. (See P. 122.)]
Now, to overturn this fact, by the reasoning of persons who
did not hear these performances, is rather an arduous task.
And yet there is great improbability that any uncivilized
people should by accident arrive at this perfection in the
art of music, which we imagine can only be attained by dint
of study and knowledge of the system and the theory on which
musical composition is founded. Such miserable jargon as our
country psalm-singers practice, which may be justly deemed
the lowest class of counterpoint, or singing in several
parts, can not be acquired in the coarse manner in which it
is performed in the churches without considerable time and
practice. It is, therefore, scarcely credible that a people,
semibarbarous, should naturally arrive at any perfection in
that art which it is much doubted whether the Greeks and
Romans, with all their refinements in music, ever attained,
and which the Chinese, who have been longer civilized than
any people on the globe, have not yet found out.
[Page 151]
If Captain Burney (who, by the testimony of his father,
perhaps the greatest musical theorist of this or any other
age, was able to have done it) has written down in European
notes the concords that these people sung, and if these
concords had been such as European ears could tolerate, there
would have been no longer doubt of the fact; but, as it is,
it would, in my opinion, be a rash judgment to venture to
affirm that they did or did not understand counterpoint; and
therefore I fear that this curious matter must be considered
as still remaining undecided. (A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean,
undertaken by the command of His Majesty, for making
discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. Performed under the
direction of Captains Cook, Clerke, and Gore, in His
Majesty's ships the Resolution and Discovery, in the years
1776, 1777, 1778, and 1780, 3 volumes, London, 1784, III, 2d
ed., 142, 143, 144.)
While we can not but regret that Captain King did not go into
detail and inform us specifically what were the concords
those old-time people "fell on," whether their songs were in
the major or minor key, and many other points of information,
he has, nevertheless, put science under obligations to him by
his clear and unmistakable testimony to the fact that they
did arrange their music in parts. His testimony is decisive:
"In this manner they sang in chorus, and not only produced
octaves to each other, according to their species of voice,
but fell on concords such as were not disagreeable to the
ear." When the learned doctor argues that to overturn this
fact would be an arduous task, we have to agree with, him--an
arduous task indeed. He well knew that one proven fact can
overthrow a thousand improbabilities. "What man has done man
can do" is a true saying; but it does not thence follow that
what man has not done man can not do.
If the contention were that the Hawaiians understood
counterpoint as a science and a theory, the author would
unhesitatingly admit the improbability with a readiness akin
to that with, which he would admit the improbability that the
wild Australian understood the theory of the boomerang. But
that a musical people, accustomed to pitch their voices to
the clear and unmistakable notes of bamboo pipes cut to
various lengths, a people whose posterity one generation
later appropriated the diatonic scale as their own with the
greatest avidity and readiness, that this people should
recognize the natural harmonies of sound, when they had
chanced upon them, and should imitate them in their
songs--the improbability of this the author fails to see.
The clear and explicit statement of Captain King leaves
little to be desired so far as this sort of evidence can go.
There are, however, other lines of inquiry that must be
developed:
1. The testimony of the Hawaiians themselves on this matter.
This is vague. No one of whom inquiry has been made is able
to affirm positively the existence of part-singing in the
olden times. Most of those with whom the writer has talked
are inclined to the view that the ancient cantillation was
not in any sense part-singing as now practised. One must not,
[Page 152] however, rely too much on such testimony as this, which at
the best is only negative. In many cases it is evident the
witnesses do not understand the true meaning and bearing of
the question. The Hawaiians have no word or expression
synonymous with our expression "musical chord." In all
inquiries the writer has found it necessary to use
periphrasis or to appeal to some illustration. The fact must
be borne in mind, however, that people often do a thing, or
possess a thing, for which they have no name.
2. As to the practice among Hawaiians at the present time, no
satisfactory proof has been found of the existence of any
case in which in the cantillations of their own songs the
Hawaiians--those uninfluenced by foreign music--have given an
illustration of what can properly be termed part-singing; nor
can anyone be found who can testify affirmatively to the same
effect. Search for it has thus far been as fruitless as
pursuit of the will-o'-the-wisp.
3. The light that is thrown on this question by the study of
the old Hawaiian musical instruments is singularly
inconclusive. If it were possible, for instance, to bring
together a complete set of kaekeeke bamboos which were
positively known to have been used together at one
performance, the argument from the fact of their forming a
musical harmony, if such were found to be the case--or, on
the other hand, of their producing only a haphazard series of
unrelated sounds, if such were the fact--would bring to the
decision of the question the overwhelming force of indirect
evidence. But such an assortment the author has not been able
to find. Bamboo is a frail and perishable material. Of the
two specimens of kaekeeke tubes found by him in the Bernice
Pauahi Bishop Museum one was cracked and voiceless; and so
the testimony of its surviving partner was of no avail.
The Hawaiians of the present day are so keenly alive to
musical harmony that it is hardly conceivable that their
ancestors two or three generations ago perpetrated discords
in their music. They must either have sung in unison or hit
on "concords such as were not disagreeable to the ear." If
the music heard in the halau to-day in any close degree
resembles that of ancient times--it must be assumed that it
does--no male voice of ordinary range need have found any
difficulty in sounding the notes, nor do they scale so low
that a female voice would not easily reach them.
Granting, then, as we must, the accuracy of Captain King's
statement, the conclusion to which the author of this paper
feels forced is that since the time of the learned doctor's
visit to these shores, more than one hundred and twenty-eight
years ago, the art and practice of singing or cantillating
after the old fashion has declined among the Hawaiians. The
hula of the old times, in spite of all the efforts to
[Page 153] maintain it, is becoming more and more difficult of
procurement every day. Almost none of the singing that one
hears at the so-called hula performances gotten up for the
delectation of sightseers is Hawaiian music of the old sort.
It belongs rather to the second or third rattoon-crop, which,
has sprung up under the influence of foreign stimuli. Take
the published hula songs, such as "_Tomitomi_," "_Wahine
Poupou_" and a dozen others that might be mentioned, to say
nothing about the words--the music is no more related to the
genuine Hawaiian article of the old times than is "ragtime"
to a Gregorian chant.
The bare score of a hula song, stripped of all embellishments
and reduced by the logic of our musical science to the merest
skeleton of notes, certainly makes a poor showing and gives
but a feeble notion of the song itself--its rhythm, its
multitudinous grace-notes, its weird tone-color. The notes
given below offer such a skeletal presentation of a song
which the author heard cantillated by a skilled hula-master.
They were taken down at the author's request by Capt. H.
Berger, conductor of the Royal Hawaiian Band:
IV--Song from the Hula Pa'i-umauma
Arranged by H. BERGER
[Music]
The same comment may be made on the specimen next to be given
as on the previous one: there is an entire omission of the
trills and flourishes with which the singer garlanded his
scaffolding of song, and which testified of his adhesion to
the fashion of his ancestors, the fashion according to which
songs have been sung, prayers recited, brave deeds celebrated
since the time when Kane and Pele and the other gods dipped
paddle for the first time into Hawaiian waters.
Unfortunately, in this as in the previous piece and as in the
one next to be given, the singer escaped the author before he
was able to catch the words.
V--Song from the Hula Pa-ipu
Arranged by H. BERGER
[Music]
[Page 154]
Here, again, is a piece of song that to the author's ear
bears much the same resemblance to the original that an oiled
ocean in calm would bear to the same ocean when stirred by a
breeze. The fine dimples which gave the ocean its
diamond-flash have been wiped out.
VI--Song for the Hula Pele
Arranged by H. BERGER
[Music]
Is it our ear that is at fault? Is it not rather our science
of musical notation, in not reproducing the fractions of
steps, the enharmonics that are native to the note-carving
ear of the Chinaman, and that are perhaps essential to the
perfect scoring of an oli or mele as sung by a Hawaiian?
None of the illustrations thus far given have caught that
fluctuating trilling movement of the voice which most
musicians interviewed on the subject declare to be impossible
of representation, while some flout the assertion that it
represents a change of pitch. One is reminded by this of a
remark made by Pietro Mascagni:[309]
[Footnote 309: The Evolution of Music from the Italian
Standpoint, _in_ the Century Library of Music, XVI, 521.]
"The feeling that a people displays in its character, its
habits, its nature, and thus creates an overprivileged type
of music, may be apprehended by a foreign spirit which has
become accustomed to the usages and expressions common from
that particular people. But popular music, [being] void of
any scientific basis, will always remain incomprehensible to
the foreigner who seeks to study it technically."
When we consider that the Chinese find pleasure in musical
performances on instruments that divide the scale into
intervals less than half a step, and that the Arabian musical
scale included quarter-steps, we shall be obliged to admit
that this statement of Mascagni is not merely a fling at our
musical science.
Here are introduced the words and notes of a musical
recitation done after the manner of the hula by a Hawaiian
professional and his wife. Acquaintance with the Hawaiian
language and a feeling for the allusions connoted in the text
of the song would, of course, be a great aid in enabling one
to enter into the spirit of the performance. As these
[Page 155] adjuncts will, be available to only a very few of those who
will read these words, in the beginning are given the words
of the oli with which he prefaced the song, with a
translation of the same, and then the mele which formed the
bulk of the song, also with a translation, together with such
notes and comments as are necessary to bring one into
intellectual and sympathetic relation with the performance,
so far as that is possible under the circumstances. It is
especially necessary to familiarize the imagination with the
language, meaning, and atmosphere of a mele, because the
Hawaiian approached song from the side of the poet and
elocutionist. Further discussion of this point must, however,
be deferred to another division of the subject:
_He Oli_
Halau[310] Hanalei i ka nini a ka ua;
Kumano[311] ke po'o-wai a ka liko;[312]
Naha ka opi-wai[313] a a Wai-aloha;
O ke kahi koe a hiki i Wai-oli.[314]
Ua ike 'a.
[Translation]
_A Song_
Hanalei is a hall for the dance in the pouring rain;
The stream-head is turned from its bed of fresh green;
Broken the dam that pent the water of love--
Naught now to hinder its rush to the vale of delight.
You've seen it.
[Footnote 310: _Halau_. The rainy valley of Hanalei, on Kauai,
is here compared to a halau, a dance-hall, apparently because
the rain-columns seem to draw together and inclose the valley
within walls, while the dark foreshortened vault of heaven
covers it as with a roof.]
[Footnote 311: _Kumano_. A water-source, or, as here, perhaps,
a sort of dam or loose stone wall that was run out into a
stream for the purpose of diverting a portion of it into a
new channel.]
[Footnote 312: _Liko_. A bud; fresh verdure; a word much used
in modern Hawaiian poetry.]
[Footnote 313: _Opiwai_. A watershed. In Hawaii a knife-edged
ridge as narrow as the back of a horse will often decide the
course of a stream, turning its direction from one to the
other side of the island.]
[Footnote 314: _Waioli_ (_wai_, water; _oli_, joyful). The name
given to a part of the valley of Hanalei, also the name of a
river.]
The mele to which the above oli was a prelude is as follows:
_Mele_
Noluna ka hale kai, e ka ma'a-lewa,
Nana ka maka ia Moana-nui-ka-Lehua.
Noi au i ke kai e mali'o.
Ane ku a'e la he lehua ilaila--
5 Hopoe Lehua ki'eki'e.
Maka'u ka Lehua i ke kanaka,
Lilo ilalo e hele ai, ilalo, e.
Keaau iliili nehe; olelo ke kai o Puna
I ka ulu hala la, e, kaiko'o Puna.
10 Ia hoone'ene'e ia pili mai kaua,
E ke hoa, ke waiho e mai la oe;
Eia ka mea ino, he anu, e.
Aohe anu e!
Me he mea la iwaho kaua, e ke hoa,
15 Me he wai la ko kaua ili, e.
[Page 156]
VII--_Oli and Mele from the Hula Ala'a-papa_
_Oli--A prelude_
Arranged by Mrs. YARNDLEY
[Music:]
[Page 157]
[Music: (_4 times r._)]
[Translation]
_Song from the Hula Ala'a-papa_
From mountain-retreat and root-woven ladder
Mine eye looks down on goddess Moana-Lehua.
Then I pray to the Sea, be thou calm;
Would there might stand on thy shore a lehua--
5 Lehua tree tall of Hopoe.
The Lehua is fearful of man,
Leaves him to walk on the ground below,
To walk on the ground far below.
The pebbles at Keaau grind in the surf;
10 The sea at Keaau shouts to Puna's palms,
"Fierce is the sea of Puna."
Move hither, snug close, companion mine;
You lie so aloof over there.
Oh what a bad fellow is Cold!
15 Not cold, do you say?
It's as if we were out in the wold,
Our bodies so clammy and chill, friend.
EXPLANATORY REMARKS
The acute or stress accent is placed over syllables that take
the accent in ordinary speech.
A word or syllable italicized indicates drum-down-beat.
[Page 158]
It will be noticed that the stress-accent and the rhythmic
accent, marked by the down-beat, very frequently do not
coincide. The time marked by the drum-down-beat was strictly
accurate throughout.
The tune was often pitched on some other key than that in
which it is here recorded. This fact was noted when, from
time to tune, it was found necessary to have the singer
repeat certain passages.
The number of measures devoted to the _i'i_, or fluctuation,
which is indicated by the wavering line [Illustration:],
varied from time to time, even when the singer repeated the
same passage. (See remarks on the _i'i_ p. 140.)
Redundancies of speech (interpolations) which are in
disagreement with the present writer's text (pp. 155-156) are
inclosed in brackets. It will be seen that in the fifth verse
he gives the version _Maka'u ke kanaka i ka lehua_ instead of
the one given by the author, which is _Maka'u ka Lehua i ke
kanaka_. Each version has its advocates, and good arguments
are made in favor of each.
On reaching the end of a measure that coincided with the
close of a rhetorical phrase the singer, Kualii, made haste
to snatch, as it were, at the first word or syllable of the
succeeding phrase. This is indicated by the word
"anticipating," or "anticipatory"--written _anticip._--placed
over the syllable or word thus snatched.
It was somewhat puzzling to determine whether the tones which
this man sang were related to each other as five and three of
the major key, or as three and one of the minor key.
Continued and strained attention finally made it seem evident
that it was the major key which he intended, i.e., it was
[Music: f] and [Music: d] in the key of [Music: B-flat],
rather than [Music: f] and [Music: d] in the key of D minor.
ELOCUTION AND RHYTHMIC ACCENT IN HAWAIIAN SONG
In their ordinary speech the Hawaiians were good
elocutionists--none better. Did they adhere to this same
system of accentuation in their poetry, or did they punctuate
their phrases and words according to the notions of the
song-maker and the conceived exigencies of poetical
composition? After hearing and studying this recitation of
Kualii the author is compelled to say that he does depart in
a great measure from the accent of common speech and charge
his words with intonations and stresses peculiar to the mele.
What artificial influence has come in to produce this
result? Is it from some demand of poetic or of musical
rhythm? Which? It was observed that he substituted the soft
sound of _t_ for the stronger sound of _k_, "because," as he
explained, "the sound of the _t_ is lighter." Thus he said
_te tanata_ instead of _ke kanaka_, the man. The Hawaiian ear
has always a delicate feeling for tone-color.
[Page 159]
In all our discussions and conclusions we must bear in mind
that the Hawaiian did not approach song merely for its own
sake; the song did not sing of itself. First in order came
the poem, then the rhythm of song keeping time to the rhythm
of the poetry. The Hawaiian sang not from a mere bubbling up
of indefinable emotion, but because he had something to say
for which he could find no other adequate form of expression.
The Hawaiian boy, as he walks the woods, never whistles to
keep his courage up. When he paces the dim aisles of
Kaliuwa'a, he sets up an altar and heaps on it a sacrifice of
fruit and flowers and green leaves, but he keeps as silent as
a mouse.
During his performance Kualii cantillated his song while
handling a round wooden tray in place of a drum; his wife
meanwhile performed the dance. This she did very gracefully
and in perfect time. In marking the accent the left foot was,
if anything, the favorite, yet each foot in general took two
measures; that is, the left marked the down-beat in measures
1 and 2, 5 and 6, and so on, while the right, in turn, marked
the rhythmic accent that comes with the down-beat in measures
3 and 4, 7 and 8, and so on. During the four steps taken by
the left foot, covering the time of two measures, the body
was gracefully poised on the other foot. Then a shift was
made, the position was reversed, and during two measures the
emphasis came on the right foot.
The motions of the hands, arms, and of the whole body,
including the pelvis--which has its own peculiar orbital and
sidelong swing--were in perfect sympathy one part with
another. The movements were so fascinating that one was at
first almost hypnotized and disqualified for criticism and
analytic judgment. Not to derogate from the propriety and
modesty of the woman's motions, under the influence of her
Delsartian grace one gained new appreciation of "the charm of
woven paces and of waving hands."
Throughout the whole performance of Kualii and his wife
Abi-gaila it was noticed that, while he was the reciter, she
took the part of the olapa (see p. 28) and performed the
dance; but to this role she added that of prompter, repeating
to him in advance the words of the next verse, which he then
took up. Her verbal memory, it was evident, was superior to
his.
Experience with Kualii and his partner, as well as with
others, emphasizes the fact that one of the great
difficulties encountered in the attempt to write out the
slender thread of music (_leo_) of a Hawaiian mele and fit to
it the words as uttered by the singer arises from the
constant interweaving of meaningless vowel sounds. This,
which the Hawaiians call _i'i_, is a phenomenon comparable to
the weaving of a vine about a framework, or to the
[Page 160] pen-flourishes that illuminate old German text. It consists
of the repetition of a vowel sound--generally _i_ (=_ee_) or
_e_ (=_a_, as in fate), or a rapid interchange of these two.
To the ear of the author the pitch varies through an interval
somewhat less than a half-step. Exactly what is the interval
he can not say. The musicians to whom appeal for aid in
determining this point has been made have either dismissed it
for the most part as a matter of little or no consequence or
have claimed the seeming variation in pitch was due simply to
a changeful stress of voice or of accent. But the author can
not admit that the report of his senses is here mistaken.
A further embarrassment comes from the fact that this
tone-embroidery found in the i'i is not a fixed quantity. It
varies seemingly with the mood of the singer, so that not
unfrequently, when one asks for the repetition of a phrase,
it will, quite likely, be given with a somewhat different
wording, calling for a readjustment of the rhythm on the part
of the musician who is recording the score. But it must be
acknowledged that the singer sticks to his rhythm, which, so
far as observed, is in common time.
In justice to the Hawaiian singer who performs the
accommodating task just mentioned it must be said that, under
the circumstances in which he is placed, it is no wonder that
at times he departs from the prearranged formula of song. His
is the difficult task of pitching his voice and maintaining
the same rhythm and tempo unaided by instrumental
accompaniment or the stimulating movements of the dance. Let
any stage-singer make the attempt to perform an aria, or even
a simple recitative, off the stage, and without the
support--real or imaginary--afforded by the wonted orchestral
accompaniment as well as the customary stage-surroundings,
and he will be apt to find himself embarrassed. The very fact
of being compelled to repeat is of itself alone enough to
disconcert almost anyone. The men and women who to-day
attempt the forlorn task of reproducing for us a hula mele or
an oli under what are to them entirely unsympathetic and
novel surroundings are, as a rule, past the prime of life,
and not unfrequently acknowledge themselves to be failing in
memory.
After making all of these allowances we must, it would seem,
make still another allowance, which regards the intrinsic
nature and purpose of Hawaiian song. It was not intended, nor
was it possible under the circumstances of the case, that a
Hawaiian song should be sung to an unvarying tempo or to the
same key; and even in the words or sounds that make up its
fringework a certain range of individual choice was allowed
or even expected of the singer. This privilege of exercising
individuality might even extend to the solid framework of the
mele or oli and not merely to the filigree, the i'i, that
enwreathed it.
[Page 161]
It would follow from this, if the author is correct, that the
musical critic of to-day must be content to generalize
somewhat and must not be put out if the key is changed on
repetition and if tempo and rhythm depart at times from their
standard gait. It is questionable if even the experts in the
palmy days of the hula attained such a degree of skill as to
be faultless and logical in these matters.
It has been said that modern music has molded and developed
itself under the influence of three causes, (1) a
comprehension of the nature of music itself, (2) a feeling or
inspiration, and (3) the influence of poetry. Guided by this
generalization, it may be said that Hawaiian poetry was the
nurse and pedagogue of that stammering infant, Hawaiian
music; that the words of the mele came before its rhythmic
utterance in song; and that the first singers were the
priests and the eulogists. Hawaiian poetry is far ahead of
Hawaiian song in the power to move the feelings. A few words
suffice the poet with which to set the picture before one's
eyes, and one picture quickly follows another; whereas the
musical attachment remains weak and colorless, reminding one
of the nursery pictures, in which a few skeletal lines
represent the human frame.
Let us now for refreshment and in continued pursuit of our
subject listen to a song in the language and spirit of
old-time Hawaii, composed, however, in the middle of the
nineteenth century. It is given as arranged by Miss Lillian
Byington, who took it down as she heard it sung by an old
Hawaiian woman in the train of Queen Liliuokalani, and as the
author has since heard it sung by Miss Byington's pupils of
the Kamehameha School for Girls. The song has been slightly
idealized, perhaps, by trimming away some of the superfluous
i'i, but not more than is necessary to make it highly
acceptable to our ears and not so much as to take from it the
plaintive bewitching tone that pervades the folk-music of
Hawaii. The song, the mele, is not in itself much--a hint, a
sketch, a sweep of the brush, a lilt of the imagination, a
connotation of multiple images which no jugglery of literary
art can transfer into any foreign speech. Its charm, like
that of all folk-songs and of all romance, lies in its
mysterious tug |
