Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands Part 26

Oe mai no ma kai, Owau iho no ma uka; E hee o Aikanaka I ke ahiahi.

E u ka ilo la i ko' waha; Ai na koa i ka ala mihi.

Ai pohaku ko' akua.

Ai Kanaka ko maua akua.

Kuakea ke poo I ka pehumu.

Nakeke ka aue i ka iliili.

Hai Kaamalama ia oe, Hae' ke akua ulu ka niho.

Kanekapualena; E Ku lani ehu e; Kamakanaka, Na'n na Kawelo Na ko lawaia.

CANTO VIII.

Here is a cloud, there another.

This cloud bears destruction; I have seen it pa.s.s before my eyes.

The obscure cloud is the canoe of Kaamalama.

This is the tempest, Wind in the darkness; Thou art the sun, Kaamalama, Rising clouded in the dawn.

Dark and shaded are the heavens, A warm day begins to dawn.

This is the path of Kaamalama.

Thou art from the sea, I, indeed, beneath the land mountain.

Fly, O Aikanaka, In the evening!

Maggots shall fatten in thy mouth; The soldiers eat the fragrant mihi.

Thy G.o.d is a devourer of rocks; Our G.o.d eats human flesh.

Bleached shall be thy head In the earth-oven.

Thy broken jaw shall rattle on the beach pebbles.

Kaamalama shall sacrifice you, The G.o.d's tooth shall grow on the sacrifice.

O Kane of the yellow flower; 0 Ku, bright chief; Kamakanaka, I am Kawelo, Thy fisherman.

In the following canto Kawelo reproaches and menaces the chief Kaheleha, who had deserted him for Aikanaka.

PAHA AIWA.

Kulolou ana ke poo o ka opua, Ohumuhumu olelo una la'u: Owau ka! ka ai o ka la na.

E Kaheleha o Puna Kuu keiki hookama Aloha ole!

O kaua hoi no hoa Mai ka wa iki I hoouka'i kakou I Wailua; Lawe ae hoi au, oleloia: Haina ko'u make Ia Kauai.

E pono kaakaa laau Ka Kawelo.

Aole i iki i ka alo i ka pohaku.

Aloha wale oe e Kaheleha O Puna.

A pa nei ko'poo i ka laau, Ka laulaa o kuikaa.

Nanaia ka a ouli keokeo.

Papapau hoa aloha wale!

Aikanaka ma, Aloha, Aloha i ka hei wale O na pokii.

CANTO IX.

The head of the cloud bears down And whispers a word in my ear: It is I! the food of a rainy day.

O Kahelaha, of Puna, My adopted son, Heartless fellow!

We two were comrades In times of poverty; In the day of battle We were together at Wailua.

It might be said My death was proclaimed In Kauai.

Good to look upon Is the strength of Kawelo.

He knows not how to throw stones.

Farewell to you, Kaheleha Of Puna.

Thy head is split by my spear, A spliced container!

The whitening form is to be seen.

O Aikanaka, loving only in name, To you and yours, Farewell!

Farewell to the ensnared, The youngest born.

History declares, and this ninth canto confirms it, that Kaheleha of Puna, Kawelo's friend from his youth, and one of his powerful companions in arms at the descent on Wailua, believed that Kawelo was mortally wounded beneath the shower of stones that had covered him, and this belief had induced him to go over to the camp of Aikanaka. Verses fourteen to sixteen are the words that Kawelo reproaches Kaheleha with saying before his enemies. Kaheleha was slain by the hand of Kawelo at the same time with Aikanaka.

PAHA UMI.

Me he ulu wale la I ka moana, O Kauai nui moku lehua; Aina nui makekau, Makamaka ole ia Kawelo.

Ua make o Maihuna 'lii, Maleia ka makuahine; Ua hooleiia i ka pali nui, O laua ka! na manu Kikaha i lelepaumu.

Aloha mai o'u kupuna: O Au a me Aalohe, O Aua, a Aaloa, O Aapoko, o Aamahana.

O Aapoku o Aauopelaea: Ua make ia Aikanaka.

CANTO X.

Like a forest rising abruptly Out of the ocean, Is Kauai, with flowery lehua; Grand but ungrateful land, Without friends or dear ones for Kawelo.

They have put to death Maihuna, As also Malei, my mother.

They have cast from a great pali Both of them! Were they birds To fly thus in the air?

Love to you, oh my ancestors: To you, Au and Aaloha, To you, Aua and Aaloa, Aapoko and Aamahana, Aapoku and Aauopelaea, Who died by the hand of Aikanaka.

Maihuna was the father of Kawelo, and Aikanaka was his first cousin. The latter put to death all the family of Kawelo, after having employed them, with the other inhabitants of Kauai, in collecting the stones which were to repulse his cousin. It was before the great battle of Wailua that Kawelo's family was put to death.

In the last canto the hero reproaches his friends for abandoning him in the day of danger. At the sight of his old friends, whose bodies he had pierced with many wounds in punishment, he cries: "Where are those miserable favorites?" He had transfixed them with his lance--that lance made, he says, for the day of battle.

He compares Aikanaka to a long lance because of his power; he reproaches him with having betrayed himself, who was comparatively but a little lance--a little bit of wood (_laau iki_); then he ironically remarks that Kauai is too small an island for his conquered friends.

PAHA UMIk.u.mAMAKAHI.

Auhea iho nei la hoi Ua mau wahi hulu alaala nei Au i oo aku ai I ka maka o ke keiki A Maihuna?

He ihe no ka la kaua.

Pau hewa ka'u iu Me kau ai, Pau hewa ka hinihini ai A ka moamahi.

Komo hewa ko'u waa Ia lakou.

O lakou ka! ka haalulu I ka pohaku i kaa nei, Uina aku la i kahakaha ke one, Kuu pilikia i Honuakaha.

Makemake i ka laau nui, Haalele i kahi laau iki.

He iki kahi kihapai Ka noho ka! i Kauai, Iki i kalukalu a Puna.

Lilo Puna ia Kaheleha Lilo Kona ia Kalaumaki, Lilo Koolau ia Makuakeke, Lilo Kohala ia Kaamalama, Lilo Ha.n.a.lei ia Kanewahineikialoha.

Mimihi ka hune o Kauluiki ma.

Aloha na pokii i ka hei wale.

CANTO XI.

Where just now are those chiefs, Rebellious and weak, Whom the point of the spear Has transfixed--the spear of the Son of Maihuna?

The spear made for the day of battle.

Stolen was my fish, And the vegetable food-- Stolen the food raised by The conqueror.

Mischievously did you Sink my canoes.

O wretches! ye trembled When the rocks rolled down, At the noise they made on the sand.