Unwritten Literature of Hawaii Part 33

[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 ill.u.s.trated 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 panda.n.u.s 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 pa.s.sion 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 pa.s.sion, 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 Ha.n.a.lei, Kauai, a broad and deep basin, to the finis.h.i.+ng 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 pa.s.s the river's mouth and mingle with the flas.h.i.+ng waves of the ocean at Mono-lau, _Anapa i ke kai o Mono-lau_ (verse 8), are emblematic of the man's pa.s.sion and his quest for satisfaction.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE XV WOMAN PLAYING ON THE NOSE-FLUTE (OHE-HANO-IHU)]

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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 k.u.mu 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 a.s.serted, nevertheless, that, the leader of the hula, the k.u.mu, 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 k.u.mu 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 mora.s.s, 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 Ha.n.a.lei, 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 demiG.o.d, 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 a.n.a.lyzed 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 pa.s.sion 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 pa.s.sion for surf-riding.]

[Footnote 303: _Kalu-kalu o Kewa_. _Kalu-kalu_ may mean a species of soft, smooth gra.s.s specially fitted for sliding upon, which flourished on the inclined plain of Kewa, Kauai.

One would sit upon a mat, the b.u.t.t 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 (gra.s.s) 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. .h.i.ts 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 G.o.ddess, 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 pa.s.s current from island to island.

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