Unwritten Literature of Hawaii Part 47

[Footnote 381: _Apo'i-po'i._ To crouch for the purpose, perhaps, of screening oneself from view, as one, for instance, who is naked and desires to escape observation.]

[Footnote 382: _Kilauea._ There is some doubt whether this is the Kilauea on Kauai or a little place of the same name near cape Kaeua, the westernmost point of Oahu.]

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In the next mele to be given it is evident that, though the motive is clearly Hawaiian, it has lost something of the rugged simplicity and impersonality that belonged to the most archaic style, and that it has taken on the sentimentality of a later period.

_Mele_

E Manono la, e-a, E Manono la, e-a, Kau ka ope-ope; Ka ulu hala la, e-a, 5 Ka uluhe la, e-a.

Ka uluhe la, e-a, A hiki Pu'u-nana, Hali'i punana No huli mai.

10 Hull mai o-e la; Moe kaua; Hali'i punana No hull mai.

Hull mai o-e la; 15 Moe kaua; Moe aku kaua; O ka wai welawela, O ka papa lohi O Mau-kele;

20 Moe aku kaua; O ka wai welawela, O ka papa lohi O Mau-kele.

A kele, a kele 25 Kou manao la, e-a; A kele, a kele Kou manao la, e-a.

[Translation]

_Song_

Come now, Manono, Come, Manono, I say; Take up the burden; Through groves of panda.n.u.s 5 And wild stag-horn fern, Wearisome fern, lies our way.

Arrived at the hill-top, We'll smooth out the nest, That we may snug close.

10 Turn now to me, dear, While we rest here.

Make we a little nest, That we may draw near.

This way your face, dear, [Page 205] 15 While, we rest here.

Rest thou and I here, Near the warm, warm water And the smooth lava-plate Of Mau-kele.

20 Rest thou and I here.

By the water so warm, And the lava-plate smooth Of Mau-kele.

Little by little 25 Your thoughts will be mine.

Little by little Your thoughts I'll divine.

Manono was the name of the brave woman, wife of Ke-kua-o-kalani, who fell in the battle of Kuamo'o, in Kona, Hawaii, in 1819, fighting by the side of her husband. They died in support of the cause of law and order, of religion and tabu, the cause of the conservative party in Hawaii, as opposed to license and the abolition of all restraint.

The _uluhe_ (verses 5, 6) is the stag-horn fern, which forms a matted growth most obstructive to woodland travel.

The burden Manono is asked to bear, what else is it but the burden of life, in this case lightened by love?

Whether there is any connection between the name of the hula--breast-beating--and the expression, in the first verse of the following mele is more than the author can say.

_Mele_

Ka-hipa[383], na waiu olewa, Lele ana, ku ka mahiki akea; Keke ka niho o Laui-wahine[384]; Opi ke a lalo, ke a luna.

5 A hoi aku au i Lihue, Kana aku ia Ewa; E au ana o Miko-lo-lou,[385]

[Page 206] A pahu ka naau no Pa-pi'-o[386].

A pa'a ka mano.

10 Hopu i ka lima.

Ai pakahi, e, i ka nahele,[387]

Alawa a'e na ulu kani o Leiwalo.

E noho ana Kolea-kani[388]

Ka pii'na i ka Uwa-lua; 15 Oha-oha, lei i ka makani.

[Footnote 383: _Ka-hipa_. Said to be the name of a mythological character, now applied to a place in Kahuku where the mountains present the form of two female b.r.e.a.s.t.s.]

[Footnote 384: _Lani-wahine_. A benignant _mo'o_, or water-nymph, sometimes taking the form of a woman, that is said to have haunted the lagoon of Uko'a, Waialua, Oahu.

There is a long story about her.]

[Footnote 385: _Miko-lo-lou_. A famous man-eating shark-G.o.d whose home was in the waters of Hana, Maui. He visited Oahu and was hospitably received by Ka-ahu-pahau and Ka-hi'u-ka, sharks of the Ewa lagoons, who had a human ancestry and were on friendly terms with their kindred. Miko-lo-lou, when his hosts denied him human flesh, helped himself. In the conflict that rose the Ewa sharks joined with their human relatives and friends on land to put an end to Miko-lo-lou. After a fearful contest they took him and reduced his body to ashes.

A dog, however, s.n.a.t.c.hed and ate a portion--some say the tongue, some the tail--and another part fell into the water.

This was reanimated by the spirit of the dead shark and grew to be a monster of the same size and power as the one deceased. Miko-lo-lou now gathered his friends and allies from all the waters and made war against the Ewa sharks, but was routed.]

[Footnote 386: _Pa-pi'-o_. A shark of moderate size, but of great activity, that fought against Mlko-lo-lou. It entered his enormous mouth, pa.s.sed down into his stomach, and there played havoc with the monster, eating its way out.]

[Footnote 387: _Ai pakahi, e, i ka nahele_. The company represented by the poet to be journeying pa.s.s through an uninhabited region barren of food. The poet calls upon them to satisfy their Imnger by eating of the edible wild herbs--they abound everywhere in Hawaii--at the same time representing them as casting longing glances on the breadfruit trees of Leiwalo. This was a grove in the lower levels of Ewa that still survives.]

[Footnote 388: _Kolea-kani_. A female _kupua_--witch she might be called now--that had the form of a plover. She looked after the thirsty ones who pa.s.sed along the road, and benevolently showed them where to find water. By her example the people of the district are said to have been induced to give refreshment to travelers who went that way.]

[Translation]

_Song_

'Tis Kahipa, with, pendulous b.r.e.a.s.t.s; How they swing to and fro, see-saw!

The teeth of Lani-wahine gape-- A truce to upper and lower jaw!

5 From Lihue we look upon Ewa; There swam the monster, Miko-lo-lou, His bowels torn out by Pa-pi'-o.

The shark was caught in grip of the hand.

Let each one stay himself with wild herbs, And for comfort turn his hungry eyes 10 To the rustling trees of Lei-walo.

Hark! the whistling-plover--her old-time seat, As one climbs the hill from Echo-glen, And cools his brow in the breeze.

The thread of interest that holds together the separate pictures composing this mele is slight. It will, perhaps, give to the whole a more definite meaning if we recognize that it is made up of snapshots at various objects and localities that presented themselves to one pa.s.sing along the old road from Kahuku, on Oahu, to the high land which gave the tired traveler his first distant view of Honolulu before he entered the winding canyon of Moana-lua.

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XXVI.--THE HULA KU'I MOLOKAI

The hula _ku'i Molokai_ was a variety of the Hawaiian dance that originated on the island of Molokai, probably at a later period than what one would call the cla.s.sic times. Its performance extended to the other islands. The author has information of its exhibition on the island of its name as late as the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The actors, as they might be called, in this hula were arranged in pairs who faced each other and went through motions similar to those of boxing. This action, _ku'i_, to smite, gave the name to the performance. The limiting word Molokai was added to distinguish it from another still more modern form of dance called _ku'i_, which will be described later.

While the performers stood and went through with their motions, marching and countermarching, as they are said to have done, they chanted or recited in recitative some song, of which the following is an example. This they did with no instrumental accompaniment:

_Mele_

He ala kai olohia,[389]

He hiwahiwa na ka la'i luahine, He me' aloha na'u ka makani hauai-loli,[390]

E uwe ana I ke kai pale iliahi.

5 Kauwa ke aloha i na lehua o Kaana.[391]