The Story of Hawaii (Illustrated Edition). Fowke Gerard

²⁸⁸ Manu'a-kepa. A sandy, grass-covered meadow on the opposite side of the river from Kupa-koili.

²⁸⁹ Maha-moku. A sandy beach near the mouth of the river, on the same bank as Manu'a-kepa.

²⁹⁰ Mono-lau. That part of the bay into which the river flows, that is used as an anchorage for vessels.

²⁹¹ Lani-huli. The side of the valley Kilauea of Wai-oli toward which the river makes a bend before it enters the ocean.

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."

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.

²⁹⁴ Wai-a-ma'o. The land-breeze, which sometimes springs up at night.

²⁹⁵ Wai-pá. 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.

      XX.--THE HULA OHE

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      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

I kela manu hulu ma'e-ma'e,²⁹⁸

      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,

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 Kewá,³⁰³

      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-ó.

      Aia ka ipo i ka nahele.

      [Translation]

       Song.

      Come up to the wildwood, come;

      Let us visit Wai-kini,

      And gaze on Pihána-ka-lani,

      Its birds of plumage so fine;

      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,

      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.

      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;

      You pleasure on the beach Ali-ó;

      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.

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