The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai. S. N. Haleole

6: Krämer (p. 32 et seq.) tells us that in Samoa the daughter of a high chief is brought up with extreme care that she may be given virgin to her husband. She is called taupo, "dove," and, when she comes of age, passes her time with the other girls of her own age in the fale aualuma or "house of the virgins," of whom she assumes the leadership. Into this house, where the girls also sleep at night, no youth dare enter.

      Compare Fornander's stories of Kapuaokaoheloai and Hinaaikamalama.

      See also Stair, p. 110; Mariner, II, 142, 212; Fison, p. 33.

      According to Gracia (p. 62) candidates in the Marquesas for the priesthood are strictly bound to a taboo of chastity.]

      [Footnote 7: Rivers, I, 374; Malo, p. 80.

      Gracia (p. 41) says that the Marquesan genealogy consists in a long line of gods and goddesses married and representing a genealogy of chiefs. To the thirtieth generation they are brothers and sisters. After this point the relation is no longer observed.]

      [Footnote 8: Keaulumoku's description of a Hawaiian chief (Islander, 1875) gives a good idea of the distinction felt between the classes:

      "A well-supplied dish is the wooden dish,

       The high-raftered sleeping-house with shelves;

       The long eating-house for women.

       The rushes are spread down, upon them is spread the mat,

       They lie on their backs, with heads raised in dignity,

       The fly brushers wave to and fro at the door; the door is shut,

       the black tapa is drawn up.

      "Haste, hide a little in refreshing sleep, dismiss fatigue.

       They sleep by day in the silence where noise is forbidden.

       If they sleep two and two, double is their sleep;

       Enjoyable is the fare of the large-handed man.

       In parrying the spear the chief is vigorous;

       the breaking of points is sweet.

       Delightful is the season of fish, the season of food;

       when one is filled with fish, when one is filled with food.

       Thou art satisfied with food, O thou common man,

       To be satisfied with land is for the chief."

      Compare the account of the Fiji chief in Williams and Calvert, I, 33–42.]

      [Footnote 9: Stair, p. 220; Gracia, p. 59; Alexander, History, chap. IV; Malo, p. 210. The name used for the priesthood of Hawaii, kahuna, is the same as that applied in the Marquesas, according to Gracia (p. 60), to the order of chanters.]

      [Footnote 10: Gracia, p. 46; Mariner, II, 87, 101, 125; Gill, Myths and

       Songs, pp. 20, 21; Moerenhout, I, 474–482.]

      [Footnote 11: Malo, p. 69.]

      [Footnote 12: Ellis (III, 36) describes the art of medicine in Polynesia, and Erdland (p. 77) says that on the Marshall Islands knowledge of the stars and weather signs is handed down to a favorite child and can raise rank by attaching a man to the service of a chief.

      Compare Mariner, II, 90; Moerenhout, I, 409; Williams and Calvert, I, 111.]

III. THE ART OF COMPOSITION

       Table of Contents

      1. ARISTOCRATIC NATURE OF POLYNESIAN ART

      The arts of song and oratory, though practiced by all classes,[1] were considered worthy to be perfected among the chiefs themselves and those who sought their patronage. Of a chief the Polynesian says, "He speaks well."[2] Hawaiian stories tell of heroes famous in the hoopapa, or art of debating; in the hula, or art of dance and song; of chiefs who learned the lore of the heavens and the earth from some supernatural master in order to employ their skill competitively. The oihana haku-mele, or "business of song making," was hence an aristocratic art. The able composer, man or woman, even if of low rank, was sure of patronage as the haku mele, "sorter of songs," for some chief; and his name was attached to the song he composed. A single poet working alone might produce the panegyric; but for the longer and more important songs of occasion a group got together, the theme was proposed and either submitted to a single composer or required line by line from each member of the group. In this way each line as it was composed was offered for criticism lest any ominous allusion creep in to mar the whole by bringing disaster upon the person celebrated, and as it was perfected it was committed to memory by the entire group, thus insuring it against loss. Protective criticism, therefore, and exact transmission were secured by group composition.[3]

      Exactness of reproduction was in fact regarded as a proof of divine inspiration. When the chief's sons were trained to recite the genealogical chants, those who were incapable were believed to lack a share in the divine inheritance; they were literally "less gifted" than their brothers.[4]

      This distinction accorded to the arts of song and eloquence is due to their actual social value. The mele, or formal poetic chants which record the deeds of heroic ancestors, are of aristocratic origin and belong to the social assets of the family to which they pertain. The claim of an heir to rank depends upon his power to reproduce, letter perfect, his family chants and his "name song," composed to celebrate his birth, and hence exact transmission is a matter of extreme importance. Facility in debate is not only a competitive art, with high stakes attached, but is employed in time of war to shame an enemy,[5] quickness of retort being believed, like quickness of hand, to be a God-given power. Chants in memory of the dead are demanded of each relative at the burial ceremony.[6] Song may be used to disgrace an enemy, to avenge an insult, to predict defeat at arms. It may also be turned to more pleasing purposes—to win back an estranged patron or lover;[7] in the art of love, indeed, song is invaluable to a chief. Ability in learning and language is, therefore, a highly prized chiefly art, respected for its social value and employed to aggrandize rank. How this aristocratic patronage has affected the language of composition will be presently clear.

       Footnotes to Section III, 1: Aristocratic Nature of Polynesian Art

      [Footnote 1: Jarves says: "Songs and chants were common among all classes, and recited by strolling musicians as panegyrics on occasions of joy, grief, or worship. Through them the knowledge of events in the lives of prominent persons or the annals of the nation were perpetuated. The chief art lay in the formation of short metrical sentences without much regard to the rhythmical terminations. Monosyllables, dissyllables, and trisyllables had each their distinct time. The natives repeat their lessons, orders received, or scraps of ancient song, or extemporize in this monotonous singsong tone for hours together, and in perfect accord."

      Compare Ellis's Tour, p. 155.]

      [Footnote 2: Moerenhout, I, 411.]

      [Footnote 3: Andrews, Islander, 1875, p. 35; Emerson, Unwritten

       Literature, pp. 27, 38.]

      [Footnote 4: In Fornander's story of Lonoikamakahiki, the chief memorizes in a single night a new chant just imported from Kauai so accurately as to establish his property right to the song.]

      [Footnote 5: Compare with Ellis, I, 286, and Williams and Calvert, I, 46, 50, the notes on the boxing contest in the text of Laieikawai.]

      [Footnote 6: Gill, Myths and Songs, pp. 268 et seq.]

      [Footnote 7: See Fornander's stories of Lonoikamakahiki, Halemano, and Kuapakaa.]

2. NOMENCLATURE: ITS EMOTIONAL VALUE

       Table of Contents

      The