The Story of Hawaii: History, Customs, Mythology, Geography & Archaeology. Fowke Gerard

that drop fain in fair weather.

      The clustered dew-pearls shake to the ground;

      The boys drone out the na-ú to the West,

      Eager for Sol to sink to his rest.

      This my day for a plunge in the sea--

      The Sun will be warming other shores--

      Happy the tribes of that land of calm!

      Fathomless, deep is my love

      To thee, my passion, my mate.

      The author of this love-song, mele ipo, is said to have been Kalola, a widow of Kamehameha I, at a time when she was an old woman; the place was Lahaina, and the occasion an amour between Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and a woman of rank. The last two verses of the poem have been omitted from the present somewhat free, yet faithful translation, as they do not seem to be of interest or pertinent from our point of view, and there is internal evidence that they were added as an afterthought.

      The hulas on the various islands differed somewhat from one another. In general, it may be said that on Kauai they were presented with more spirit and in greater variety than in other parts of the group. The following account will illustrate this fact:

      About the year 1870 the late Queen Emma made the tour of the island of Kauai, and at some places the hula was performed as a recreation in her honor. The hula ka-laau was thus presented; it was marked, however, by such peculiarities as to make it hardly recognizable as being the same performance as the one elsewhere known by that name. As given on Kauai, both the olapa and the hoopaa took part, as they do on the ] other islands, but in the Kauai performance the olapa alone handled the two sticks of the xylophone, which in other parts formed the sole instrument of musical accompaniment to this hula. Other striking novelties also were introduced. The olapa held between their toes small sticks with which they beat upon a resonant beam of wood that lay on the floor, thus producing tones of a low pitch. Another departure from the usual style of this hula was that the hoopaa, at the same time, devoted themselves with the right hand to playing upon the pu-niu, the small drum, while with the left they developed the deep bass of the pahu. The result of this outre combination must have been truly remarkable.

      It is a matter of observation that on the island of Kauai both the special features of its spoken language and the character of its myths and legends indicate a closer relationship to the groups of the southern Pacific, to which the Hawaiian people owe their origin, than do those of the other islands of the Hawaiian group.

²⁵³ Opua means a distinct cloud-pile, an omen, a weather-sign.

²⁵⁴ The word na-ú refers to a sportive contest involving a trial of lung-power, that was practised by the youth of Kona, Hawaii, as well as of other places. They stood on the shore at sunset, and as the lower limb of the sun touched the ocean horizon each one, having filled his lungs to the utmost, began the utterance of the sound na-u-u-u-u, which he must, according to the rules of the game, maintain continuously until the sun had disappeared, a lapse of about two minutes' time. This must be done without taking fresh breath. Anyone inhaling more air into his lungs or intermitting the utterance of the sound was compelled by the umpire to withdraw from the contest and to sit down, while anyone who maintained the droning utterance during the prescribed time was declared victor. It was no mean trial.

      XVI.--THE HULA ÍLI-ÍLI

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      The hula íli-íli, pebble-dance, was a performance of the classical times, in which, according to one who has witnessed it, the olapa alone took part. The dancers held in each hand a couple of pebbles, ili-ili--hence the name of the dance--which they managed to clash against each other, after the fashion of castanets, thus producing a rude music of much the same quality as that elicited from the "bones" in our minstrel performances. According to another witness, the drum also was sometimes used in connection with the pebbles as an accompaniment to this hula.

      The ili-ili was at times a hula of intensity--that is to say, was acted with that stress of voice and manner which the Hawaiians termed ai-ha'a; but it seems to have been more often performed in that quiet natural tone of voice and of manner termed ko'i-honua, which may be likened to utterance in low relief.

      The author can present only the fragment of a song to illustrate this hula:

       Mele

      A lalo maua o Wai-pi'o,

      Ike i ka nani o Hi'i-lawe.

      E lawe mai a oki

      I na hala o Naue i ke kai,

      I na lehua lu-lu'u pali;

      Noho ana lohe i ke kani o ka o-ó,

      Hoolono aku i ka leo o ke kahuli.

      [Translation]

       Song

      We twain were lodged in Wai-pi'o,

      Beheld Hi'i-lawe, the grand.

      We brought and cut for our love-wreath

      The rich hala drupe from Naue's strand,

      Tufted lehua that waves on the cliff;

      Then sat and gave ear to song of o-ó,

      Or harked the chirp of the tree-shell.

      Wai-pi'o, the scene of this idyl, is a valley deep and broad which the elements have scooped out in the windward exposure of Hawaii, and scarce needs mention to Hawaiian tourists. Hi'i-lawe is one of several high waterfalls that leap from the world of clouds into the valley-basin.

      Kahuli is a fanciful name applied to the beautiful and unique genus of tree-shells (Achatinella), plate XII, that inhabit the Hawaiian woods. The natives are persuaded that these shells have the power of chirping a song of their own, and the writer has often heard the note which they ascribe to them; but to his ear it was indistinguishable from the piping of the cricket. This is the song that the natives credit to the tree-shells:

       Mele

      Kahuli aku,

      Kahuli mai,

      Kahuli lei ula,

Lei akolea.²⁵⁵

Kolea, kolea,²⁵⁶

      Ki'i ka wai,

      Wai akolea.

      [Translation]

       Song of the Tree-shell

      Trill a-far,

      Trill a-near,

      A dainty song-wreath,

      Wreath akolea.

      Kolea, Kolea,

      Fetch me some dew,

      Dew from pink akolea.

      This little piece of rustic imagination is said to have been used in the hula, but in connection with what dance the author has not been able to learn.

²⁵⁵ The akolea is a fern (by some classed as a Polypodium) which, according to Doctor Hillebrand (Flora of the Hawaiian Islands), "sustains its extraordinary length by the circinnate tips which twine round the branches of neighboring shrubs or trees."