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

²⁵⁶ Kolea. The red-breasted plover.

      XVII.--THE HULA KÁ-ÉKE-ÉKE

       Table of Contents

      The kaekeeke was a formal hula worthy of high consideration. Some authorities assert that the performers in this dance were chosen from the hoopaa alone, who, it will be remembered, maintained the kneeling position, while, according to another authority, the olapa also took part in it. There is no reason for doubting the sincerity of both these witnesses. The disagreement probably arose from hasty generalization. One is reminded of the wise Hawaiian saw, already noted, "Do not think that your halau holds all the knowledge."

      This hula took its name from the simple instrument that formed its musical accompaniment. This consisted of a single division of the long-jointed bamboo indigenous to Hawaii, which was left open at one end. (The varieties of bamboo imported from China or the East Indies have shorter joints and thicker walls, and will not answer the purpose, being not sufficiently resonant.) The joints used in the kaekeeke were of different sizes and lengths, thus producing tones of various pitch. The performer held one in each hand and the tone was elicited by striking the base of the cylinder sharply against the floor or some firm, nonresonant body.

      On making actual trial of the kaekeeke, in order to prove by experience its musical quality and capabilities, the writer's pleasure was as great as his surprise when he found it capable of producing musical tones of great purity and of the finest quality. Experiment soon satisfied him that for the best production of the tone it was necessary to strike the bamboo cylinder smartly upon some firm, inelastic substance, such as a bag of sand. The tone produced was of crystalline purity, and by varying the size and length of the cylinders it proved possible to represent a complete musical scale. The instrument was the germ of the modern organ.

      The first mele to be presented partakes of the nature of the allegory, a form of composition not a little affected by the Hawaiians:

       Mele

      A Hamakua au,

      Noho i ka ulu hala.

      Malihini au i ka hiki ana,

      I ka ua pe'epe'e pohaku.

      Noho oe a li'u-li'u,

      A luli-luli malie iho.

      He keiki akamai ko ia pali;

      Elima no pua i ka lima.

      Kui oe a lawa

      I lei no ku'u aloha;

      Malama malie oe i ka makemake,

      I lei hooheno no ke aloha ole.

      Moe oe a ala mai;

      Nana iho oe i kou pono.

      Hai'na ia ka puana:

      Keiki noho pali o Hamakua;

      A waka-waka, a waka-waka.

      [Translation]

       Song

      It was in Hamakua;

      I sat in a grove of Pandanus,

      A stranger at my arrival,

      A rock was my shelter from rain.

      I found it a wearisome wait,

      Cautiously shifting about.

      There's a canny son of the cliff

      That has five buds to his hand.

      You shall twine me a wreath of due length,

      A wreath to encircle my love,

      Whilst you hold desire in strong curb,

      Till love-touch thaws the cold-hearted.

      When you rise from sleep on the mat,

      Look down, see the conquest of love.

      The meaning of this short story?

      What child fondly clings to the cliff?

      Waka-waka, the shell-fish.

      The scene of this idyl, this love-song, mele hoipoipo, is Hamakua, a district on the windward side of Hawaii, subject to rain-squalls. The poet in his allegory represents himself as a stranger sitting in a pandanus grove, ulu hala (verse 2); sheltering himself from a rain-squall by crouching behind a rock, ua pe'epe'e pohaku (verse 4); shifting about on account of the veering of the wind, luli-luli malie iho (verse 6). Interpreting this figuratively, Hamakua, no doubt, is the woman in the case; the grove an emblem of her personality and physical charms; the rain-squall, of her changeful moods and passions. The shifting about of the traveler to meet the veering of the wind would seem to mean the man's diplomatic efforts to deal with the woman's varying caprices and outbursts.

      He now takes up a parable about some creature, a child of the cliff--Hamakua's ocean boundary is mostly a precipitous wall--which he represents as a hand with five buds. Addressing it as a servant, he bids this creature twine a wreath sufficient for his love, kui oe a lawa (verse 9), I lei no ku'u aloha (verse 10). This creature with five buds, what is it but the human hand, the errand-carrier of man's desire, makemake (verse 11)? The pali, by the way, is a figure often used by Hawaiian poets to mean the glory and dignity of the human body.

      That is a fine imaginative touch in which the poet illustrates the power of the human hand to kindle love in one that is cold-hearted, as if he had declared the hand itself to be not only the wreath-maker, but the very wreath that is to encircle and warm into response the unresponsive loved one, I lei hooheno no ke aloha ole (verse 12).

      Differences of physical environment, of social convention, of accepted moral and esthetic standards interpose seemingly impassable barriers between us and the savage mind, but at the touch of an all-pervading human sympathy these barriers dissolve into very thin air.

       Mele

Kahiki-nui, auwahi²⁵⁷ ka makani!

      Nana aku au ia Kona,

Me ke kua lei ahi²⁵⁸ la ka moku;

      Me ke lawa uli e, la, no

Ku'u kai pa-ú hala-ká²⁵⁹

I ka lae o Hana-maló;²⁶⁰

      Me he olohe ili polohiwa,

      Ke ku a mauna,

Ma ka ewa lewa²⁶¹ Hawaii.

      Me he ihu leiwi la, ka moku,

Kou mauna, kou palamoa:²⁶²

Kau a waha mai Mauna-kea²⁶³

      A me Mauna-loa,[263]

Ke ku a Maile-hahéi.²⁶⁴

Uluna mai Mauna Kilohana²⁶⁵

      I ka poohiwi o Hu'e-Hu'e.[265]

      [Translation]