Unwritten Literature of Hawaii

N >> Nathaniel Bright Emerson >> Unwritten Literature of Hawaii

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[Footnote 273: _Pupu we'u-we'u_. A bouquet. The reference is to
the wreaths and floral decorations that bedecked the altar,
and that were not only offerings to the goddess, but symbols
of the diverse forms in which she manifested herself. At the
conclusion of a performance the players laid upon the altar
the garlands they themselves had worn. These were in addition
to those which were placed there before the play began.]

[Footnote 274: _Ku-wa_. It has cost much time and trouble to
dig out the meaning of this word. The fundamental notion is
that contained in its two parts, _ku_, to stand, and _wa_, an
interval or space, the whole meaning to arrange or set in
orderly intervals.]

[Footnote 275: _La-ka_. A Tahitian name for the tree which in
Hawaii is called _lehua_, or _ohia_. In verse 3 the Hawaiian
name _ohia_ and the Tahitian _laka_ (accented on the final
syllable, thus distinguishing it from the name of the goddess
_Laka_, with which it has no discoverable connection) are
combined in one form as an appellation of the god
_Ku-ku-ka-ohia-Laka_. This is a notable instance of the
survival of a word as a sacred epithet in a liturgy, which
otherwise, had been lost to the language.]

[Footnote 276: _Ku-pulu-pulu_. Ku, the fuzzy or shaggy, a deity
much worshiped by canoe-makers, represented as having the
figure of an old man with a long beard. In the sixth verse
the full form of the god's name here given as _Moku-ha-li'i_
would be _Ku-moku-hali'i_, the last part being an epithet
applied to _Ku_ working in another capacity. _Moku-hali'i_ is
the one who bedecks the island. His special emblem, as here
implied, was the _lama_, a beautiful tree, whose wood was
formerly used in making certain sacred inclosures. From this
comes the proper name _Palama_, one of the districts of
Honolulu.]

[Footnote 277: _Ku-i-ku-i_. The same as the tree now called
_ku-ku-i_, the tree whose nuts were used as candles and
flambeaus. The Samoan name of the same tree is _tu-i-tu-i_.]

But even now, when the tabu has been removed and the assembly
is supposed to have assumed an informal character, before
they may indulge themselves in informalities, there remains
to be chanted a dismissing prayer, _pule hooku'u_, in which
all voices must join:
[Page 129]

_Pule Hooku'u_

Ku ka makaia a ka huaka'i moe ipo;[278]
Ku au, hele;
Noho oe, aloha!
Aloha na hale o makou i makamaka ole,
5 Ke alanui hele mauka o Huli-wale,[279] la;
H-u-l-i.
E huli a'e ana i ka makana,
I ke alana ole e kanaenae aku ia oe.
Eia ke kanaenae, o ka leo.

[Translation]

_Dismissing Prayer_

Doomed sacrifice I in the love-quest,
I stand [loin-girt][280] for the journey;
To you who remain, farewell!
Farewell to our homes forsaken.
5 On the road beyond In-decision,
I turn me about--
Turn me about, for lack of a gift,
An offering, intercession, for thee--
My sole intercession, the voice.

[Footnote 278: A literal translation of the first line would be
as follows: (Here) stands the doomed sacrifice for the
journey in search of a bed-lover.]

[Footnote 279: _Huli-wale_. To turn about, here used as the
name of a place, is evidently intended figuratively to stand
for mental indecision.]

[Footnote 280: The bracketed phrase is not in the text of the
original.]

This fragment--two fragments, in fact, pieced
together--belongs to the epic of Pele. As her little sister,
Hiiaka, is about to start on her adventurous journey to bring
the handsome Prince Lohiau from the distant island of Kauai
she is overcome by a premonition of Pole's jealousy and
vengeance, and she utters this intercession.

The formalities just described speak for themselves. They
mark better than any comments can do the superstitious
devotion of the old-timers to formalism, their remoteness
from that free touch of social and artistic pleasure, the
lack of which we moderns often lament in our own lives and
sigh for as a lost art, conceiving it to have been once the
possession of "the children of nature."

The author has already hinted at the form and character of
the entertainments with which hula-folk sometimes beguiled
their professional interludes. Fortunately the author is able
to illustrate by means of a song the very form of
entertainment they provided for themselves on such an
occasion. The following mele, cantillated with an
accompaniment of expressive gesture, is one that was actually
given at an awa-drinking bout indulged in by hula-folk. The
author has an account of its recital at Kahuku, island of
Oahu, so late as the year 1849, during a circuit of that
[Page 130] island made by King Kamehameha III. This mele is reckoned as
belonging to the ordinary repertory of the hula; but to which
particular form of the dance it was devoted has not been
learned:

_Mele_

Ua ona o Kane i ka awa;
Ua kau ke keha[281] i ka uluna;
Ua hi'o-lani[282] i ka moena.
Kipu mai la i ke kapa o ka noe.
5 Noe-noe na hoku o ka lani--
Imo-imo mai la i ka po a'e-a'e.
Mahana-lua[283] na kukui a Lanikaula,[274]
He kaula no Kane.[285]
Meha na pali o Wai-pi'o
10 I ke kani mau o Kiha-pu;
A ono ole ka awa a ke alii
I ke kani mau o Kiha-pu;
Moe ole kona po o ka Hooilo;
Uluhua, a uluhua,
15 I ka mea nana e hull a loaa
I kela kupua ino i ka pali,
Olali la, a olali.

[Translation]

_Song_

Kane is drunken with awa;
His head is laid on the pillow;
His body stretched on the mat.
A trumpet sounds through the fog,
5 Dimmed are the stars in the sky;
When the night is clear, how they twinkle!
Lani-kaula's torches look double,
The torches that burn for Kane.
Ghostly and drear the walls of Waipio
10 At the endless blasts of Kiha-pu.
The king's awa fails to console him;
'Tis the all-night conching of Kiha-pu.
Broken his sleep the whole winter;
Downcast and sad, sad and downcast,
15 At loss to find a brave hunter
Shall steal the damned conch from the cliff.
Look, how it gleams [through the fog]!

[Footnote 281: _Keha_ is an elegant expression for the side of
the head.]

[Footnote 282: _Hi'o-lani_, literally to turn the side to
heaven, is a classic expression of refinement.]

[Footnote 283: _Mahana-lua_, literally to see double, was an
accepted test of satisfactory drunkenness. It reminds the
author of an expression he once heard used by the comedian
Clarke in the play of Toodles. While in a maudlin state from
liquor he spoke of the lighted candle that was in his hand as
a "double-barreled candle."]

[Footnote 284: _Lani-kaula_ was a prophet who lived on Molokai
at a place that still bears his name. He had his residence in
the midst of a grove of fine kukui trees, the remnants of
which remain to this day. Torches made from the nuts of these
trees were supposed to be of superior quality and they
furnished the illumination for the revelries of Kane and his
fellows.]

[Footnote 285: _He kaula no Kane_. A literal translation would
be, a prophet of Kane.]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38 PLATE XIV
[Illustration: HAWAIIAN TRUMPET, PU (CASSIS MADAGASCARENSIS)]

[Page 131]

Kane, the chief god of the Hawaiian pantheon, in company with
other immortals, his boon companions, met in revelry on the
heights bounding Wai-pi'o valley. With each potation of awa
they sounded a blast upon their conch-shells, and the racket
was almost continuous from the setting of the sun until
drowsiness overcame them or the coming of day put an end to
their revels.

The tumult of sound made it impossible for the priests to
perform acceptably the offices of religion, and the pious
king, Liloa, was distressed beyond measure. The whole valley
was disturbed and troubled with forebodings at the suspension
of divine worship.

The chief offender was Kane himself. The trumpet which he
held to his lips was a conch of extraordinary size (pl. XIV)
and credited with a divine origin and the possession of
supernatural power; its note was heard above all the others.
This shell, the famed Kiha-pu, had been stolen from the heiau
of Paka'a-lana, Liloa's temple in Waipi'o valley, and-after
many-adventures had come into the hands of god Kane, who used
it, as we see, for the interruption of the very services that
were intended for his honor.

The relief from this novel and unprecedented situation came
from an unexpected quarter. King Liloa's awa-patches were
found to be suffering from the nocturnal visits of a thief. A
watch was set; the thief proved to be a dog, Puapua-lenalena,
whose master was a confirmed awa-toper. When master and dog
were brought into the presence of King Liloa, the shrewd
monarch divined the remarkable character of the animal, and
at his suggestion the dog was sent on the errand which
resulted in the recovery by stealth of the famed conch
Kiha-pu. As a result of his loss of the conch, Kane put an
end to his revels, and the valley of Wai-pi'o again had
peace.

This mele is an admirable specimen of Hawaiian poetry, and
may be taken as representative of the best product of
Hawaii's classical period. The language is elegant and
concise, free from the redundancies that so often load down
Hawaiian compositions. No one, it is thought, will deny to
the subject-matter of this mele an unusual degree of
interest.

There is a historic side to the story of the conch-shell
Kiha-pu. Not many years ago the Hawaiian Museum contained an
ethnological specimen of great interest, the conch-shell
Kiha-pu. It was fringed, after the fashion of a witch-doll,
with strings, beads, and wampumlike bits of mother-of-pearl,
and had great repute as a _kupua_ or luckbringer. King
Kalakaua, who affected a sentimental leaning to the notions
of his mother's race, took possession of this famous "curio"
and it disappeared from public view.

[Page 132]

XIX.--THE HULA MAU-KANI

The hula _niau-kani_ was one of the classic dances of the
halau, and took its name from the musical instrument that was
its accompaniment. This was a simple, almost extemporaneous,
contrivance, constructed, like the Jew's-harp, on the
principle of a reed instrument. It was made of two parts, a
broad piece of bamboo with a longitudinal slit at one end and
a thin narrow piece of the same material, the reed, which was
held firmly against the fenestra on the concave side of part
number one. The convexity of the instrument was pressed
against the lips and the sound was produced by projecting
the breath through the slit in a speaking or singing tone in
such a way as to cause vibrations in the reed. The manner of
constructing and operating this reed instrument is suggestive
of the jew's-harp. It is asserted by those who should know
that the niau-kani was an instrument of purely Hawaiian
invention.

The performer did not depend simply upon the musical tone,
but rather upon the modification it produced in the
utterances that were strained through it. It would certainly
require a quick ear, much practice, and a thorough
acquaintance with the peculiarities of Hawaiian mele to
enable one to distinguish the words of a song after being
transformed by passage through the niau-kani.

As late as about thirty or forty years ago the niau-kani was
often seen in the hands of the native Hawaiian youth, who
used it as a means of romantic conversations and flirtation.
Since the coming in of the Portuguese and their importation
of the _uku-lele_, the _taro-patch-fiddle_, and other cheap
stringed instruments, the niau-kani has left the field to
them and disappeared.

The author's informant saw the niau-kani dance performed some
years ago at Moana-lua, near Honolulu, and again on the
island of Kauai. The dance in each case was the same. The
kumu, aided by a pupil, stood and played on the niau-kani,
straining the cantillations through the reed-protected
aperture, while the olapa, girls, kept time to the music with
the movements of their dancing,

[Page 133]

_Mele_

E pi'i ka wai ka nahele,
U'ina, nakolo i na Molo-kama;[286]
Ka ua lele mawaho o Mamala-hoa.
He manao no ko'u e ike
5 I na pua ohi'a o Kupa-koili,[287]
I hoa kaunu no Manu'a-kepa;[288]
Ua like laua me Maha-moku.[289]
Anapa i ke kai o Mono-lau.[290]
Lalau ka lima a noa ia ia la,
10 I hoa pili no Lani-huli.[291]
E huli oe i ku'u makemake,
A loa'a i Kau-ka-opua.[292]
Elua no pua kau
A ka manao i makemake ai.
15 Hoohihi oe a hihi
I lei kohu no neia kino.
Ahea oe hiki mai?
A kau ka La i na pali;[293]
Ka huli a ka makani Wai-a-ma'o,[294]
20 Makemake e iki ia ka Hala-mapu-ana,
Ka wai halana i Wai-pa.[295]

NOTE.--The proper names belong to localities along the course
of the Wai-oli stream.

[Footnote 286: _Molokama_ (more often given as _Na Molo-kama_).
The name applied to a succession of falls made by the stream
far up in the mountains. The author has here used a
versifier's privilege, compressing this long word into
somewhat less refractory shape.]

[Footnote 287: _Kupa-koili_. A grove of mountain-apples, _ohia
ai_, that stand on the bank of the stream not far from the
public road.]

[Footnote 288: _Manu'a-kepa_. A sandy, grass-covered meadow on
the opposite side of the river from Kupa-koili.]

[Footnote 289: _Maha-moku_. A sandy beach near the mouth of the
river, on the same bank as Manu'a-kepa.]

[Footnote 290: _Mono-lau_. That part of the bay into which the
river flows, that is used as an anchorage for vessels.]

[Footnote 291: _Lani-huli_. The side of the valley Kilauea of
Wai-oli toward which the river makes a bend before it enters
the ocean.]

[Footnote 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."]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 294: _Wai-a-ma'o_. The land-breeze, which sometimes
springs up at night.]

[Footnote 295: _Wai-pa_. 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.]

[Translation]

_Song_

Up to the streams in the wildwood,
Where rush the falls Molo-kama,
While the rain sweeps past Mala-hoa,
I had a passion to visit
5 The forest of bloom at Koili,
[Page 134] To give love-caress to Manu'a,
And her neighbor Maha-moku,
And see the waters flash at Mono-lau;
My hand would quiet their rage,
10 Would sidle and touch Lani-huli.
Grant me but this one entreaty,
We'll meet 'neath the omens above.
Two flowers there are that bloom
In your garden of being;
15 Entwine them into a garland,
Fit emblem and crown of our love.
And what the hour of your coming?
When stands the Sun o'er the pali,
When turns the breeze of the land,
20 To breathe the perfume of hala,
While the currents swirl at Wai-pa.

This mele is the language of passion, a song in which the
lover frankly pours into the ear of his inamorata the story
of his love up to the time of his last enthrallment. Verses
11, 12, and 17 are the language of the woman. The scene is
laid in the rainy valley of Hanalei, Kauai, a broad and deep
basin, to the finishing of which the elements have
contributed their share. The rush and roar of the waters that
unite to form the river Wai-oli, from their wild tumbling in
the falls of Molo-kama till they pass the river's mouth and
mingle with the flashing waves of the ocean at Mono-lau,
_Anapa i ke kai o Mono-lau_ (verse 8), are emblematic of the
man's passion and his quest for satisfaction.

[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 38 PLATE XV
WOMAN PLAYING ON THE NOSE-FLUTE (OHE-HANO-IHU)]

[Page 135]

XX.--THE HULA OHE

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]
[Page 136] I kela manu hulu ma'e-ma'e,[298]
5 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,
10 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 Kewa,[303]
15 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-o.
20 Aia ka ipo i ka nahele.

[Footnote 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 resided in the mountains. The words in the
first two or three verses may be taken as if they were the
utterance of this Wai-lua lover, saying "I will go up and see
my sweetheart Ka-wai-kini."]

[Footnote 297: _Pihana-ka-lani_. Literally, the fullness of
heaven. This was a forest largely of lehua that covered the
mountain slope below Ka-wai-kini. It seems as if the purpose
of its mention was to represent the beauties and charms of
the human body. In this romantic region lived the famous
mythological princes--_alii kupua_, the Hawaiians called
them--named _Kaua-kahi-alii_ and _Aiwohi-kupua_, with their
princess sister _Ka-hale-lehua_. The second name mentioned
was the one who married the famous heroine of the romantic
story of _Laie-i-ka-wai_.]

[Footnote 298: _Manu hulu ma'ema'e_. An allusion to the great
number of plumage birds that were reputed to be found in this
place.]

[Footnote 299: _Puna-hele ia Kaua-kahi-alli_. The birds of the
region are said to have been on very intimate and friendly
terms with Kaua-kahi-alii. (See note _b_, p. 135.)]

[Footnote 300: _Kaili_. The full form is said to be
_Ka-ili-lau-o-ke-koa_--Skin-like-the-leaf-of-the-koa. In the
text of the mele this name is analyzed into its parts and
written as if the phrase at the end were an appellative and
not an integral part of the name itself. This was a mythical
character of unusual beauty, a person of superhuman power,
_kupua_, a mistress of the art of surf-riding, which passion
she indulged in the waters about Wai-lua.]

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