Havelock Ellis - "Essays in War Time"

William T. Stead - "Real Ghost Stories"

Anna Benneson McMahan - "Shakespeare's Christmas Gift to Queen Bess"

G. A. Henty - "Under Wellington's Command"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Unwritten Literature of Hawaii

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




[Page 66] Kahiko mau no o Ka-u i ka makani.
Makani ka Lae-ka-ilio i Unu-lau,
25 Kaili-ki'i[166] a ka lua a Kaheahea,[167]
I ka ha'a nawali ia ino.

Ino wa o ka mankani o Kau-na.
Nana aku o ka makani malaila!
O Hono-malino, malino i ka la'i o Kona.
30 He inoa la!

[Footnote 159: _Hi'u-o-lani_. A very blind phrase. Hawaiians
disagree as to its meaning. In the author's opinion, it is a
word referring to the conjurer's art.]

[Footnote 160: _Ua o Hilo_. Hilo is a very rainy country. The
name Hilo seems to be used here as almost a synonym of
violent rain. It calls to mind the use of the word Hilo to
signify a strong wind:

Pa mai, pa mai,
Ka makani a Hilo![168]
Waiho ka ipu iki,
Homai ka ipu nui!

[Translation]

Blow, blow, thou wind of Hilo!
Leave the little calabash,
Bring on the big one!
]

[Footnote 161: _Pua-lani_. The name of a deity who took the
form of the rosy clouds of morning.]

[Footnote 162: _Mahele ana_. Literally the dividing; an
allusion to the fact, it is said, that in Hilo a rain-cloud,
or rain-squall, as it came up would often divide and a part
of it turn off toward Puna at the cape named Lele-iwi,
one-half watering, in the direction of the present town, the
land known as Hana-kahi.]

[Footnote 163: _Hana-kahi_. Look at note _f_, p. 60.]

[Footnote 164: _Mauna-ole_. According to one authority this
should be Mauna-Hilo. Verses 13, 14, 16, and 17 are difficult
of translation. The play on the words _ku a_, standing at, or
standing by, and _kua_, the back; also on the word _kowa_, a
gulf or strait; and the repetition of the word _mauna_,
mountain--all this is carried to such an extent as to be
quite unintelligible to the Anglo-Saxon mind, though full of
significance to a Hawaiian.]

[Footnote 165: _A'e_. A strong wind that prevails in Ka-u. The
same word also means to step on, to climb. This
double-meaning gives the poet opportunity for a euphuistic
word-play that was much enjoyed by the Hawaiians. The
Hawaiians of the present day are not quite up to this sort of
logomachy.]

[Footnote 166: _Kaili-ki'i_. The promontory that shelters the
cove _Ka-hewa-hewa_.]

[Footnote 167: _Ka-hea-hea_. The name of the cove
_Ka-hewa-hewa_, above mentioned, is here given in a softened
form obtained by the elision of the letter _w_.]

[Footnote 168: _Hilo_, or Whiro, as in the Maori, was a great
navigator.]

[Translation]

CANTO II

Heaven-magic, fetch a Hilo-pour from heaven!
Morn's cloud-buds, look! they swell in the East.
The rain-cloud parts, Hilo is deluged with rain,
The Hilo of King Hana-kahi.

5 Surf breaks, stirs the mire of Pii-lani; 5
The bones of Hilo are broken
By the blows of the rain.
Ghostly the rain-scud of Hilo in heaven;

The cloud-forms of Pua-lani grow and thicken.
10 The rain-priest bestirs him now to go forth,
Forth to observe the stab and thrust of the rain,
The rain that clings to the roof of Hilo.

Hilo, like Puna, stands mountainless;
Aye, mountain-free stand Hilo and Puna.
15 Puna 's a gulf 'twixt Ka-u and Hilo;
Just leaning her back on Mount Nothing,
She sleeps at the feet of Mount Loa.

A mountain-back is Ka-u which the wind strikes,
Ka-u, a land much scourged by the A'e.
20 A dust-cloud lifts in Ka-u as one climbs.
A dust-bloom floats, the lift of the wind:
'Tis blasts from mountain-walls piles dust, the A'e.

Ka-u was always tormented with wind.
Cape-of-the-Dog feels Unulau's blasts;
25 They turmoil the cove of Ka-hea-hea,
Defying all strength with their violence.

There's a storm when wind blows at Kau-na.
Just look at the tempest there raging!
Hono-malino sleeps sheltered by Kona.
30 A eulogy this of a name.


"What name?" was asked of the old Hawaiian.

"A god," said he.

"How is that? A mele-inoa celebrates the name and glory of a
king, not of a god."
[Page 67]

His answer was, "The gods composed the mele; men did not
compose it."

Like an old-time geologist, he solved the puzzle of a novel
phenomenon by ascribing it to God.


MAHELE III

(Ai-ha'a)

A Koa'e-kea,[169] i Pueo-hulu-nui,[169]
Neeu a'e la ka makahiapo o ka pali;
A a'e, a a'e, a'e[170] la iluna
Kaholo-kua-iwa, ka pali o Ha'i.[171]
5 Ha'i a'e la ka pali;
Ha-nu'u ka pali;
Hala e Malu-o;
Hala a'e la Ka-maha-la'a-wili,
Ke kaupoku hale a ka ua.
10 Me he mea i uwae'na a'e la ka pali;
Me he hale pi'o ka lei na ka manawa o ka pali Halehale-o-u;
Me he aho i hilo 'a la ka wai o Wai-hi-lau;
Me he uahi pulehu-manu la ke kai o ka auwala hula ana.
Au ana Maka'u-kiu[172] iloko o ke kai;
15 Pohaku lele[173] o Lau-nui, Lau-pahoehoe.
Ka eku'na a ke kai i ka ala o Ka-wai-kapu--
Eku ana, me he pua'a la, ka lae Makani-lele,
Koho-la-lele.

[Translation]

CANTO III

(Bombastic style)

Haunt of white tropic-bird and big ruffled owl,
Up rises the firstborn child of the pali.
He climbs, he climbs, he climbs up aloft,
Kaholo-ku'-iwa, the pali of Ha'i.
5 Accomplished now is the steep,
The ladder-like series of steps.
Malu-o is left far below.
[Page 68] Passed is Ka-maha-la'-wili,
The very ridge-pole of the rain--
10 It's as if the peak cut it in twain--
An arched roof the peak's crest Hale-hale-o-u.
A twisted cord hangs the brook Wai-hilau;
Like smoke from roasting bird Ocean's wild dance;
The shark-god is swimming the sea;
15 The rocks leap down at Big-leaf[174] and Flat-leaf--[174]
See the ocean charge 'gainst the cliffs,
Thrust snout like rooting boar against Windy-cape,
Against Kohola-lele.

[Footnote 169: _Koa'e-kea, Pueo hulu-nui_. Steep declivities,
_pali_, on the side of Waipio valley, Hawaii. Instead of
inserting these names, which would be meaningless without an
explanation, the author has given a literal translation of
the names themselves, thus getting a closer insight into the
Hawaiian thought.]

[Footnote 170: _A'e_. The precipices rise one above another
like the steps of a stairway, climbing, climbing up, though
the probable intent of the poet is to represent some one as
climbing the ascent.]

[Footnote 171: _Ha'i_. Short for _Ha'ina-kolo;_ a woman about
whom there is a story of tragic adventure. Through eating
when famished of some berries in an unceremonious way she
became distraught and wandered about for many months until
discovered by the persistent efforts of her husband. The pali
which she climbed was named after her.]

[Footnote 172: _Maka'u-kiu_. The name of a famous huge shark
that was regarded with reverential fear.]

[Footnote 173: _Pohaku lele_. In order to determine whether a
shark was present, it was the custom, before going into the
clear water of some of these coves, to throw rocks into the
water in order to disturb the monster and make his presence
known.]

[Footnote 174: _Big-leaf_. A literal translation of _Lau-nui_.
_Laupahoehoe_, Flat-leaf.]


MAHELE IV

Hole[175] Waimea i ka ihe a ka makani,
Hao mai na ale a ke Ki-pu'u-pu'u;[176]
He laau kala-ihi ia na ke anu,
I o'o i ka nahele o Mahiki.[177]
5 Ku aku la oe i ka Malanai[178] a ke Ki-puu-puu;
Nolu ka maka o ka oha-wai[179] o Uli;
Niniau, eha ka pua o Koaie,[180]
Eha i ke anu ka nahele o Wai-ka-e,
A he aloha, e!
10 Aloha Wai-ka, ia'u me he ipo la;
Me he ipo la ka maka lena o ke Koo-lau,[181]
Ka pua i ka nahele o Mahule-i-a,
E lei hele i ke alo o Moo-lau.[182]
E lau ka huaka'i-hele i ka pali loa;
15 Hele hihiu, puli[183] noho i ka nahele.
O ku'u noho wale iho no i kahua, e-e.
A he aloha, e-e!
O kou aloha ka i hiki mai i o'u nei.
Mahea la ia i nalo iho nei?

This mele, _Hole Waimea_, is also sung in connection with the
hula _ipu_.

[Footnote 175: _Hole_. To rasp, to handle rudely, to caress
passionately. Waimea is a district and village on Hawaii.]

[Footnote 176: _Kipu'u-pu'u_. A cold wind from Mauna-Kea that
blows at Waimea.]

[Footnote 177: _Mahiki_. A woodland in Waimea, in mythological
times haunted by demons and spooks.]

[Footnote 178: _Mala-nai_. The poetical name of a wind,
probably the trade wind; a name much used in Hawaiian
sentimental poetry.]

[Footnote 179: _Oha-wai_. A water hole that is filled by
dripping; an important source of supply for drinking purposes
in certain parts of Hawaii.]

[Footnote 180: _Pua o Koaie_, The koaie is a tree that grows in
the wilds, the blossom of which is extremely fragrant. (Not
the same as that subspecies of the _koa_ (Acacia koa) which
Hillebrand describes and wrongly spells _koaia_. Here a
euphemism for the delicate parts.)]

[Footnote 181: _Koolau_, or, full form, _Ko-kao-lau_. Described
by Doctor Hillebrand as _Kokolau_, a wrong spelling. It has a
pretty yellow flower, a yellow eye--_maka lena_--as the song
has it. Here used tropically. (This is the plant whose leaf
is sometimes used as a substitute for tea.)]

[Footnote 182: _Moolau_. An expression used figuratively to
mean a woman, more especially her breasts. The term
_Huli-lau_, is also used, in a slang way, to signify the
breasts of a woman, the primitive meaning being a calabash.]

[Footnote 183: _Pili_. To touch; touched. This was the word
used in the forfeit-paying love game, _kilu_, when the player
made a point by hitting the target of his opponent with his
_kilu_. (For further description see p. 235.)]
[Page 69]
The song above given, the translation of which is to follow,
belongs to historic times, being ascribed to King
Liholiho--Kamehameha II--who died in London July 13, 1824, on
his visit to England. It attained great vogue and still holds
its popularity with the Hawaiians. The reader will note the
comparative effeminacy and sentimentality of the style and
the frequent use of euphemisms and double-entendre. The
double meaning in a Hawaiian mele will not always be evident
to one whose acquaintance with the language is not intimate.
To one who comes to it from excursions in Anglo-Saxon poetry,
wandering through its "meadows trim with daisies pied," the
sly intent of the Hawaiian, even when pointed out, will, no
doubt, seem an inconsequential thing and the demonstration of
it an impertinence, if not a fiction to the imagination. Its
euphemisms in reality have no baser intent than the euphuisms
of Lyly, Ben Jonson, or Shakespeare.

[Translation.]

_Song--Hole Waimea_

PART IV

Love tousled Waimea with, shafts of the wind,
While Kipuupuu puffed jealous gusts.
Love is a tree that blights in the cold,
But thrives in the woods of Mahiki.
5 Smitten art thou with the blows of love;
Luscious the water-drip in the wilds;
Wearied and bruised is the flower of Koaie;
Stung by the frost the herbage of Wai-ka-e:
And this--it is love.
10 Wai-ka, loves me like a sweetheart.
Dear as my heart Koolau's yellow eye,
My flower in the tangled wood, Hule-i-a,
A travel-wreath to lay on love's breast,
A shade to cover my journey's long climb.
15 Love-touched, distraught, mine a wilderness-home;
But still do I cherish the old spot,
For love--it is love.
Your love visits me even here:
Where has it been hiding till now?

PAUKU 2

Kau ka ha-e-a, kau o ka hana wa ele,
Ke ala-ula ka makani,
Kulu a e ka ua i kou wabi moe.
Palepale i na auwai o lalo;
5 Eli mawaho o ka hale o Koolau, e.
E lau Koolau, he aina ko'e-ko'e;
Maka'u i ke anu ka uka o ka Lahuloa.
Loa ia mea, na'u i waiho aku ai.

[Page 70]

[Translation]

STANZA 2

A mackerel sky, time for foul weather;
The wind raises the dust--
Thy couch is a-drip with the rain;
Open the door, let's trench about the house:
5 Koolau, land of rain, will shoot green leaves.
I dread the cold of the uplands.
An adventure that of long ago.

The poem above given from beginning to end is figurative, a
piece of far-fetched, enigmatical symbolism in the lower
plane of human nature.

PAUKU 3

Hoe Puna i ka wa'a po-lolo'[184] a ka ino;
Ha-uke-uke i ka wa o Koolau:
Eha e! eha la!
Eha i ku'i-ku'i o ka Ulu-mano.[185]
5 Hala 'e ka waluahe a ke A'e,[186]
Ku iho i ku'i-ku'i a ka Ho-li'o;[187]
Hana ne'e ke kikala o ko Hilo Khii.
Ho'i lu'u-lu'u i ke one o Hana-kahi,[188]
I ka po-lolo' ua wahine o ka lua:
10 Mai ka lua no, e!

[Translation]

STANZA 3

Puna plies paddle night-long in the storm;
Is set back by a shift in the weather,
Feels hurt and disgruntled;
Dismayed at slap after slap of the squalls;
5 Is struck with eight blows of Typhoon;
Then smit with the lash of the North wind.
Sad, he turns back to Hilo's sand-beach:
He'll shake the town with a scandal--
The night-long storm with the hag of the pit,
10 Hag from Gehenna!

[Footnote 184: _Po-lolo_. A secret word, like a cipher, made up
for the occasion and compounded of two words, _po_, night,
and _loloa_, long, the final _a_, of _loloa_ being dropped.
This form of speech was called _kepakepa_, and was much used
by the Hawaiians in old times.]

[Footnote 185: _Ulu-mano_. A violent wind which blows by night
only on the western side of Hawaii. Kamehameha with a company
of men was once wrecked by this wind off Nawawa; a whole
village was burned to light them ashore. (Dictionary of the
Hawaiian Language, by Lorrin Andrews.)]

[Footnote 186: _Walu-ihe a ke A'e_. The _A'e_ is a violent wind
that is described as blowing from different points of the
compass in succession; a circular storm. _Walu-ihe_--eight
spears--was a name applied to this same wind during a certain
portion of its circuitous range, covering at least eight
different points, as observed by the Hawaiians. It was well
fitted, therefore, to serve as a figure descriptive of eight
different lovers, who follow each other in quick succession,
in the favors of the same wanton.]

[Footnote 187: _Ho-Wo_ The name of a wind, but of an entirely
different character from those above mentioned.]

[Footnote 188: _Hana-kahi_. (See note _f_, p. 60.)]
[Page 71]

This is not a line-for-line translation; that the author
found infeasible. Line 8 of the English represents line 7 of
the Hawaiian. Given more literally, it might be, "He'll shake
the buttocks of Hilo's forty thousand."

The metaphor of this song is disjointed, but hot with the
primeval passions of humanity.

PAUKU 4

Ho-ina-inau mea ipo i ka nahele;
Haa-kokoe ana ka maka i ka Moani,
I ka ike i na pua i hoomahie 'Iuna;
Ua hi-hi-hina wale i ka moe awakea.
5 Ka ino' ua poina ia Mali'o.
Aia ka i Pua-lei o Ha'o.
I Puna no ka waihona o ka makani;
Kaela ka malama ana a ka Pu'u-lena,
I kahi mea ho-aloha-loha, e!
10 E aloha, e!

[Translation]

STANZA 4

Love is at play in the grove,
A jealous swain glares fierce
At the flowers tying love-knots,
Lying wilted at noon-tide.
5 So you've forgotten Mali'o,
Turned to the flower of Puna--
Puna, the cave of shifty winds.
Long have I cherished this blossom,
A treasure hid in my heart!
10 Oh, sweetheart!

The following account is taken from the Polynesian Researches
of the Rev. William Ellis, the well-known English missionary,
who visited these islands in the years 1822 and 1823, and
whose recorded observations have been of the highest value in
preserving a knowledge of the institutions of ancient Hawaii.

In the afternoon, a party of strolling musicians and dancers
arrived at Kairua. About four o'clock they came, followed by
crowds of people, and arranged themselves on a fine sandy
beach in front of one of the governor's houses, where they
exhibited a native dance, called _hura araapapa_.

The five musicians first seated themselves in a line on the
ground, and spread a piece of folded cloth on the sand before
them. Their instrument was a large calabash, or rather two,
one of an oval shape about three feet high, the other
perfectly round, very neatly fastened to it, having also an
aperture about three inches in diameter at the top. Each
musician held his instrument before him with both hands, and
produced his music by striking it on the ground, where he had
laid a piece of cloth, and beating it with his fingers, or
the palms of his hands. As soon as they began to sound their
calabashes, the dancer, a young man about the middle stature,
advanced through the opening crowd.
[Page 72]
His jet-black hair hung in loose and flowing ringlets on his
naked shoulders; his necklace was made of a vast number of
strings of nicely braided human hair, tied together behind,
while a _paraoa_ (an ornament made of a whale's tooth) hung
pendent from it on his breast; his wrists were ornamented
with bracelets formed of polished tusks of the hog, and his
ankles with loose buskins, thickly set with dog's teeth, the
rattle of which, during the dance, kept time with the music
of the calabash drum. A beautiful yellow tapa was tastefully
fastened round his loins, reaching to his knees. He began his
dance in front of the musicians, and moved forward and
backwards, across the area, occasionally chanting the
achievements of former kings of Hawaii. The governor sat at
the end of the ring, opposite to the musicians, and appeared
gratified with the performance, which continued until the
evening. (Vol. IV, 100-101, London, Fisher, Son & Jackson,
1831.)

NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.--At the time of Mr. Ellis' visit to
Hawaii the orthography of the Hawaiian language was still in
a formative stage, and it is said that his counsels had
influence in shaping it. His use of _r_ instead of _l_ in the
words _hula, alaapapa_, and _palaoa_ may, therefore, be
ascribed to the fact of his previous acquaintance with the
dialects of southern Polynesia, in which the sound of _r_ to
a large extent substitutes that of _l_, and to the
probability that for that reason his ear was already attuned
to the prevailing southern fashion, and his judgment
prepossessed in that direction.

[Illustration:
PLATE VII
IPU HULA, GOURD DRUM]

[Page 73]




X.--THE HULA PA-IPU, OR KUOLO


The _pa-ipu_, called also the _kuolo_, was a hula of
dignified character, in which all the performers maintained
the kneeling position and accompanied their songs with the
solemn tones of the _ipu_ (pl. vii), with which each one was
provided. The proper handling of this drumlike instrument in
concert with the cantillation of the mele made such demands
upon the artist, who was both singer and instrumentalist,
that only persons of the most approved skill and experience
were chosen to take part in the performance of this hula.

The manner of treating the ipu in this hula differed somewhat
from that employed in the ala'a-papa, being subdued and quiet
in that, whereas in the pa-ipu it was at times marked with
great vigor and demonstrativeness, so that in moments of
excitement and for the expression of passion, fierce joy, or
grief the ipu might be lifted on high and wildly brandished.
It thus made good its title as the most important instrument
of the Hawaiian orchestra.

In the pa-ipu, as in the hulas generally, while the actors
were sometimes grouped according to sex, they were quite as
often distributed indiscriminately, the place for the leader,
the kumu, being the center.

The vigor that marks the literary style of the mele now given
stamps it as belonging to the archaic period, which closed in
the early part of the eighteenth century, that century which
saw the white man make his advent in Hawaii. The poem deals
apparently with an incident in one of the migrations such as
took place during the period of intercourse between the North
and the South Pacific. This was a time of great stir and
contention, a time when there was much paddling and sailing
about and canoe-fleets, often manned by warriors, traversed
the great ocean in every direction. It was then that Hawaii
received many colonists from the archipelagoes that lie to
the southward.

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