Unwritten Literature of Hawaii | Page 9

He la uniki[9] e no kaua;
Ha-ike-ike[10] o ke Akua;
Hoike ka mana o ka Wahine,
O Laka, kaikuahine,
25 Wahine a Lono i ka ou-alii.[11]
E Lono, e hu'[12] ia mai ka lani me
ka honua.
Nou okoa Kukulu o Kaniki.[13]
Me ke ano-ai[14] i aloha, e!
E ola, e!

[Footnote 3: _Wao-kele_. That portion of the mountain forest where
grew the monarch trees was called _wao-kele_ or _wao-maukele_.]
[Footnote 4: _Na Kane_. Why was the offering, the black roast
porkling, said to be for Kane, who was not a special patron,
_au-makúa_, of the hula? The only answer the author has been able to
obtain from any Hawaiian is that, though Kane was not a god of the
hula, he was a near relative. On reflection, the author can see a
propriety in devoting the reeking flesh of the swine to god Kane, while
to the sylvan deity, Lâkâ, goddess of the peaceful hula, were devoted
the rustic offerings that were the embodiment of her charms. Her image,
or token--an uncarved block of wood--was set up in a prominent part of
the _kuahu_, and at the close of a performance the wreaths that had
been worn by the actors were draped about the image. Thus viewed,
there is a delicate propriety and significance in such disposal of the
pig.]
[Footnote 5: _Maka-li'i_ (Small eyes). The Pleiades; also the period of
six months, including the rainy season, that began some time in
October or November and was reckoned from the date when the
Pleiades appeared in the East at sunset. _Maka-li'i_ was also the name
of a month, by some reckoned as the first month of the year.]
[Footnote 6: _Maka-léi_. The name of a famous mythological tree

which had the power of attracting fish. It did not poison, but only
bewitched or fascinated them. There were two trees bearing this name,
one a male, the other a female, which both grew at a place in Hilo
called Pali-uli. One of these, the female, was, according to tradition,
carried from its root home to the fish ponds in Kailua, Oahu, for the
purpose of attracting fish to the neighboring waters. The enterprise was
eminently successful.]
[Footnote 7: _Po_. Literally night; the period in cosmogony when
darkness and chaos reigned, before the affairs on earth had become
settled under the rule of the gods. Here the word is used to indicate a
period of remote mythologic antiquity. The use of the word _Po_ in the
following verse reminds one of the French adage, "La nuit porte
conseil."]
[Footnote 8: _Kokúa_. Another form for _kakúa_, to gird on the _pa-ú_.
(See _Pa-ú_ song, pp. 51-53.)]
[Footnote 9: _Uníki_. A word not given in the dictionary. The debut of
an actor at the hula, after passing the _ai-lolo_ test and graduating from
the school of the halau, a critical event.]
[Footnote 10: _Ha-íke-íke_. Equivalent to _ho-íke-íke_, an exhibition,
to exhibit.]
[Footnote 11: _Ou-alii_. The Hawaiians seem to have lost the meaning
of this word. The author has been at some pains to work it out
somewhat conjecturally.]
[Footnote 12: _E Lono, e hu' ia, mai, etc_. The unelided form of the
word _hu'_ would be _hui_. The final _i_ is dropped before the similar
vowel of _ia_.]
[Footnote 13: _Kukúlu o Kahíki_. The pillars of Kahiki. The ancient
Hawaiians supposed the starry heavens to be a solid dome supported by
a wall or vertical
construction--_kukulu_--set up along the horizon.
That section of the wall that stood over against Kahiki they termed
_Kukulu o Kahiki_. Our geographical name Tahiti is of course from

Kahiki, though it does not apply to the same region. After the close of
what has been termed "the period of intercourse," which, came
probably during the twelfth and thirteenth