490 Transactions, — Miscellaneotis. 



cooking food.' The slaves soon made the fire burn up brightly, 

 and brought hollow calabashes, all ready to have food placed in 

 them, and laid them down before Eehua. All this time Eupe 

 was wondering whence the food was to come from with which 

 the calabashes which the slaves had brought were to be filled ; 

 but presently he observed that Eehua was slowly loosening the 

 thick bands which enveloped his locks around and upon the top 

 of his head ; and when his long locks all floated loosely, he 

 shook the dense masses of his hair, and forth fi'om them came 

 flying flocks of the tiii birds, which had been nestling there ; 

 and as they flew forth, the slaves caught and killed them, and 

 filled the calabashes with them, and took them to the fire, and 

 put them on to cook ; and when they were done, they earned 

 them and laid them before Eupe as a present, and then placed 

 them beside him that he might eat, and Eehua requested him 

 to eat food; but Eupe answered him, 'Nay, but I cannot eat 

 this food ; I saw these birds loosened and take wing from 

 thy locks ; who would dare to eat food that had rested in thy 

 sacred head ?"* For the reasons he thus stated, Eupe feared 

 that man of ancient days ; and the calabashes still stood near 

 him untouched. At last Eupe ventured to ask Eehua, saying : 

 ' ! Eehua, has a confused murmur of voices from the world 

 below reached you upon any subject regarding which I am 

 interested ?' And Eehua answered him : ' Yes ; such a mur- 

 muring of distant voices has reached me from the Island of 

 Motutapu, in the world below these.' When Eupe heard this, 

 he immediately, by his enchantments, changed himgelf into a 

 pigeon, and took flight downwards towards the Island of Motu- 

 tapu. On, on he flew, until he reached the island, and the 

 dwelHng of Tinirau ; and then he alighted right upon the 

 window-sill of his house. Some of Tinirau's people saw him, 

 and exclaimed : ' Ha ! ha ! there's a bird ; there's a bird ; ' 

 whilst some called out, ' Make haste, spear him ; spear him.' 

 And one threw a spear at him ; but he turned it aside with his 

 bill, and it passed on one side of him and struck the piece of 

 wood on which he was sitting, and the spear was broken. Then 

 they saw it was no use to try to spear the bird ; so they made a 

 noose, and endeavoured to slip it gently over his head ; but he 

 turned his head on one side, and they found that they could not 



* The meaning of the birds nestlinp in and flying firm the hair of 

 Eehua is apparently to be understood only by a woid preserved in Hawaiian, 

 but lot.1 in Maori: ?-<Aj/(( (/('/i?(«) being theie tlie ancient name for a forest. 

 We find in " The Chant of Kualii" (Tu-tnihi) the following hues: — 



" The younpcr children of the rain, 

 Are ruining on the lehua (forest)." 



And perhaps a sister allusion is made to the incident of the slaves catching 



birds in the hair of Eehua, in the lines : — 



" The clukl catching birds e — 

 Beaching up the bird-catching pole on Lehua." 



