A 



PREFACE. 



FTER many years of collecting the antiqnarian and traditional lore of the 

 Polynesian Race in general, with the object of identif3'ing the origin and 

 migrations of the Hawaiians in particular, which formed the basis of his 

 scholarly work on that subject, Abraham Fornander, with a corps of native helpers of 

 known ability (notably S. M. Kamakau, the historian; J. Kepilino, and S. N. Haleole), 

 gathered from among the people throughout the group a most valuable collection of 

 material covering Hawaiian mj'thology, traditions, meles and genealogies. Following 

 his death in 18S7, after a residence in the land of his adoption of forty-five j-ears, 

 this collection of manuscripts was purchased from his estate for preservation by 

 the late Charles R. Bishop, and later was turned over by him to the Trustees of the 

 Bernice P. Bishop Museum. 



Upon examination and translation of the various papers comprising the collec- 

 tion, the Trustees decided to share this treasure with the reading public by issuing it, in 

 several series, among the Memoirs of the Museum. Most of the translation was com- 

 pleted under the late Dr. W. D. Alexander's supervision. Following his death it devolves 

 upon another to carr}' out the desires of the Trustees in its revision and editing for 

 publication. In doing so several amendments and extensions are embodied, but only 

 such changes as the collector himself would doubtless have made had its preparation 

 for the press passed through his experienced and painstaking hands, with the view of 

 preserving it as "The Fornander Collection" of antiquities, traditions, legends, gene- 

 alogies and meles of Hawaii. The order in which the}- were designed by him is 

 observed, except in the enlargement of this first series to embrace the historic traditional 

 papers in relatively chronological order. The rest of the series comprises the legend- 

 ar}', antiquarian and miscellaneous papers and meles. 



This collection of Hawaiian folk-lore was gathered, as stated, some fort}' or 

 more years ago. Several of the papers have been published in the native press, and 

 a few, from translations which have appeared, will be found familiar to English readers, 

 but by far the largest part comes to the reading public, Hawaiians and foreigners, 

 for the first time; issued as Hawaiian literature, simpl}', irrespective of variance 

 in writers, or inaccitracy in historic narrations. Although some of these papers are 

 lengthy, yet if any demerit is to be ascribed to the collection, it likely would be due 

 to incompleteness, or brevity, rather than to undue extension — a fault that has of 

 late years come into vogue in Hawaiian story-writing. Nor could these tales be 

 secured from original sources toda3^ The bards, or haku niele, and chanters have 

 passed away, and even those capable of interpreting the mele and antiquarian subjects 

 are few. Therefore, the preservation by publication of this collection in the vernacu- 

 lar, with translations thereof, will increase not only its literary- interest, but will add 

 to its scientific value, while the notes accompanj-ing the English version will aid the 

 reader in the interpretation of ancient Hawaiian thought and customs. 



Thos. G. Thrum, Editor. 



