512 Pomander Collection of Hawaiian Folk-lore. 



CONCERNING THE COMPLETION OF THE HA. 



When the ha was completed, a pig was killed, the awa was chewed, and when 

 ever3'thing was ready, a prayer was offered to Holu in this manner: 



"O Holu, grant the desire of your ha-constructing devotees; give them the le- 

 hua-fed oopus of Hoopulu. Harken, thou chief of Hoopulu. Return to partake of 

 the drink and the food. Amen." 



After eating, the water was diverted, so that it would flow towards the ha, by 

 banking up the head so that the water would rise and flow over the ha. The value of 

 this was only for the time of a freshet, when the oopus were taken by the water and 

 stranded on the ha where it was protected by the bank on either side. The owner of 

 the ha waited until the first fish was caught which fish was thrown aside," for that was 

 the custom ; for if it were not cast aside, that which had been prepared would become 

 useless, for it would be torn by the water from the head to the rear and become good 

 for nothing. 



THE KAPl'S OP.SERVED AP.OUT THE HA. 



It was kapu for a woman having her menses to climb or walk on the ha, be- 

 cause a woman in that condition was despised by Holu. It was kapu to bathe at the 

 head of the ha. It was kapu for a man, woman or child who had been to a house of 

 mourning to walk on the ha. He or she should do this first : purify with olena-salt 

 water — olena and water and salt mixed together — by throwing the same on the eyes 

 of the unclean. The owner of the ha performed this service. 



DAMMING AND DIVERTING THE WATER SO AS TO CATCH OOPITS. 



It was not well to dam up water where the stream was narrow; the best place 

 was where there was a natural division of the water — where some of it flowed on one 

 side and some on the other side. Then in that case the head of one branch was 

 dammed up and all the water was diverted into the other. After the head was dammed 

 up, and that side was dry, then was the time to look for oopus. If one had an apiia'' 

 that was placed where there was plenty of water so that when the oopus were being 

 swept along, they would be caught in this. The a/^iia was a basket braided like the traps 

 used in catching fish in the sea; small at the bottom and large at the mouth like that of 

 a bell ; and was braided in the form of a funnel. 



THE KAPUS RELATING TO THIS WORK. 



It was kapu for a woman, child, or a man to sit on a knoll, or walk at the head 

 [of this place] or to cause a shadow to fall [on this i)lace] or to make a noise with or in 

 the water behind the apua. It was not well to cook the nuukole (the red-tail mudfish) 

 and pound it until pulverized, and then throw it into the water. If that were done, a 

 freshet would come and break down the head of the dammed up division. All these 

 ka])us belonged to Holu. 



That was how the people of Honokohau observed this kapu until the days of 



"Fish thrown aside was afterward taken and offered '.-ll^iiii, a wicker llsliing basket, somewhat bell-shaped, 



up as a sacrifice, lieing the "llrst fruit" of the lia or 

 trough. 



