THE TTAWAIIAX PEOPLE. 83 



closed end, the other two about a third of +lie distance from either end. In 

 playing, the instrument was held so that the end hole was squarely under the 

 right nostril. The sound produced was modified by the finger holes to give five 

 notes, which might be varied at the pleasure of the performer. 



A similar instrument was the love-whistle or kiokio, made of very small 

 gourds in which three holes were pierced. The method of playing tliis tiny 

 instrument was similar to that of the nose flute. Another instrument sometimes 

 used to accompany the mele, was based on the principle of the Jew's harp. 

 It was made of a short stick of bamboo slightly bent in sucli a manner as to 

 hold the three strings of olona fiber taut. In use one end of the instrument 

 was placed in the open month Avhich served as a resonator for the feeble tones 

 produced by striking the strings with the fiimers or with a baiiil)oo splinter as a 

 plectrum. 



Boxing the National Game. 



Returning to their festivals and games, for there were many in which 

 strength, skill and chance played an imj)ortant part, we find boxing was, per- 

 haps, the national game. It was regulated b.y certain rules, uiiii)ires were ap- 

 pointed, the victor defended the ring against all comers, the conqueror receiving 

 the highest honors. A great crowd of all classes usually attended their games 

 and sports, and wild excitement and much hilaritj^ prevailed. In many of the 

 important contests between the followers of various chiefs, not infi-<M|uently 

 death was the result of blows received. 



Wrestling and foot racing were also popular sports. It is recorded tliat 

 the king's heralds were frequentty able to make the circuit of Hawaii, a distance 

 of three hundred miles, over exceedingly rough trails, in eight or nine days. 



A game which must have contributed much to their skill as warriors, in 

 their form of Avarfare, was one in which spears were thrown a short distance 

 at the body of the contestant — to be parried by him. The more skillful, it is 

 said, were able to ward off a numl)er of spears at once. Mock fights with stones, 

 spears and other missiles, were also indulged in. 



The Primitive Bowling Alley. 



A favorite amusement was one Avliich consisted in bowling or rolling a 

 smooth disk-like stone over a track especially prepared for the purpose, with 

 sufficient skill to cause the stone to pass between two sticks di'iven a few inches 

 apart at the opposite end of what may be termed a primitive bowling alley. 

 The game had many variations, one being to excel in bowling the longest distance. 

 Still another modification of this game had as its object the breaking of the 

 opponent's bowling stone. Amusements of precision, like the al)(n-e, hnl to 

 great care being exercised in the selecting of the material and the employment 

 of much skill in the manufacture of their ulu or olohu stones. The best were 

 preferably perfect disks in shape, of hard lava stone, or coral rock, and were 

 three or four inches in diameter by an inch or more in thickness, with an average 

 weight of about one pound. They were slightly thicker in the center, gradually 



