EMEKSON] UNWRITTEISr LITERATURE OF HAWAII 19 



Hooulu " lei ou, o Laka, e ! 

 O Hiiaka '' ke kanla iialia e hooulu ua uia'i, 

 5 A aeae a ulu ^ a noho i kou kuahu, 

 Eia ka pule la, he pule ola, 

 He noi ola nou, e-e ! 



Chorus: 

 E ola la ujakou, aohe hala ! 



[Translation] 

 Altar-Prayer to Laka 



This spoil and i-ape of the wiklwooil, 

 This plucking of wilderness maile — 

 Collect of garlands, Laka, for you. 

 Hiiaka, the prophet, heals our diseases. 

 5 Enter, possess, inspire your altar; 

 Heed our prayer, 'tis for life; 

 Our petition to you is for life. 



Chorus: 

 Give us life, save from transgression ! 



The wildwoods of Hawaii furnished in great abundance and 

 variety small poles for the framework of the kuahu, the altar, the 

 holy place of the halau, and sweet-scented leaves and flowers suitable 

 for its decoration. A spirit of fitness, however, limited choice among 

 these to certain species that were deemed acceptable to the goddess 

 because they were reckoned as among her favorite forms of metamor- 

 phosis. To go outside this ordained and traditional range would 

 have been an offense, a sacrilege. This critical spirit would have 

 looked with the greatest disfavor on the practice that in modern 

 times has crept in, of bedecking the dancers with garlands of roses, 

 pinks, jessamine, and other nonindigenous flowers, as being utterly 

 repugnant to the traditional spirit of the hula. 



Among decorations approved and most highly esteemed stood pre- 

 eminent the fragrant maile (pi. iv) and the star-like fronds and ruddy 

 drupe of the ieAe (pi. ii) and its kindred, the hala-pepe (pi. in) ; the 

 scarlet pompons of the lelvila (pi. xiii) and o/ii'«, with the fruit of 

 the latter (the mountain-apple) ; many varieties of fern, including 

 that splendid parasite, the "bird's nest fern" (ekdha), hailed by 



'^ Hoo-ulu. This word has a considerable range of meaning, well illustrated in this mele.- 

 In its simplest form, m?m, it means to grow, to become strong. Joined with the causative 

 hoo, as here, it takes on the spiritual meaning of causing to prosper, of inspiring. The 

 word " collect," used in the translation, has been chosen to express the double sense of 

 gathering the garlands and of devoting them to the goddess as a religious offering. In 

 the fourth verse this word, hooulu, is used in the sense of to heal. Compare note c. 



* Hiiaka. The youngest sister of Tele, often spoljen of as Iliiaka-i-ka-poU-o-Pele, Hiiaka- 

 of-the-bosom-of-Pele. Whj^ she should be spoken of as capable of healing diseases is not 

 at all clear. 



<^ Ulu. Here we have the word ulu in its simple, uncombined form, meaning to enter 

 Into and inspire, 



