III.— THE GODS OF THE HULA 



Of what nature were the gods of the old times, and how did the 

 ancient Hawaiians conceive of them ? As of beings having the form, 

 the powers, and the passions of humanity, yet standing above and 

 somewhat apart from men. One sees, as through a mist, darkly, a 

 figure, standing, moving; in shape a plant, a tree or vine-clad stump, 

 a bird, a taloned monster, a rock carved by the fire-queen, a human 

 form, a puff of vapor — and now it has given place to vacancy. It 

 was a goddess, perhaps of the hula. In the solitude of the wilder- 

 ness one meets a youthful being of pleasing address, of godlike wit, 

 of elusive beauty ; the charm of her countenance unspoken authority, 

 her gesture command. She seems one with nature, yet commanding 

 it. Food placed before her remains untasted ; the oven, imu°' in which 

 the fascinated host has heaped his abundance, preparing for a feast, 

 when opened is found empty ; the guest of an hour has disappeared. 

 Again it was a goddess, perhaps of the hula. Or, again, a traveler 

 meets a creature of divine beauty, all smiles and loveliness. The in- 

 fatuated mortal, smitten with hopeless passion, offers blandishments; 

 he finds himself by the roadside embracing a rock. It was a goddess 

 of the hula. 



The gods, great and small, superior and inferior, whom the devo- 

 tees and practitioners of the hula worshiped and sought to placate 

 were many ; but the goddess Laka was the one to whom they offered 

 special prayers and sacrifices and to whom they looked as the patron, 

 the au-makua^ of that institution. It was for her benefit and in her 

 honor that the kuahu was set up, and the wealth of flower and leaf 

 used in its decoration was emblematic of her beauty and glory, a 

 pledge of her bodily presence, the very forms that she, a sylvan 

 deity, was wont to assume when she pleased to manifest herself. 



As an additional crutch to the imagination and to emphasize the 

 fact of her real presence on the altar which she had been invoked to 

 occupy as her abode, she was symbolized by an uncarved block of 

 wood from the sacred lama'^ tree. This was wrapped in a robe of 

 choice yellow tapa, scented with turmeric, and set conspicuously upon 

 the altar. 



" Imu. The Hawaiian oven, which was a hole in the ground lined and arched over 

 with stones. 



^ Au-makua. An ancestral god. 



" Lama. A beautiful tree having firm, fine-grained, white wood ; used in making sacred 

 inclosures and for other tabu purposes. 



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