IV.— SUPPORT AND ORGANIZATION OF THE HULA 



In ancient times the hiila to a large extent was a creature of royal 

 support, and for good reason. The actors in this institution were not 

 producers of life's necessaries. To the alii belonged the land and the 

 sea and all the useful products thereof. Even the jetsam whale-tooth 

 and wreckage scraps of iron that ocean cast up on the shore were 

 claimed by the lord of the land. Everything was the king's. Thus 

 it follow^ed of necessity that the support of the hula must in the end 

 rest upon the alii. As in ancient Rome it was a senator or general, 

 enriched by the spoil of a province, who promoted the sports of the 

 arena, so in ancient Hawaii it was the chief or headman of the district 

 who took the initiative in the promotion of the people's communistic 

 sports and of the hula. 



We must not imagine that the hula was a thing only of kings' 

 courts and chiefish residences. It had another and democratic side. 

 The passion for the hula was broadspread. If other agencies failed 

 to meet the demand, there was nothing to prevent a company of 

 enthusiasts from joining themselves together in the pleasures and, 

 it might be, the profits of the hula. Their spokesman — ^designated as 

 the po'o-puaa^ from the fact that a pig, or a boar's head, was required 

 of him as an offering at the kuahu — was authorized to secure the 

 services of some expert to be their kumu. But with the hula all roads 

 lead to the king's court. 



Let us imagine a scene at the king's residence. The alii, rousing 

 from his sloth and rubbing his eyes, rheumy with debauch and cnva^ 

 overhears remark on the doings of a new company of hula dancers 

 who have come into the neighborhood. He summons his chief 

 steward. 



" What is this new thing of which they babble?" he demands. 



" It is nothing, son of heaven," answers the kneeling steward. 



" They spoke of a hula. Tell me, what is it?" 



"Ah, thou heaven-born {lani), it was but a trifle — a new company, 

 young graduates of the halau, have set themselves up as great ones; 

 mere rustics; they have no proper acquaintance with the traditions 

 of the art as taught by the bards of * * * your majesty's father. 

 They mouth and twist the old songs all awry, thou son of heaven." 



" Enough. I will hear them to-morrow. Send a messenger for 

 this new kumu. Fill again my bowl with awa." 

 26 



