28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



them, perhaps, the offspring of the king's morganatic alliances and 

 amours — the flower and pick of Hawaii's youth. From these the 

 kumu selected those most fitted by beauty and grace of form, as well 

 as (juickness of Avit and liveliness of imagination, to take part in 

 the hula. 



The performers in the hula were divided into two classes, the 

 olapa — agile ones — and the ho'o-paa — steadfast ones. The role of 

 olapa, as was fitting, was assigned to the young men and young 

 women who could best illustrate in their persons the grace and beauty 

 of the human form. It was theirs, sometimes while singing, to move 

 and pose and gesture in the dance: sometimes also to punctuate their 

 song and action with the lighter instruments of music. The role of 

 ho'o-paa. on the other hand, was given to men and women of greater 

 experience and of more maturity. They handled the heavier instru- 

 ^luents and phiyed their parts mostly while sitting or kneeling, mark- 

 ing the time with their instrumentation. They also lent their voices 

 to swell the chorus or utter the refrain of certain songs, sometimes 

 taking the lead in the song or bearing its whole burden, while the 

 light-footed olapa gave themselves entirely to the dance. The part 

 of the ho'o-paa was indeed the heavier, the more exacting duty. 



Such was the personnel of a hula troupe when first gathered by 

 the hula-master for training and drill in the halau, now become a 

 school for the hula. Among the pupils the kumu was sure to find 

 some old hands at the business, whose presence, like that of veterans 

 in a squad of recruits, was a leaven to inspire the whole company 

 M'ith due respect for the spirit and traditions of the historic institu- 

 tion and to breed in the members the patience necessary to bring them 

 to the highest proficiency. 



The instruction of the kumu, as we are informed, took a wide 

 range. Tt dealt in elaborate detail on such matters as accent, in- 

 flection, and all that concerns utterance and vocalization. It natu- 

 rally paid great attention to gesture and pose, attitude and bodily 

 action. That it included comment on the meaning that lay back of 

 the words may be gravely doubted. The average hula dancer of 

 modern times shows great ignorance of the mele he recites, and this 

 is true even of the kumu-hula. His Avork too often is largely per- 

 functory, a matter of sound and form, without appeal to the intel- 

 lect. 



It would not be legitimate, however, to conclude from this that 

 ignorance of the meaning was the rule in old times; those were the 

 days when the nation's traditional songs, myths, and lore formed the 

 equipment of every alert and receptive mind, chief or commoner. 

 There was no printed page to while aAvay the hours of idleness. 

 The library was stored in one's memory. The language of the mele, 

 which now has become antiquated, then was familiar speech. For a 



