56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



The answering song, led by the kumu, is in the same flamboyant 

 strain : 



on 



Lele Mahu'ilani <* a luna, 

 Lewa ia Kauna-lewa ! * 



[Translation] 

 Song 



Lift Mahu'ilani on liigli, 



Thy palms Kauna-lewa a-waving ! 



After the ceremony of the pa-ii came that of the lei, a wreath to 

 crown the head and another for the neck and shoulders. It was not 

 the custom in the old times to overwhelm the body with floral decora- 

 tions and to blur the outlines of the figure to the point of disfigure- 

 ment ; nor was every flower that blows acceptable as an offering. The 

 gods were jealous and nice in their tastes, pleased only with flowers 

 indigenous to the soil — the ilima (pi. vi), the lehua, the maile, the 

 ie-ie, and the like (see pp. 19, 20). The ceremony was quickly ac- 

 complished. As the company knotted the garlands about head or 

 neck, thej'^ sang: 



OU Lei 



Ke lei mai la o Ka-ula i ke kai, e ! 

 Ke malamalama o Niihau, ua malie. 

 A malie, pa ka Inu-wai. 

 Ke inu mai la na hala o Naue i ke kai. 

 5 No Naue, ka hala, no Puna ka wahine.c 

 No ka lua no i Kilauea. 



[Translation] 



Wreath Song 



Ka-ula wears the ocean as a wreath; 

 Nii-hau shines forth in the calm. 

 After the calm blows the wind Inu-wai; 

 Naue's palms then drink in the salt. 

 5 From Naue the i^alm, from Puna the woman — 

 Aye, from the pit, Kilauea. 



Tradition tells a pathetic story (p. 212) in narrating an incident 

 touching the occasion on which this song first was sung. 



" Mahu'ilani. A poetical name for the right hand ; this the olapa, the dancing girls, 

 lifted in extension as they entered the halau from the dressing room. The left hand 

 was termed Kaohi-lani. 



'■ Kauna-lciva. The name of •ft celebrated grove of coconuts at Kekaha, Kauai, near the 

 residence of the late Mr. Knndsen. 



« Wahine. The woman, Pele. 



