EMERSOX] "UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 69 



The song above given, the transhition of which is to follow, belongs 

 to historic times, being ascribed to King Liholiho — Kamehameha 

 II — who died in London July 13, 1824, on his visit to England. It 

 attained great vogue and still holds its popularity with the Hawaiians. 

 The reader will note the comparative effeminacy and sentimentality 

 of the style and the frequent use of euphemisms and double-entendre. 

 The double meaning in a Hawaiian mele will not always be evident 

 to one whose acquaintance with the language is not intimate. To one 

 who comes to it from excursions in Anglo-Saxon poetry, wandering 

 through its " meadows trim with daisies pied," the sly intent of the 

 Hawaiian, even when pointed out, will, no doubt, seem an inconse- 

 quential thing and the demonstration of it an impertinence, if not a 

 fiction to the imagination. Its euphemisms in reality have no baser 

 intent than the euphuisms of Lyly, Ben Jonson, or Shakespeare. 



[Translation] 



Song — Hole Waimea 



PART IV 



Love tousled Waituea with shafts of the wind, 



While Kipunpiiii puffed jealous gusts. 



Love is a tree that blights iu the cold, 



But thrives in the woods of Mahiki. 

 5 Smitten art thou with the blows of love ; 



Luscious the water-drip in the wilds; 



Wearied and bruised is the flower of Koaie; 



Stung by the frost the herbage of Wai-ka-6 : 



And this — it is love. 

 10 Wai-ka loves me like a sweetheart. 



Dear as my heart Koolau's yellow eye. 



My flower in the tangled wood, Hule-i-a, 



A travel-wreath to lay on love's breast, 



A shade to cover my journey's long climb. 

 1.5 Love-touched, distraught, mine a wilderness-home ; 



But still do I cherish the old spot. 



For love — it is love. 



Your love visits me even here : 



Where has it been hiding till now? 



rAUKTI 2 



Kau ka ha-e-a, kau o ka hana wa ele, 

 Ke ala-ula ka makani, 

 Kulu a e ka ua i kou wahi moe. 

 Palepale i na auwai o lalo ; 

 5 Eli mawaho o ka hale o Koolau, e. 

 E Ian Koolau, he aina ko'e-ko'e; 

 Maka'u i ke anu ka uka o ka Lahuloa. 

 . Loa ia niea, na'u i waiho aku ai. 



