EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 75 



[Translation] 



Song 



(Distinct utterance) 



Glowing is Kahiki, oh ! 

 Glowing is Kahiki ! 

 Lo, Kahiki is a-blaze, 

 The whole island a-burning. 

 5 Scorched is thy scion, Hawaii. 



Kahiki shoots flame-tongues at Olopana, 

 That hero of yours, and priest 

 Of the oracle Hana-ka-ulani, 

 The sacred shrine of the king — 

 10 He is of the upper heavens. 

 The one inspired by Keawe, 

 That tabu-famous Keawe, 

 The king passiou-fond of the sea. 



Mele 



PALE I 



Lau lehua punoni ula Ive kai o Kona, 

 Ke kai punoni ula i oweo ia ; 

 Wewena ula ke kai la, he kokona ; 

 TJla ia kini i ka uka o Alaea, 

 5 I hili ahi ula i ke kapa a ka wahine, 

 I hoeu ia e ka ni'a, e ka hana, 

 E ka auwai lino mai la a kehau. 

 He hau hoomoe ka lau o ka niu, 

 Ke oho o ka laau, lauoho loloa. 

 10 E loha ana i ka la i o Kailua la, 1-u-a. 

 O ke ku moena ololi a ehu 



ku'u aina kai paeaea. 



•Ea, hoea iluna o Mauna Kilohana, 



Na kaha poohiwi man no he inoa. 



15 Ua noa e, ua pii'a kou wahi kapu, e-e ! 



1 a'e 'a mai e ha'i. 



gifted witli tlie power to convey and transfer evil, sickness, misfortune, and death. (15) 

 Keawe-kaiU. He was a robber. (16) Keawe-aihue. He was a thief. (17) Keawe-maMlo. 

 He was a beggar. He would stand round while others were preparing food, doing honest 

 work, and plead with his eyes. In this way he often obtained a dole. (IS) Keawe-puni- 

 pita'a. He was a glutton, very greedy of pork; he was also called Keatce-ai-puu'a. (10) 

 Keawe-inoino. lie was a sloven, unclean in all his ways. (20) Kcawe-ilio. The only title 

 to renown of this superhuman creature was his inordinate fondness for the flesh of the dog. 

 So far none of the superhuman beings mentioned seemed fitted to the role of the Keawe of 

 the text, who was passionately fond of the sea. The author had given up in despair, when 

 one day, on repeating his inquiry in another quarter, he was rewarded by learning of — (21) 

 Keawc-i-na-kai. He was a resident of the region about the southeastern point of Molokai, 

 called Lae-ka-IUo — Cape of the Dog. He was extravagantly fond of the ocean and allowed 

 no weather to interfere with the indulgence of his penchant. An epithet applied to him 

 describes his dominating passion : Keawe moe i ke kai o Kohakit, Keawe who sleeps in (or 

 on) the sea of Kohaku. It seems probable that this was the Keawe mentioned in the 

 twelfth and thirteenth lines of the mele. 



The appellation Keaice seems to have served as a sort of Jack among the demigods of 

 the Hawaiian pantheon, on whom was to be laid the burden of a mongrel host of virtues 

 and vices that were not assignable to the regular orthodox deities. Somewhat in the same 

 way do we use the name Jack as a caption for a miscellaneous lot of functions, as when 

 we speak of a " Jack-at-all-trades." 



