78 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



[Translation] 



Song 

 CANTO III 



(In turgid style) 



A storm from the sea strikes Ke-au, 



Ulu-mano, sweeping across the barrens; 



It sniffs the fragrance of upland lehua, 



Turns back at Kupa-koili; 

 5 Sawed by the blows of the palm leaves, 



The groves of pandanus in lava shag; 



Their fruit he would string 'bout his neck; 



Their fruit he finds wilted and crushed, 



Mere rubbish to litter the road — 

 10 Ah, the perfume! Pana-ewa is drunk with the scent; 



The breath of it spreads through the groves. 



Vainly flares the old king's passion, 



Craving a sauce for his meat and mine. 



The summer has flown ; winter has come : 

 15 Ah, that is the head of our troubles. 



Palsied are you and helpless am I ; 



You shrink from a plunge in the water; 



Alas, poor me! I'm a coward. 



The imagery of this mele sets forth the story of the fierce, but 

 fruitless, love-search of a chief, who is figured by the Ulu-mano, a 

 boisterous wind of Puna, Hawaii. The fragrance of upland lehua 

 (moani lehua «'e la mauka, verse 3 ) typifies the charms of the woman 

 he pursues. The expression kani lehua (verse 4), literally the sudden 

 ending of a rain-squall, signifies the man's failure to gain his object. 

 The lover seeks to string the golden drupe of the pandanus (hala), 

 that he may wear them as a wreath about his neck (moalo) ; he is 

 wounded by the teeth of the sword-leaves (o ia i ka lav o l-a hala, 

 verse 5). More than this, he meets powerful, concerted resistance {he 

 foo o ha hala o he ahiCi, verse 6), offered by the compact groves of 

 pandanus that gi'ow in the rough lava-shag {ahu'i), typifying, no 

 doubt, the resistance made by the friends and retainers of the woman. 

 After all, he finds, or declares that he finds, the hala fruit he had 

 sought to gather and to wear as a lei about his neck, to be spoiled, 

 broken, fit only to litter the road {loll ha mii'o o ha hala, verse 8; A 

 helelei ha pua, a plli he alanui, verse 9). In spite of his repulse and 

 his villification of the woman, his passion still feeds on the thought of 

 the one he has lost; her charms intoxicate his imagination, even as 

 the perfume of the hala bloom bewitches the air of Pana-ewa {Pu ia 

 Panaetua, ona-ona i he ala, verse 10). 



It is difficult to interpret verses 12 to 18 in harmony with the story 

 as above given. They may be regarded as a commentary on the 



