92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



gilt band, gives to the head a warlike appearance, somewhat as if it 

 were armed with the classical helmet, the Hawaiian name for which 

 is mahi-ole. The crest of the ridge and its points of junction with 

 the forehead and back-head are decorated with fillets of avooI dyed 

 of a reddish color, in apparent imitation of the mamo or 0-6^ the 

 birds whose feathers were used in decorating helmets, cloaks, and 

 other regalia. The features are carved with some attempt at fidelity. 

 The e^'es are set with mother-of-pearl. 



The figure is of about one-third life size, and was originally 

 draped, the author was told, in a loose robe, holoku, of tapa cloth 

 of the sort known as mahuna, which is quite thin. This piece of 

 tapa is perforated at short intervals with small holes, kikoH. It is 

 also stained with the juice from the bark of the root of the kukui 

 tree, which imparts a color like that of copper, and makes the Ha 

 waiians class it as paHkuhui. A portion of its former, its original 

 apparel has been secured. 



The image is now robed in a holoku of yellow cotton, beneath 

 which is an underskirt of striped silk in green and white. The arms 

 are loosely jointed to the body. 



The performer in the hula, who stood behind a screen, by insinu- 

 ating his hands under the clothing of the marionette, could impart 

 to it such movements as were called for by the action of the ])lay, 

 while at the same time he repeated the words of his part, words sup- 

 l^osed to be uttered by the marionette. 



The hula ki'i was, perhaps, the nearest approximation made by 

 the Hawaiians to a genuine dramatic performance. Its usual instru- 

 ment of musical accompaniment was the ipu, previously described. 

 This drumlike object was handled by that division of the perform- 

 ers called the hoopa'a, who sat in full view of the audience manipu- 

 lating the ipu in a quiet, sentimental manner, similar to that em- 

 i:)loyed in the hula kuolo. 



As a sample of the stories illustrated in a performance of the 

 hula ki'i the following may be adduced, the dramatis person^e of 

 which are four: 



1. Maka-ku, a famous warrior, a rude, strong-handed braggart, as 

 boastful as Ajax. 



2. Puapua-kea, a small man, but brave and active. 



3. Maile-lau-lii ( Small-leaf ed-maile), a young woman, who be- 

 comes the wife of Maka-ku. 



4. Maile-Pakaha, the younger sister of Maile-lau-lii, who becomes 

 the wife of Puapua-kea. 



Maka-kii, a rude and boastful son of Mars, at heart a bully, if not 

 a coward, is represented as ever aching for a fight, in which his 

 domineering spirit and rough-and-tumble ways for a time gave him 

 the advantage over abler, but more modest, adversaries. 



