EMEKSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 97 



Hawaiians term olelo kapekepeke, or olelo hund, shifty talk, or 

 secret talk. We might call it slang, though it is not slang in the 

 exact sense in which we use that word, applying it to the improvised 

 counters of thought that gain currency in our daily speech imtil they 

 find admission to the forum, the platform, and the dictionary. It is 

 rather a cipher-speech, a method of concealing one's meaning from 

 all but the initiated, of which the Hawaiian, whether alii or com- 

 moner, was very fond. The people of the hula were famous for this 

 sort of accomplishment and prided themselves not a little in it as an 

 effectual means of giving appropriate flavor and gusto to their per- 

 formances. 



Mele 



Ele-ele kau-kan ; " 

 Ka hala-le,'' e kau-kau, 

 Ka e-ele ihi, 

 Ele ihi, ele a. 

 5 Ka e-ele I<u-pou ; ^ 

 Ku-pou. 

 Ka hala, e ! * 



[Translation] 



Song 



Point to a dark one. 

 Point to a dainty piece, 

 A delicate morsel she I 

 ^'ery choice, very hot ! 

 5 She that stoops over — 

 Aye stoops ! 

 Lo, the hala fruit! 



The translation has to be based largely on conjecture. The author 

 of this bit of fun-making, which is 'touched in old-time slang, died 

 without making known the key to his cipher, and no one whom the 

 present writer has met with is able to unravel its full meaning. 



The following mele for the hula ki'i, in language colored by the 

 same motive, was furnished by an accomplished practitioner who 

 had traveled far and wide in the practice of her art, having been one 

 of a company of hula dancers that attended the Columbian exposi- 

 tion in Chicago. It was her good fortune also to reach the antipodes 



"Kau-kau. Conjectural meaning to point out some one in tlie audience, as the marion- 

 ettes often did. People were thus sometimes inveigled in behind the curtain. 



* HaUi-le. Said to mean a sop, with which one took up the jr'?e or gravy of food; a 

 choice morsel. 



' Ku-pou. To stoop over, from devotion to one's own pursuits, from modesty, or from 

 shame. 



<* The meaning of this line has been matter for much conjecture. The author has finally 

 adopted the suggestion embodied in the translation here given, which is a somewhat gross 

 reference to the woman's physical charms. 



25352— Bull. 38—09 7 



^ 



