102 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



5 Elua Houo-pu o ia kua kanaka ; 

 Elua Ko'a-mauo ** me Wai-aloha, 

 Ka pali waha ilio, walia ilio ''> me ke kua ; 

 Ke keiki puii iloko o ka pali nui. 

 E liii an' ^ e Makua i Kalalau. 



[Translation] 



Song 



The mountain walls of Kalalau 



Buffet the blasts of Lawa-kau. 



That surge a decade of nights and twain ; 



Then, wearied, it veers to the north. 



5 Two giant backs stand the cliffs Hono-pu ; 

 The falls Wai-aloha mate with the sea : 

 An overhung pali — the climber's back swings in 

 Its mouth — to face it makes one a child — 

 Makua, whose arms embrace Kalalau. 



The mind of the ancient bard was so narrowly centered on the small 

 plot his imagination cultivated that he disregarded the outside Avorld, 

 forgetting that it could not gaze upon the scenes which filled his eyes. 



The valley of Kalalau from its deep recess in the northwestern 

 coast of Kauai looks out upon the heaving Avaters of the Pacific. 

 The mountain walls of the valley are abrupt, often overhanging. 

 Viewed from the ocean, the cliffs are piled one upon another like the 

 buttresses of a Gothic cathedral. The ocean is often stormy, and 

 during several months in the year forbids intercourse with other 

 parts of the island, save as the hardy traveler makes his way along 

 precipitous mountain trails. 



The hula ala^i-papa^ hida ipii^ hida pa-ipiL (or huolo)^ the hula 

 hoo-nand., and the hula hi'i were all performed to the accompaniment 

 of the ipu or calabash, and, being the only ones that were so accom- 

 panied, if the author is correctly informed, they may be classed 

 together under one head as the calabash hulas. 



« Ko'a-mano. A part of the ocean into wliich the stream Wai-aloha falls. 



* Waha iho. With mouth that yawns downward, referring, doubtless, to the overarch- 

 ing of the pali, precipice. The same figure is applied to the back {kua) of the traveler 

 who climbs it. 



'^ Elision of the final a in ana. 



