XV.— THE HULA KA-LAAU 



The hula ha-laau {ka, to strike; laau, wood) was named from the 

 instruments of wood used in i^roducing the accompaniment, a sort 

 of xylophone, in which one piece of resonant wood was struck against 

 another. Both divisions of the performers, the hoopaa and the olapa, 

 took part and each division was provided with the instruments. The 

 cantillation was done sometimes by one division alone, sometimes by 

 both divisions in unison, or one division would answer the other, a 

 responsive chanting that was termed haawe akic, haawe ?nai — " to 

 give, to return." 



Ellis gives a quotable description of this hula, which he calls the 

 " hura ka raau : " 



Five musicians aclv.ineed first, eacli with a staff in his left band, five or six 

 feet long, about tbree or four inches in diameter at one end, and tapering off to 

 a point at the other. In his right hand be held a small stick of hard wood, six 

 or nine inches long, with which he commenced his music by striking the small 

 stick on the larger one. beating time all the, while with his right foot on a stone 

 I)laced on the ground beside him for that purpose. Six women, fantastically 

 dressed in yellow tapas, crowned with garlands of flowers, having also wreaths 

 of native manufacture, of the sweet-scented flowers of the gardenia, on their 

 necks, and branches of the fragrant mairi (another native plant,) bound round 

 their ankles, now made their way by couples through the crowd, and, arriving 

 at the area, on one side of which the musicians stood, began their dance. Their 

 movements were slow, and, though not always graceful, exhibited nothing offen- 

 sive to modest propriety. Both musicians and dancers alternately chanted 

 songs in honor of former gods and chiefs of the islands, apparently nuich to the 

 gratification of the spectators. (Polynesian Researches, by William Ellis, 

 IV, 78-79, Loudon, 183G.) 



The mele here first presented is said to be an ancient mele that has 

 been modified and adapted to the glorification of that astute politi- 

 cian, genial companion, and pleasure-loving king, Kalakaua. 



It was not an uncommon thing for one chief to appropriate the 

 mele inoa of another chief. By substituting one name for another, 

 by changing a genealogy, or some such trifle, the skin of the lion, so to 

 speak, could be made to cover with more or less grace and to serve 

 as an apparel of masquerade for the ass, and without interruption so 

 long as there was no lion, or lion's whelp, to do the unmasking. 



The poets who composed the mele for a king have been spoken of 

 as " the king's washtubs." Mele inoa were not crown-jewels to be 

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