118 BUREAU OF AMEETCAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



Ke' na-ti " la ua kamalii, 

 5 Ke kaobi la i ke kiikuna o ka la ; 

 Ku'u la koili i ke kai — 

 Pumehaua wale ia aiua ! 

 Aloha wale ke kini o Hoolulu, 

 Aolie lua la oe ke aloha, 

 10 O kn'u puni, o ka me' owii. 



[Translation] 



Song 



The cloud-piles o'er Kona's sea whet my .I'oy, 

 Clouds that drop rain in fair weather. 

 The clustered dew-pearls shake to the ground ; 

 The boys drone out the na-ti to the West, 

 5 Eager for Sol to sink to his rest. 



This my day for a plunge in the sea — 

 The Sun will be warming other shores — 

 Happy the tribes of that land of calm ! 

 Fathomless, deep is my love 

 10 To thee, my passion, my mate. 



The author of this love-song, 7nele ipo, is said to have been Kalola, 

 a widow of Kamehameha I, at a time when she was an old woman; 

 the place was Lahaina, and the occasion an amour between Liholiho 

 (Kamehameha II) and a woman of rank. The last tAvo verses of the 

 poem have been omitted from the present somewhat free, yet faith- 

 ful translation, as they do not seem to be of interest or pertinent from 

 our point of view, and there is internal evidence that they were added 

 as an afterthought. 



The hulas on the various islands differed somewhat from one an- 

 other. In general, it may be said that on Kauai they were presented 

 with more spirit and in greater variety than in other parts of the 

 group. The following account will illustrate this fact: 



About the year 1870 the late Queen Emma made the tour of the 

 island of Kauai, and at some places the hula waa performed as a 

 recreation in her honor. The hula ka-laau was thus presented; it 

 was marked, however, by such peculiarities as to make it hardly 

 recognizable as being the same performance as the one elsewhere 

 known by that name. As given on Kauai, both the olapa and the 

 hoopaa took part, as they do on the other islands, but in the Kauai 



" The word na-il refers to a sportive contest involving a trial of lung-power, that was 

 practised by the youth of Kona, Hawaii, as well as of other places. They stood on the 

 shore at sunset, and as the lower limb of the sun touched the ocean horizon each one, 

 having filled his lungs to the utmost, began the utterance of the sound na-ii-ii-u-ii. which 

 he must, according to the rules of the game, maintain continuously until the sun had 

 disappeared, a lapse of about two minutes' time. This must be done without taking 

 fresh breath. Anyone inhaling more air into his lungs or intermitting the utterance of 

 the sound was compelled by the umpire to withdraw from the contest and to sit down, 

 while anyone who maintained the droning utterance during the prescribed time was de- 

 clared victor. It was no mean trial. 



