124 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



lawa (verse 9), / lei 710 ku'u aloha (verse 10). This creature with 

 five buds, what is it but the human hand, the errand-carrier of man's 

 desire, mnakemake (verse 11) ? The pali^ by the way., is a figure often 

 used by Hawaiian poets to mean the glory and dignity of. the human 

 body. 



That is a fine imaginative touch in which the poet illustrates the 

 power of the human hand to kindle love in one that is cold-hearted, 

 as if he had declared the hand itself to be not only the wreath-maker, 

 but the very Avreath that is to encircle and warm into response the 

 unresponsive loved one, / lei hooheno no he aloha ole (verse 12). 



Differences of physical environment, of social convention, of ac- 

 cepted moral and esthetic standards interpose seemingly impassable 

 barriers between us and the savage mind, but at the touch of an all- 

 pervading human sympathy these barriers dissolve into very thin air. 



Mele 



Kahiki-nui, auwahi ° ka makani ! 



Nana aku au ia Kona, 



Me he kua lei ahi * la ka moku ; 



Me he lawa uli e, la, no 

 5 Kn'u kai pa-fi hala-ka " 



I ka lae o Hana-nialo ; '^ 



Me he olohe ili polohiwa, 



Ke ku a mauna, 



Ma ka ewa lewa ^Hawaii. 

 10 Me he ihii leiwi la, ka moku, 



Kou mauna, isou palamoa : ^ 



Kail a waha niai Mauna-kea ^ 



A' me Mauna-loa,*' 



Ke ku a Malle-hahei.'' 

 15 Til una mal Mauna Kllohana '' 



I ka poohiwi o Hu'e-hu'e.* 



" Aunalii (a word not' found In any dictionary) ia said liy a sctiolarly Hawaiian to be 

 an archaic form of the word uwahi, or ualii (milk of Are), smoke, Kahiki-nui is a dry 

 region and the wind (makani) often fills the air with dust. 



" Kua lei ahi. No Hawaiian has been found who professes to know the true meaning of 

 these words. The translation of them here given is, therefore, purely formal. 



" Pa-ii haJakd. An expression sometimes applied to the hand when used as a shield 

 to one's modesty; here it is said of the ocean (kai) when one's body is immersed in it. 



<' Hana-malo. A cape that lies between Kawaihae and Kaiiua in north Kona. 



" Eica lewd. In this reading the author has followed the authoritative suggestion of 

 a Hawaiian expert, substituting it for that first given by another, which was eleica. The 

 latter was without discoverable meaning. Even as now given conjectures as to its 

 meaning are at variance. The one followed presents the less difficulty. 



f Palamoa. The name of a virulent kupua that acted as errand-carrier and agent for 

 sorcerers (kahuna dnaand) ; also the name of a beautiful grass found on Hawaii that 

 has a pretty red seed. Following the line of least resistance, the latter meaning has 

 been adopted ; in it is found a generic expression for the leafy covering of the ishind. 



" Mauna-kea and Mauna-loa. The two well-known mountains of the big island of 

 Hawaii. 



'' Maile-hahei. Said to be a hill in Kona. 



* Kilohana and Hu'e-hu'e. The names of two hills in Kona, Hawaii. 



