136 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



I kela manu hulii ma'e-ma'e," 

 5 Nolio pu me Ka-hale-lebua, 



Punaliele ia Kaua-kahi-alii.^ 



E Kaili,'" e Kaili, e ! 



E Kaili, lau o ke koa, 



E Kaili, lau o ke koa, 

 10 Moopuna a Hooipo-i-ka-Malanai,'^ 



Hiwa-liiwa a ka Lehua-welie ! ^ 



Aia ka nani i Wai-ehu, 



I ka wai kaili puuwai o ka inakemake. 



Makemake au 1 ke kalukalu o Kewa,'' 

 15 E lie'e ana i ka nalu o Maka-iwa. 



He iwa-iwa oe na ke aloha, 



I Wai-lua niii hoano. 



Ano-ano ka hale, aohe kanaka, 



Ua la'i oe no ke one o Ali-6. 

 20 Aia ka ipo i ka nahele. 



[Translation] 



Song 



Come up to the wildwood, come; 



Let us visit Wai-kini, 



And gaze on Pihana-ka-laui, 



named Kaua-kahi-alii and Aiivohi-kupua, with their princess sister Ka-hale-lehua. The 

 second name mentioned was the one who married the famous heroine of the romantic 

 story of Laie-i-ka-tvai. 



" Manu liulu ma'ema'e. An allusion to the great number of plumage birds that were 

 reputed to be found in this place. 



^ Puna-liele ia Kaua-kahi-alii. The birds of the region are said to have been on very 

 intimate and friendly terms with Kaua-kahi-alii. (See note b, p. 135.) 



"Kaili. The full form is said to be Ka-ili-lau-o-ke-koa — Skin-like-the-leaf-of-the-koa. In 

 the text of the mele this name is analyzed into its parts and written as if the phrase 

 at the end were an appellative and not an integral part of the name itself. This was a 

 mythical character of unusual beauty, a person of superhuman power, kupua, a mistress 

 of the art of surf-riding, which passion she indulged in the waters about Wai-lua. 



. * Hooipo-i-ka-Malanai. A mythical princess of Wailua, the grandmother of Kaili. This 

 oft-quoted phrase, literally meaning to make love in the (gently-blowing) trade-wind, has 

 become almost a stock expression, standing for romantic love, or love-making. 



<^ Lehua-wehc. The piece of ocean near the mouth of the Wailua river in which Kaili 

 indulged her passion for surf-riding. 



f Kalu-kalu o Keicd. Kalu-kalu may mean a species of soft, smooth grass specially 

 fitted for sliding upon, which flourished on the inclined plain of Kewa. Kauai. One 

 would sit upon a mat, the butt end of a coconut leaf, or a sled, while another dragged 

 it along. The Hawaiian name for this sport is pahe'e. Kalu-kalu is also the name ap- 

 plied to "a very thin gauze-like kapa." (See Andrews's Hawaiian Dictionary.) If we 

 suppose the poet to have clearly intended the first meaning, the figure does not tally with 

 the following verse, the fifteenth. Verses 14 and 15 would thus be made to read : 



I desire the kalu-kalu (grass) of Kewa, 

 That is riding the surf of Maka-iwa. 



This is an impossible figure and makes no sense. If, on the other hand, we take another 

 version and conceive that the bard had in mind the gauze-like robe of kalu-kalu — using 

 this, of course, as a figure for the person clad in such a robe — the rendering I have 

 given, 



I pine for the sylph robed in gauze. 



Who rides the surf Maka-iwa, 



would not only make a possible, but a poetic, picture. Let the critical reader judge 

 which of these two versions hits closer to common sense and probability. 



