EMBKSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 181 



stage expression, by which is meant expression fitted for the purposes 

 of the halau. 



To begin with a general proposition, the attitude of the feet and 

 legs must be sympathetic with that of the other parts of the body. 

 When standing squarely on both feet and looking directly forward, 

 the action may be called noncommittal, general ; but if the address is 

 specialized and directed to a part of the audience, or if attention is 

 called to some particular region, the face will naturally turn in that 

 direction. To attain this end, while the leg and arm of the corre- 

 sponding side will be drawn back, the leg and arm of the opposite 

 side will be advanced, thus causing the speaker to face the point of ad- 

 dress. If the speaker or the actor addresses himself, then, to persons, 

 or to an object, on his right, the left leg Avill be the one more in ad- 

 vance and the left arm will be the one on which the burden of gesture 

 will fall, and vice versa. 



It would be a mistake to suppose that every motion or gesture dis- 

 played by the actors on the stage of the halau was significant of a 

 purpose. To do that would be to ascribe to them a flawless perfection 

 and strength that no body of artists have ever attained. Many of 

 their gestures, like the rhetoric of a }X)pular orator, were mere flour- 

 ishes and ornaments. With a language so full of seemingly super- 

 fluous j)arts, it could not well be otherwise than that their rhetoric of 

 gesture should be overloaded with flourishes. 



The whole subject of gesture, including facial expression, is worthy 

 of profound stud}^, for it is linked to the basic elements of psychology. 

 The illustrations adduced touch only the skirts of the subject; but 

 they must suffice. An exhaustive analysis, the author believes, would 

 show an intimate and causal relation between these facial expressions 

 and the muscular movements that are the necessary accompaniments 

 or resultants of actual speech. To illustrate, the pronunciation of the 

 Hawaiian word ae (pronounced like our aye) , meaning " yes," involves 

 the opening of the month to its full extent; and this action, when 

 accomplished, results in a sympathetic lifting of the eyebrows. It is 

 this ultimate and completing 2:>art of the action which the Hawaiian 

 woman adopts as her semaphore of assent. 



One of the puzzling things about gesture comes when we try to 

 think of it as a science rooted in psychology". It is then we discover 

 variations presented by different peoples in different lands, which 

 force us to the conviction that in only a part of its domain does it 

 base itself on the strict principles of psycholog}^ Gesture, like 

 language, seems to be made up in good measure of an opportunist 

 growth that springs up in ansAver to man's varying needs and con- 

 ditions. The writer hopes he will not be charged with begging the 

 question in suggesting that another element which we must reckon 



