194 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [lu lu ;;,S 



i>iow of iiiorning. O la nei ko ha elm hakahiaka (verse 7). The 

 epithet kanaka hints ironically that her rival is of lower rank than 

 herself, though in reality the rank of her rival may have been superior 

 to her oAvn. 



The language, as jDointed out by the author's informant, is marked 

 with an elegance that stamps it as the product of a courtly circle. 



MeJe 



E 08 mauna i ka oliu, 

 KaM ka leo o ka ohi'a ; 

 Aiiwe ! make au i ke ahi a man 

 A ka luahine" moe nana, 

 5 A papa euaeua, wal ban, 

 A wa'a kau-bi.^ 



Haila pepe^ mua rue pepe waeiui, 

 O pepe ka muimiii : 

 O kiele ^ i na nlu '^ 

 10 Ka makaha kai kea 

 O Niheu'* kolohe; 

 Ka makaha kai kea ! 

 Eli-eli, kau mai. 



[Translation] 



Boug 



Ho ! mouutaiu of vapor-puffs, 

 Now groaus the luouutaiu-apple tree. 

 Alas ! I hnru in this deathless flame, 

 That is fed by the wouiau who snores 

 5 Ou a lava plate, now hot. now eold ; 

 Now 'tis a canoe full-riji^ed for sea ; 

 There are seats at the bow, amidships, abaft; 

 Baggage and men — all is aboard. 



" I'elc Is often spoken of as lai hiuhiiic, the old woman ; but she frequently used her 

 power of transformation to appear as a young woman of alluring beauty. 



''Lava poured out in plates and folds and coils resembles may diverse things, among 

 others the canoe, ira'a, here characterized as complete in its appointments and ready for 

 launching, kaiihi. The words are subtly intended, no doubt, to convey the thought of 

 Tele's readiness to launch on the voyage of matrimony. 



''Pepe, a seat; kiele, to paddle; and uhi, a shortened form of the old word oiihi, mean- 

 ing a paddle, are archaisms now obsolete. 



'' MIn'ii. One of the mythological heroes of an old-time adventure. In which his elder 

 iH-other Kana, wlio had the form of a long rope, played the principal part. This one 

 enterprise of their life in which they joined forces was for the rescue of their mother, 

 Ilina. who had been kidnaped by a marauding chief and carried from her home in Hilo 

 to the bold headland of Haupu. Molokai. Js'iheu is generally stigmatized as kolohe 

 (verse 11), mischievous, for no other reason apparently than that he was an active spirit, 

 full of courage, given to adventure and heaven-defying .nudacities, such as put the 

 Polynesian Mawi and the Oreek Prometheus in bad odor with the gods of their times. 

 One of these offensive actions was Niheu's theft of a certain nlu, breadfruit, which one 

 of the gods rolled with a noise like th;it of thunder in the underground caverns of the 

 siiullU'rn regions of the world. Niheu is repi'esent(>d as a great si)o)-t. an athleti», skilled 

 in all the games of his people. The worst that could l>e said of him w.is that he had 

 .small regard for other people's rights and that he was slow to pay his debts of honor. 



