KmersonJ unwritten LITERATURE OF HAWAII 199 



lie ;i\\M kiipii no ii;i MaliiiK'. 

 K k.Mim ! 



Kiii kapu kuu nwa, e I'ele a Hnnua-mea ; 

 I'j kala, e Haiiniea wabino, 

 10 O ka waliine i Kilaiiea, 



Nana i cli a liolionu ka Ina 

 () ^lan-waliinc, o Kupn-ona, 

 () na waliino i ka inu-liana awa. 

 10 ola iia "kiia nialiliini ! " 



PALE II 



in I kama'a-nia'a la i ka pna-lei ; 

 10 loa ka wai apua. 

 Ka pli'na i Ku-ka-la-ula ; ^ 

 Hoopnka akii i Pnn-lena, 

 Aina a kc Akua i nolxi ai. 



20 Kanaenae a ke Akna niallluni;" 

 O ka"u wale ilio la no ia, u ka leo, 

 He leo wale no, e-e ! 

 E ho-i ! 

 Eia ka ai ! 



[Translation] 



A Prai/cr lo J'cle 



CANTO I 



Lo, Pele's the jiotl of my choice: 

 Let heaven and earth In silence wait 

 Here is awa, potent, sacred, 

 Ritter sea, great Hiiaka's root; 

 5 'Twas cut at Manli-ola — 



Awa to the women forbidden. 

 Let it tabu be ! 



Exact be the rite of your awa, 

 O Pele of the sacred land. 



" According to one authoritj-, at tlie close of the first canto the stranger gods — aliia 

 malihini — who consisted of that multitude of godlings called the Kiiii Akua, took their 

 departure from tlie ceremony, since they did not belong to the Pele family. Internal 

 evidence, however, the study of the prayer itself in its two parts, leads the writer to 

 disagree with this authority. Other Ilawniians of equally deliberate judgment support 

 him in this opinion. The etiquette connected with ceremonious awa-drinking. which 

 the Samoans of to-day still maintain in full form, long ago died out in Hawaii. This 

 etiquette may never liave been cultivated here to the same degree as in its home. Samoa ; 

 but this poem is evidence that the ancient Ilawaiians paid ,■ reater attention to it than 

 they of modern times. The reason for this decline of ceremony must be sought for in 

 the mental and esthetic make-up of the Hawaiian people; it was not due to any lack of 

 fondness in the Hawaiian for awa as a beverage or as an intoxicant. It is no lielp to 

 beg the cpiestion by ascribing the decline of this etiquette to the influence of social cus- 

 tom. To do so would but add one moi'e link to the chain that liinds cause to effect. The 

 Hawaiian mind was not favorable to the observance of this sort of etiquette ; it did not 

 afford a soil fitted to nourish such an artificial growth. 



''The meaning of the word KulaiUi-uhi presented great difficulty and defied all attempts 

 at transl.-ition until the suggestion was made by a bright Hawaiian, which was adopted 

 with satisfaction, that it probalily^ referred to that state of dreamy mental exaltation 

 wlilch comes with awa-intoxication. Tliis condition, like that of frenzy, of madness, and 

 of idiocy, the Hawaiian regarded as a divine possession. 



