226 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



There was a scurry of clouds, earth groaned; . 



The sound of your baying reached 



Hawaii the verdant, the pet of the gods; 

 10 A portent was seen in the heavens. 



You were kept in a cradle of gourd, 



Water-gourd of the witch Kilioe, 



Who haunted the cliffs of Haena — 



The fiery blasts of the crater 

 15 Touch not Karaoho-alii's cliff. 



Your travel reaches Waipi'o, 



The sacred cliff of god Kane. 



Sleep fled the bed of the king 



At the din of the conch Kiha-pii. 

 20 The king was tormented, depressed; 



His messenger sped on his way; 



Found help from Kauai of Mauo — 



The marvelous foster child, 



By Waiuli, Kahuli, upreared; 

 25 Your answer, a-o-a, a-o-a ! — 



'Twas thus Kauahoa made ready betimes. 



That hero of old Hanalei — 



" Strike home ! then sleep at midday ! " 



" God fend a war between kindred ! " 

 30 One flower all other surpasses; 



Twine with it a wreath of kai-o'e, 



A chaplet to crown Pua-lena. 



My labor now has its reward. 



The doorsill of Pa-ka'a-lana. 

 35 My heart leaps up in great cheer ; 



The bay of the dog greets my ear. 



It reaches East Cape by the sea. 



Where Puna gave refuge to thee. 



Till came the king's herald, hot-foot, 

 40 And quaffed the awa's tree-grown root. 



A-o-a. a-o-a, he, he, bene ! 



The problem to be solved by the translator of this peculiar mele 

 is a difficult one. It involves a constant readjustment of the mental 

 standpoint to meet the poet's vagrant fancy, which to us seems to oc- 

 cupy no consistent point of view. If this difficulty arises from the 

 author's own lack of insight, he can at least absolve himself from tlie 

 charge of negligence and lack of effort to discover the standpoint 

 that shall give unity to the whole composition ; and can console him- 

 self with the reflection that no native Hawaiian scholar with whom 

 he has conferred has been able to give a key to the solution of this 

 problem. In truth, the native Hawaiian scholars of to-day do not 

 appreciate as we do the necessity of holding fast to one viewpoint. 

 They seem to be willing to accept with gusto any production of their 

 old-time singers, though they may not be able to explain them, and 

 though to us, in whose hearts the songs of the masters ever make 

 music, they may seem empty riddles. 



