XXXVITT.— THE HULA O-NTU 



The so-called hula o-niu is not to be classed with the regular dances 

 of the halau. It was rather a i^opular sport, in which men and 

 women capered about in an informal dance while the players engaged 

 in a competitive game of tojD-spinning. The instrument of sport was 

 made from the lower pointed half of an oval coconut shell, or from 

 the corresponding part of a small gourd. The sport was conducted 

 in the presence of a mixed gathering of people amid the enthusiasm 

 and boisterous effervescence which betting always greatly stimulated 

 in Hawaii. 



The players were divided into two sides of equal number, and each 

 player had before him a plank, slightly hollowed in the center — like 

 the board on which the Hawaiians pounded their poi — to be used as 

 the bed for spinning his top. The naked hand, unaided by whip or 

 string, was used to impart to the rude top a spinning motion and at 

 the same time the necessary projectile force^a balancing of forces 

 that called for nice adjustment, lest the whirling thing reel too far to 

 one side or run wild and fly its smooth bed. Victory was declared 

 and the wager given to the player whose top spun the longest. 



The feature that most interests us is the singing, or cantillation, of 

 the oli. In a dance and game of this sort, which the author's inform- 

 ant witnessed at Kahuku, Oahu, in 1844, one contestant on each side, 

 in turn, cantillated an oli during the performance of the game and 

 the dance. 



Oli 



Ke poM nei ; u'Ina la ! 

 Kani ole-olei, hau-walaau ! 

 Ke wawa Pu'u-hina-hina ; " 

 Kani ka aka, he-hene na pali, 

 5 Na pali p Ka-iwi-ku'i.^ 



Hanohaiio, makaua i ka Wai-opna.'" 

 JNIalihini ka hale, iia hiki mai ; 

 Kani ka paliu a Lohiau, 

 A Lohiau-ipo ^ i Haeua la. 

 10 Enaena ke aloha, ke hiki mai ; 



" Pu'u-hina-hina. A precipitous place on the coast near Haena. 



>> Ka-iwi-ku'i. A high cliff against which the waves dash. 



*■ Wai-opua. The name of a pleasant breeze. 



"* Lohiau-ipo. The epitliet ipo^ sweetheart, dear one, was often aflBxed to the name of 

 Lohiau, in token, no doubt, of his being distinguished as the object of Pele's passionate 

 regard. 



248 



