KMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 249 



Auau i ka wai a Kanaloa.'^ 

 Nana kaua ia Liraa-hnli,* e. 

 E hull oe a loaa pono 

 Ka ia nei o-niu. 



[Translation] 



Song 



The rustle and hum of spinning top, 

 Wild laughter and babel of sound — 

 Hear the roar of the waves at Pu'u-hina ! 

 Bursts of derision echoed from cliffs, 

 5 The cliffs of Ka-iwi-ku'i ; 



And the day is stirred by a breeze. 

 The house swarms with women and men. 

 List ! the drum-beat of Lohiau, 

 Lohiau, the lover, prince of Haena — 

 10 Love glows like an oven at his coming; 

 Then to bathe in the lake of the God. 

 Let us look at the vale Lima-huli, look! 

 Now turn we and study the spinning — 

 That trick we must catch to be winning. 



This fragment from antiquity, as the local coloring indicates, finds 

 its setting at Haena, the home of the famous mythological Prince 

 Lohiau, of whom Pele became enamored in her spirit journey. Study 

 of the mele suggests the occasion to have been the feast that was given 

 in celebration of Lohiau's restoration to life and health through the 

 persevering incantations of Hiiaka, Pele's beloved sister. The feast 

 was also Lohiau"'s farewell to his friends at Haena. At its conclusion 

 Hiiaka started w ith her charge on the journey which ended with the 

 tragic death of Lohiau at the brink of the volcano, Pele in her 

 jealousy poured out her fire and consumed the man whom she had 

 loved. 



" Kannloa. There Is a deep basin of clear water, almost fluorescent In its sparlsle, in one 

 of the arched caves of Haena, which is called the water of Kanaloa — the name of the great 

 God. This is a favorite bathing place. 



''Lima-huli. The name of a beautiful valley that lies back of Haena. 



