EMERSON] UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 251 



Given a demand for a pas seul, some pleasing dance combining 

 grace with dexterity, a shake of the foot, a twist of the body, and a 

 wave of the hands, the hula ku'i filled the bill to perfection. The 

 very fact that it belonged Iw name to the genus hula, giving it, as 

 it were, the smack of forbidden fruit, only added to its attractiveness. 

 It became all the rage among dancing folk, attaining such a vogue 

 as almost to cause a panic among the tribunes and censors of society. 

 Even to one who cares nothing for the hula per se, save as it might 

 be a spectacle out of old Hawaii, or a setting for an old-time song, 

 the innocent grace and Delsartian flexibility of this solo dance, which 

 one can not find in its Keltic or African congeners, associate it in 

 mind with the joy and light-heartedness of man's Arcadian period. 



The instruments generally used in the musical accompaniment of the 

 hula ku'i are the guitar, the uku-lele," the taro-patch fiddle," or the 

 mandolin ; the piano also lends itself effectively for this purpose ; or 

 a combination of these may be used. 



The songs that are sung to this dance as a rule belong naturally to 

 later productions of the Hawaiian muse, or to modifications of old 

 poetical compositions. The following mele was originally a name- 

 song (mele-inoa) . It was appropriated by the late Princess Kino-iki ; 

 and by her it was passed on to Kalani-ana-ole, a fact which should 

 not prejudice our appreciation of its beauty. 



Mele 



I aloha i ke ko n ka wai, 

 I ka i mai, e, ami kaua. 

 Ua auu na pua, o ka laiua,^ 

 Ka wahine noho ami o ke kula. 

 r» A luua ail a o Poli-ahii ; <" 

 Ahii wale kai a o Wai-liia. 

 Liia-ole ka liana a ka makani, 

 A ke Kiu-ke'e <^ a o na pall, 

 Pa iho i ke kai a o Puna — 

 10 Ko Puna inea ma'a man ia. 

 Pau ai ko'u lihi hoihoi 

 I ka wai awili uie ke kai. 

 Ke ono hou nei ku'u pu'u 

 I ka wai hu'ihu'i o ka uka, 



"The uku-Me and the taro-patch fiddle are stringed instruments resemlilina: in general 

 appearance tlie fiddle. Tliey seem to liave been introduced into these islands by tlie 

 Portuguese immigrants who have come in within the last twenty-five years. As with the 

 guitar, the four strings of the ultu-lele or the five strings of the taro-patch fiddle are 

 plucked with the finger or thumb. 



* I^a pua ka laina. The intent of this expression, which seems to have an erotic 

 meaning, may perhaps be inferred from its literal rendering in the translation. It re- 

 quires a tropical imagination to follow a Hawaiian poem. 



'' Poli-alm. A place or region on Mauna-kea. 



^Kiu-ke'e. The name of a wind felt at Nawiliwili, Kauai. The local names for winds 

 differed on the various islands and were multiplied almost without measure : as given in 

 the mythical story of Kama-pua'a, or in the semihistoric tale of Kii-a-Paka'a, they taxed 

 the memories of raconteurs. 



