XL.— THE OLI 



The Hawaiian word mele included all forms of poetical composi- 

 tion. The fact that the mele, in whatever form, was intended for 

 cantillation, or some sort of rhythmical utterance addressed to the 

 ear, has given to this word in modern times a special meaning that 

 covers the idea of song or of singing, thus making it overlap ambigu- 

 ously into the territory that more properly belongs to the word oli. 

 The oli was in strict sense the lyric utterance of the Hawaiians. 



In its most familiar form the HaAvaiians — many of whom pos- 

 sessed the gift of improvisation in a remarkable degree — used the oli 

 not only for the songful exj^ression of joy and affection, but as the 

 vehicle of humorous or sarcastic narrative in the entertainment of 

 their comrades. The traveler, as he trudged along under his swaying 

 burden, or as he rested by the wayside, Avould solace himself and his 

 companions with a pensive improvisation in the form of an oli. Or, 

 sitting about the camp-fire of an evening, without the consolation of 

 the social pipe or bowl, the people of the olden time would keep warm 

 the fire of good-fellowship and cheer by the sing-song chanting of the 

 oli, in which the extemporaneous bard recounted the events of the 

 day and won the laughter and applause of his audience by witty, 

 ofttimes exaggerated, allusions to many a humorous incident that had 

 marked the journey. If a traveler, not knoAving the language of the 

 country, noticed his HaAvaiian guide and baggage-carriers indulging 

 in mirth Avhile listening to an oli by one of their number, he Avould 

 probably be right in suspecting himself to be the innocent butt of 

 their merriment. 



The lover poured into the ears of his mistress his gentle fancies: 

 the mother stilled her child with some bizarre allegory as she rocked 

 it in her arms; the bard favored by royalty — the poet laureate — - 

 amused the idle moments of his chief with some Avitty improvisation ; 

 the alii himself, gifted Avith the poetic fire, Avould air his humor or 

 his didactic comments in rhythmic shape — all in the form of the oli. 



The diAdding line, then, betAveen the oli and those other Aveightier 

 forms of the mele, the iuoa, the l-ariikan (threnody), the pide^ and 

 that unnamed variety of mele in which the poet dealt Avith historic 

 or mythologic subjects, is to be found almost wholly in the mood 

 of the singer. In truth, the HaAvaiians not unfrequently applied the 

 term pule to compositions Avhich Ave moderns find it hard to bring 

 within our definitions of prayer. For to our understanding the 



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