BECKWITH] INTRODUCTION 321 
And there follows an enumeration of the other nine warriors. <A 
similar use is made of counting-out lines in the famous chant of the 
“Mirage of Mana” in the story of Lono, evidently with the idea of 
completing an inclusive series. 
Counting-out formule reappear in story-telling in such repetitive 
series of incidents as those following the action of the five sisters 
of the unsuccessful wooer in the Latetkhawai story. Here the inter- 
est develops, as in the lines from A’waliz, an added emotional element, 
that of climax. The last place is given to the important character. 
Although everyone is aware that the younger sister is the most 
competent member of the group, the audience must not be deprived 
of the pleasure of seeing each one try and fail in turn before the 
youngest makes the attempt. The story-teller, moreover, varies the 
incident; he does not exactly follow his formula, which, however, 
it is interesting to note, is more fixed in the evidently old dialogue 
part of the story than in the explanatory action. 
Story-telling also exhibits how the vital connection felt to exist be- 
tween a person or object and the name by which it is distinguished, 
which gives an emotional value to the mere act of naming, is extended 
further to include scenes with which it is associated. The Hawaiian 
has a strong place sense, visible in his devotion to scenes familiar to 
his experience, and this is reflected in his language. Inthe Laietkawai 
it appears in the plaints of the five sisters as they recall their native 
land. In the songs in the Halemano which the lover sings to win his 
lady and the chant in Lonoikamakahiki with which the disgraced 
favorite seeks to win back his lord, those places are recalled to mind 
in which the friends have met hardship together, in order, if possible, 
to evoke the same emotions of love and loyalty which were theirs un- 
der the circumstances described. Hawaiians of all classes, in mourn- 
ing their dead, will recall vividly in a wailing chant the scenes with 
which their lost friend has been associated. I remember on a tramp 
in the hills above Honolulu coming upon the grass hut of a Hawaiian 
lately released from serving a term for manslaughter. The place 
commanded a fine view—the sweep of the blue sea, the sharp rugged 
lines of the coast, the émerald rice patches, the wide-mouthed valleys 
cutting the roots of the wooded hills. “It is lonely here?” we asked 
the man. “Aole! maikai keia!” (“No, the view is excellent”) he 
answered. 
The ascription of perfection of form to divine influence may 
explain the Polynesian’s strong sense for beauty.t The Polynesian 
sees in nature the sign of the gods. In its lesser as in its more mar- 
velous manifestations—thunder, lightning, tempest, the “red rain,” 
the rainbow, enveloping mist, cloud shapes, sweet odors of plants, so 
1Thomson says that the Fijians differ from the Polynesians in their indifference to 
beauty in nature. 
74936°—19—33 ETH 21 
