548 HAWAIIAN ROMANCE OF LAIEIKAWAI [ETH. ANN. 33 
When the seer came within the crowd, lo! the maidens were as- 
sembled in one place before the chief. 
The seer asked some one in the crowd, “ What is this assembly for, 
and why are all these maidens standing in a circle before the chief?” 
He was told, “ All the virgins have been summoned by the chief’s 
command, and the two who please Aiwohikupua, these he will take 
for his wives in place of Poliahu and Hinaikamalama, and their 
parents are to be clothed in feather cloaks. 
Then the seer stood before the chiefs and all the assembly and cried 
in a loud voice: ‘ 
“QO chiefs, it is a wise and good thing for the chief to take which- 
ever one of these virgins pleases him, but not one of these can fill the 
loss of Poliahu and Hinaikamalama. 
“Tf any one of these virgins here could compare in beauty with 
the left leg of my daughters, then she would be worth it. These 
are pretty enough, but not hike my daughters.” 
Said Aiwohikupua in an angry voice, “ When did we ever know 
that you had daughters! ” 
And those who had brought their daughters before the chief 
looked upon the seer as an enemy. 
And to the chief’s angry words the seer replied, “ Did I not seek 
diligently and alone for a ruler over all these islands? And this 
lord of the land, she is my daughter, and my other daughters, they 
are my lord’s sisters. 
“Should my daughter come hither and stand upon the sea, the 
ocean would be in tumult; if on land, the wind would blow, the sun 
be darkened, the rain fall, the thunder crash, the lightning flash, the 
mountain tremble, the land would be flooded, the ocean reddened, at 
the coming of my daughter and lord.” 
And the seer’s words spread fear through the assembly. But 
those whose virgin daughters were present were not pleased. 
They strongly urged the chief, therefore, to bind him within the 
house of detention, the prison house, where the chief’s enemies were 
wont to be imprisoned. 
Through the persistence of his enemies, it was decided to make 
the seer fast within that place and let him stay there until he died. 
On the day of his imprisonment, that night at dawn, he prayed 
to his god. And at early daybreak the door of the house was 
opened for him and he went out without being seen. 
