BECKWITH] NOTES ON THE TEXT 621 
“watch,” and mare, “marry,” but terms which are late Hawaiian, such as the 
triple canoe, pukolu, and provision boat, pelehu, said to have been introduced 
in the reign of Kaméhaméha I. 
"Famous Hawaiian boxing teachers kept master strokes in reserve for the 
pupils, upon whose success depended their own reputation. These strokes were 
known by name. Compare Kawelo, who before setting out to recapture Kauai 
sends his wife to secure from his father-in-law the stroke called wahieloa. The 
phrase “Ka ai a ke kumu i ao oleia ia oukow” has been translated with a 
double-punning meaning, literal and figurative, according to the interpretation of 
the words. Cold-nose’s faith in his girdle parodies the far-fetched dependence 
upon name signs common to this punning race. The snapping of the end of his 
loin cloth is a good omen for the success of a stroke named “ End-that- 
sounds”! Even his supporters jeer at him. 
* Hew similes are used in the story. This figure of the “blood of a lamb,” 
the “blow like the whiz of the wind,’ the moo ploughing the earth 
with his jaw “like a shovel,” a picture of the surf rider—‘‘ foam rose on each 
side of his neck like a boar’s tusks,” and the appearance of the 
Sun god’s skin, “like a furnace where iron is melted,” will, perhaps, cover 
them all. In each the figure is exact, but ornamental, evidently used to 
heighten the effect.. Images are occasionally elaborated with exact realization 
of the bodily sensation produced. The rainbow “trembling in the hot rays of 
the sun” is an example, and those passages which convey the lover’s sensations 
—“‘his heart fainted with love,” “thick pressed with thunders of love,’ or 
such an image as “the burden of his mind was lifted.” Sometimes the image 
carries the comparison into another field, as in ‘“‘ the windings and twistings of 
his journey ”"—a habit of mind well illustrated in the occasional proverbs, and 
in the highly figurative songs. 
=The Polynesians, like the ancient Hebrews, practiced circumcision with 
strict ceremonial observances. 
“The gods invoked by Aiwohikupua are not translated with certainty, but 
they evidently represent such forces of the elements as we see later belong 
among the family deities of the Aiwohikupua household. Prayer as an invo- 
cation to the gods who are called upon for help is one of the most character- 
istic features of native ritual, and the termination a@mama, generally accom- 
panied by the finishing phrases ua noa, “it is finished,’ and lele wale 
aku la, “flown away,” is genuine Polynesian. Literally mama means “to 
chew,” but not for the purpose of swallowing like food, but to spit out of the 
mouth, as in the preparation of awa. The term may therefore, authorities say, 
be connected with the ceremonial chewing of awa in the ritualistic invocations 
to the gods. A similar prayer quoted by Gill (Myths and Songs, 120) he 
ascribes to the antiquity of the story. 
“The laau palau, literally “ wood-that-cuts,’ which Wise translates “war 
club,” has not been identified on Hawaii in the Bishop Museum, but is de- 
scribed from other groups. Gill, from the Hervey Islands, calls it a sharpened 
digging stick, used also as a weapon. The gigantic dimensions of these sticks 
and their appellations are emphasized in the hero tales. 
*The Hawaiian cloak or kihei is a large square, 2 yards in size, made of 
bark cloth worn over the shoulders and joined by two corners on one side in 
a knot. 
* The meaning of the idiomatic boast he lala kamahecle no ka laau ku i ka 
pali is uncertain. I take it to be a punning reference to the Pali family from 
