The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai Part 43

[Footnote 61: At the accession of a new chief in Hawaii the land is redistributed among his followers.]

[Footnote 62: The names of Malio and Halaaniani are still to be found in Puna. Ellis (1825) notes the name Malio as one of three hills (evidently transformed demiG.o.ds), which, according to tradition, joined at the base to block an immense flow of lava at Pualaa, Puna. Off the coast between Kalapana and Kahawalea lies a rock shaped like a headless human form and called Halaaniani, although its legend retains no trace of the Puna rascal.]

CHAPTER XXI

[Footnote 63: The _huia_ is a specially high wave formed by the meeting of two crests, and is said to be characteristic of the surf at Kaipalaoa, Hawaii.]

[Footnote 64: k.u.mukahi is a bold cape of black lava on the extreme easterly point of the group. Beyond this cape stretches the limitless, landless Pacific. Against its fissured sides seethes and booms the swell from the ocean, in a dash of foaming spray. Piles of rocks mark the visits of chiefs to this sacred spot, and tombs of the dead abut upon its level heights. A visitor to this spot sees a magnificent horizon circling the wide heavens, hears the constant boom of the tides pulling across the measureless waters. It is one of the noteworthy places of Puna, often sung in ancient lays.]

CHAPTER XXII

[Footnote 65: The name of Laieikawai occurs in no old chants with which I am familiar. But in the story of _Umi_, the mother of his wife, Piikea, is called Laielohelohe. She is wife of Piilani and has four children who "have possession on the edge of the tabu," of whom Piikea is the first-born, and the famous rival chiefs of Maui, Lonopili, and Kihapiilani, are the next two; the last is Kalanilonoakea, who is described in the chant quoted by Fornander as white-skinned and wearing a white loin cloth. Umi's wife is traditionally descended from the Spaniards wrecked on the coast of Hawaii (see Lesson). The "Song of Creation" repeats the same genealogy and calls Laielohelohe the daughter of Keleanuinohoonaapiapi. In the "ninth era" of the same song Lohelohe is "the last one born of Lailai" and is "a woman of dark skin," who lived in Nuumealani.]

[Footnote 66: To preserve the umbilical cord in order to lengthen the life of a child was one of the first duties of a guardian. J.S. Emerson says that the _piko_ was saved in a bottle or salted and wrapped in tapa until a suitable time came to deposit it in some sacred place. Such a depository was to be found on Oahu, according to Westervelt, in two rocks in the Nuuanu valley, the transformed _moo_ women, Hauola and Haupuu. In Hawaii, in Puna district, on the north and south boundaries of Apuki, lie two smooth lava mounds whose surfaces are marked with cup hollows curiously ringed. Pictographs cover other surfaces. These are named Puuloa and Puumahawalea, or "Hill of long life" and "Hill that brings together with rejoicing," and the natives tell me that within their own lifetime pilgrimages have been made to this spot to deposit the _piko_ within some hollow, cover it with a stone, and thus insure long life to the newborn infant.]

CHAPTER XXIV

[Footnote 67: More than 470 species of land snails of a single genus, _Achatinella_, are to be found in the mountains of Hawaii, a fact of marked interest to science in observing environmental effect upon the differentiation of species. One of these the natives call _pupu kani oi_ or "shrill voiced snail," averring that a certain cricketlike chirp that rings through the stillness of the almost insectless valleys is the voice of this particular species. Emerson says that the name _kahuli_ is applied to the land snail to describe the peculiar tilting motion as the snail crawls first to one side and then to the other of the leaf. He quotes a little song that runs:

Kahuli aku, kahuli mai, Kahuli lei ula, lei akolea.

Kolea, kolea, e kii ka wai, Wai akolea.

Tilting this way and that Tilts the red fern-plume.

Plover, plover, bring me dew, Dew from the fern-plume.]

[Footnote 68: This incident is unsatisfactorily treated. We never know how Waka circ.u.mvented Malio and restored her grandchild to the husband designed for her. The whole thing sounds like a dramatic innovation with farcical import, which appeared in the tale without motivation for the reason that it had none in its inception. The oral narrator is rather an actor than a composer; he may have introduced this episode as a surprise, and its success as farce perpetuated it as romance.]

CHAPTER XXVI

[Footnote 69: This episode of the storm is another inconsistency in the story. The storm signs belong to the G.o.ds of Aiwohikupua and his brother, the Sun G.o.d, not to Laieikawai, and were certainly not hers when Waka deserted her. If they were given her for protection by Kahalaomapuana or through the influence of the seer with the Kauai family, the story-teller does not inform us of the fact.]

[Footnote 70: The _pa-u_ is a woman's main garment, and consists of five thicknesses of bark cloth 4 yards long and 3 or 4 feet wide, the outer printed in colors, and worn wrapped about the loins, reaching the knees.]

CHAPTER XXVII

[Footnote 71: In mythical quest stories the hero or heroine seeks, by proving his relations.h.i.+p, generally on the mother's side, to gain the favor of the supernatural guardian of whatever treasure he seeks. By breaking down the taboo he proclaims his rank, and by forcing the attention of the relative before the angry G.o.d (or chief) has a chance to kill him (compare the story of _Kalaniamanuia_, where the father recognizes too late the son whom he has slain), he gains time to reveal himself. In this episode the father's beard is, like the locks of Dionysus in Euripides' line, dedicated to the G.o.d, hence to seize it was a supreme act of lawlessness.]

[Footnote 72: According to the old Polynesian system of age groups, the "mother's brother" bears the relation to the child of _makua_ equally with his real parents. Kahalaomapuana says to her father:

"I am your child (_kama_), The child of Laukieleula, The child of Mokukelekahiki, The child of Kaeloikamalama."

thus claiming rank from all four sources. Owing to inbreeding and this multiple method of inheriting t.i.tle, Polynesian children may be of higher rank than either parent. The form of colloquy which follows each encounter (compare Kila's journey to Tahiti) is merely the customary salutation in meeting a stranger, according to Hawaiian etiquette.]

[Footnote 73: The name Laukieleula means "Red-kiele-leaf." The kiele, Andrews says, is "a sweet-scented flower growing in the forest," and is identified by some natives with the gardenia, of which there are two varieties native in Hawaii; but the form does not occur in any chants with which I am familiar. It is probably selected to express the idea of fragrance, which seems to be the _kupua_ property of the mother's side of the family. It is the rareness of fragrant plants indigenous to the islands, coupled with sensuous delight in odor, which gives to perfume the attributes of deity, and to those few varieties which possess distinct scent like the _maile_ and _hala_, a conspicuous place in religious ceremonial.

The name of Moa.n.a.lihaikawaokele, on the other hand, appears in the "Song of Creation," in the eighth era where the generations of Uli are sung.

In the time of calm is born the woman Lailai, and after her the G.o.ds Kii, Kane, and Ka.n.a.loa, and it is day. Then

"The drums are born, Called Moa.n.a.liha, Kawaomaaukele came next, The last was Kupololiilialiimuaoloipo, A man of long life and very high rank."

There follow 34 pages devoted to the history and generations of this family before the death of this last chief is recorded. Now it is clear that out of the first two names, Moa.n.a.liha and Kawao(maau)kele, is compounded that of the storm G.o.d. This would place him in the era of the G.o.ds as the father of Ku and ancestor of the Uli line.]

CHAPTER XXVIII

[Footnote 74: The story of the slaying of Halulu in the legend of _Aukelenuiaiku_ is a close parallel to the Indian account of the adventure with the thunder bird. (See Matthews's "Navajo legends.") The thunder bird is often mentioned in Hawaiian chants. In the "Song of Creation" the last stanza of the third or bird era points out

"--the leaping point of the bird Halulu, Of Kiwaa, the bird of many notes, And of those birds that fly close together and shade the sun."]

[Footnote 75: The divine approach marked by thunder and lightning, shaken by earthquake and storm, indicates the _kupua_ bodies in which the Sun G.o.d travels in his descent to earth. There are many parallels to be found in the folk stories. When the sister of Halemano sets out to woo the beauty of Puna she says: "When the lightning flashes, I am at Maui; when it thunders I am at Kohala; when the earth quakes, at Hamakua; when freshets stain the streams red, I am at Puna." When Hoamakeikekula, the beauty of Kohala, weds, "thunder was heard, lightning flashed, rain came down in torrents, hills were covered with fog; for ten days mist covered the earth." When Uweuwelekehau, son of Ku and Hula, is born "thunder, lightning, earthquake, water, floods and rain" attend his birth. In Aukelenuiaiku, when the wife of Makalii comes out of her house her beauty overshadows the rays of the sun, "darkness covered the land, the red rain, fog, and fine rain followed each other, then freshets flowed and lightning played in the heavens; after this the form of the woman, was seen coming along over the tips of the fingers of her servants, in all her beauty, the sun shone at her back and the rainbow was as though it were her footstool." In the prayer to the G.o.d Lono, quoted by Fornander, II, 352, we read:

"These are the sacred signs of the a.s.sembly; Bursting forth is the voice of the thunder; Striking are the rays of the lightning; Shaking the earth is the earthquake; Coming is the dark cloud and the rainbow; Wildly comes the rain and the wind; Whirlwinds sweep over the earth; Rolling down are the rocks of the ravines; The red mountain streams are rus.h.i.+ng to the sea; Here the waterspouts; Tumbled about are the cl.u.s.tering clouds of heaven; Gus.h.i.+ng forth are the springs of the mountains."]

CHAPTER x.x.xIV

[Footnote 75: Kaonohiokala, Mr. Emerson tells me, is the name of one of the evil spirits invoked by the priest in the art of _po'iuhane_ or "soul-catching." The spirit is sent by the priest to entice the soul of an enemy while its owner sleeps, in order that he may catch it in a coconut gourd and crush it to death between his hands. "_Lapu lapuwale_"

is the Hawaiian rendering of Solomon's e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n "Vanity of vanities!"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A NATIVE GRa.s.s HOUSE OF THE HUMBLER CLa.s.s (HENSHAW)]