the location of the adventure with the shark-god maka’u-kiu1 was at the mouth of wai-pi’o valley, a region where hawaii’s storm-coast forms an impassable rampart, save as it is cut by this and its twin valley, wai-manu. these valleys take head in a wild forest region, the home of mist, rain and swamp. adjoining this and part of the same watershed is the region known as mahiki-waena, a land which the convenience of traffic required should be open to travel. it was the haunt of a ferocious horde of mo’o called mahiki2 from their power to leap and spring like grass-hoppers.
when hiiaka proposed to pass through this region in the [50]ordinary course of travel, the head of the mahiki insolently denied her the right of way, suggesting as an alternative the boisterous sea-route around the northern shoulder of hawaii. hiiaka’s blood was up. the victory over the hosts of pana-ewa and the more recent destruction of maka’u-kiu had fired her courage. she resolved once for all to make an end of this arrogant nuisance and to rid the island of the whole pestilential brood of imps and mo’o. standing on a height that overlooked wai-pi’o, she chanted a mele which is at once descriptive of the scene before her and at the same time expressive of her determination:
mele uhau
a luna au o wai-pi’o,
kilohi aku k’uu maka ilalo;
hele ho’i ke ala makai o maka’u-kiu;
hele ho’i ke ala mauka o ka-pu-o’a—
pihapiha, he’e i ka welowelo,
i ka pu’u kolea, i ka ino, e—
ino mahiki:
ua ike ka ho’i au, he ino mahiki,
he ino, he ino loa no, e!
translation
as i journeyed above wai-pi’o
mine eyes drank in that valley—
the whole long march as far as from
the sea-fight at maka’u-kiu
till the trail climbs ka-pu-o’a.
there soggy the road and glairy,
and there do flaunt and flourish,
on plover mount, the cursed mahiki.
for i am convinced that that crew
are bad, as bad as bad can be!
hiiaka’s march to encounter the mahiki was interrupted for a short time by an incident that only served to clinch her resolution. an agonizing cry of distress assailed her ear. it came from a dismantled heap of human flesh, the remains of two men who had been most brutally handled—by these same mahiki, perhaps—their leg and arm-bones plucked out and they left [51]to welter in their misery. it was seemingly the cruel infliction of the mahiki. the cry of the two wretches could not be disregarded:
e hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-pele, e,
e ki’i mai oe ia maua;
e ka hookuli i ka ualo, e!
ka opu aloha ole, e-e!
translation
o hiiaka-of-pele’s-heart,
come thou and assist us.
turn not a deaf ear to our cry!
be not of hard and unfeeling heart!
hiiaka, with a skill that did credit to her surgery, splinted the maimed limbs, inserting stems from her favorite ti plant to take the place of the long bones that had been removed. she left them seated in comfort at the roadside at pololú.
the mahiki, on seeing hiiaka advance into their territory, threw up the dirt and dust in their front, to express their contempt for such an insignificant body of trespassers. hiiaka, paying no attention to their insolence, pressed on. her purpose was to strike directly at mo’o-lau, the leader of the horde, to whom she addressed this incantation:
a loko au o mahiki,
halawai me ke akua okioki po’o.
okioki ino, la, i kona po’o;
kahihi a’e la i kona naau;
hoale mai ana i kona koko i o’u nei.
e lau e, lau e-e!
no’u ke ala, i hele aku ho’i, e-e!
translation
i enter the land of mahiki;
i counter the head-hunting witch.
see me pluck the head from her body;
see me tear out her very heart, [52]
till her blood surges round me in waves—
blood of the monster that’s legion.
mine is the common right of way:
the traveler’s right to the road!
at dark hiiaka camped in the road and during the night a female ku-pua named lau-mihi, whom the mahiki chief had sent as a spy to watch hiiaka, was seen standing on a high place to one side of them. hiiaka at once flew at her and put an end to her.
now began a fierce battle between hiiaka and the mahiki dragon and his forces. they fought till both sides were exhausted and then, as if by mutual consent, stopped to rest.
hiiaka perceived that the battle was to be even more fiercely contested than that at pana-ewa. she bade paú-o-pala’e to take good care that no ill came to wahine-oma’o. looking up into the heavens, hiiaka saw her relatives and friends poha-kau, ka-moho-alii, kane-milo-hai, and a large concourse of other gods, including kane, kanaloa, ku and lono, watching her, evidently greatly interested in her performances. they assured her of their protection. at this hiiaka was much encouraged and gave utterance to her feelings in this kanaenae:
a moolau, i ka pua o ka uhiuhi,
helele’i mai ana ka pua o ko’o-ko’o-lau.
lohi’a e na mo’o liilii—
na mo’o liilii ke ala
e kolo i ke kula,
e iho i kai o kawaihae, la.
hea a’e la ka mo’o liilii:
e hakaká kaua; paio olua auane’i.
he ’kau mo’o-lau, o mo’o-lau akua, e!
translation
in the wilds of mo’o-lau,
the uhiuhi’s time for bloom—
the petals fall of koolau’s flower:
the little dragons have found the way
by which they can crawl to the plain,
go down to the sea at kawaihae. [53]
the little demons now announce
that you and i shall battle wage:
we two, indeed, must fight, they say—
a god is mo’o-lau, a host of gods!
at this the great dragon mo’o-lau bestirred himself. his attack was direct, but he divided his host into two columns so as to envelope hiiaka and attack her on each flank. hiiaka saw them approaching through the jungle and chanted the following rallying song:
mele ho’-uluulu
a mo’o-lau, i ka pua o ka uhiuhi,
pala luhi ehu iho la
ka pua o ke kauno’a i ka la;
na hale ohai i kekaha, o wa’a-kiu;—
e kiu, e kiu ia auane’i kou ahiahi;
e maka’i ia olua auane’i.
he akua mo’o-lau, o mo’o-lau akua, e!
translation
in the jungle of mo’o-lau,
the uhi-uhi’s season of bloom;
the flower of the rootless kau-no’a
is wilted and bent in the sun;
my bower in kekaha’s invaded:
some creature is playing the spy.
i, in turn,—be warned—will spy out
your quiet and rest of an evening:
this to you, you, god mo’o-lau!
pele, perceiving that the crisis of the conflict had now come, called upon all the male and female relatives of hiiaka (hoaiku) to go to her assistance; “go and help your sister hiiaka. there she is fighting desperately with mo’o-lau—fighting and resting, fighting and resting, well nigh exhausted. go and help her; all of you go. it’s a fight against mo’o-lau.”
when the battalion of gods moved against the mo’o, it was a rout and a slaughter. then the cry arose: “no fight has been made against the mahiki dragon; he yet survives.” thereupon [54]they turned their attack against that old dragon and his guards. hiiaka then celebrated the double victory in this paean:
kaiko’o pu’u-moe-awa, wawá ka laau;
nei o pu’u-owai ma, e:
nahá ka welowelo; he’e na’e ho’i, e!
e pu’u-owai ma, e, ke holo la!
e miki-aloalo, e, nawai ka make?
ke i-o nei, e!
translation
a roar as of surf on the hill moe-awa:
the tumult resounds through the forest:
pu’u-owai and his band lead the rout,
your battallions are torn into tatters—
you are running, captain owai!
and you, captain spry, whose the defeat?
the answer is made by the shouting!
hiiaka’s chief weapon of attack seems to have been her magical paú. with this as a besom she beat them down as a husbandman might beat down a swarm of locusts. the mahiki and the mo’o-lau had ceased to exist as organized bodies. but from the rout and slaughter of the armies many individuals had escaped with their lives, and these had hid themselves away in caves and secret places, some of them even, presuming apparently upon their power of disguise, had taken refuge in the remote scattered habitations of the people. such an inference seems to be justified by the language of the mele now to be given:
note.—the gods that came to the assistance of hiiaka such times as circumstances pinched her and whose spiritual power at all times re?nforced her feeble humanity were limited in their dominion to certain vaguely defined provinces and departments. thus, if there was any sea-fighting to be done, it fell to the shark-god, the admiral ka-moho-alii, to take charge of it. on the other hand, the conduct of a battle on terra firma would be under the generalship of kane-milo-hai; while to kana-loa belonged the marshalling of the celestial hosts, the moon and the stars. but the orb of day, the sun, belonged to lono. hence, if the fighting was during the hours of daylight, lono would logically assume the command. the rule of the great god ku was also exercised principally by day. it was he who arranged the calendar and settled the order of the seasons, the days and the nights. the subdivisions and departmental complications under these general divisions were numerous. [55]
lilo i puna, lilo i puna,
lilo i puna, i ke au a ka hewahewa;
popo’i aku ka i na hale:
ua piha na hale i ke ’kua—
o kini akua o wai-mea,
o ka lehu akua o maná.
kini wale wai-mea
i ka pihe o ke ’kua o uli, e.
po wale mahiki;
a ia mahiki ke uwá la no, e!
translation
scattered through puna, scattered through puna,
is the rout of the vagrant imps:
they swarm in the dwellings of men;
the houses are lousy with demons—
wai-mea’s myriads of godlings,
thy four hundred thousand, maná.
wai-mea thrills with the snarl of witch-gods:
night’s shadows brood over mahiki;
the uproar keeps on in mahiki.
1maka’u-kiu, afeared-o-a-spy. ↑
2ma-hi-ki (mahiti, mawhiti), to leap, to skip, to spring up suddenly. the maori comp. dict. e. tregear.
