hiiaka describes the scene before her
hiiaka constantly showed a lively interest in the important features of the landscape, often addressing them as if they had been sentient beings. at kai-papa’u, looking out upon cape lani-loa, she greeted it as if it had been an old friend of the family:
lele lani-loa; ua malie;
ke hoe a’e la ka moa’e,
ahu kai i na pali;
kaiko’o lalo, e.
ua pi’i kai i uka, e.
translation
fly, lani-loa, fly in the calm.
at the moaning of moa’e,2
mist veils the mountain walls.
the breakers roll ever below,
while ocean climbs to the hills.
they passed through the lands of laie, malae-kahana and keana and at kahipa they saw the crouching figures of punahe’e-lapa and pahi-pahi-alua, who stole away into the shelter of the pandanus groves without deigning to give them any salutation. at this show of disrespect, hiiaka called out:
komo i ka nahele ulu hinalo,
nahele hala o po’o-kaha-lulu;
oia nahele hala makai o kahuku.
heaha la ho’i ka hala3
i kapu ai o ka leo, e?
i hookuli ai oe i ka uwalo, e?
e uwalo aku ana au;
maloko mai oe, e!
[98]
translation
we enter the fragrant groves,
hala groves whose heads make a calm,
wild growths by the sea of kahuku,
but what, indeed, are your halas?
shall their murmur forbid you speech?
make you dumb to my salutation?
i make this kindly entreaty
to you who sit in the grove.
they crossed the waimea stream on the sand-bar, which in ordinary weather dams its mouth and, climbing the rocky bluff kehu-o-hapu’u, had a fine view of the ocean surges tossing up their white spray as they ceaselessly beat against the near-by elevated reef-fringe that parapets this coast, as well as of the ka-ala mountains, blue in the distance.
(this bluff of kehu-o-hapu’u until within a few years was the site of a little heiau, the resort of fishermen; and in it stood a rude stone figure of the fish-god ku-ula. from the non-mention of this interesting object, we have to argue either that the discovery and worship of this idol was of later date than the times of hiiaka or that she ignored it.)
hiiaka, casting her eye about for objects of interest, was attracted by the odd appearance of the lily-like water-plant uki, the detached floating clumps of which looked as if they had been fire-smitten:
ke ai’na mai la e ka wai
ka maha uki o ihu-koko;
ke puhi ia la e ka makani.
hako’i ka ua, ka wai iluna:
ke kina’i ia ho’i ka iwi o ka wai a éha.
e há i ka leo—he leo wale no.
translation
the lily tufts of ihu-koko
are gnawed away by the water
and thrashed about by the wind. [99]
beat down by the rain from heaven,
the wave-ribs are flattened out.
hushed be the voice—merely the voice.
from the same vantage-ground—that of kehu-o-hapu’u—hiiaka not only saw the dash of the ocean against the buttresses of the near-by coast, her ears also were filled with a murmurous ocean-roar that gave to the air a tremor like that of a deep organ-tone:
o wai-alua, kai leo nui:
ua lono ka uka o lihu’e;
ke wa la wahi-awá, e.
kuli wale, kuli wale i ka leo;
he leo no ke kai, e.
translation
wai-alua, land of the sounding sea,
with audience in upland lihu’e—
a voice that reaches wahi-awá:
our ears are stunned by this voice—
the voice, i say, of old ocean!
the landscape still held her, and she continued:
o wai-alua, la’i ehá, e!
ehá ka malino lalo o wai-alua.
translation
wai-alua has a fourfold calm,
that enfolds and broods o’er the land.
“let us move on,” said hiiaka to her companion, “there’s a pang next my heart. had i meat in my hand, we’d trudge to a water-spring and so be refreshed until we came to the house of a friend. let us move.”
from the plain near lau-hulu hiiaka took a fresh view of mount ka-ala and, in a tone of bantering apology, said, “forget me not, o ka-ala. perhaps you complain that i have not chanted your praises:” [100]
o ka-ala, kuahiwi mauna kehau,
ke opú mai la, la, i ka-maóha;
poluea4 iho la ilalo o hale-auau;
ke kini ke kehau anu o ka-lena.
akahi no ka nele o ka la pomaikai:
aohe moe-wa’a5 o ka po nei—
ka moe-wa’a, e!
translation
ka-ala, dewy and forest-clad,
bellies the plain at ma-óha,
as it slopes to the land below.
the cool dew-fall comforts ka-lena:
first pinch this of want mid good luck—
no dream of canoe-voyage last night,
no dream of disaster at sea.
the story of cape ka-ena, that finger-like thrusts itself out into the ocean from the western extremity of oahu, touches hawaiian mythology at many points: its mountain eminence was a leina uhane, jumping-off place, where the spirits of the deceased took their flying leap into ghost-land. here it was that the demigod mawi had his pou sto when he made the supreme effort of his life to align and unite the scattered group of islands; and here can still be seen pohaku o kauai, the one fragment of terra firma his hook could wrench from its base. here, too, it was that pele stood when she chaffed the old demi-god for having lured her on, as she supposed, with drum and fife to the pursuit of lohiau; and now her sister hiiaka stands in the same place. the subject was well worthy hiiaka’s muse:
lele ana o ka-ena
me he manu la i ka malie; [101]
me he kaha na ka uwa’u6 la
na pali o nene-le’a;7
me he upa’i na ke koa’e8 la
ka ale iwaho o ka-ieie;9
me he kanáka hoonu’u la i ka malie
ka papa kea i ke alo o ka alá;
ua ku’i ’a e ke kai,
a uli, a nono, a ula
ka maka o ka alá,
e no-noho ana i ke kai o ka-peku.10
ka-peku ka leo o ke kai—
o hoo-ilo11 ka malama.—
ke ku mai la ka pauli i kai,
ka hoailona kai o ka aina:
a’e kai o ka-hulu-manu;12
kai a moana ka aina.
ahu wale ka pae ki’i,
ka pae newe-newe,
ka pae ma nu’u a kana-loa:—
a he hoa, a oia.
hoohaehae13 ana ka lae-o-ka-laau,14
i kihe15 ia e ke kai o wawalu,16
na owaewae17 pali o unu-lau
inu aku i ka wai o kohe-iki i ka pali— [102]
i ka pali ka wai,
kau pu me ka laau.
hoole ke kupa, huná i ka wai.18
ehá ka muli-wai, wai19 o ka-ena.
ena iho la e ka la o ka maka-li’i;
o-i’o mai ana ke a me he kanaka koa la,
maalo ana i ku’u maka;
me he hauka’i la o ia kalana pali,
kuamo’o loa, pali o lei-honua.
hiki iho nei no ka hauoli
i ka hiki’na mai a nei makani.
heaha la ka’u makana i ku’u hilahila?
o ka’u wale iho la no ia, o ka leo, e!
translation
ka-ena point flies on its way
like a sea-bird in fair weather;
like the wings of a swooping gull
are the cliffs of nene-le’a;
like the lash of the bosen’s wings
is the curl of the breaking wave
in the channel of i?-i?.
the gray sand that borders the lava
drinks the waves like a thirsting man;
and purple and pink and red
are the eye-spots of the bazalt
that gleam in the sea of ka-peku.
the sea gives a querulous tone—
the season is that of ho-ilo.
a cloud-pall shadows the ocean,
sure sign of a turbulent sea,
of a tide that will deluge the land,
like the flood of ka-hulu-manu.
the god-forms stand in due order,
forms that are swollen to bursting,
the group on kana-loa’s altar:— [103]
friends, allies, i reckon them all.
cape-of-the-woods entices us on,
besprayed by the sea of wawalu,
forefront unulau’s gullied cliffs.
i drink of the water distilled
by the dripping pali walls,
led forth in a hollowed log.
the rustic denies it and hides it:
four water-streams has ka-ena;
and the summer sun is ardent.
the blocks of stone, like warriors,
move in procession before me—
pilgrims that march along the crest
of the steep ridge lei-honua.
ah, a new joy now do i find:
it comes with the breath of this wind!
and what is my gift in return?
to my shame, it’s only my voice.
the rocks and huge bowlders that dotted the barren waste of ka-ena seemed to the travelers to glow and vibrate as if they were about to melt under the heat of the sun, a phenomenon that stirred the imagination of hiiaka to song:
liu’a ke kaha o ka-ena, wela i ka la;
ai’na iho la ka pohaku a mo’a wela;
kahuli oni’o, holo ana i ka malie;
ha’aha’a ka puka one, ki’eki’e ke ko’a,
i ka hapai ia e ka makani, ka malua:
o’u hoa ia i ke koolau, e.
a pa koolau, hoolale kula hulu;
kahea ke keiki i ka wa’a,
’e holo, oi malie ke kaha o nene-le’a;
aohe halawai me ka ino i ka makani;
ka pipi lua o ka ale i ka ihu o ka wa’a.
he wa’awa’a20 ka makani, he naaupo;
ke kai ku’i-ké, koke nalo ka pohaku! [104]
ke kupa hoolono kai, o pohaku-o-kaua’i,21 e,
a noho ana o pohaku o kaua’i i kai, e!
translation
ka-ena, salty and barren,
now throbs with the blaze of the sun;
the rocks are consumed by the heat,
dappled and changed in their color:
the sand-holes sink, the coral forms heaps,
urged by the breath of malua—
that fellow of mine from koolau:
when blows koolau, then bristles the plain.
then calls the lad to the sailor,
speed on while calm is nene-le’a;
such time you’ll meet with good weather;
the lap of the sea ’gainst the bow—
a most thoughtless, good-natured, wind, that.
when choppy the sea, hid are the rocks!
a man of the sea art thou, well versed
in its signs of storm and of calm,
o rock, thou rock of kaua’i!
[105]
1 i have purposely weeded out from the narrative, as popularly told, several incidents that have but little interest and no seeming pertinence to the real purpose of the story. ↑
2moa’e, the trade wind. ↑
3 there seems to lurk a play in this word hala. it stood not only for the pandanus tree; it also meant a fault, a sin. ↑
4poluea, ordinary meaning, to be nauseated; here it means to slope down. ↑
5moe-wa’a, literally, a canoe-dream. to dream of a canoe-voyage was considered an omen of very bad luck. ↑
6uwa’u, a sea-bird, a gull. ↑
7nene-le’a, a place near ka-ena point, close to pohaku o kaua’i. ↑
8koa’e, the tropic-bird, or bosen-bird. ↑
9ka-ieie, the channel between oahu and kauai. ↑
10ka-peku. the word kapeku, at the beginning of verse 13, means, i am told, querulous. ↑
11ho’o-ilo, or ho-ilo, the cool or rainy season of the year, covering six months according to the hawaiians. there was no such month (mahina) as ho’o-ilo, or ho-ilo. ↑
12ka-hulu-manu. the kai o ka-hulu-manu is, as reported to me by a well-informed hawaiian, a flood that submerged the land in mythological times, distinct from kai-a-ka-hina-alii. ↑
13hoohaehae, to chase, to irritate, to tease. ↑
14lae-o-ka-laau, (literally, cape of the trees), the south-western cape of moloka’i, on which the united states have established a first-class lighthouse. ↑
15kihe, to sneeze; to spatter; to wet with spray. ↑
16wawalu, a cove. ↑
17owaewae, gullied. this is an instance of the adjective being placed before its noun. ↑
18huna i ka wai. the people of the region concealed the holes where water dripped, as it was very scarce. ↑
19muli-wai, literally a river, a poetical exaggeration. ↑
20wa’a-wa’a, simple-minded; unsophisticated; “green;” the name of two youths mentioned in tradition, one of whom committed blunder after blunder from his soft-hearted stupidity. ↑
21pohaku o kaua’i. the most audacious terrestrial undertaking of the demigod mawi was his attempt to rearrange the islands of the group and assemble them into one solid mass. having chosen his station at kaena point, the western extremity of oahu, from which the island of kaua’i is clearly visible on a bright day, he cast his wonderful hook, mana-ia-ka-lani, far out into the ocean that it might engage itself in the foundations of kaua’i. when he felt that it had taken a good hold, he gave a mighty tug at the line. a huge bowlder, the pohaku o kaua’i, fell at his feet. the mystic hook, having freed itself from its entanglement, dropped into palolo valley and hollowed out the crater, that is its grave. this failure to move the whole mass of the island argues no engineering miscalculation on mawi’s part. it was due to the underhand working of spiritual forces. had mawi been more politic, more observant of spiritual etiquette, more diplomatic in his dealings with the heavenly powers, his ambitious plans would, no doubt, have met with better success.
