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CHAPTER XXII

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hiiaka addresses pohaku-o-kaua’i—the two women rig up a canoe—she salutes kaena—salute to haupu—sees lohiau’s spirit form

hiiaka had large acquaintance with the natural features of every landscape, and if those features were of volcanic origin she might claim them as kindred through her own relationship with pele. it was hers to find friendship, if not sermons, in stones. this pohaku-o-kaua’i, to whom hiiaka now addressed herself, though in outward form an unshapen bowlder, as we see it today,—the very one that mawi drew from its ocean-bed with his magic hook mana-ia-ka-lani—was in truth a sentient being, alive to all the honor-claims of kinship. to him, in her need, hiiaka addressed herself:

e pohaku o kaua’i i kai, e,

a po ka-ena i na pali,

i wa’a no maua

e ike aku ai i ka maka o ke hoa,

o lohiau ipo, e!

translation

o sea-planted rock of kaua’i,

night shadows the cliffs of ka-ena:

a canoe for me and my fellow;

we would look on the face of our friend,

lohiau the dearly beloved.

“i have no canoe,” said pohaku-o-kaua’i. “the one i had was wrecked in a storm while on a fishing trip. one huge wave came aboard and split her from end to end. we had to swim for it. but surely, such a beautiful woman as you will have no trouble in finding a canoe. there must be no lack of canoes making the trip to kaua’i.”

“in the lack of a canoe, let us have a plank, such as i see you are there using for a shelf.” [106]

“if that will serve you, you are welcome,” said the old man.

“we shall also need an outrigger-float for our craft,” hiiaka remarked.

“an ama (outrigger-float) is a thing i lack,” he answered.

“you must have some block of wili-wili—such as that one, for instance, which you use to hold your fishhooks,” hiiaka urged.

the old man was able to meet their demands. the two women then set their wits to work and finally succeeded in lashing the parts together in such fashion as to make something that would serve as a canoe.

hiiaka, as the one in command, sat astern and wahine-oma’o in the bow. as they sailed away hiiaka saluted cape ka-ena in these words:

holo ka-ena, la,

me he wa’a kaukahi la i ka malie;—

ka lau hoe, lau hoe o kua-o-ka-la;1

ke kowelowelo2 la o lehua, e;

o lehua ho’i, e!

translation

ka-ena speeds along

a single canoe in the calm;

the four hundred rays that dart from

the back of the sun sink down

in the sea at lehua,

the western waves of lehua.

when well out in the channel of kaieie the sight of the famous hill of haupu, that now appeared to lift its head like a water-fowl stemming the tide, was an inspiration to song. mingled with the pleasure, however, was the chagrin and indignation that came from knowing that at that very moment her own lehua preserves in kona were suffering ravage from fire by the act of pele: [107]

o haupu,3 mauna ki’e-ki’e,

huki a’e la, pa i ka lani;

waha4 keiki ma ke kua;

hi’i ke-olewa5 ma ke alo;

au ana ni’ihau i ke kai.

pau a’u lehua i ka manu, e,

pau, e, o a’u lehua, ho’i, e!

translation

famed haupu, the mighty hill,

lifts head till she touches heaven;

on her back strapped a suckling child,

while she fondles a fleecy cloud,

and niihau swims the ocean tide.

oh, my lehuas! spoiled by the birds!

alas, my lehuas, alas!

“what a notion!” wahine-oma’o exclaimed. “who in the world is meddling with your lehuas?”

while they were sailing along the precipitous coast of ka-lalau, set in the windward wall of the island, hiiaka saw standing at the mouth of a cave high up on the precipice, the spirit form of one who was no other than lohiau, and again she was moved to song:

a ka-lalau, a ke-é,

a ka pali au i haena,

e peahi mai ana ka lawakua6 ia’u la;

peahi, e peahi mai ana ka lawakua ia’u.

owau keia, o ka maka o ke aloha, la,

o ke aloha, ho’i, e!

translation

off the coast of lalau, off ke-é,

when nigh the cliffs of haena, [108]

the loved one beckons, he beckons,

the loved one beckons to me.

i am the one—the eye-scout of love:

love, indeed, is my errand, aye love!

the ghost-form of lohiau still continued to show itself as they sailed; and when it signalled a recognition of hiiaka by beckoning to her, she could but answer it:

ua pu’e ia e ke one ka lehua o uka;

ua ho-á iki ka ula i ka papa;

ua huná i ke kino i ka pohaku;

o ka pua na’e, ke ahu nei i ke ala—

alanui hele o ka-unu-kupukupu;7

hele li’u-lá8 o ka poha-kau,9 e;

kaulia10 a ka poha-kau he kilohana11 ia;

he maka’ika’i ia no ka-hua-nui;12

he kahiko ia no ka wai o kaunu,13 e.

a kaunu anei, o ke aloha ia?

a ia’u la, éha oe!

translation

the upland lehua is clinker-heaped;

wee flame-buds crop up on the plain;

the tree-trunk is hidden with rocks,

yet its flowers encarpet the path:

the road this that leads to desire—

one’s travel stays not at twilight, [109]

nor to ease one’s back of its load.

my journey’s to ka-hua-nui;

she is the goal of my passion.

if love be the targe of thy aim,

and i that targe, ruin awaits thee!

1kua-o-ka-la (the back of the sun), a personification and deification of that orb. ↑

2kowelowelo, to sink into; to be submerged. ↑

3haupu, a famous hill on kauai, visible from oahu. when it was capped with a cloud, hawaiians said, “ua kau mai ka pua’a i haupu; e ua ana.” if that occurred in the rainy season, they said it was about to clear. ↑

4waha, the same as haawe, i.e., a load for the back. in this case it was a bank of mist or clouds. ↑

5ke-olewa, a hill, smaller than haupu, on the side towards kipu-kai. the word also applied to the floating clouds about the mountain. ↑

6lawa-kua, a precious object bound to the back; applied, therefore, to a child, a dear friend and the like; the local name applied to a wind at ka-lalau. ↑

7ka-unu-kupukupu, a land in puna. the intrinsic meaning of the phrase is an increasing, overmastering, passion ka-unu, a passion; kupukupu, to grow up, to increase. ↑

8li’u-la, twilight. ↑

9poha-kau, a resting place where the burden-carrier leaned back and relieved his shoulders of their burden for a time. ↑

10kaulia, old form of kauia (kau ia). it connotes the removing from the back the haawe, preliminary to a long rest. ↑

11kilohana, here means a comfort, a relief. ↑

12ka-hua-nui, the elder sister of lohiau. ↑

13kau-nu, desire, passion. wai o kau-nu, lit., the water of love—“the warm effects.”

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