pele’s brigade is sent to the attack of lohiau
pele broke forth in great rage when her people slunk back, their errand not half accomplished. “ingrates, i know you. out of pity for that handsome fellow, you have just made a pretense and thrown a few cinders at his feet. go back and finish your work. go!”
hiiaka, on witnessing the second charge of the fire-brigade, again broke forth in song:
hulihia kilauea, po i ka uahi;
nalowale i ke awa1 ka uka o ka lua.
moana he?ia—la kapu i ke akua!
haki palala-hiwa ke alo o ka pohaku;
ai’na makai a’ahu, koe ka oka—
koe mauka o ka lae ohi’a.
haki’na ka hala, apana ka pohaku;
kiké ka alá; uwé ka mamane—
ka leo o ka laau waimaka nui,
o ka wai o ia kino á pohaku,
kanaka like kau-huhu ke oko o ke ahi;
ho’onu’u puna2 i ka mahu o ka wahine.
kahá ka lehua i ka uka o ka-li’u;
makua ke ahi i ka nahelehele—
ke á li’u-la o apua.
e ha’a mai ana i ku’u maka
ka ponaha lehua mauka o ka-ho’i-kú;
puni’a i ke awa ka uka o nahunahu:
kiná puna, e poá i ke akua.
ua kaulu-wela ka uka o olue?; [198]
ua haohia e ke ahi, ku ka halelo.2
moku kahawai, niho’a ka pali;
ua umu pa-enaena ke alo o ka pohaku.
o ihi-lani,3 o ihi-awaawa,4
hekili ke’eke’e, ka uila pohaku;
puoho, lele i-luna, ka alá kani oleolé,
kani au-moe, kani ku-wá, kani helele’i;
owé, nakeke i ka lani, nehe i ka honua;
ku’u pali kuhoho holo walawala i-luna, i-lalo;
ka iho’na o ka pali uhi’a e ka noe;
pa’a i ka ohu na kikepa lehua a ka wahine;
ho’o-maka’u ka uka—he ahi ko ka lua.
ke ho’o-malana a’e la e ua na opua;
ne’ene’e i kai o papa-lau-ahi.
lapalapa ka waha o ke akua lapu;
hukihuki5 ka lae ohi’a o kai-mú,
e hahai aku ana i-mua, i-hope.
hopo aku, hopo mai;
hopo aku au o ka ua liilii noe lehua i ka papa.
o pua’a-kanu6 oheohe, me he kanáka oa7 la i ka la;
ke’a ka maha lehua i kai o ka-pili nei: [199]
i pili aku ho’i maua o haele,8
e pi’i i ka uka, e kui, e lei i ka lei,
ka lehua o ka ua nahuhu—(nahunahu)
nahu’a e ke ahi—uli ke a—
mahole ka papa, manihole i ka ai ia e ke akua:
ai kolohe ka wahine ia puna,
ho’o-pohaku i ka lae ohi’a.
ka uahi o ka mahu ha’a-lele’a i uka;
ka hala, ka lehua, lu ia i kai.
ha’aha’a puna, ki’eki’e kilauea:
ko puna kuahiwi mau no ke ahi.
o puna, aina aloha!
aloha-ino puna, e moe’a nei,
ka aina i ka ulu o ka makani!
the language of this mele is marked by a certain mannerism that can hardly be described as either parallelism or as antithesis, though it approaches now one and now the other. it is as if each picture could not be accomplished save by representing its grouping from more than one point of view.
translation
kilauea breaks forth: smoke blurs the day;
a bitter rain blots out one half the pit;
he?ia is whelmed by a tidal wave;—
dread day of the fiery goddess!
the face of the cliff is splintered away;
the lowlands are littered with fragments;
her besom spares other land, not the park.
the screw-palms are rent, the rock-plates shattered;
the bowlders grind, the mamanes groan;
i hear the pitiful sob of the trees.
the tree-gods weep at their change into stone.
man, like the roof-pole, strangles in smoke;
puna chokes with the steam of the woman;
how groan the lehuas of ka-li’u!
a quivering flame enwraps apua.
mine eyes are blinded at the sight
of the forest-circle of ho’o-kú; [200]
nahunahu is swallowed up in the rack.
puna, how scarred! by the goddess ravaged!
olue?’s uplands quiver with heat—
what ravage! its rocky strata uptorn;
deep-gullied the canyons, toothed are the cliffs;
like an oven glows the face of the rocks.
now heaven hurls her forked bolts
and bitter thunder-bombs; rocks burst and fly.
a crash of splintered echoes breaks the night,
shatters the heavens and rends the earth.
my towering cliff is shook like a reed;
the trail adown the cliff is wreathed in steam;
mist veils the ragged spurs of lehua—
a reign of terror! flames leap from the pit;
the storm-clouds spread their wings for rain;
they rush in column over the plain.
the mouth of the demon vomits flame—
a besom-stroke to wooded kai-mú.
destruction follows before and behind;
what terror smites a-far and a-near!
a brooding horror wraps my soul
as the fine rain covers the plain.
a spectacle this for the eye of day!
an offering’s laid—a pig? a man!
deem’st it a crime to snuggle close in travel?
that we gathered flowers in the woods?
that we strung them and plaited wreaths?
that we hung them about our necks?—
red blossoms that sting us like fire—
a fire that burns with a devilish flame,
till the blistered skin hangs in rags:
and this—is the work of the god!
the faithless woman! puna sacked!
the park of lehua all turned to rock!
the column of rock moves ever on;
lehuas and palms melt away,
as the fire sweeps down to the sea.
for puna’s below and pele above,
and puna’s mountain is ever aflame.
oh puna, land close to my heart!
land ever fore-front to the storm!
i weep for thy sorrowful plight!
[201]
“cowed, and by a boy!” said pele as her servants, with shame in their faces, slunk away from their unfinished task. “this is no job for women,” she continued. “these girls can’t stand up before a man—not if he has a smooth face and a shapely leg.”
as she spoke the fire-lake in hale-ma’u-ma’u took on a ruddier hue, lifted in its cauldron and began to boil furiously, spouting up a score of red fountains.
“men, gods, take these fires and pour them upon the man,” said pele, addressing lono-makua, ku-pulupulu, ku-moku-halii, ku-ala-na-wao, kupa-ai-ke’e, ka-poha-kau, ka-moho-alii, kane-milo-hai and many others.
the gods well knew on what perilous ground they stood, with whom they had to deal, the fierceness of pele’s wrath when it was stirred; yet, in their hatred of a great wrong, they moved with one purpose to push back the fires that were threatening lohiau. with their immortal hands they flung away the embers and masses of flame until the heavens were filled with meteor-fragments.
pele’s wrath rose to a mighty heat at this act of mutiny and disloyalty and she cursed the whole assembly. “go,” said she, “back to huli-nu’u whence you came. let the land on which you stand remain barren and yield no harvest nor any food for mortal or for immortal.”
now pele was one of the chief gods on earth. the land was hers. did she not make it? her authority extended also to heaven. did not her flames mount to the zenith? all the gods, even the great gods ku, kane, kanaloa and lono, depended on her for certain things. when she voyaged from kahiki to the new land of hawaii they were constrained to follow her. not because of any command she laid upon them did they do this, but because such was their inclination. where pele was there was food, wealth, the things they had need of. they followed as a dog tags after its master.
the threat made by pele was, then, no idle breath. it was a thing of terrible moment—to be stripped of their fat offices and banished to a far-off barren land, a terrible sentence. some of the gods gave in at once and made their peace with the terrible goddess. of those who stood firm in their opposition were ku-moku-hali’i, ku pulu-pulu, ku-ala-na-wao, kupa-ai-ke’e and ku-mauna.9 condemned to banishment, they were indeed in a [202]sorry plight. they found themselves on the instant deprived of their jobs and of their power. food they had not, nor the means of obtaining it; these were in the possession of kane and kanaloa. the ocean was not free to them; it was controlled by ka-moho-alii. in their extremity they became vagabonds and took to the art of canoe-making. thus were they enabled to fly to other lands.
new dispositions having been made and fresh stratagems set on foot, pele turned loose another deluge of fire, lono-makua consenting to manage the operation. the fire burst into view at keaau, from which place it backed up into the region of ola’a and there divided into two streams, one of which continued on the hilo side, while the other followed a course farther towards kau. lohiau, thus surrounded, would find himself obliged to face pele’s wrath without the possibility of retreat.
hiiaka, not fearing for herself but seeing the danger in which her lover was placed, bade him pray; and this was the prayer he offered:
popo’i, haki kaiko’o ka lua;
haki ku, haki kakala, ka ino,
popo’i aku i o’ü o lehua,
i kani-a-hiku,10 wahine11 ai lehua,
a ka unu12 kupukupu, a eha ka pohaku
i ka uwalu a ke ahi,
i ke kaunu a ka pu’u-lena:13
huli ka moku, nakeke ka aina; [203]
kuhala-kai,14 kuhulukú15 ka mauna;
pehu ka leo i pu’ukú-akahi;16
hano ka leo i pu’uku-alua;16
aheahe ana i mauna kua-loi17—
i kauhale a ke akua.
i ke ahu a ka-hoa-lii.18
kahá ka leo o ka ohi’a;
uwé ka leo o ke kai;
huli ke alo o papa-lau-ahi.
kai ho’onaue hala ko kea?u;
kai lu lehua ko pana-ewa;
ke popo’i a’e la i ke ahu a lono, e.
e lono ana no anei? he ho’okuli;
he kuli ia nei, he lono ole.
translation
a storm and wild surf in the pit,
the fire-waves dashing and breaking;
spume splashes the buds of lehua—
the bird-choir—o consumer of trees,
o’erthrowing the fishermen’s altar;
the rocks melt away in thy flame;
fierce rages the pu’u-lena;
the island quakes with thy tremor;
a flood of rain on the lowland,
a wintry chill on the highland.
a boom, as of thunder, from this cliff;
a faint distant moaning from that cliff;
a whispered sigh from yonder hill,—
home of the gods, inviolate, [204]
shrine of the god hoalii.
now groans the soul of the tree a-flame;
now moans the heart of the restless sea.
uptorn are the ancient fire-plates.
the kea-au sea uproots the palms;
pana-ewa’s sea scatters the bloom;
it beats at the altar of lono.
does she lend her heart to my cry?
deaf—her ears are deaf to my prayer.
let us picture to ourselves the scene of the story that now has the stage—a waterless, wind-swept, plain of volcanic slag and sand, sparsely clad with a hardy growth whose foliage betrays the influence of an environment that is at times almost alpine in its austerity. above the horizon-line swell the broad-based shapes of mauna-kea, mauna-loa and hualalai. in the immediate foreground, overlooking the caldera—where are pele’s headquarters—we see two figures, standing, crouching, or reclining, the lovers whose stolen bliss has furnished pele with the pretext for her fiery discipline. measured by the forces in opposition to them, their human forms shrink into insignificance. measured by the boldness of their words and actions, one has to admit the power of the human will to meet the hardest shocks of fortune. listen to the swelling words of lohiau as pele’s encircling fires draw nearer:
hulihia ka mauna, wela i ke ahi;
wela nopu i ka uka o kui-hana-lei;
ke á pohaku; pu’u lele mai i uka o ke-ka-ko’i—
ke-ka-ko’i ka ho’okela mai ka lua.
o ka maiau19 pololei kani le’ale’a;
o ka hinihini kani kua mauna;
o ka mapu leo nui, kani kóhakohá;
o kanáka loloa20 o ka mauna,
o ku-pulupulu i ka nahele;
o na ’kua mai ka wao kele; [205]
o kuli-pe’e-nui21 ai-ahua;
o kiké alawa o pi’i-kea;22
o ka uahi pohina i uka;
o ka uahi mapu-kea i kai;
o ka uahi noe lehua, e;
o ke awa nui, i ka mauna;
o ke po’o o ke ahi, i ka nahele;
o ka ai’na a pele ma, i uka;
ua ku ke oka, aia i kai.
pau a’e la ka maha laau—
ka maha ohi’a loloa o kali’u,
a ka luna i pohaku-o-kapu.
kapu mai la puna, ua kulepe i ke ahi;
ua puni haiki kilauea.
ua ha ka lama i ka luna i moku-aweoweo;
ua ha ka uka i ke-ahi-a-laka;
ai’na a’e la o moe-awakea i ku-ka-la-ula,
a ka luna, i pohaku-holo-na’e.
ku au, kilohi, nana ilaila e maliu mai:
o ku’u ike wale aku ia maukele,
i ka papa lohi o apua—
he la lili’u, e nopu, e wela ka wawae.
pau ke a, kahuli ha’a ka pahoehoe,
a pau na niu o kula i kapoho.
holo ke ahi mahao’o23 o kua-uli;
pau oma’o-lala i ke ahi:
i hi’a no a á pulupulu i ka lau laau.
kuni’a ka lani, haule ka ua loku;
ka’a mai ka pouli, wili ka puahiohio;
ka ua koko, ke owé la i ka lani.
eia pele mai ka mauna, mai ka luna i kilauea.
mai o’olue?, mai papa-lau-ahi a hiki maláma.
mahina ka uka o ka-li’u;
enaena puna i ka ai’na e ke ’kua wahine. [206]
kahuli kilauea me he ama24 wa’a la;
pouli, kikaha ke akua o ka po;
liolio i wawau ke akua o ka uka;
niho’a ka pali, kala-lua i uka;
koe? a mania, kikaha koa’e;
lele pauma ka hulu maewaewa.
a’ea’e na akua i ka uka;
noho pele i ke ahiü;
kani-ké ilalo o ka lua.
kahuli kilauea, lana me he wa’a25 la;
kuni’a a’e la puna, mo’a wela ke one—
mo’a wela paha puna, e!
wela i ke ahi au, a ka wahine.
translation
the mount is convulsed; the surging fire
sweeps o’er the height of kui-hana-lei;
the rocks ablaze; the hillocks explode
far out by ax-quarry, aye, and beyond,
where gleefully chirped the pololei,
and the grasshopper trilled on the mountain
a resonant intermittent cry.
now comes the tall man of the mount,
ku-pulupulu, the lord of the woods.
in his train swarm the pigmy gods of the wilds,
the knock-kneed monster kuli-pe’e—
that subterraneous eater of towns—
and watchful pi’i-kea, the roach god.
a blinding smoke blurs the hinter-land;
a milk-white cloud obscures the lowland,
enshrouding the groves of lehua.
the smoke-rack bulks huge in the upland;—
the fire has its head in the mount,
and thence the pele gang start on a raid.
the ash of their ravage reaches the sea: [207]
she’s made a fell sweep of forest and grove
clean down to pohaku-o-kapu.
now, tabu is puna, forbidden to man:
the fire-tongues dart and hedge it about.
a torch buds out from moku-awe?,
to answer the beacon flung by laka.
now she’s eaten her way from sleepy noon
till when the windy mountain ridge
buds with the rosy petals of dawn.
here stand i to wait her relenting:
i see naught but desolate puna
and the quivering plain of apua:
all about is flame—the rock-plain rent;
the coco-palms that tufted the plain
are gone, all gone, clean down to ka-poho.
on rushes the dragon with flaming mouth,
eating its way to oma’o-lala.
for tinder it has the hair of the fern.
a ghastly rain blots out the sky;
the sooty birds of storm whirl through the vault;
heaven groans, adrip, as with dragon-blood.
here pele comes from her fortress, her mount,
deserting her resting place, her hearth—
a wild raid down to malama.
kali’u’s highlands shine like the moon;
all puna glows at the goddess’ coming.
the crater’s upset; the ama flies up;
the god of night plods about in the dark;
the upland god makes a dash for vavau.
the pali are notched like teeth, dissevered,
their front clean shaven, where sailed the bosen,—
white breast of down—on outstretched wings.
the gods ascend to the highlands;
the goddess pele tears in a frenzy;
she raves and beats about in the pit:
its crumbled walls float like boats in the gulf:
an ash-heap is puna, melted its sand—
crisp-done by thy fire, thine, o woman!
when hiiaka recognized the desperate strait of her friend and lover she urged him to betake himself again to prayer. [208]
“prayer may serve in time of health; it’s of no avail in the day of death,” was his answer.
it was not now a band of women with firebrands, but a phalanx of fire that closed in upon lohiau. the whole land seemed to him to be a-flame. the pictures that flit through his disturbed mind are hinted at in the song he utters. the pangs of dissolution seem to have stirred his deeper nature and to have given him a thoughtfulness and power of expression that were lacking in the heyday of his lifetime. hiiaka called on him for prayer and this was his response:
pau puna, ua koele ka papa;
ua noe ke kuahiwi, ka mauna o ka lua;
ua awa mai ka luna o uwé-kahuna—
ka ohu kolo mai i uka,
ka ohu kolo mai i kai.
ke aá la puna i ka uka o na’ena’e;26
o ka lama kau oni’oni’o,27
o na wahine i ke anaina,
i ka piha a ka naoa o mua nei.
oia ho’i ke kukulu 28 a mua;
oia ho’i ke kukulu awa;
o kai awa i ka haki pali,
o kai a pele i popo’i i kahiki—
popo’i i ke alo o kilauea;
o kai a ka-hulu-manu:29
opiopi30 kai a ka makali’i;
ku’uku’u kai a ka pohaku, [209]
ke ahi a ka noho31 uka,
kukuni i ke kua32 o ka makani.
wela ka ulu33 o ka la i puna, e;
kiná puna i ka ai’na e ke akua, e.
he akua34 ke hoa, e;
ke kuhi la iaia he kanáka—
he akua ke hoa, e!
translation
puna is ravaged, its levels fire-baked;
fog blots out the forest-heights of the pit;
uwé-kahuna’s plain is bitter cold—
a mist that creeps up from the sea,
a mist that creeps down from the mount;
puna’s dim distant hills are burning—
a glancing of torches—rainbow colors—
the whole assembly of women.
in pity and love they stand before us;
they form the first line of battle
and they make up the second line.
the raging waves engulf the steep coast—
the sea pele turmoiled at kahiki,
that surged at the base of kilauea—
the bird-killing flood ka-hulu-manu.
makali’i’s waves were like folds in a mat;
a smiting of rock against rock
is the awful surge of the pele folk.
the wind-blast enflames their dry tinder.
the face of the sun is hot in puna.
i companioned, it seems, with a god;
i had thought her to be very woman.
lo and behold, she’s a devil!
[210]
apropos of the meaning of na’ena’e i will quote the words of a hawaiian song by way of illustration:
makalii lua ka la ia ka-wai-hoa,35
anoano i ka luna o hoaka-lei:36
lei manu i ka hana a ke kiü;37
luli ke po’o, éha i ka la o maka-lii,
hoiloli lua i na ulu hua i ka hapapa.
translation
wondrous small looks the sun o’er waihoa,
how lonesome above hoaka-lei!
birds crown the hill to escape from the kiü;
men turn the head from the sun’s winter heat
and scorn the loaves of the bread-fruit tree.
in answer to these words of lohiau pele muttered gruffly, “god! did you take me to be a human being? that’s what is the matter with you, and your clatter is merely a wail at the prospect of death.”
under the torture of the encircling fires lohiau again babbles forth an utterance in which the hallucinations of delirium seem to be floating before him:
wela ka hoku, ka maláma:
ua wela makali’i, kaelo ia ka-ulua;38
kai ehu ka moku, papápa ka aina;
ha’aha’a39 ka lani; kaiko’o ka mauna,
ha ka moana; popo’i kilauea.
ale noho ana papa-lau-ahi;
o mai pele i ona kino—
hekikili ka ua mai ka lani;
nei ke ola’i; ha ka pohakahi a ka ikuwá; [211]
ku mai puna ki’eki’e;
ha’aha’a ka ulu a ka opua,
pua ehu mai la uka o ke-ahi-a-laka;
pau mahana i kahi wai-welawela40 o ka lua, e;
iki’ki i ka uwahi lehua;
paku’i ka uwahi kanáka.
pua’i hanu, e? ole i ke po’i a ke ahi.
e hiiaka e, i wai maka e uwé mai!
translation
the stars are on fire, and the moon;
cold winter is turned to hot summer;
the island is girdled with storm;
the land is scoured and swept barren;
the heavens sag low—high surf in the pit—
there’s toss of a stormy ocean,
wild surging in kilauea;
fire-billows cover the rocky plain,
for pele erupts her very self.
a flood of rain follows lightning-bolt;
earth quakes with groaning and tossing,
answered with shouts from the echo god.
once puna was lifted to heaven;
now the cloud of dark omen hangs low.
white bellies the cloud over laka’s hearth;
wai-wela-wela supplies a warm skirt.
i choke in this smoke of lehua—
how pungent the smell of burnt man!
i strangle, my breath is cut off—
ugh! what a stifling blanket of fire!
your tears, hiiaka, your tears!
[212]
1awa. the full expression would probably be ua awa, bitter rain, i.e., bad weather. ↑
2halelo, rough, jagged like aa. the following quotation is given:
ku ke a, ka halelo o kaupo,
i ho’okipa i ka hale o ka lauwili:
e-lau-wili. he lau-wili ka makani, he kaua-ula.
translation
how jagged stand the rocks of kaupo,
that once held the house of the shiftless!
↑
3ihi-lani, literally, the splendor of heaven; said to be a god of lightning, also the name of a hill. ↑
4ihi-awaawa, said to be the name of a god of lightning, as well as the name of a hill. ↑
5huki-huki, literally, to pull, to haul with a succession of jerks. the action here figured is eminently descriptive of the manner of advance of a lava-flow. it is not with the uniform movement of a body of water. it shoots out a tongue of molten stuff here and there; and as this cools, or is for cause arrested, a similar process takes place at some other point. this movement bears a striking resemblance to the action of a body of skirmishers advancing under fire. its progress is by fits and starts. ↑
6pua’a-kanu. in spite of the fact that this is claimed by hawaiians to be a place-name, i must see in it an allusion to a swine, devoted to sacrifice, connoting lohiau himself. ↑
7oa, a poetical contraction for loa, long. ↑
8haele. by a figure of speech—metonymy—the word haele, meaning to travel, is used to signify a fellow traveler, the companion, of course, is hiiaka herself. ↑
9ku-mauna, a rain-god of great local fame and power; now represented by a monolithic bowlder about thirty feet high, partly overgrown with ferns and moss, situated in the lower edge of the forest-belt, that lies to the south and kau of mauna-loa, deserves more than passing mention. the region in which this rock is situated is declared by vulcanologists to have been one vast caldera and must have been the scene of tremendous disturbances.
up to the present time the hawaiians have continued to hold ku-mauna in great reverence mingled with fear. the following modern instance is[212]not only a true story, and interesting, but also furnishes an illustration of the attitude of mind of the hawaiian people generally,—or many of them—towards their old gods.
during a period of severe drought in the district of kau, hawaii, a gentleman named s——, while hunting in the neighborhood of the rock that bears the name ku-mauna, took occasion to go out of his way and visit the rock. standing before the rocky mass and calling it by name, he used towards it insulting and taunting epithets, professing to hold it responsible for the drought that was distressing the land. he concluded his tirade by discharging his rifle point blank against the face of the rock, resulting in the detachment of a considerable fragment.
the vaqueros in the employ of mr. s.——, who were assisting in the hunt, horrified at the sacreligious act, at once put spurs to their horses and made off, predicting the direst consequences from the rash act of mr. s——.
now for the denouement: within about ten days of this occurrence, the valley, on one side of which mr. s—— had his residence, was visited by a violent rain-storm—such as would in popular speech be termed a cloud-burst. there was a mighty freshet, the waters of which reached so high as to flood his garden and threaten the safety of his house, which he saved only by the most strenuous exertions. the land which had been his garden was almost entirely washed away and in its place was deposited a pell-mell of stones.
needless to say, that, by the natives, this incident was and is regarded to this day as conclusive evidence of the divine power of ku-mauna and of his wrath at the audacious person who insulted him. special significance is attached to the fact that as part of ku-mauna’s reprisal the place that had been a garden was turned into a field of rocks. the only wonder is that mr. s—— got off with so light a punishment. ↑
10kani-a-hiku, a place-name—that of a village in the remote valley of wai-manu—here used, apparently, for its meaning. to analyze its meaning, kani = a sound, a voice, probably a bird-song; hiku, a celebrated kupua, the mother of the famous mythical hero mawi. it is said that when the wind, locally known as the kapae, but more commonly named the ho’olua—the same as our trade-wind—blew gently from the ocean, the listening ears of kani-a-hiku heard, in the distance, the sound of hula drums and other rude instruments mingling with the voices of men chanting the songs of the hula. this seems to be the kani referred to. ↑
11wahine ai lehua, pele. who else would it be? ↑
12unu kupukupu (also written, it is said, haunu kupukupu), a hummock or natural rock-pile, such as would be selected by fishermen, with the addition, perhaps, of a few stones, as an altar on which to lay their offering and before which to utter their prayers. kupukupu indicates the efficacy of such an altar as a luck-bringer. ↑
13pu’u-lena, a wind felt at kilauea that blew from puna. the word lena, yellow, suggests the sulphurous fumes that must have added to it their taint at such time as the wind passed over the volcanic pit. ↑
14ku-hala-kai, a plentiful fall of rain. ↑
15ku-hulu-ku, a chilling of the atmosphere. ↑
16pu’uku-akahi, pu’uku-alua, names applied to hills on one or the other side of the fire-pit, whence seem to come those sonorous puffing or blowing sounds that accompany the surging of the fires. ↑
17kua-loi. this is probably shortened from the full form kua-loiloi. the reference is to a law, or custom, which forbade any one to approach pele from behind, or to stand behind her. he kua loiloi ko pele, the meaning of which is, pele has a fastidious back. ↑
18ka-hoa-lii, literally, companion of kings; the shark-god, a relation of pele, who occupied a section of the plateau on the northwestern side of the caldera, a place so sacred that the smoke and flames of the volcano were not permitted to trespass there. ↑
19maiau pololei, land shells found on trees, generally called pupu-kanioi. ↑
20kanaka loloa, ku-pulupulu, one of the gods of the canoe-makers; here spoken of as a tall man in contradistinction, perhaps, to the dwarfish kini-akua, who were his followers. ↑
21kuli-pe’e-nui, a deity, or an idealization, of a lava flow. the feature that seems to be emphasized is the stumbling, crawling, motion, which as seen in a flow, may be compared to the awkward, ataxic movement of one whose knees are dislocated and leg-bones broken. ↑
22pi’i-kea, the god of the roaches, who is described as given to making certain tapping motions with his head which, i believe, are practiced by the roach at the present time. ↑
23mahao’o, an epithet applied to a dog that shows a patch of yellow hairs on each side of his face. it has somewhat the force of our expression, breathing out flames. ↑
24ama wa’a. the commotion in kilauea is here compared to the upsetting of the canoe’s outrigger (ama). when an outriggered canoe capsizes the outrigger, ama, as a rule, lifts out of the water. ↑
25wa’a. the reference seems to be to the masses of solid lava that, not infrequently may be seen to break off from the wall of the fire-pit and float away on the surface of the molten lake, even as an iceberg floats in the ocean. ↑
26na’ena’e, said of an object that looks small from a distance. the use of the particle emphatic o, placed before this word, implies that it performs the office of a proper name, here a place-name. such a use of the particle emphatic before a noun not a proper name indicates that the word is used as an abstract term. ↑
27lama kau oni’oni’o. when two strings of kukui nuts are bound together to form one torch, the light given by it is said to be of varying colors. the word oni’oni’o alludes to this fact. ↑
28kukulu a awa, said of those in the rear of the company that came against lohiau. i cannot learn that this is a military term. ↑
29kai-a-ka-hulu-manu, literally, the sea of the bird feathers. some claim this as being the same as the kai-a-ka-hinali’i; others, and i think rightly, claim that it was a distinct flood that occurred at a later period and that destroyed all birds and flying things. ↑
30opiopi. the waves of the sea in the season of makali’i are compared to the wrinkles in a mat, the contrast with those of the kai-a-ka-hulu-manu, and the kai a ka pohaku. ↑
31noho, a seat, or to sit. here used for the people there living. ↑
32kua o ka makani (literally, at the back of the wind). koolau, the windward side of an island, was its kua, back. the whole line contains an ingenious reference to the manner of fire-lighting. when the smouldering spark from the fire-sticks has been received on a bunch of dry grass, it is waved to and fro to make it ignite. to the old-fashioned hawaiian familiar with this manner of fire-making this figure is full of meaning. ↑
33ulu o ka la, the figure of the sun as it touched the horizon, or its glare. ↑
34akua, literally, a god. this is a generic term and includes beings that we would call heroes, as well as devils and demons. ↑
35ka-wai-hoa, the southern point of niihau. ↑
36hoaka-lei, a hill on niihau. ↑
37kiu, the name of a wind. ↑
38makalii, kaelo and ka-ulua are cold months. lohiau found them hot enough. ↑
39ha’aha’a, literally, hanging low. i am reminded of an old song uttered, it is said, by a hero from the top of kauwiki hill, in hana, maui: “aina ua, lani ha’aha’a.” land of rain, where the heavens hang (ever) low. ↑
40wai-wela-wela, a hot lake in lower puna. ↑
