te
of the flood. So love floods my heart, but I am braced by anger.
Alas! my wife, have you forgotten the days when we dwelt in Kalapana
and saw the sun rise beyond Cape Kumukahi? I burn and freeze for
your love, yet my body is engaged to the princess of Kohala, by the
rules of the game. Come back to me! I am from Kauai, in the north,
and here in Puna I am a stranger and friendless.

The first figure alludes to the well-known fact that the sinking of the
Puna coast has left the pandanus trunks standing out in the water, which
formerly grew on dry land. The poetical meaning, however, depends first
upon the similarity in sound between _Ke kua_, "to cut," which begins
the parallel, and _He Kokua_, which is also used to mean cutting, but
implies assisting, literally "bracing the back," and carries over the
image to its analogue; and, second, upon the play upon the word ola,
life: "The sea floods the isle of life--yes! Life survives in spite of
sorrow," may be the meaning. In the latter part of the song the epithets
_anuanu_, chilly, and _hapapa_, used of seed planted in shallow soil,
may be chosen in allusion to the cold and shallow nature of her love for
him.

The nature of Polynesian images must now be apparent. A close observer
of nature, the vocabulary of epithet and image with which it has
enriched the mind is, especially in proverb or figurative verse, made
use of allusively to suggest the quality of emotion or to convey a
sarcasm. The quick sense of analogy, coupled with a precise
nomenclature, insures its suggestive value. So we find in the language
of nature vivid, naturalistic accounts of everyday happenings in
fantastic reshapings, realistically conceived and ascribed to the gods
who rule natural phenomena; a figurative language of signs to be read as
an implied analogy; allusive use of objects, names, places, to convey
the associated incident, or the description of a scene to suggest the
accompanying emotion; and a sense of delight in the striking or
phenomenal in sound, perfume, or appearance, which is explained as the
work of a god.

_Footnotes to Section III, 4: The Double Meaning_

[Footnote 1: See Moerenhout, II, 210; Jarves, p. 34; Alexander in
Andrews' Dict., p. xvi; Ellis, I, 288; Gracia, p. 65; Gill, Myths and
Songs, p. 42.]

[Footnote 2: Fison, p. 100.]

5. CONSTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

Finally, to the influence of song, as to the dramatic requirements of