this kind of enumeration occurs in the
chant of Kuapakaa, where the son of the disgraced chief chants to his
lord the names of the winds and rains of all the districts about each
island in succession, and then, by means of his grandmother's bones in a
calabash in the bottom of the canoe (she is the Hawaiian wind-goddess)
raises a storm and avenges his father's honor. He sings:

There they are! There they are!!
There they are!!!
The hard wind of Kohala,
The short sharp wind of Kawaihae,
The fine mist of Waimea,
The wind playing in the cocoanut-leaves of Kekaha,
The soft wind of Kiholo,
The calm of Kona,
The ghost-like wind of Kahaluu,
The wind in the hala-tree of Kaawaloa,
The moist wind of Kapalilua,
The whirlwind of Kau,
The mischievous wind of Hoolapa,
The dust-driven wind of Maalehu,
The smoke-laden wind of Kalauea.

There is no doubt in this enumeration an assertion of power over the
forces the reciter calls by name, as a descendant of her who has
transmitted to him the magic formula.

Just so the technician in fishing gear, bark-cloth making, or in canoe
or house building, the two crafts specially practiced by chiefs,
acquires a very minute nomenclature useful to the reciter in word debate
or riddling. The classic example in Hawaiian song is the famous
canoe-chant, which, in the legend of _Kana_, Uli uses in preparing the
canoe for her grandsons' war expedition against the ravisher of Hina
(called the Polynesian Helen of Troy) and which is said to be still
employed for exorcism by sorcerers (_Kahuna_), of whom Uli is the patron
divinity. The enumeration begins thus:

It is the double canoe of Kaumaielieli,
Keakamilo the outrigger,
Halauloa the body,
Luu the part under water,
Aukuuikalani the bow;

and so on to the names of the cross stick, the lashings, the sails, the
bailing cup, the rowers in order, and the seat of each, his paddle, and
his "seagoing loin cloth." There is no wordplay perceptible in this
chant, but it is doubtful whether the object is to record a historical
occurrence or rather to exhibit inspired craftsmanship, the process of
enumeration serving as the intellectual test of an inherited gift from
the gods.

Besides technical interests, the social and economic life of the people
centers close attention upon the plant and animal life about them, as
well as upon kinds of stone useful for working. Andrews enumerates 26
varieties of edible seawe