ed valleys cutting the roots of
the wooded hills. "It is lonely here?" we asked the man. "_Aole! maikai
keia!_" ("No, the view is excellent") he answered.

The ascription of perfection of form to divine influence may explain the
Polynesian's strong sense for beauty.[5] The Polynesian sees in nature
the sign of the gods. In its lesser as in its more marvelous
manifestations--thunder, lightning, tempest, the "red rain," the
rainbow, enveloping mist, cloud shapes, sweet odors of plants, so rare
in Hawaii, at least, or the notes of birds--he reads an augury of divine
indwelling. The romances glow with delight in the startling effect of
personal beauty upon the beholder--a beauty seldom described in detail
save occasionally by similes from nature. In the _Laieikawai_ the sight
of the heroine's beauty creates such an ecstasy in the heart of a mere
countryman that he leaves his business to run all about the island
heralding his discovery. Dreaming of the beauty of Laieikawai, the young
chief feels his heart glow with passion for this "red blossom of Puna"
as the fiery volcano scorches the wind that fans across its bosom. A
divine hero must select a bride of faultless beauty; the heroine chooses
her lover for his physical perfections. Now we can hardly fail to see
that in all these cases the delight is intensified by the belief that
beauty is godlike and betrays divine rank in its possessor. Rank is
tested by perfection of face and form. The recognition of beauty thus
becomes regulated by express rules of symmetry and surface. Color, too,
is admired according to its social value. Note the delight in red,
constantly associated with the accouterments of chiefs.

_Footnotes to Section III, 2: Nomenclature_

[Footnote 1: In the Hawaiian Annual, 1890, Alexander translates some notes
printed by Kamakau in 1865 upon Hawaiian astronomy as related to the art of
navigation. The bottom of a gourd represented the heavens, upon which were
marked three lines to show the northern and southern limits of the sun's
path, and the equator--called the "black shining road of Kane" and "of
Kanaloa," respectively, and the "road of the spider" or "road to the navel
of Wakea" (ancestor of the race). A line was drawn from the north star to
Newe in the south; to the right was the "bright road of Kane," to the left
the "much traveled road of Kanaloa." Within these lines were marked the
positions of all the known stars, of which Kamakau names 14, besid