18: _Hi'i-lawe_. A celebrated waterfall in Wai-pi'o
valley, Hawaii.]

[Footnote 119: Primitive meaning, house; second, the body as
the house of the soul.]

[Footnote 120: Kaua-ula. A strong wind that shifted from one
point to another, and that blew, often with great violence,
at Lahaina, Maul. The above triplet was often quoted by the
chiefs of olden time apropos of a person who was fickle in
love or residence. As the old book has it, "The double-minded
man is unstable in all his ways." (_O ke kanaka lolilua ka
manao lauwili kona mau aoao a pau._)]

This is a typical Hawaiian poem of the better sort, keyed in
a highly imaginative strain. The multitude of specific
allusions to topographical names make it difficult to
[Page 54] translate it intelligently to a foreign mind. The poetical
units are often so devised that each new division takes its
clue from the last word of the previous verse, on the
principle of "follow your leader," a capital feature in
Hawaiian poetry.

[Translation]

Pa-u Song

Gird on the pa-u, garment tucked in one side,
Skirt lacelike and beauteous in staining,
That is wrapped and made fast about the oven.
Bubbly as foam of falling water it stands,
5 Quintuple skirt, sheer as the cliff Kupe-hau.
One journeyed to work on it at Honokane.

Have a care the pa-u is not filched.
Scent from the robe Manu climbs the valley walls--
Abysses profound, heights twisting the neck.
10 A child is this steep thing of the cliff Kau-kini,
A swelling cloud on the peak of Auwana.

Wondrous the care and toil to make the pa-u!
What haste to finish, when put a-soak
In the side-glancing stream of Apua!
15 Caught by the rain-scud that searches the glen,
The tinted gown illumines the pali--

The sheeny steep shot with buds of lama--
Outshining the comely malua-ula.
Which one may seize and gird with a strong hand.
20 Leaf of ti for his malo, Umi[121] stood covered.