Look at the olona fibers inwrought,
Like the trickling brooklets of Wai-hilau.
The olona, fibers knit with strength
This dainty immaculate web, the pa-u,
25 And the filmy weft of the kilo-hana.
With the small bamboo the tapa is finished.

A fire seems to bud on the pali,
When the tapa is spread out to dry,
Pressed down with stones at Wai-manu--
30 Stones that are shifted about and about,
Stones that are tossed here and there,
Like work of the hail-thrower Kane.

At Wai-manu finished, 'tis cut at Wai-pi'o;
Ha'l takes the bamboo Ko-a'e-kea;
[Page 55] 35 Deftly wields the knife of small-leafed bamboo;
A bamboo choice and fit for the work.
Cut, cut through, cut off the corners;
Cut round, like crescent moon of Hoaka;
Cut in scallops this shift that makes tabu:
40 A fringe is this for the pa-u.

'Tis lifted by Ka-holo-ku-iwa,
'Tis borne by Pa-wili-wili;
A pa-u narrow at top like a house,
That's hung on the roof-tree till morning,

45 Hung on the roof-tree Ha-la'a-wili.
Make a bundle fitting the shoulder;
Lash it fast, rolled tight like a log.
The bundle falls, red shows the pali;
The children shout, they scream in derision.
50 The a'o bird shrieks itself hoarse
In wonder at the pa-u--
Pa-u with a sheen like Hi'i-lawe falls,
Bowed like the rainbow arch
Of the rain that's now falling.

[Footnote 121: _Umi_. It was Liloa, the father of Umi, who
covered himself with a ti leaf instead of a malo after the
amour that resulted in the birth of Umi. His malo he had
given as a pledge to the woman, who became the mother of
Umi.]

The girls of the olapa, their work in the tiring-room
completed, lift their voices in a spirited song, and with a
lively motion pass out into the hall to bloom before the
waiting assembly in the halau in all the glory of their
natural charms and adornments: