lama o Niihau, ua malie.
A malie, pa ka Inu-wai.
Ke inu mai la na hala o Naue i ke kai.
5 No Naue, ka hala, no Puna ka wahine.[125]
No ka lua no i Kilauea.

[Translation]

_Wreath Song_

Ka-ula wears the ocean as a wreath;
Nii-hau shines forth in the calm.
After the calm blows the wind Inu-wai;
Naue's palms then drink in the salt.
5 From Naue the palm, from Puna the woman--
Aye, from the pit, Kilauea.

Tradition tells a pathetic story (p. 212) in narrating an
incident touching the occasion on which this song first was
sung.

[Footnote 125: _Wahine_. The woman, Pele.]

BULLETIN 38 PLATE VI
[Illustration: ILIMA (SIDA FALLAX) LEI AND FLOWERS]

[Page 57]

IX.--THE HULA ALA'A-PAPA

Every formal hula was regarded by the people of the olden
time as a sacred and religious performance (_tabu_); but all
hulas were not held to be of equal dignity and rank
(_hanohano_). Among those deemed to be of the noblest rank
and honor was the _ala'a-papa_. In its best days this was a
stately and dignified performance, comparable to the
old-fashioned courtly minuet.

We shall observe in this hula the division of the performers
into two sets, the _hoopa'a_ and the _olapa_. Attention will
naturally bestow itself first on the olapa, a division of the
company made up of splendid youthful figures, young men,
girls, and women in the prime of life. They stand a little
apart and in advance of the others, the right hand extended,
the left resting upon the hip, from which hangs in swelling
folds the pa-u. The time of their waiting for the signal to
begin the dance gives the eye opportunity to make deliberate
survey of the forms that stand before us.

The figures of the men are more finely proportioned, more
statuesque, more worthy of preservation in marble or bronze
than those of the women. Only at rare intervals does one find
among this branch of the Polynesian race a female shape which
from crown to sole will sa