seems to have been the nurse of a more delicate imagination
than was wont to flourish elsewhere. Its tone is archaic, and
it has the rare merit of not transfusing the more crudely
erotic human emotions into the romantic sentiments inspired
by nature.

The Hawaiians dearly loved fable and allegory. Argument or
truth, dressed out in such fanciful garb, gained double force
and acceptance. We may not be able to follow a poet in his
wanderings; his local allusions may obscure to us much of his
meaning; the doctrine of his allegory may be to us largely a
riddle; and the connection between the body of its thought
and illustration and the application, or solution, of the
poetical conundrum may be past our comprehension; but the
[Page 112] play of the poet's fancy, whether childish or mature, is an
interesting study, and brings us closer in human sympathy to
the people who took pleasure in such things.

In translating this poem, while not following literally the
language of the poet, the aim has been to hit the target
of his deeper meaning, without hopelessly involving the
reader in the complexities of Hawaiian color and local
topography. A few words of explanation must suffice.

The _Makani Inu-wai_ (verse 1)--known to all the islands--is
a wind that dries up vegetation, literally a water-drinking
wind.

The _Naulu_ (verse 3) is the ordinary sea-breeze at Waimea,
Kauai, sometimes accompanied by showers.

_Hala-li'i_ (verse 5) is a sandy plain on Niihau, and the
peculiarity of its canes is that they sprawl along on the
ground, and are often to a considerable extent covered by the
loose soil.

_Lehua_ (verse 6) is the well-known bird-island, lying north
of Niihau and visible from the Waimea side of Kauai.

The wreath-maker, _haku-lei_ (verse 7), who dwells at Waimea,
is perhaps the ocean-vapor, or the moist sea-breeze, or, it
may be, some figment of the poet's imagination--the author
can not make out exactly what.

The _hinahina_ (verse 14), a native geranium, is a mountain
shrub that stands about 3 feet high, with silver-gray