ard wood,
six or nine inches long, with which he commenced his music by
striking the small stick on the larger one, beating time all
the while with his right foot on a stone placed on the ground
beside him for that purpose. Six women, fantastically dressed
in yellow tapas, crowned, with garlands of flowers, having
also wreaths of native manufacture, of the sweet-scented
flowers of the _gardenia_, on their necks, and branches of
the fragrant _mairi_ (another native plant,) bound round
their ankles, now made their way by couples through the
crowd, and, arriving at the area, on one side of which the
musicians stood, began their dance. Their movements were
slow, and, though not always graceful, exhibited nothing
offensive to modest propriety. Both musicians and dancers
alternately chanted songs in honor of former gods and chiefs
of the islands, apparently much to the gratification of the
spectators. (Polynesian Researches, by William Ellis, IV,
78-79, London, 1836.)

The mele here first presented is said to be an ancient mele
that has been modified and adapted to the glorification of
that astute politician, genial companion, and pleasure-loving
king, Kalakaua.

It was not an uncommon thing for one chief to appropriate the
_mele inoa_ of another chief. By substituting one name for
another, by changing a genealogy, or some such trifle, the
skin of the lion, so to speak, could be made to cover with
more or less grace and to serve as an apparel of masquerade
for the ass, and without interruption so long as there was no
lion, or lion's whelp, to do the unmasking.

The poets who composed the mele for a king have been spoken
of as "the king's washtubs." Mele inoa were not crown-jewels
[Page 117] to be passed from one incumbent of the throne to another. The
practice of appropriating the mele inoa composed in honor of
another king and of another line was one that grew up with
the decadence of honor in times of degeneracy.

_Mele_

O Kalakaua, be inoa,
O ka pua mae ole i ka la;
Ke pua mai la i ka mau