religion, and the pious
king, Liloa, was distressed beyond measure. The whole valley
was disturbed and troubled with forebodings at the suspension
of divine worship.

The chief offender was Kane himself. The trumpet which he
held to his lips was a conch of extraordinary size (pl. XIV)
and credited with a divine origin and the possession of
supernatural power; its note was heard above all the others.
This shell, the famed Kiha-pu, had been stolen from the heiau
of Paka'a-lana, Liloa's temple in Waipi'o valley, and-after
many-adventures had come into the hands of god Kane, who used
it, as we see, for the interruption of the very services that
were intended for his honor.

The relief from this novel and unprecedented situation came
from an unexpected quarter. King Liloa's awa-patches were
found to be suffering from the nocturnal visits of a thief. A
watch was set; the thief proved to be a dog, Puapua-lenalena,
whose master was a confirmed awa-toper. When master and dog
were brought into the presence of King Liloa, the shrewd
monarch divined the remarkable character of the animal, and
at his suggestion the dog was sent on the errand which
resulted in the recovery by stealth of the famed conch
Kiha-pu. As a result of his loss of the conch, Kane put an
end to his revels, and the valley of Wai-pi'o again had
peace.

This mele is an admirable specimen of Hawaiian poetry, and
may be taken as representative of the best product of
Hawaii's classical period. The language is elegant and
concise, free from the redundancies that so often load down
Hawaiian compositions. No one, it is thought, will deny to
the subject-matter of this mele an unusual degree of
interest.

There is a historic side to the story of the conch-shell
Kiha-pu. Not many years ago the Hawaiian Museum contained an
ethnological specimen of great interest, the conch-shell
Kiha-pu. It was fringed, after the fashion of a witch-doll,
with strings, beads, and wampumlike bits of mother-of-pearl,
and had great repute as a _kupua_ or luckbringer. King
Kalaka