ossible figure and makes no sense. If, on the
other hand, we take another version and conceive that the
bard had in mind the gauze-like robe of _kalu-kalu_--using
this, of course, as a figure for the person clad in such a
robe--the rendering I have given,

I pine for the sylph, robed in gauze,
Who rides the surf Maka-iwa,

would not only make a possible, but a poetic, picture. Let
the critical reader judge which of these two versions hits
closer to common sense and probability.]

[Translation]

_Song._

Come up to the wildwood, come;
Let us visit Wai-kini,
And gaze on Pihana-ka-lani,
[Page 137] Its birds of plumage so fine;
5 Be comrade to Hale-lehua,
Soul-mate to Kau'kahi-alii.
O, Kaili, Kaili!
Kaili, leaf of the koa,
Graceful as leaf of the koa,
10 Granddaughter of goddess,
Whose name is the breath of love,
Darling of blooming Lehua.
My lady rides with the gray foam,
On the surge that enthralls the desire.
15 I pine for the sylph robed in gauze,
Who rides on the surf Maka-iwa--
Aye, cynosure thou of all hearts,
In all of sacred Wailua.
Forlorn and soul-empty the house;
20 You pleasure on the beach Ali-o;
Your love is up here in the wildwood.

This mele hoipoipo, love-song, like the one previously given,
is from Kauai. The proper names that abound in it, whether of
places, of persons, or of winds, seem to have been mostly of
Kauaian origin, furnished by its topography, its myths and
legends. They have, however, become the common property of
the whole group through having been interwoven in the
national songs that pass current from island to island.
[Page 138]

XXI.--THE MUSIC AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE HAWAIIANS

A bird is easier captured than the notes of a song. The
_mele_ and _oli_ of Hawaii's olden time have been preserved
for us; but the music to which they were chanted, a less
perdurable e