per selection of joints it would be
possible to obtain a set capable of producing a perfect
musical scale. The tone of the kaekeeke is of the utmost
purity and lacks only sustained force and carrying power to
be capable of the best effects.

An old Hawaiian once informed the writer that about the year
1850, in the reign of Kamehameha III, he was present at a
hula kaekeeke given in the royal palace in Honolulu. The
instrumentalists numbered six, each one of whom held two
bamboo joints. The old man became enthusiastic as he
described the effect produced by their performance, declaring
it to have been the most charming hula he ever witnessed.

5. The _uli-uli_ (pl. XI) consisted of a small gourd of the
size of one's two fists, into which were introduced shotlike
seeds, such as those of the canna. In character it was a
rattle, a noise-instrument pure and simple, but of a tone by
no means disagreeable to the ear, even as the note produced
by a woodpecker drumming on a log is not without its
pleasurable effect on the imagination.

The illustration of the uliuli faithfully pictured by the
artist reproduces a specimen that retains the original
simplicity of the instrument before the meretricious taste of
modern times tricked it out with silks and feathers. (For a
further description of this instrument, see p. 107.)

6. The _pu-ili_ was also a variety of the rattle, made by
splitting a long joint of bamboo for half its length into
slivers, every alternate sliver being removed to give the
remaining ones greater freedom and to make their play the one
upon the other more lively. The tone is a murmurous breezy
rustle that resembles the notes of twigs, leaves, or reeds
struck against one another by the wind--not at all an
unworthy imitation of nature-tones familiar to the Hawaiian
ear.

The performers sat in two rows facing each other, a position
that favored mutual action, in which each row of actors
struck their instruments against those of the other side, or
tossed them back and forth. (For further account of the
manner in whi