all poles for the framework of the kuahu, the
altar, the holy place of the halau, and sweet-scented leaves
and flowers suitable for its decoration. A spirit of fitness,
however, limited choice among these to certain species that
were deemed acceptable to the goddess because they were
reckoned as among her favorite forms of metamorphosis. To go
outside this ordained and traditional range would have been
an offense, a sacrilege. This critical spirit would have
looked with the greatest disfavor on the practice that in
modern times has crept in, of bedecking the dancers with
garlands of roses, pinks, jessamine, and other nonindigenous
flowers, as being utterly repugnant to the traditional spirit
of the hula.

Among decorations approved and most highly esteemed stood
pre-eminent the fragrant maile (pl. IV) and the star-like
fronds and ruddy drupe of the _ie-ie_ (pl. II) and its
kindred, the _hala-pepe_ (pl. III); the scarlet pompons of
the _lehua_ (pl. XIII) and _ohi'a_, with the fruit of the
latter (the mountain-apple); many varieties of fern,
including that splendid parasite, the "bird's nest fern"
[Page 20] (_ekaha_), hailed by the Hawaiians as Mawi's paddle; to which
must be added the commoner leaves and lemon-colored flowers
of the native hibiscus, the _hau_, the breadfruit, the native
banana and the dracaena (_ti_), plate V; and lastly, richest
of all, in the color that became Hawaii's favorite, the royal
yellow _ilima_ (pl. VI), a flower familiar to the eyes of the
tourist to Honolulu.

While deft hands are building and weaving the light framework
of the kuahu, binding its parts with strong vines and
decorating it with nature's sumptuous embroidery, the _kumu_,
or teacher, under the inspiration of the deity, for whose
residence he has prepared himself by long vigil and fasting
with fleshly abstinence, having spent the previous night
alone in the halau, is chanting or cantillating his adulatory
prayers, _kanaenae_--songs of praise they seem to be--to the
glorification of the gods and goddesses who are invited to
bless the occasion with the