he
people. Imagine an assembly of men and women in the
picturesque illumination given by flaring kukui torches, the
men on one side, the women on the other. Husbands and wives,
smothering the jealousy instinctive to the human heart, are
there by mutual consent--their daughters they leave at
home--each one ready to play his part to the finish, with no
thought of future recrimination. It was a game of
love-forfeits, on the same lines as kilu and ume.

Two men, armed with wands furnished with tufts of gay
feathers, pass up and down the files of men and women, waving
their decorated staffs, ever and anon indicating with a touch
of the wand persons of the opposite sex, who under the rules
must pay the forfeit demanded of them. The kissing, of
course, goes by favor. The wand-bearers, as they move along,
troll an amorous ditty:

_Oli_

Kii na ka ipo ...
Mahele-liele i ka la o Kona![489]
O Kona, kai a ke Akua.[490]
Elua la, huli ka Wai-opua,[491]
5 Nete i ke kula,
Leha iluna o Wai-aloha[492]
Kani ka aka a ka ua i ka laau,
Hoolaau ana i ke aloha ilaila.
Pili la, a pili i ka'u manu--
10 O pili o ka La-hiki-ola.
Ola ke kini o-lalo.
Hana i ka mea he ipo.
A hui e hui la!
Hui Koolau-wahine[493] o Pua-ke-i![494]

[Footnote 489: _La o Kona_. A day of Kona, i.e., of fine
weather.]

[Footnote 490: _Kai a ke Akua_. Sea of the gods, because calm.]

[Footnote 491: _Wai-opua_. A wind which changed its direction
after blowing for a few days from one quarter.]

[Footnote 492: _Wai-aloha_. The name of a hill. In the
translation the author has followed its meaning ("water of
love").]

[Footnote 493: _Koolau-wahine_. The name of a refreshing wind,
often mentioned in Hawaiian poetry; here used as a symbol of
female affection.]

[Footnote 494: _Pua-ke-i_. The name of a sharp, bracing wind
felt on the wind