ward side of Molokai; used here apparently as
a symbol of strong masculine passion.]

[Page 247]

[Translation]

_Song_

A search for a sweetheart...
Sport for a Kona day!
Kona, calm sea of the gods.
Two days the wind surges;
5 Then, magic of cloud!
It veers to the plain,
Drinks up the water of love.
How gleesome the sound
Of rain on the trees,
10 A balm to love's wound!
The wand touches, heart-ease!
It touches my bird--
Touch of life from the sun!
Brings health to the million.
15 Ho, now comes the fun!
A meeting, a union--
The nymph, Koo-lau,
And the hero, Ke-i.
[Page 248]

XXXVIII.--THE HULA O-NIU

The so-called hula _o-niu_ is not to be classed with the
regular dances of the halau. It was rather a popular sport,
in which men and women capered about in an informal dance
while the players engaged in a competitive game of
top-spinning: The instrument of sport was made from the lower
pointed half of an oval coconut shell, or from the
corresponding part of a small gourd. The sport was conducted
in the presence of a mixed gathering of people amid the
enthusiasm and boisterous effervescence which betting always
greatly stimulated in Hawaii.

The players were divided into two sides of equal number, and
each player had before him a plank, slightly hollowed in the
center--like the board on which the Hawaiians pounded their
poi--to be used as the bed for spinning his top. The naked
hand, unaided by whip or string, was used to impart to the
rude top a spinning motion and at the same time the necessary
projectile force--a balancing of forces that called for nice
adjustment, lest the whirling thing reel too far to one side
or run wild and fly its smooth bed. Victory was declared and
the wager given to the player whose top spun the longest.

The feature that most interests us is the singing, or
cantillation, of t