composition. The fact that the mele, in whatever form, was
intended for cantillation, or some sort of rhythmical
utterance addressed to the ear, has given to this word in
modern times a special meaning that covers the idea of song
or of singing, thus making it overlap ambiguously into the
territory that more properly belongs to the word _oli_. The
oli was in strict sense the lyric utterance of the Hawaiians.

In its most familiar form the Hawaiians--many of whom
possessed the gift of improvisation in a remarkable
degree--used the oli not only for the songful expression of
joy and affection, but as the vehicle of humorous or
sarcastic narrative in the entertainment of their comrades.
The traveler, as he trudged along under his swaying burden,
or as he rested by the wayside, would solace himself and his
companions with a pensive improvisation in the form of an
oli. Or, sitting about the camp-fire of an evening, without
the consolation of the social pipe or bowl, the people of the
olden time would keep warm the fire of good-fellowship and
cheer by the sing-song chanting of the oli, in which the
extemporaneous bard recounted the events of the day and won
the laughter and applause of his audience by witty, ofttimes
exaggerated, allusions to many a humorous incident that had
marked the journey. If a traveler, not knowing the language
of the country, noticed his Hawaiian guide and
baggage-carriers indulging in mirth while listening to an oli
by one of their number, he would probably be right in
suspecting himself to be the innocent butt of their
merriment.

The lover poured into the ears of his mistress his gentle
fancies: the mother stilled her child with some bizarre
allegory as she rocked it in her arms; the bard favored by
royalty--the poet laureate--amused the idle moments of his
chief with some witty improvisation; the alii himself, gifted
with the poetic fire, would air his humor or his didactic
comments in rhythmic shape--all in the form of the oli.

The dividing line, then, between the oli and those other
weightier form