hiiaka finds a relative in maka-pu’u—ko’olau weather—malei

hiiaka’s adventurous tour of moloka’i ended at kauna-ka-kai, from which place she found no difficulty in obtaining the offer of transportation to oahu. the real embarrassment lay in the super-gallantry of the two sailors who manned the canoe. when the two men looked upon hiiaka and wahine-oma’o, they were so taken with admiration for their beauty and attractiveness, that they sneaked out of a previous engagement to take their own wives along with them, trumping up some shuffling excuse about the canoe being overladen.

arriving at the desolate landing near the wild promontory of maka-pu’u, it was only by a piece of well-timed duplicity that hiiaka and her companion managed to shake off the sailors and relieve themselves from their excessive attentions.

while in mid channel, in sight of ulu-ma-wao, a promontory whose name was the same as a near relative of the pele family, hiiaka poured out this reminiscence in song:

ku’u kane i ka pali kauhuhu,

kahi o maka-pu’u1 huki i ka lani

ka lae o ka-laau,2

kela pali makua-ole3 olaila:—

anu ka ua i ka pali o ulu-ma-wao,4 e;

e mao wale ana i ka lani kela pali:

ku’i, ha-ina i ke kai.

i ke kai ho’i ke akua,

a pololi a moe au, e-e!

ku’u la pololi, a ola i kou aloha:

ina’i pu me ka waimaka, e-e!

a e u’wé kaua, e-e!

[87]

translation

o fellow mine on the stair-like cliff,

where maka-pu’u climbs to the sky,

companioned by cape-of-the-woods,

that fatherless bluff over yonder:

cold cheer the rain on ulu-ma-wao;

that lone steep faints away in the sky,

while ocean pounds and breaks at its base—

the sea is the home of the gods.

i lay in a swoon from hunger

what time i awoke from love’s dream,

love, salt with the brine of our tears.

let us mingle our tears.

it was a question with hiiaka whether to follow the koolau or the kona side of the island. the consideration that turned the scale in favor of the koolau route was that thus she would have sight of a large number of aunts and uncles, members of the pele family, whose ghosts still clung to the dead volcanic cones and headlands which stood as relics of their bygone activities, and where they eked out a miserable existence. the region was thickly strewn with these skeleton forms. hiiaka first addressed herself to maka-pu’u:

noho ana maka-pu’u i ka lae,

he wahine a ke akua pololi:—

pololi, ai-ole, make i ka pololi, e-e!

translation

maka-pu’u dwells at the cape,

wife to the god of starvation—

hunger and death from starvation.

to this maka-pu’u answered: “we love the place, the watch-tower, from which we can see the canoes, with their jibing triangular sails, sailing back and forth between here and moloka’i.” to this she added a little chanty:

e maka-pu’u nui, kua ke au e!

na mauü moe o malei, e-e,

i ai na maua, i ai na maua, e-e!

[88]

translation

oh maka-pu’u, the famous,

back pelted by wind and by tide!

oh the withered herbs of malei!

oh give us some food for us both.

to malei hiiaka addressed the following condolence:

owau e hele i na lae ino o koolau,

i na lae maka-kai o moe-au;

e hele ka wahine au-hula ana o ka pali,

naná uhu ka’i o maka-pu’u—

he i’a ai na malei, na ka wahine

e noho ana i ka ulu o ka makani.

i koolau ke ola, i ka huaka’i malihini,

kanaenae i ka we-uwe’u,

ola i ka pua o ka mauu.

e malei e, e uwé kaua;

a e malei e, aloha-ino no, e.

translation

i walk your stormy capes, koolau,

the wave-beaten capes of moe-au,

watch-towers, where the women who brave the sea

may see the uhu coursing by—

meat for the woman who faces the gale,

sea-food for the woman malei;

for her living comes from koolau,

from the pilgrim bands that pass her way;

yet we bless the herbs of the field,

whose bud and flower is meat for malei:

we pity and weep for malei.

note.—malei was, i am told, a female kupua who assumed various bodily forms. offerings were necessary, not for her physical but for her spiritual sustenance. the burnt offering was not merely pleasing for its sweet smelling savour, it was an aliment necessary to the creature’s continued existence. for the same or a parallel reason, songs of praise and adulation (kanaenae) were equally acceptable and equally efficacious. cut off the flowers of speech as well as the offerings of its worshippers, and a kupua would soon dwindle into nothingness. [89]

“you are quite right,” answered malei: “the only food to be had in this desolate spot is the herbage that grows hereabouts; and for clothing we have to put up with such clouts as are tossed us by travelers. when the wind blows one has but to open his mouth to get his belly full. that has been our plight since your sister left us two old people here. cultivate this plain, you say; plant it with sweet potatoes; see the leaves cover the hills; then make an oven and so relieve your hunger. impossible.”

as they traveled on maka-pu’u and its neighbor hills passed out of sight. arriving at ka-ala-pueo, they caught view of the desolate hill pohaku-loa, faint, famished, forlorn. the sight of it drew from hiiaka this chanting utterance:

puanaiea ke kanáka,

ke hele i ka li’u-la,

i koholá-pehu, i ke kaha o hawí, e.

wi, ai ole, make i ka i’a ole, e.

translation

man faints if he travels till night-fall

in the outer wilds of kohala,

in the barren lands of hawi—

it’s famine, privation of bread, of meat!

“it is indeed a barren land. fish is the only food it produces. our vegetables come from wai-manalo. when the people of that district bring down bundles of food we barter for it our fish. when we have guests, however, we try to set vegetable food before them.”

to speak again of the kupua malei, a few years ago, as i am told, a hawaiian woman on entering a certain cave in the region of wai-manalo, found herself confronted with a stone figure, from which glowed like burning coals a group of eight flaming eyes, being set in deep sockets in the stone. this rare object was soon recognized as the bodily dwelling of the kupua malei. this little monolith at a later time came into the possession of mr. john cummins of wai-manalo. [90]

1maka-pu’u, a headland at the eastern extremity of oahu, on which a lighthouse of the first class has been established within three years. ↑

2lae o ka-laau, the south-western cape of moloka’i, on which is a lighthouse of the first class. ↑

3makua-ole, literally, fatherless or parentless; seemingly a reference to the lonely inhospitable character of the place. ↑

4ulu-ma-wao, a hill in the same region as maka-pu’u point. the name is said to mean a place having a very thin soil.