The wildwoods of Hawaii furnished in great abundance and variety small 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 íe-íe (pl. II) and its kindred, the hála-pépe (pl. III); the scarlet pompons of the lehúa (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] (ekáha), 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 dracæna (ti), plate V; and lastly, richest of all, in the color that became Hawaii’s favorite, the royal yellow ilíma (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 their presence and inspiration, but especially of that one, Laka, whose bodily presence is symbolized by a rude block of wood arrayed in yellow tapa that is set up on the altar itself. Thus does the kumu sing:

Pule Kuahu

Ei’ au e Laka mai uka, E Laka mai kai; O hooulu O ka ilio[18] nana e hae, 5 O ka maile hihi i ka wao, O ka lau-ki[19] lei o ke akua, O na ku’i hauoli O Ha’i-ka-manawa.[20] O Laka oe, 10 O ke akua i ke kuahu nei, la; E ho’i, ho’i mai a noho i kou kuahu!

[Translation.]

Altar-Prayer (to Laka)

Here am I, oh Laka from the mountains, Oh Laka from the shore; Protect us Against the dog that barks;

[Page 21] 5 Reside in the wild-twining maile And the goddess-enwreathing ti. All, the joyful pulses. Of the woman Ha’i-ka-manawa! Thou art Laka, 10 The god of this altar; Return, return, abide in thy shrine!

[Footnote 18: Ilio nana e hae. The barking of a dog, the crowing of a cock, the grunting of a pig, the hooting of an owl, or any such sound occurring at the time of a religious solemnity, aha, broke the spell of the incantation and vitiated the ceremony. Such an untimely accident was as much deprecated as were the Turk, the Comet, and the Devil by pious Christian souls during the Middle Ages.]

[Footnote 19: Lau-ki. The leaf of the ti plant—the same as the ki—(Dracæna terminalis), much used as an emblem of divine power, a charm or defense against malign spiritual influences. The kahuna often wore about his neck a fillet of this leaf. The ti leaf was a special emblem of Ha’i-wahine, or of Li’a-wahine. It was much used as a decoration about the halau.]

[Footnote 20: Ha’i-ka-manawa. It is conjectured that this is the same as Ha’i-wahine. She was a mythological character, about whom there is a long and tragic story.]

The prayers which the hula folk of old times chanted while gathering the material in the woods or while weaving it into shape in the halau for the construction of a shrine did not form a rigid liturgy; they formed rather a repertory as elastic as the sighing of the breeze, or the songs of the birds whose notes embroidered the pure mountain air. There were many altar-prayers, so that if a prayer came to an end before the work was done the priest had but to begin the recitation of another prayer, or, if the spirit of the occasion so moved him, he would take up again a prayer already repeated, for until the work was entirely accomplished the voice of prayer must continue to be heard.

The pule now to be given seems to be specially suited to that portion of the service which took place in the woods at the gathering of the poles and greenery. It was designed specially for the placating of the little god-folk who from their number were addressed as Kini o ke Akua, the multitude of the little gods, and who were the counterparts in old Hawaii of our brownies, elfins, sprites, kobolds, gnomes, and other woodland imps. These creatures, though dwarfish and insignificant in person, were in such numbers—four thousand, forty thousand, four hundred thousand—and were so impatient of any invasion of their territory, so jealous of their prerogatives, so spiteful and revengeful when injured, that it was policy always to keep on the right side of them.

Pule Kuahu

E hooulu ana I Kini[21] o ke Akua, Ka lehu o ke Akua, Ka mano o ke Akua, I ka pu-ku’i o ke Akua, 5 I ka lalani Akua, Ia ulu mai o Kane, Ulu o Kanaloa; Ulu ka ohia, lau ka ie-ie; Ulu ke Akua, noho i ke kahua, 10 A a’ea’e, a ulu, a noho kou kuahu. Eia ka pule la, he pule ola.

Chorus:

E ola ana oe!

[Footnote 21: Kini o ke Akua. See note d, p. 24.]

[Page 22]

[Translation.]

Altar-Prayer

Invoke we now the four thousand, The myriads four of the nimble, The four hundred thousand elves, The countless host of sprites, 5 Rank upon rank of woodland gods. Pray, Kane, also inspire us; Kanaloa, too, join the assembly. Now grows the ohi’a, now leafs ie-ie; God enters, resides in the place; 10 He mounts, inspires, abides in the shrine. This is our prayer, our plea this for life!

Chorus:

Life shall be thine!

From one point of view these pule are not to be regarded as prayers in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather as song-offerings, verbal bouquets, affectionate sacrifices to the gods.

[Page 23]

III.—THE GODS OF THE HULA.

Of what nature were the gods of the old times, and how did the ancient Hawaiians conceive of them? As of beings having the form, the powers, and the passions of humanity, yet standing above and somewhat apart from men. One sees, as through a mist, darkly, a figure, standing, moving; in shape a plant, a tree or vine-clad stump, a bird, a taloned monster, a rock carved by the fire-queen, a human form, a puff of vapor—and now it has given place to vacancy. It was a goddess, perhaps of the hula. In the solitude of the wilderness one meets a youthful being of pleasing address, of godlike wit, of elusive beauty; the charm of her countenance unspoken authority, her gesture command. She seems one with nature, yet commanding it. Food placed before her remains untasted; the oven, imu,[22] in which the fascinated host has heaped his abundance, preparing for a feast, when opened is found empty; the guest of an hour has disappeared. Again it was a goddess, perhaps of the hula. Or, again, a traveler meets a creature of divine beauty, all smiles and loveliness. The infatuated mortal, smitten with hopeless passion, offers blandishments; he finds himself by the roadside embracing a rock. It was a goddess of the hula.

The gods, great and small, superior and inferior, whom the devotees and practitioners of the hula worshiped and sought to placate were many; but the goddess Laka was the one to whom they offered special prayers and sacrifices and to whom they looked as the patron, the au-makua,[23] of that institution. It was for her benefit and in her honor that the kuahu was set up, and the wealth of flower and leaf used in its decoration was emblematic of her beauty and glory, a pledge of her bodily presence, the very forms that she, a sylvan deity, was wont to assume when she pleased to manifest herself.

As an additional crutch to the imagination and to emphasize the fact of her real presence on the altar which she had been invoked to occupy as her abode, she was symbolized by an uncarved block of wood from the sacred _lama_[24] tree. This was wrapped in a robe of choice yellow tapa, scented with turmeric, and set conspicuously upon the altar.

[Footnote 22: Imu. The Hawaiian oven, which was a hole in the ground lined and arched over with stones.]

[Footnote 23: Au-makua. An ancestral god.]

[Footnote 24: Lama. A beautiful tree having firm, fine-grained, white wood; used in making sacred inclosures and for other tabu purposes.] [Page 24] Laka was invoked as the god of the maile, the ie-ie, and other wildwood growths before mentioned (pl. II). She was hailed as the “sister, wife, of god Lono,” as “the one who by striving attained favor with the gods of the upper ether;” as “the kumu[25] hula”—head teacher of the Terpsichorean art; “the fount of joy;” “the prophet who brings health to the sick;” “the one whose presence gives life.” In one of the prayers to Laka she is besought to come and take possession of the worshiper, to dwell in him as in a temple, to inspire him in all his parts and faculties—voice, hands, feet, the whole body.