[Translation.]

Song

Yours, doubtless, this name.

Which people are toasting

With loudest acclaim.

Now raise it, aye raise it,

Till it reaches the niches

Of Kí-lau-é-a.

Enshrined is there my kinsman,

Kú-núi-akéa.

Then give it a place

In the temple of Pele;

And a bowl for the throats

That are croaking with thirst.

Knock-kneed eater of land,

O Pele, god Pele!

Burst forth now! burst forth!

Launch a bolt from the sky!

Let thy lightnings fly:

When this poem [³⁶⁷] first came into the author’s hands, though attracted by its classic form and vigorous style, he could not avoid being repelled by an evident grossness. An old Hawaiian, to whom he stated his objections, assured him that the mele was innocent of all bad intent, and when the offensive word was pointed out he protested that it was an interloper. The substitution of the right word showed that the man was correct. The offense was at once removed. This set the whole poem in a new light and it is presented with satisfaction. The mele is properly a name-song, mele-inoa. The poet represents some one as lifting a name to his mouth for praise and adulation. He tells him to take it to Kilauea—that it may reecho, doubtless, from the walls of the crater.

Footnote 367:[ (return) ] It is said to ue the work of a hula-master, now some years dead, by the name of Namakeelua.