XXXIII.—THE HULA PUA’A
The hula pua’a rounds out the number of animal-dances that have survived the wreck of time, or the memory of which has come down to us. It was a dance in which only the olapa took part without the aid of instrumental accompaniment. Women as well as men were eligible as actors in its performance. The actors put much spirit into the action, beating the chest, flinging their arms in a strenuous fashion, throwing the body into strained attitudes, at times bending so far back as almost to touch the floor. This energy seems to have invaded the song, and the cantillation of the mele is said to have been done in that energetic manner called ai-ha’a.
The hula pua’a seems to have been native to Kauai. The author has not been able to learn of its performance within historic times on any other island.
The student of Hawaiian mythology naturally asks whether the hula pua’a concerned itself with the doings of the mythological hog-deity Kama-pua’a whose amour with Pele was the scandal of Hawaiian mythology. It takes but a superficial reading of the mele to answer this question in the affirmative.
The following mele, or oli more properly, which was used in connection with the hula pua’a, is said to have been the joint production of two women, the daughters of a famous bard named Kana, who was the reputed brother of Limaloa (long-armed), a wonder-working hero who piled up the clouds in imitation of houses and mountains and who produced the mirage:
Oli
Ko’i maka nui, [439]
Ike ia na pae moku,
Na moku o Mala-la-walu, [440]
Ka noho a Ka-maulu-a-niho,
Kupuna o Kama-pua’a.
Ike ia ka hono a Pii-lani; [441]
Ku ka paóa i na mokupuni.
Ua puni au ia Pele,
Ka u’i noho mau i Kilauea,
Anau hewa i ke a o Puna.
Keiki kolohe a Ku ame Hina— [442]
Hina ka opua, kau i ke olewa,
Ke ao pua’a [443] maalo i Haupu.
Haku’i ku’u manao e hoi [444] i Kahiki;
Pau ole ka’u hoohihi ia Hale-ma’u-ma’u, [445]
I ka pali kapu a Ka-moho-alii. [446]
Kela kuahiwi a mau a ke ahi.
He manao no ko’u e noho pu;
Pale ’a mai e ka hilahila,
I ka hakukole ia mai e ke Akua wahine
Pale oe, pale au, iloko o ka hilahila;
A hilahila wale ia iho no e oe;
Nau no ia hale i noho. [447]
Ka hana ia a ke Ko’i maka nui,
Ike ia na pae moku.
He hiapo [448] au na Olopana,
He hi’i-alo na Ku-ula,
Ka mea nana na haka moa;
Noho i ka uka o Ka-liu-wa’a; [449]
Ku’u wa’a ia ho’i i Kahiki.
Pau ia ike ana ia Hawaii,
Ka aina a ke Akua i hiki mai ai,
I noho malihini ai i na moku o Hawaii.
Malihini oe, malihini au,
Ko’i maka nui, ike ia na-pae opuaa.
A pepelu, a pepelu, a pepelu
Ko ia la huelo! pili i ka lemu!
Hu! hu! hu! hu!
Ka-haku-ma’a-lani [450] kou inoa!
A e o mai oe, e Kane-hoa-lani.
Ua noa.
Footnote 439:[ (return) ] Ko’i maka nui The word maka, which from the connection here must mean the edge of an ax, is the word generally used to mean an eye. Insistence on their peculiarity leads one to think that there must have been something remarkable about the eyes of Kama-pua’a. One account describes Kama-pua’a as having eight eyes and as many feet. It is said that on one occasion as Kama-pua’a was lying in wait for Pele in a volcanic bubble in the plains of Puna Pele’s sisters recognized his presence by the gleam of his eyes. They immediately walled up the only door of exit.
Footnote 440:[ (return) ] Mala-la-walu. A celebrated king of Maui, said to have been a just ruler, who was slain in battle on Hawaii while making war against Lono-i-ka-makahiki, the rightful ruler of the island. It may be asked if the name is not introduced here because of the word walu (eight) as a reference to Kama-pua’a’s eight eyes.
Footnote 441:[ (return) ] Pi’i-lani. A king of Maui, father-in-law to Umi, the son of Liloa.
Footnote 442:[ (return) ] Hina. There were several Hinas in Hawaiian mythology and tradition. Olopana, the son of Kamaulu-a-niho (Fornander gives this name as Ka-maunu-a-niho), on his arrival from Kahiki, settled in Koolau and married a woman named Hina. Kama-pua’a is said to be the natural son of Hina by Kahiki-ula, the brother of Olopana. To this Olopana was attributed the heiau of Kawaewae at Kaneohe.
Footnote 443:[ (return) ] Ao pu-a’a. The cloud-cap that often rested on the summit of Haupu, a mountain on Kauai, near Koloa, is said to have resembled the shape of a pig. It was a common saying, “The pig is resting on Haupu.”
Footnote 444:[ (return) ] Ho’i. To return. This argues that, if Kama-pua’a was not originally from Kahiki, he had at least visited there.
Footnote 445:[ (return) ] Hale-ma’u-ma’u. This was an ancient lava-cone which until within a few years continued to be the most famous fire-lake in the caldera of Kilauea. It was so called, probably, because the roughness of its walls gave it a resemblance to one of those little shelters made from rough ama’u fern such as visitors put up for temporary convenience. The word has not the same pronunciation and is not to be confounded with that other word mau, meaning everlasting.
Footnote 446:[ (return) ] Kamoho-ali’i. The brother of Pele; in one metamorphosis he took the form of a shark. A high point in the northwest quarter of the wall of Kilauea was considered his special residence and regarded as so sacred that no smoke or flame from the volcano ever touched it. He made his abode chiefly In the earth’s underground caverns, through which the sun made its nightly transit from West back to the East. He often retained the orb of the day to warm and illumine his abode. On one such occasion the hero Mawi descended into this region and stole away the sun that his mother Hina might have the benefit of its heat in drying her tapas.
Footnote 447:[ (return) ] Hale i noho. The word hale, meaning house, is frequently used metaphorically for the human body, especially that of a woman. Pele thus acknowledges her amour with Kama-pua’a.
Footnote 448:[ (return) ] Hiapo. A firstborn child. Legends are at variance with one another as to the parentage of Kama-pua’a. According to the legend referred to previously, Kama-pua’a was the son of Olopana’s wife Hina, his true father being Kahiki-ula, the brother of Olopana. Olopana seems to have treated him as his own son. After Kama-pua’a’s robbery of his mother’s henroosts, Olopana chased the thief into the mountains and captured him. Kama eventually turned the tables against his benefactor and caused the death of Olopana through the treachery of a priest in a heiau; he was offered up on the altar as a sacrifice.
Footnote 449:[ (return) ] Ka-liu-wa’a. The bilge of the canoe. This is the name of a deep and narrow valley at Hauula, Koolau, Oahu, and is well worth a visit. Kama-pua’a, hard pressed by the host of his enemies, broke through the multitude that encompassed him on the land side and with his followers escaped up this narrow gorge. When the valley came to an abrupt end before him, and he could retreat no farther, he reared up on his hind legs and scaled the mountain wall; his feet, as he sprang up, scored the precipice with immense hollowed-out grooves or flutings. The Hawaiians call these wa’a from their resemblance to the hollow of a Hawaiian canoe. This feat of the hog-god compelled recognition of Kama-pua’a as a deity; and from that time no one entered Ka-liu-wa’a valley without making an offering to Kama-pua’a.
Footnote 450:[ (return) ] Ka-haku-ma’a-lani. A name evidently applied to Kama-pua’a.