Then Laamaikahiki, wild with grief and rage, thrust Aa through the throat. So the high-priest died a pig’s death, and his bones were put to shame.
Hiwa’s bones and Kaanaana’s were hidden in a cave, at dead of night, by Aelani himself, for he would not intrust this pious duty to meaner hands, that touch of mortal might not profane them so long as the world should endure. Hiwa had made such atonement, lifting Ku’s curse from all the people, that they revered her memory and worshipped her as a goddess even as if she had not committed that great sin.
Aloha, Hiwa! She was nobler than a goddess-queen, for she was one of God’s noblest creatures—a noble woman. Her frailties were those of human nature and of the remote and barbarous land in which she lived. Her virtues were those of a brave, generous, and lovable people.
Aloha, Hiwa! Aloha, nui!
GLOSSARY
The spelling of Hawaiian words is in the main phonetic, according to what is known as the continental method, with the limitation that there are only twelve letters, instead of twenty-six, in the alphabet. Hiwa, for example, is pronounced, approximately, Hé-vä, and Aelani, I-lä´-ny.
The following rules for pronunciation are taken from Prof. William D. Alexander’s Brief History of the Hawaiian People:
The original Hawaiian alphabet, adopted by the first missionaries, contained but twelve letters, five of which were vowels, and seven consonants, viz.: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p, and w. The number of distinct sounds are about sixteen.
No distinction was formerly made between the sounds of k and t, or between those of l and r. In poetry, however, the sound of t was preferred to that of k. The letter w generally sounds like v between the penult and the final syllable of a word.