[34] He kua a kanawai. It was said of Pele that her back was hot like fire, and that a bundle of taro leaves laid thereon was cooked and turned into luau. It was an offense punishable by death for any one to stand at her back or to approach her by that way. [↑]
[35] He kai oki’a kanawai, literally, an ocean that separates. Exclusiveness, to live apart, was the rule of Pele’s life. This principle is enforced with further illustration in the next line:— [↑]
[36] He ala muku no Kane me Kanaloa. Even to the great gods Kane and Kanaloa the path of approach to Pele was cut off by the edict, thus far shalt thou come and no further. [↑]
[37] He ki ho’iho’i kanawai. The ki is said, to my surprise, to be the thong with which a door was made fast, ho’iho’i, in the olden times of Hawaii. I cannot but look upon this statement with some suspicion. [↑]
[38] Leo, the voice; articulate speech. Leo o ka kanaka hookahi. This one supreme man was Kane. The poet evidently had in mind the myth which is embodied in a certain Kumu-lipo, or song of creation: Kane, the supreme one, looking from heaven, saw Chaos, or the god of Chaos, Kumu-lipo, spread out below and he called to him to send his voice—leo—to the east, to the west, to the north and to the south. Kumu-lipo, thus roused from inaction, despatched the bird Halulu, who flew and carried the message to the east, to the west, to the north and to the south. [↑]
[39] Ka manu, the bird Halulu, above mentioned. [↑]
[40] Kai-nu’u a Kane. This expression is an allusion to god Kane’s surf-riding, which is often mentioned in Hawaiian mythology. Huli refers to the curling or bending over of the breaker’s crest; Nu’u to the blanket of white and yeasty water that follows as the wake of the tumbling wave. The Hawaiians who are best informed in these matters have only vague ideas on the whole subject. [↑]
[41] Amama, a word frequently used at the end of a prayer in connection with the word noa (free), as in the expression amama, ua noa. The evident meaning is it (the tabu) is lifted, it is free. I conjecture that the word amama is derived from, or related to, the word mama, light, in the sense of levitation. [↑]
[42] Kui-hanalei, a region in Puna, not far from the caldera of Kilauea, said to be covered now with pahoehoe and aa. [↑]
[43] Pu’u-lena, a wind that blows in the region of the volcano. [↑]