[Translation.]
Kaula wreathes her brow with the ocean;
Niihau shines forth in the calm.
After the calm blows the Inu-wai,
And the palms of Naue drink of the salt.
From Naue the palm, from Puna the maid,
Aye, from the pit of Kilauea.
The hula mu’u-mu’u, literally the dance of the maimed, has long been out of vogue, so that the author has met with but one person, and he not a practitioner of the hula, who has witnessed its performance. This was in Puna, Hawaii; the performance was by women only and was without instrumental accompaniment. The actors were seated in a half-reclining position, or kneeling. Their arms, as if in imitation of a maimed person, were bent at the elbows and doubled up, so that their gestures were made with the upper arms. The mele they cantillated went as follows:
Pii ana a-áma, [402]