The fact that the climate of the islands, except in the mountains and uplands, is rarely so cold as to make it necessary to gather about a fire seems to argue that the custom of practising this dance about a fireplace must have originated in some land of climate more austere than Hawaii.
It is safe to say that very few kumu-hulas have seen and many have not even heard of the hula ohelo. The author has an authentic account of its production at Ewa in the year 1856, its last performance, so far as he can learn, on the public stage.
Mele
1
Ku, oe ko’u wahi ohelo nei la, auwe, auwe!
Maka’u au i kau mea nui wali-wali, wali-wali!
Ke hoolewa nei, a lewa la, a lewa nei!
Minomino, enaena ka ia la kapuahi, kapuahi!
Nenea i ka la’i o Kona, o Kona, a o Kona!
Ponu malino i ke kai hawana-wana, hawana-wana!