Shooting up to heaven is Kauwiki,
Below is the cluster of islands,
In the sea they are gathered up,
O Kauwiki,
O Kauwiki, mountain bending over,
Loosened, almost falling, Kauwiki-e.
Finally, Puna, the easternmost district of the six divisions of Hawaii, is a region rich in folklore. From the crater of Kilauea, which lies on the slope of Mauna Loa about 4,000 feet above sea level, the land slopes gradually to the Puna coast along a line of small volcanic cones, on the east scarcely a mile from the sea. The slope is heavily forested, on the uplands with tall hard-wood trees of ohia, on the coast with groves of pandanus. Volcanic action has tossed and distorted the whole district. The coast has sunk, leaving tree trunks erect in the sea. Above the bluffs of the south coast lie great bowlders tossed up by tidal waves. Immense earthquake fissures occur. The soil is fresh lava broken into treacherous hollows, too porous to retain water and preserving a characteristic vegetation. About this region has gathered the mysterious lore of the spirit world. "Fear to do evil in the uplands of Puna," warns the old chant, lest mischief befall from the countless wood spirits who haunt these mysterious forests. Pélé, the volcano goddess, still loves her old haunts in Puna, and many a modern native boasts a meeting with this beauty of the flaming red hair who swept to his fate the brave youth from Kauai when he raced with her down the slope to the sea during the old mythic days when the rocks and hills of Puna were forming.
Footnotes to Background of the Story
[Footnote 1: Kuakoa, iv, No. 31, translated also in Hawaiian Annual, 1912, p. 101; Daggett, p. 70; Fornander, II, 272.]
[Illustration: MAUNA KEA IN ITS MANTLE OF SNOW (HENSHAW)]
LAIE I KA WAI
A HAWAIIAN ROMANCE TRANSLATED FROM THE HAWAIIAN TEXT OF S.N. HALEOLE (PRINTED IN HONOLULU, 1863)[1]
[Footnote 1: Title pages.
(First edition.) The story of Laie-i-ka-wai, The Beauty of
Pali-uli, the Woman-of-the-Twilight. Composed from the old stories of
Hawaii. Written by S.N. Haleole, Honolulu, Oahu. Published by Henry W.
Whitney, editor of the Kuakoa, 1863.
(Second edition.) The Treasure-Book of Hawaii. The Story of Laie-i-ka-wai who is called The-Woman-of-the-Twilight. Revised and published by Solomon Meheula and Henry Bolster. For the benefit and progress of the new generation of the Hawaiian race. Honolulu. Printed by the Bulletin, 1888.]