[54] E kau ae i ka haka, erect the haka having the ensign, weloula, of a chief. A very high haka or a noble kapa or mat used in ceremonies of the chiefs is weloula. The poet here says to Kahahana to prepare the funeral ceremonies worthy of a chief (or yourself). [↑]
[55] Ua ike paha oe, perhaps thou hast seen, O rain and sun, that this is the chief who lies here, naked. [↑]
[56] E loloaikulani, to lie naked without covering, a word used only in poetry, now obsolete; aohe kapa, explanatory of loloaikulani. [↑]
[57] Kalaninuimakahakumaikalani, a name of Kahahana that may be rendered by separate words. Hakuma is an epithet of ill-looking, angry countenance, applied to clouds when they threaten a storm. The prefix “makolu” intensifies this thought as thick, heavy, ominous. [↑]
[58] Hakiwa o Lono, etc. Hakiwa is the dark blue when the sky and sea or land meet—now seldom used. It does not mean the sky overhead, nor does it apply to the clouds; Lono, an ancient god, the meeting of sky and ocean of Lono, that is the hakuma of heaven. [↑]
[59] Ua uhane ololi, the chief has become a shrivelled, thin soul, a ghost. Ua hanehane ka leo, etc.—The Hawaiians supposed that near a burying ground, or where there were many dead bodies from a battle or other causes, there, or near there, the uhanes or ghosts met and wailed and talked; hanehane signifies this conference, hence it sometimes signifies low conversation or whispering, meaning the voice of the spirit calls to his companion in sleep, Alapai; ke hea for the present tense, for Alapai was slain with him, he was his aikane, intimate friend. [↑]
[61] He kama, a child, ia hoi la, indeed was he; he kamalei, a nurtured, fondled child. Lei is what is worn as an ornament of the neck, hence, what is greatly beloved, a child hugged to the bosom is a kamalei. [↑]
[62] Ka pali welau o Koolau, the extreme end of the long pali of Koolau. Alapai was from that place and joined Kahahana when he heard of his misfortunes. [↑]
[63] His district is also entitled to sympathy in the depth of this bosom companion. The notes had it “Koolau is also greatly to be pitied,” which hardly seems deep enough. [↑]