Life for the parents feeble with age.
Life for all in the household.
When digging and planting our land
Life for us—
This is our prayer. Amama.”
A similar prayer was made while cultivating the crops or harvesting the ripened product. [[39]]
It may be that the close connection of waters with plant growth made these two gods the especial gods of farmers.
There was a host of other gods whose names were sometimes used in prayers offered while farming. Each of these gods bore the name “Ka-ne” (sometimes Ku or Lono would be substituted), followed by an adjective showing some method of work, but all these names of lesser gods were apparently used to explain the particular task desired, as when the name “Ka-ne-apuaa” was mentioned in some prayers, the word “puaa” (pig) carried the idea of digging or uprooting the soil.
Ka-ne and Kanaloa were great travellers. Together they journeyed over Kauai, coming (according to an account written in the Kuokoa about 1868 by the Rev. J. Waiamau) from far-away lands. They appeared more like men than gods, and the Kauai people did not worship them, so they opened up only a few springs and crossed over to the island Oahu.
Throughout all the islands the awa root has been found. It was bitter and very astringent, but when crushed and mixed with water the juice became a liquor greatly loved by the people. “These two gods drank awa from Kauai to Hawaii,” so the old legends say.