O Kulana wao!
O Ku-ohia laka!
O Ku waha ilo!
Here is food for the gods.”
The aumakuas, or spirits of ancestors, were supposed to join with the gods of the prayer in partaking of the shadow of the feast, leaving the substance for the canoe-makers.
After the offering and prayer the priests ate and then lay down to sleep until the next day. In the morning after another feast they began to cut the tree.
David Malo, in his “Hawaiian Antiquities,” said that the priest took his stone axe and called upon the female deities of the canoe-cutters thus:
“O Lea and Ka-pua-o-alakai!
Listen now to the axe.
This is the axe which is to cut the tree for the canoe.”