CHAPTER TWELVE

Winged Life

THE second section told of the birth of sea life and forest growth, in the third come winged creatures; first insects, then birds of land and sea. In the manuscript the order is reversed, bird life illogically preceding fish and forest necessary for their food and nesting. The symbolism of the Prologue plays not upon this winged life but upon the sprouting of the Haha, as upon the Hilu of the last section. The whole passage is to be understood, says Kupihea, as referring to the rise of the chief class under the figure of the sprouting taro plant, although the dictionary gives no clue to this symbolic use of the word haha.

The generating agents Po-'ele'ele, "Dark-night," and Po-haha, "Night-just-breaking-into-dawn," again suggest the idea of a constant approach to "light" in successive stages of the world's growth. The name Po-haha, from the word pohá, "to break forth, to appear suddenly," continues the play on the key word. In common use are the sayings Pohá mai ka la, "the sun breaks forth," said of the first ray of the sun at dawn; pohakea for the place where it shows itself; pohaha ka la, said of its habitual rising; poháhá ka lani, said symbolically of the perpetuation of the intelligent class, perhaps originally of the chief class.

Kupihea believes that the phrases "dark leaf" (lau pahiwa), "leaf of high chiefs" (lau palaili'i), and "the sprout from the rootstalk" (ka pua o ka Haha) refer specifically to the Uli line from whom chiefs of the islands of Maui and Hawaii reckon descent. The Kumulipo chant clearly be longs to a family on this line, as proved by the fact that part

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of the fifteenth and the whole sixteenth section are devoted to the listing of the Maui branch of the Uli genealogy from Ha-loa, "Long-stalk," ancestor of the Hawaiian people, to the Lono-i-ka-makahiki called a child of Keawe. The "nine leaves" (na lau eiwa) of the Haha, Kupihea further refers to the "nine daughters of Wakea," from whom, if I understood him correctly, sprang nine branches of taboo chiefs recognized in the college of chiefs in Hawaii. These he enumerated as follows, but probably as they occurred to him rather than in order of rank:

Naha, "an Oahu class originating from marriage between uncle and niece"
Io, "a Kauai class named from a little bird that lives on high lehua trees, the class to which Queen Kapi'olani (Kalakaua's consort) belonged"
Puaiwa, "the class to which Kalakaua's line belonged"
Papaua, "the kahuna (priestly) line, a line of high chiefs"
Poloa, ...
Hiwa, "a line direct from Tahiti"
Papalua, "a Lanai class"
Popolo, "a Maui class"
Lanikaula, "a Molokai class"

It would be interesting to correlate these "nine daughters of Wakea" with John White's "nine sisters" of Tini-rau, son of Takaroa in Maori tradition, although I do not find his passage in the Maori text.[1]

Kupihea further believes that certain passages of the chant have been inserted to boast of Kalakaua's own high lineage and throw discredit upon contemporary detractors. As an instance he cites the break at mention of the Auku'u or Hawaiian heron to picture the coming of flocks of these birds and their settling along shore. The Auku'u have been compared to a company of plotters fearful of being over heard by chance listeners, this because of their habit of "huddling

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together along a sandbank and glancing furtively, owl-like, this way and that."

is the saying quoted by Andrews. It was on the ground of inferiority in rank that many Hawaiians had opposed Kalakaua's title to the throne and had pushed the claim of Queen Emma, consort of Kamehameha IV. But even if the allusion has contemporary significance, this would not prove it a fresh interpolation. Plotters in high places were doubtless present in Keawe's time and certainly later under Kamehameha.

The epilogue contains allusion to the birds Halulu and Kiwa'a whose feathers, attached to images of the gods, are supposed to rise or fall to predict success or failure of a war party: "wonderful feathers made out of particles of water from the dazzling orb of the sun," writes Kamakau. The birds are played upon 'in story and popular saying. A famous legendary hero slays the man-eating bird Halulu and its mate Kiwa'a in a story of tests for a shape-shifting bride, a tale not unconnected with the ancient heiau of Halulu at Kaunolu on the island of Lanai. Old sayings call Halulu "the bird that cries over the long-house, "O ka manu kani halau; or "the loud-voiced bird crying from the long-house to the taboo houses for women on the borders of Kahiki," O Halulu, o ka manu leo nui e kani halau ana i na pe'a kapu o kukulu o Kahiki. Kupihea attaches the name to "a chief from a distant land, brought to Hawaii by one of the chiefs," possibly the visitor who introduced the custom of consulting feathered images as oracles; but the saying itself may have originated otherwise. Of Halulu's mate Kiwa'a we hear less often. A pun upon the name as Kia'i-wa'a, "Canoe-guide," gives the name Ki-wa'a to the pilot bird that leads a flock of its kind. Since this pilot bird invariably seeks the same landing-place,

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the fisherman sets up his canoe shed at such a spot and when far out at sea during the migrating season is able to direct his own homeward course by that marked out by "the bird that cries over the long-house."

This fitting of images from nature or the habits of daily life into the traditional history of the past, this play of mythical allusion, is what gives value to poetic composition, according to Hawaiian standards. If the image or allusion can be so turned as to apply to a present situation, so much the better. Back of each image lies an emotional context baffling to the literal translator. In this epilogue, out of a world crowded with bird life on sea and land, the poet seems to reconstruct the migration period that brought successive waves of settlement to Hawaii, a period ending hundreds of years before. After the conventional introduction of mythical allusion, he goes back abruptly to the rootstalk, the Haha that "passes into a hundred branches." And with this "branching of the nightborn" the ode concludes:

Nothing but darkness that,
Nothing but darkness this,
Darkness alone for Po'ele'ele,
A time of dawn indeed for Pohaha,
    Still it is night.

CHANT THREE

A male this, the female that
A male born in the time of black darkness
275. The female born in the time of groping in the darkness
Overshadowed was the sea, overshadowed the land
Overshadowed the streams, overshadowed the mountains
Overshadowed the dimly brightening night
The rootstalk grew forming nine leaves
280. Upright it grew with dark leaves
The sprout that shot forth leaves of high chiefs
Born was Po'ele'ele the male
Lived with Pohaha a female
The rootstalk sprouted
The taro stalk grew

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285. Born was the Wood borer, a parent
Out came its child a flying thing, and flew
Born was the Caterpillar, the parent
Out came its child a Moth, and flew
Born was the Ant, the parent
290. Out came its child a Dragonfly, and flew
Born was the Grub, the parent
Out came its child the Grasshopper, and flew
Born was the Pinworm, the parent
Out came its child a Fly, and flew
295. Born was the egg [?], the parent
Out came its child a bird, and flew
Born was the Snipe, the parent
Out came its child a Plover, and flew
Born was the A'o bird, the parent
300. Out came its child an A'u bird, and flew
Born was the Turnstone, the parent
Out came its child a Fly-catcher, and flew
Born was the Mudhen, the parent
Out came its child an Apapane bird, and flew
305. Born was the Crow, the parent
Out came its child an Alawi bird, and flew
Born was the 'E'ea bird, the parent
Out came its child an Alaaiaha bird, and flew
Born was the Mamo honey-sucker, the parent
310. Out came its child an 'O'o bird, and flew
Born was the Rail, the parent
Out came its child a brown Albatross, and flew
Born was the Akikiki creeper, the parent
Out came its child an Ukihi bird, and flew
315. Born was the Curlew, the parent
Out came its child a Stilt, and flew
Born was the Frigate bird, the parent
Out came its child a Tropic bird, and flew
Born was the migrating gray-backed Tern, the parent
320. Out came its child a red-tailed Tropic-bird, and flew
Born was the Unana bird, the parent
Its offspring the Heron came out and flew
  Flew hither in flocks
  On the seashore in ranks

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325.   Settled down and covered the beach
       Covered the land of Kane's-hidden-island
       Land birds were born
       Sea birds were born
329. Man born for the narrow stream, woman for the broad stream
Born was the Stingray, living in the sea
Guarded by the Stormy-petrel living on land

335. Man for the narrow stream, woman for the broad stream
Born was the Sea-swallow, living at sea
Guarded by the Hawk living on land

341. Man for the narrow stream, woman for the broad stream
Born was the Duck of the islands, living at sea
Guarded by the Wild-duck living on land

347. Man for the narrow stream, woman for the broad stream
Born was the Hehe, living at sea
Guarded by the Nene [goose] living on land

353. Man for the narrow stream, woman for the broad stream
Born was the Auku'u, living by the sea
Guarded by the Ekupu'u bird living on land

359. Man for the narrow stream, woman for the broad stream
Born was the Noddy [noio], living at sea
Guarded by the Owl [pueo] living on land

Refrain

365. This is the flying place of the bird Halulu
Of Kiwa'a, the bird that cries over the canoe house
Birds that fly in a flock shutting out the sun
The earth is covered with the fledgelings of the night breaking into dawn
The time when the dawning light spreads abroad
370. The young weak 'ape plant rises

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A tender plant with spreading leaves
A branching out of the nightborn
Nothing but darkness that
Nothing but darkness this
375. Darkness alone for Po'ele'ele
A time of dawn indeed for Pohaha
    Still it is night

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